Move task to backlog when scheduled

[franco-ruggeri]

Problem Statement

Some releases ago, there was a checkbox that allowed moving a task to the backlog while scheduling it. It seems that now there is no such possibility. I used that feature extensively and I think it is useful.

Now, I often find myself in this scenario:

1. I'm in the Today view. I want to schedule a task for a later day and move it to the backlog.
2. I schedule the task for a later day. It goes away from the Today view. So, I can't move it to the backlog quickly).
3. I need to search for the task and move it to the backlog.

❔ Possible Solution

I would like to have the checkbox for moving the task to the backlog in the schedule popup, like in previous releases.

⤴️ Describe alternatives you've considered

➕ Additional context

[github-actions]

Thank you very much for opening up this issue! I am currently a bit overwhelmed by the many requests that arrive each week, so please forgive me, if I fail to respond personally. I am still very likely to at least skim read your request and I'll probably try to fix all (real) bugs if possible and I will likely review every single PR being made (please, give me a heads up if you intent to do so) and I will try to work on popular requests (please upvote via thumbs up on the original issue) whenever possible, but trying to respond to every single issue over the last years has been kind of draining and I need to adjust my approach for this project to remain fun for me and to make any progress with actually coding new stuff. Thanks for your understanding!

[tegridyfarmer]

Pros

1. It can streamline workflows, reducing the time and steps neccessary to manage tasks.
2. The Today view only shows immediately relevant tasks for the day.

Cons

1. Users might forget about tasks if it is in the backlog.
2. Users who frequently move tasks to the backlog, could result in an overloaded backlog. This makes it harder to prioritize and manage tasks.
3. It may make users subconsciously treat tasks as less important and/or urgent, because it can be done later anyways.

Conclusion

To address the first con: a feature could display the number of tasks moved to the backlog. For example, a text could indicate: "3 tasks have not been completed yesterday, they have been moved to the backlog. Click here to view these tasks".

[franco-ruggeri]

Thanks for the comment. Regarding the cons, I think they all hold even in the current version of the app. I don't think they would get worse with the additional checkbox, as users can decide not to move the task to the backlog while scheduling by unchecking the option.

To help the discussion, here's a screenshot of the checkbox I'm referring to (from version 8.0.10):

"Move task to backlog until scheduled"

[tegridyfarmer]

Oh I understood the issue wrong. I though you were asking for scheduled tasks to be moved to the backlog after they have not been completed at the scheduled time. As you described the cons I mentioned do indeed hold true in the current application. It would be nice to have the feature back!

[johannesjo]

PRs are welcome!

A bit of a problem might be the space on mobile, since the checkbox might not always be visble. But I don't really have a good idea how to improve the situation.

E.g. for IPhone SE:

[franco-ruggeri]

Do you happen to recall which version or commit changed this?

[bytrangle]

@johannesjo Regarding simplifying the schedule picker, how about:

• Only show the weeks of the current month starting from the current week? Example, today is Tuesday Janury 14. So the first week to show starts from January 13. There is no reason to show the previous two weeks of January because the schedule is forward by nature.
• Reduce the vertical spacing between the weeks of a month? It seems like they are a bit too far apart.
• Group everything about time and remind inside a button labeled "Time". Only expand and show these options when user clicks on the button. Many people only need to schedule a task by day and they have no need to set an exact time.

[bytrangle]

It seems like starting from release 10.0.0, the schedule dialog component was rewritten and located at src/app/features/tasks. Currently, there is no backlog checkbox implemented as seen here.
Previously, the component responsible for rendering this dialog is called DialogAddTaskReminderComponent at src/app/features/planner. It contains a logic that checks if it should show "Add to backlop" option here.