One inbox with everything each person owes
Dictate or type the task, pick who and by when, and follow it as a list, a board or a calendar until it closes with a photo.
Tasks is Matterial’s single inbox: everything someone has to do, with an owner, a day and a time. It is created from the + button on any screen, typed or dictated — when you dictate, AI proposes what it is, who it is for and when it is due, and fills in an editable form for you to confirm. You assign it to a teammate with a priority, and you hang it off the budget line, the schedule front, the purchase order or the machine it is about. The same list is shown three ways: grouped by due date, as a board where dragging moves the status, or as a calendar where dragging to another day reschedules it and keeps the time. It closes with a note and a photo, because on site "it’s done" without a photo is just a claim.
Two lists is the same as none
For a long time the day-to-day to-do in Matterial was an assigned comment: it was born attached to the drawing or the budget line that caused it, and that works well for whatever comes out of a conversation. But "take the generator up to the tower on Tuesday at 8" comes out of no conversation, and forcing it to hang off an invented thread would have been lying to the data model. The easy way out was to add a separate list, and that is exactly the one we did not take: if a site engineer keeps assigned comments in one place and tasks in another, he goes back to WhatsApp, which at least has a single list. So the assigned comment was not parked next to tasks — it became one. The comment is still the thread where things get discussed, the task is the thing that is owed, and each one links to the other.
How it works
Created from the +, typed or dictated
From the + button on any screen. If you dictate it, AI proposes what it is, who it is for and when it is due, and fills in an editable form: nothing is saved until you hit Save.
With an owner, a date with a time and a priority
You pick someone from your company — not a hand-typed name — the day and the time, and whether it is low, normal or high. It can belong to one job or to the company as a whole.
Hung off the job, not floating
You tie it to a budget line, a schedule front, a purchase order or a machine. Whoever opens it sees the label and reaches the underlying record in one click.
Three views of the same list
A list grouped by due date (overdue, today, this week, later, no date), a board where dragging moves the status, and a calendar where dragging to another day reschedules it without losing the time.
It closes with a note and a photo
Marking it done asks for the note and the evidence; if the photo fails to upload, the task does not half-close. And if it recurs, closing one creates the next.
If it goes overdue, the person who asked finds out
A bell and an email on assignment, a reminder as many hours ahead as your company sets, and escalation to whoever requested it when it goes overdue unclosed. The boss needs to know it wasn’t done, not only the person who didn’t do it.
What's included
- Created from the + button on any screen, typed or dictated: AI proposes and you confirm in an editable form
- An owner from your team, with a due date and time and a low, normal or high priority
- Tasks for one specific job or for the whole company
- List grouped by due date: overdue, today, this week, later and no date
- Kanban board: dragging a card changes the status (pending, in progress, done, cancelled)
- Calendar: dragging to another day reschedules while keeping the time
- Filters by job, person and status, with "only mine" or the team’s
- Anchor to a budget line, a schedule front, a purchase order or a machine, with its link
- Closing with a note and a photo as evidence, recording who closed it and when
- Daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly recurrence, with an end date
- Comments inside the task, with mentions, on the same thread the rest of the app uses
- Alerts: bell, email on assignment, reminder before it is due and escalation to whoever requested it
- Company settings under Settings → Tasks: email on or off, and how many hours ahead to remind
- Anything assigned inside a comment is born as a task, without losing the link back to the thread
Two lists vs. a single inbox
| Chat and a board, separately | With Matterial | |
|---|---|---|
| Where what I owe lives | Split across chat, email and a board | A single inbox, and the same items show on your today screen |
| What comes out of a conversation | Stays in the thread and gets forgotten | Becomes a task without losing the link to the thread |
| Date | A "by Tuesday" with no time | Day and time; the reminder is computed from it |
| What it refers to | A floating title | Hung off the budget line, the front, the purchase order or the machine |
| "It’s done" | A voice message | A note and a photo stored on the task |
| If nobody closes it | Nobody finds out until the meeting | It escalates to whoever requested it the day it goes overdue |
Who it's for
Works with the rest of Matterial
Coming from another tool?
Frequently asked questions
Does Matterial have a construction task module?
Yes. It is a single inbox with a list grouped by due date, a board where you drag the status and a calendar. Every task carries an owner from your team, a date with a time, a priority, and it ties to a budget line, a schedule front, a purchase order or a machine. It did not exist as a module before: the to-do used to be an assigned comment. Those assigned comments are now tasks, so there is still one list and not two.
Can I create a task by dictating it?
Yes. On the + button you pick voice mode and dictate the task the way you would say it to someone. AI proposes what has to be done, who owns it and when it is due, and fills in the form, which stays editable. Nothing is ever saved straight from the audio: you review it and hit Save.
Can I assign a task to someone without an account?
No, and that is on purpose. Tasks go to people in your company so the alert actually reaches them and there is one place to see "what’s mine". If the person who has to answer is outside — the architect, the inspector, the client — the path is an RFI: it goes out numbered, with a link to reply without an account. Sending the architect a question while thinking it was an internal note is an expensive mistake.
Does it work offline?
No. The task inbox needs a connection. What is captured with no signal and syncs once coverage is back is attendance, receipts and the daily log — the three things you do with a phone in your hand in the middle of the job.
Can a task repeat every week?
Yes. A task supports daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly recurrence, with an end date. What is stored is the rule, not a row per future occurrence: closing one creates the next. "Check the formwork every Monday" is captured once.
What about tasks with dependencies and a critical path?
Those live in the schedule, where they belong: predecessors, float, critical path and a simulation of what happens if something slips. Tasks have no dependencies between them; what they can do is hang off a schedule front, which is the bridge between planning and Tuesday’s errand.
How do I find out something wasn’t done?
Through three alerts. On assignment, a bell and an email branded with your company. Before it is due, a reminder as many hours ahead as your company configures. And if it goes overdue unclosed, the alert escalates to whoever requested it. The admin sets the email and the hours under Settings → Tasks.
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