Task details

The detail view is where you read and change everything about one task: its name, description, assignee, category, story points, status and colour, its acceptance criteria and its comments.

The detail view

Open a task by clicking it in the tree, the backlog, the board or a release, or by clicking it in the search results or in My tasks. The detail view appears at the right of the page. On the board it slides over the cards, and on a phone it fills the screen.

From top to bottom it contains Name, Description, Assignee, Category, Story Points, Status, Color, Acceptance criteria and Comments.

1. Click a task to open its details.
2. Change a field. Fields are saved as soon as you leave them or choose a value: there is no Save button. Changes show up at once in the tree, the backlog and on the board.
3. Close the details with the close button (×) at the top right, with Esc (not while you are typing in a field), or by clicking the open task a second time.

Things to know:

• Story Points is a number. Type it and press Enter or click elsewhere. Only tasks without children have their own story points; for a parent the field shows the sum of its children and cannot be edited.
• Status offers Backlog, To do, In progress and Done. Parents have no status of their own.
• Acceptance criteria are short conditions that must be true when the task is done. Type one into Add criterion and click Add; remove one with the × button next to it.
• To make the panel wider or narrower, drag its left edge, or focus the edge and use the left and right arrow keys. Mabato remembers the width.
• You can change a task only if you are on the project team, the project is open and the task is not released. Otherwise the fields are greyed out and a note above them says why. You can always read everything, and you can comment unless the project is closed.

Description

The description is a small text editor. The toolbar offers B (bold), I (italic), H2 (heading) and • List (bulleted list), and you can also type Markdown such as **bold**. Copy as markdown puts the description on your clipboard as Markdown, ready to paste elsewhere.

1. Open a task and click into the Description field.
2. Write your text and format it with the toolbar.
3. Click outside the editor. The description is saved at that moment.

The description appears in the release report and can be found with the search.

Assignee

The assignee is the person responsible for the task. Only members of the project can be chosen. The task then shows the name on its board card and in that person’s My tasks.

1. Click the Assignee field. The list of project members opens.
2. Type a few letters of a name to narrow the list.
3. Click a name, or move with the arrow keys and press Enter. The task is assigned.
4. To remove the assignee, click the × button next to the name, or choose Unassigned in the list.

Category

A category is a free label for grouping tasks, for example Hardware or Software. Categories belong to a project and are created by using them. You can group the board by category, search for them, and see them in the release report.

1. Click the Category field. The categories that already exist in the project are suggested.
2. Type to narrow the suggestions.
3. Click a suggestion. To create a new category instead, type its name and choose Create “<name>” or press Enter. A name has 1 to 50 characters.
4. To remove the category from the task, click the × button next to the field.

Comments

Comments are the conversation about a task. They are listed at the bottom of the detail view, oldest first, and everybody who can see the project can read them.

1. Scroll to Comments in the detail view.
2. Click into Add a comment and write your text.
3. Click Post comment.

To correct one of your own comments, click the pencil button next to it, change the text and click Save (or Cancel). An edited comment is marked (edited). Comments cannot be deleted. Comments are the one thing you can still add on a task that is part of a release, and they can be added by people who are not on the project team. They cannot be added in a closed project.

Mentions

A mention calls somebody into the conversation: the person you mention gets a notification that links to the comment.

1. In Add a comment, type @ and the first letters of a name. The matching project members are listed below the field.
2. Click a name. It is inserted into your text. While you write, the comment field is plain text and shows the mention in a technical form; that is expected.
3. Finish your comment and click Post comment. In the posted comment the mention appears as a highlighted name such as @Carol Demo.

Only members of the project can be mentioned.

On a phone

The detail view uses the whole screen. Use the close button at the top right to go back to the list or board.