How To: Get Google Tasks Outside of GMail

Google recently announced that their task manager which had been in the GMail Labs section of GMail accounts is now live, with no need to activate it in the Labs options.

This is great news, as the Tasks functionality integrates perfectly with GMail and Google Calendar.  The only real problem with this is that it requires a GMail window or tab to be open while you are working with Tasks, which presents a bit of a issue for some people.

Here’s a quick way to put a bookmark in Firefox that will open Tasks without needing a GMail tab to be open.

The first thing you notice when logging into your GMail account is that there is a new “Tasks” link on the left sidebar just under the “Contacts” link:

This link opens the Tasks panel inside your GMail tab, with the option (just like with Chat) to pop out the Tasks panel into a new Firefox window.  This works well, but once again needs your GMail tab to be open at all times while using the Tasks panel.  If you close your GMail tab, the Tasks window also closes.

What we need to do first is create a new bookmark in your Firefox Bookmark Toolbar (or in the Bookmarks menu):

Next, give the bookmark a relevant name and enter this address:

javascript:newwindow=window.open('http://mail.google.com/tasks/ig','','resizable=1,toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=1,width=400,height=600');newwindow.focus();

This bookmarklet uses javascript to open a new Firefox window, without the default toolbar to the address given.  You can adjust the “width” and “height” parameters to whatever you like, according to how much screen real estate you would like to give your task window.

Click on your Google Tasks bookmark, and you should have see your tasks in a new window, set to the width and height given in your bookmarklet:

That’s it!  Now you can enjoy this great Google Tasks feature without it being tied to an open GMail window or tab.

Do you use Google Tasks regularly?  How do you set up your workflow, and are there any features you think are lacking?  Leave a comment and tell us about your experiences.

Update

If you are using “Google Apps for Your Domain”, replace the above URL in the bookmarklet with:

https://mail.google.com/tasks/a/domain.com/ig

Just replace “domain.com” with your Apps domain.  Thanks to Klaus Alexander Seistrup for pointing this out.

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