BasedTasks

Recurring Task

Set Reminder

Sub-tasks / Agenda Items

Discussion/Agenda Item?

Introduction

Welcome to BasedTasks! This app is designed to help you organize your life by managing tasks, tracking your goals (like staying hydrated!), and generally staying productive. It helps you with to-do lists, a water intake tracker, a calendar view, and more, all while keeping your data private and local to your browser.

Profiles

You can create multiple profiles to keep different areas of your life separate (e.g., Personal, Work, Family Member).

Switching Profiles: Use the dropdown menu in the header to select the active profile.
Adding Profiles: Click the "Add" button () in the header. Enter a name for the new profile.
Managing Profiles: Click the "Manage" button () in the header to open a list of your profiles. Here you can:
- Rename: Click the icon next to a profile.
- Delete: Click the icon. You cannot delete the last remaining "Default Profile". Deleting a profile is permanent.

App Settings ( Icon)

Access app-specific settings by clicking the gear icon in the header. Settings are saved per profile.

Daily Water Goal: Set your personal daily water intake target in fluid ounces.
Enable Desktop Notifications (for Tasks): Toggle to allow the app to send you reminders for your tasks. Your browser will ask for permission the first time you enable this.
Enable Hydration Reminders: Toggle to receive periodic reminders to drink water. You can set the interval (e.g., every 30 minutes). This also requires general desktop notifications to be permitted by your browser.
Manage Task Categories: This powerful section lets you customize your task categories completely. See the "Task Categories" section below for details.

Task Categories

Categories help you organize and visually distinguish your tasks. You have full control over them.

Finding the Manager: Go to App Settings ( icon) and scroll down to the "Manage Task Categories" section.
Customizing Colors: Each category in the list has a color swatch next to it. Click on this swatch to open a color picker and choose a new color for that category. The change is instant and will be saved when you save your settings.
Adding a New Category: At the bottom of the category list, use the "Add New Category" form. Type in a name for your new category, pick a color for it, and click the "Add" button. It will now be available in all category dropdowns.
Deleting a Category: Next to each custom category you've created, there is a delete button (). You can delete any custom category. Note that you cannot delete the default, built-in categories.
Impact on Tasks: If you delete a category that is currently assigned to some tasks, those tasks will be automatically reassigned to the "Other" category to prevent data loss.

Water Tracker ()

Monitor your daily water consumption.

Goal: Your daily goal is displayed (set in App Settings).
Progress Bar: Visually shows your progress towards the goal.
Logging: Use the "+8 oz", "+16 oz" buttons or the "Log Custom (oz)" input to add water.
Reset: The tracker automatically resets to 0 at the start of each new day for the active profile. You can also manually reset it (a confirmation will appear).

To-Do List ()

Manage your tasks effectively.

Adding Tasks:
- Enter the task description (press Enter to add quickly).
- Add optional detailed notes in the provided text area.
- Optionally set a due date, time, category, and priority. These fields reset after a task is added.
- Set Reminder: Check this box to enable a desktop notification for the task. You can specify when the reminder should appear (e.g., 15 minutes before, at the time of the event). Requires "Enable Desktop Notifications" to be active in App Settings.
- Recurring Tasks: Check "Recurring Task" and choose how often it should repeat from the "Repeats" dropdown. See details below.
Task Details: Each task can display its due date, time, category, priority, and icons for notes (), reminders (), and recurrence ().
Sub-tasks & Agenda Items: When editing a task, you can add sub-tasks or agenda items. Mark an item as a "Discussion/Agenda Item" if it's a point for discussion rather than a simple to-do.
Completing, Editing, Deleting Tasks: Use the checkbox to complete tasks. Click the edit () or delete () icons on each task.
Understanding Recurring Tasks:
When you set a task as recurring, you select how often it repeats from the "Repeats" dropdown. Here are some examples:
- "Daily": Repeats every single day.
- "Every 3 Days": Repeats three days after its due date.
- "Weekly (same day)": Repeats one week later, on the same day of the week (e.g., next Monday if it was due on a Monday).
- "Every 2 Weeks (same day)": Repeats two weeks later, on the same day of the week.
- "Monthly (same day number)": Repeats one month later, on the same day number (e.g., the 15th of next month if it was due on the 15th). If that day doesn't exist in the target month (like the 31st in February), it will be due on the last day of that month.
- "Every 3 Months (same day number)": Repeats three months later, on the same day number.
- "Yearly (same date)": Repeats one year later on the exact same date.
Completing Overdue Recurring Tasks: If a recurring task is overdue when you complete it, the next instance will automatically be scheduled based on the date you completed it (i.e., "today"). If it's not overdue, it will be scheduled based on its original due date.

