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Certum Draft

Tasks

Certum Draft has a task system built for how legal work is actually handed around: you jot a task in one line, it files itself against the matter, it lands on the right person’s list, and the person who delegated it keeps a chase list of everything they’re waiting on. Tasks live in the firm’s shared Notion Tasks database — Notion stays the record, and every Certum surface reads and writes the same tasks your team sees there.

Capturing a task — ⌘⇧T

Section titled “Capturing a task — ⌘⇧T”

Press ⌘⇧T anywhere in the app for the quick-entry panel: one smart field, in the Things/Todoist mould. Type naturally:

chase the bank #13628 @mel fri

Live chips under the field show exactly what Enter will create:

  • # — the matter. A number or a name fragment; #136 or #rowley both resolve. If you’re inside a matter’s workspace you don’t need # at all — the open matter prefills.
  • @ — the assignee. Defaults to you; @mel completes from the firm’s Notion workspace people as you type.
  • Dates in plain words. today, tomorrow, fri, next week, in 3 days, in a month, eom (end of month), or explicit dates — aug 30, 30/8, 30/8/2026 (day-first). Interior words are never eaten: “call about tomorrow’s settlement” keeps its title. A yearless date that has already passed means next year.
  • ! — urgent. A standalone ! anywhere in the line sets Urgent priority.

Autocomplete pops as you type (↑/↓ to move, Tab or Enter to accept); accepted tokens become solid chips, and every chip is clickable if you’d rather pick from a menu — matter search, people list, date presets or a full calendar, and a priority chip. Unmatched tokens show as visible ”?” chips instead of silently joining the title.

A notes chip unfolds a details section: free-form notes and a checklist (one item per line), written onto the created task’s page as real text and to-do blocks.

Enter captures instantly. The task persists locally and the window closes at once — no waiting on Notion. It rides your lists as a quiet “sending…” row until Notion confirms (a second or two), failures surface with Retry/Discard, and queued captures survive a relaunch. Every create is duplicate-resistant: a retry can never make a silent second copy.

The Tasks page — ⌘5

Section titled “The Tasks page — ⌘5”

Tasks is a sidebar destination (⌘5), not just a card. It has the same capture field at the top, then:

  • My Tasks, grouped by due bucket — Overdue / Today / This Week / Later / No Due Date. Tasks due today carry a small amber flag and the word today; overdue dates are red.
  • Waiting on Others, grouped by person — every open task you’ve assigned to someone else, the person most in need of a nudge first, overdue items leading. Tasks assigned to nobody surface under an amber Unassigned heading.
  • Completed this week, collapsed at the bottom — struck-through, reopenable with a click (a reopened task gets back the status it held).

Scope pills — All · Important · Today · Assigned to Me · Assigned by Me — narrow both lanes with one click.

The page is keyboard-first: ↑/↓ move a selection, Enter opens the task panel, Space ticks the task off, Esc clears the selection. Right-click any row for the everyday reschedules — Due Today / Tomorrow / Friday / Next Week / Clear — without opening the task.

Ticking a task anywhere gives the same feedback: the checkmark springs, a quiet pop sounds, the row strikes through in place, and a moment’s pause is your undo window before anything is sent.

Every task opens into a panel

Section titled “Every task opens into a panel”

Click any task row — on the Tasks page, the dashboard cards, or the matter workspace — for its detail panel: the full title (editable in place — click, type, Enter saves), the matter (click to open), due date, assignee, priority, and status. The task’s notes and checklist are shown too, with checklist items tickable right there; rows whose page carries notes show a small notes icon in every list.

A ⇄ button moves the task to a different matter, and reassignment is a menu — including deliberately un-assigning, which surfaces the task loudly in Waiting on Others.

Delegation and the bounce

Section titled “Delegation and the bounce”

Tasks you assign to someone else land on their My Tasks and your Waiting on Others — delegation is visible from both ends, and the assignee gets the standard “new task assigned to you” notification.

A delegated task shows Send back to whoever assigned it in its panel — one click for “done, check it” or “checked, back to you”. The bounce pauses on an editable title (the ask changes when a task changes hands — “prepare the workspace” becomes “check the workspace”) and an optional note that lands in the task’s notes, so the hand-back explains itself. If you rewrite the title, the original is kept as a note on the task. Bounced tasks arrive marked In review (when the Tasks database has that status option) with a small review badge, and the delegation swaps — the task now sits on your chase list.

On the matter

Section titled “On the matter”

Every linked matter’s Overview tab has a Tasks card: this matter’s tasks — everyone’s, not just yours — with the tick, the detail panel, and the full capture composer targeting that matter. Tasks appear the moment you add them.

Task rows everywhere show the matter as “000123 Pendragon” — number plus client — not a bare number.

Notifications and reminders

Section titled “Notifications and reminders”
  • New assignments — a macOS notification when a task is assigned to you (batched when several arrive at once; tapping opens the matter).
  • Due dates — a 9am local notification on the day a task falls due.

Your tasks on your iPhone

Section titled “Your tasks on your iPhone”

Switch on the mirror in Settings → Reminders and your open tasks appear in a “Certum” list in Apple Reminders — title, due date, priority, and the matter’s short label — carried to your iPhone and Watch by iCloud. Tick a reminder on any device and the real task completes in Notion; the reminder then tidies itself away.

Setup

Section titled “Setup”

Tasks need two things, both on Settings → Notion: the Tasks Database ID (the firm’s shared Tasks database — it travels in the Setup Pack, so a provisioned Mac arrives connected) and “I am” — which workspace person this Mac’s ticks and captures belong to. Identity is deliberately per-Mac and never travels in the pack; if it’s unset, the My Tasks card itself asks “Who are you?”. A Check Tasks Setup button validates the database schema and access.

Section titled “Related”