How To: Get Google Tasks Outside of GMail

Filed Under Category GTD, Rants by Benjamin M. Strozykowski

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.

Benjamin M. Strozykowski is a full time father, husband, slacker and an amateur writer. Currently a student, he spends all of his free time writing for Worthless Genius and wasting time on the Internet.

If you have any questions, suggestions, feedback, or just feel like spamming a stranger, feel free to contact him.

July 17, 2009 | | Tags: blog, blogs, bookmarklet, comment, default toolbar, experience, firefox, focus, functionality, gmail, gmail account, Google, google calendar, great news, help, ig, left sidebar, mail, parameters, product, quote, real estate, relevant name, scrollbars, self, State, target, task, task manager, tasks, thing, way, work, Workflow, Worthless

COMMENTS

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11 Responses to “How To: Get Google Tasks Outside of GMail”

Wazzup on July 18th, 2009 8:15 am

Why not just use:

http://mail.google.com/tasks/ig
Klaus Alexander Seistrup on July 18th, 2009 8:44 am

How can I accomplish the same in Google Apps for Your Domain?
Barbie on July 18th, 2009 9:41 am

Any idea when tasks will be added to google sync? I’d love to sync them with tasks on my blackberry a la google calendar. Thanks!
Benjamin M. Strozykowski on July 18th, 2009 12:43 pm

@Klaus
Replace the address in the bookmarklet with:

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

It appears as though it might not work stand alone with Google Apps for Your Domain. With my own account, I get this message:
http://www.worthlessgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Picture-1.png

@Barbie
That would be a great feature, but as far as I know, there hasn’t been any official word.
Ark on July 18th, 2009 10:43 pm

Interestingly, this didn’t work in Firefox 3.5. But, I simply changed my bookmark to the main link of http://mail.google.com/tasks/ig , and since my Firefox window is always open, allowed it to open in the sidebar. Nice. Thanks for opening this idea up to me!
Benjamin M. Strozykowski on July 18th, 2009 11:08 pm

@Ark
That’s strange. This was tested (using XMarks to sync) on Firefox 3.5.1 on Windows 7, Ubuntu 9.04 and Mac OS X Leopard. I haven’t had a problem with it.
Klaus Alexander Seistrup on July 19th, 2009 4:46 pm

@Benjamin

Your suggestion works if I use HTTPS instead of HTTP:

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

Thanks!
Noah Coad on July 22nd, 2009 3:51 am

For a standalone Google Tasks app for your PC that provides Google Tasks inside an application window, check out taskalone at http://code.google.com/p/taskalone/
opening google tasks in an independent window « Mark’s Notebook on August 13th, 2009 2:00 pm

[...] in Uncategorized Followed these instructions, and it worked! « fig2dev [...]
Twitter Trackbacks for How To: Get Google Tasks Outside of GMail | Worthless Genius [worthlessgenius.com] on Topsy.com on August 24th, 2009 10:33 am

[...] How To: Get Google Tasks Outside of GMail | Worthless Genius http://www.worthlessgenius.com/2009/07/17/how-to-get-google-tasks-outside-of-gmail – view page – cached 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. — From the page [...]
Derrick G-L on December 2nd, 2009 6:14 pm

One feature I would really like to see with google tasks is a tabbed list interface. Instead of having to click the button to bring up my different lists, I’d really like to see my various lists in tabs.