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How to COMPLETE current instance (without marking FUTURE instances as COMPLETE)

• Edit

mchang

06 Feb, 2021 03:29 PM

Hi Dooster support -
I think we must be doing something incorrectly when trying to "complete" a recurring task.
For example, we create a new recurring task that reoccurs monthly.
Then we change the status of the current (earliest on the calendar) instance status to "COMPLETE".
By doing so, we anticipated the current instance to be "COMPLETE" and the next future instance to appear, but what actually happened is that the current and all future instances were changed to "COMPLETE" in Dooster. So right after we mark this current instance of this new recurring task as "COMPLETE", Dooster shows we have "Completed Tasks 106" (initially 0).

The HELP section of the Dooster portal says "Note marking a recurring task as “complete” simply causes the next recurring instance to appear. It does NOT mark all future occurrences as done. To stop all future instances switch off the recurring feature in the task – as above.", but it does not appear that what the instruction says is what that actually happens.

Can you let u know what are we doing incorrecty? For recurring tasks, how can we mark the current instance but not all future instances as "COMPLETE"?

Thanks,
Miranda

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by John on 06 Feb, 2021 05:12 PM

   

   Hi Miranda

   You are correct about the expected behaviour.

   It works ok for me

   Is this a normal project or one created from eg a template?

   Thanks John

   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by Miranda on 07 Feb, 2021 12:33 AM

   

   John,
   We ran into the issues with normal projects (prpject created from scratch via Add Project, then Add Task). Are you saying that you were unable to reproduce my problem?
   -Miranda

   • Edit

3. 3 Posted by mchang on 07 Feb, 2021 04:36 AM

   

   Hi John -

   Since you asked me about whether it was a "normal" project or one created from a template, I played around a little and discovered the following, so I thought I will share my findings with you:

   (1) the recurring task that I was having problems with (the problem of all future instances becoming COMPLETE when I set the current instance as COMPLETE) belongs to a project with CUSTOM STATUS turned on. The set of CUSTOM STATUS consists of 10 settings (01, 02, 03....all the way to 10)... with 01 set as "default" and 10 set as "Complete". When I set the current instance as COMPLETE, I did so under the SELECT ACTION box (not by picking the custom setting 10 in the STATUS BOX). Selecting COMPLETE in the ACTION BOX turns the current instance to COMPLETE, plus also turning all FUTURE instances to COMPLETE, which I have described as "the problem".

   (2) I did a test and REMOVED the CUSTOM STATUS feature in the project in question. So the STATUS BOX is no longer available next to the tasks. I then set the current instance of the recurring tasks to COMPLETE via the SELECT ACTION box. This time there is no problem -- Dooster did what we expected it to do -- i.e. the current instance of the task becomes COMPLETE and the next instance shows up as a task to be completed (i.e. not set as COMPLETE). This is what we anticipate Dooster to do.

   (3) I did another test and turned the same set of CUSTOM STATUS feature back on, but removed setting 10 (the one notated as the COMPLETE setting). So this time the CUSTOM STATUS box is there again next to the task, but we have only 01, 02, 03...etc. to 09, without any setting notated as COMPLETE. I then set the current instance of the recurring tasks to COMPLETE via the SELECT ACTION box. This time, no matter what I pick in the CUSTOM STATUS box (01...09), even after COMPLETE is selected in the ACTION BOX, the task will still show up as NOT COMPLETE, and the next instance does not show up.

   For now, our team will work around this issue by removing the CUSTOM STATUS feature from all projects, just so we can mark completed tasks (current instances of recurring tasks) as COMPLETE and have the next instances show up (i.e. doing scenario #2 described above), but I thought I will lay out what we observed so you can take a look at resolving this later on so we can use the CUSTOM STATUS again in the future.

   Thanks,
   Miranda

   • Edit

4. mchang closed this discussion on 13 Feb, 2021 06:01 PM.