Notification History ()

This section (accessible via the "History" tab in the bottom navigation) shows a log of desktop notifications that have been triggered for your tasks and hydration reminders. This helps you see what reminders have gone off, in case you missed any.

Each entry shows the time the notification fired, the task it was for (or "Hydration Reminder"), and the reminder message.
You can clear this history using the "Clear History" button.

Calendar ()

Visualize your scheduled tasks.

Navigation: Use the arrow buttons to move between months. Click "Today" to jump to the current month and highlight today's date.
Viewing Tasks: Days with active tasks have small colored dots representing task categories. Click on a day to see a list of tasks scheduled for that day below the calendar. Click the day again to hide the list. Passed days are visually struck through.

Progress Summary ()

Get a quick overview of your activity. Click the section header to expand or collapse it.

Tasks Completed Today: Number of tasks marked complete today.
Active Tasks: Total number of tasks not yet completed.
Avg. Water (Last 7 Days): Average daily water intake over the past week, based on your logs.

Troubleshooting Desktop Notifications & How They Work

BasedTasks uses two methods to send you reminders:

When the App is Open: If you have the BasedTasks tab open in your browser, reminders for tasks and hydration are typically very precise, appearing at the time you set (e.g., 15 minutes before, or at the event time).
When the App is Closed (Background Reminders):
- To provide reminders even when the app tab isn't open, BasedTasks uses a browser feature called Periodic Background Sync.
- When enabled, your browser will allow BasedTasks to check for upcoming task reminders periodically in the background.
- Important: The timing for these background checks is controlled by your browser to save battery and resources. This means background reminders might not be exact to the minute. For example, the browser might check every few hours. You'll still get the reminder, but it could be a bit after the scheduled time if the app was closed.
- For this feature to work, "Enable Desktop Notifications" must be turned on in App Settings, and your browser must grant notification permission.
- Task details needed for these background reminders are stored locally and securely in your browser's IndexedDB. No data is sent to any external server.

If you're not receiving desktop notifications, try these steps:

Check OS Settings:
- Windows: Ensure "Focus Assist" is off (or set to allow notifications from your browser). Search for "Focus Assist" in the Start Menu. Also, go to System > Notifications, find your browser (e.g., Google Chrome), click the arrow next to it, and ensure "Show notification banners" and "Play a sound" are ON.
- macOS: Make sure "Do Not Disturb" mode is off. Check System Settings > Notifications > [Your Browser Name] and ensure "Allow Notifications" is on and alert styles (banners/alerts) are enabled.
Check Browser Notification Settings:
- In your browser's main settings, find the section for site permissions or content settings, specifically for "Notifications." Ensure the default behavior allows sites to ask for permission or that notifications are generally allowed.
- Reset Permissions for This App: This is often the most effective fix.
  - For Chrome/Edge: Type chrome://settings/content/notifications into your address bar.
  - Find https://basedtasks.netlify.app (or your app's URL) in the "Allowed to send notifications" list.
  - Click the three dots (or equivalent menu icon) next to it and select "Remove" or "Reset permissions."
  - Go back to the BasedTasks app. In the app's "App Settings" (), toggle "Enable Desktop Notifications" OFF, then ON again.
  - Your browser should now explicitly ask for permission to send notifications from BasedTasks. Click "Allow."
- Allow All Notifications from Site: Sometimes, browsers might "quiet" notifications if a site sends many. If prompted by your browser about BasedTasks sending notifications, ensure you choose to "Allow" them, even if it's a general site setting.
Service Worker & Cache: Sometimes, an old version of the app's service worker (which handles background notifications) might be stuck. Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R) or clearing the site data/cache for BasedTasks in your browser settings, then reload the app.
Disable Interfering Extensions: Temporarily disable browser extensions that manage notifications, privacy, or focus, as they might be blocking them.
Restart Browser/Computer: A simple restart can sometimes resolve temporary glitches.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Enter in Task Input: Adds the new task.
Enter in Sub-task Input (Edit Modal): Adds the new sub-task/agenda item.
Ctrl+F / Cmd+F: Focus the task search bar.

Data Persistence

All your data (profiles, tasks, water intake, settings) is stored locally in your web browser's local storage and IndexedDB. This means it's private to your browser on your computer. Clearing your browser's site data for this app will erase all stored information.

Legal

Progress Summary

Water Intake

To-Do List

Calendar

Tasks for...

Notification History

Progress Summary

Water Intake

To-Do List

Calendar

Tasks for...

Notification History

Edit Task

Sub-tasks / Agenda Items

App Settings

Manage Task Categories

Add New Category

Add New Profile

Manage Profiles

Rename Profile

App Guide