An all-new way to prioritize your most pressing assignments
Although Google has no shortage of ways to keep track of your to-do list — Keep and Reminders among them — Tasks is probably the most streamlined and straightforward method. Built right into Gmail on desktop (and available as a dedicated app on your phone), Tasks makes things simple, without any of the fluff or complicated organization tools you’ll find on other apps. That said, today’s update goes a long way in making your most important to-do entries a little more obvious.
Google is adding stars to Tasks, making it easier to prioritize everything from work assignments to chores around the house. It works just like stars in Drive, appearing directly next to each entry you’ve added to your list. Google doesn’t auto-sort by stars — leaving you to drag and drop each entry as usual — but you can select star sorting from the drop-down menu at the top of the Tasks panel, or by hitting the star tab on mobile.
It’s a small upgrade, but considering just how minimalist Tasks is compared to the competition, it’s a much-needed one. It’s also been a long time coming — evidence of this feature first appeared nearly a year ago, only to vanish into thin air.
Stars are coming to Tasks for all Google Workspace customers, along with legacy G Suite Basic and Business users. It’s on Google’s gradual rollout plan, which means it’ll take up to 15 days to hit every account. I’m not seeing it on desktop or mobile yet, but once it appears, it might finally be the feature that gets me to switch from Keep to Tasks for good.
