Google’s long-awaited Tasks and Reminders consolidation starts in March

Putting a timetable on the move it announced in September, Google says users will be able to manage all tasks created across various Google apps from Google Tasks starting in March. Beginning May 22nd, Google will automatically move reminders created in the Google Assistant and Calendar apps to Tasks, though users can voluntarily start doing so ahead of time.

Once the process is complete, users will also be able to access and create tasks from Google Workspace web apps like Gmail, Docs, Chat, and Calendar.

Now, you won’t have to switch tabs to remind yourself to get to an email later so you can reply to an urgent one right now. You can simply hit a button to add it to your list of tasks.

You’ll additionally be able to use your voice to create reminders with Google Assistant. These, too, will show up in Google Tasks, alongside those created in Gmail and other apps. If you want to separate and organize all of these various tasks, you’ll also be able to use features already in Google Tasks to create multiple lists and star important to-dos.

The move addresses a major complaint we’ve long had with Google’s task management system and makes it easy to now see everything in one place. It also brings it more in line with Microsoft’s more useful To Do app, which already integrated tasks across Outlook, Planner, and Teams.

The new Google tasks and reminders system still has some issues to iron out. For example, reminders created in Google’s note-taking Keep app will not move to Tasks. Though they’ll remain in the Keep app, this means they will no longer show up in Google Calendar, either. Also, Google Tasks still lacks features other project management apps offer, like the ability to search through your tasks and prioritize them.

Google will begin sending prompts to personal account users so they can start migrating reminders to Tasks earlier on March 6th, 2023. Google Workspace customers will receive these later, starting April 12th, though only if the organizations have the Tasks service turned on. If the service is off, Reminders data will not migrate to Tasks, and the company will start deleting Reminder data after June 22nd.