Introduction

AccuTask is a user-friendly and easy-to-learn complete project management tool, but if you want to get up and running with the system in no time at all, this Quickstart will help you.

Creating an AccuTask Account

Before everything else, you need to set up an AccuTask account.

1. Go to https://www.accutask.com, and click the Start Free Trial button on the topmost right.
2. On the registration page, enter your email address, then click Next.
3. Check your mailbox and confirm your email address on the next page by entering the six-digit confirmation code from AccuTask.
4. Complete your profile by entering your business name, contact name, account alias, and password.
5. Click Next to log on to your AccuTask account.

The AccuTask Main Page

We’ve made every effort to make the AccuTask UI easy to navigate and understand. The AccuTask UI comprises the 1) Dashboard, 2) Main menu, 3) the Quick menu, and the 4) Search bar.

The Dashboard

When you log on to AccuTask, the first thing you’ll see is your Dashboard, which displays a quick overview of your account.

At the top of the Dashboard, there is a row of color-coded boxes with the number of active projects, open tasks, support tickets, upcoming events, companies, and contacts in your account. Since your account is new, these boxes are all set to 0.

To the left of the boxes is the Select Project list, which, by default, is set to display information on All Projects. Any new projects that you create will appear on this list. Select a specific project to view its details.

The bottom of the Dashboard is divided into three columns.

On the leftmost is the Tasks column, which in turn is divided into a top and bottom section.

The top section displays the number of your tasks that are late, have been started, currently due, with upcoming due dates, and have no due dates as yet. The bottom section displays the number of all tasks (not only your own) that are late, have been started, currently due, with upcoming due dates, and have no due dates as yet. All tasks, including yours, are set to 0. These will change once you start assigning tasks and/or get task assignments.

The column in the bottom-middle displays a digest of all the billable and non-billable hours in your account. These hours are also set to 0, at least for now. They will be populated with actual billable and non-billable hours once you and your users start using the system and charging for your time.

On the bottom-right column, your To-Dos and latest activities are displayed on separate lists. These are all empty until you start using the system for your todos and other activities.

When you navigate away from the dashboard, you can always go back to it by clicking the AccuTask icon on the topmost left.

The Main Menu

The Main menu on the left side of the AccuTask main page is where you can access almost everything you can do in AccuTask. The menu has eight (8) options, namely:

• Add New Activity
• Dashboard
• Work
• CRM
• Administration
• Time Tracker
• Help
• Profile

The currently active menu option is denoted by a white line on the left.

Add New Activity

The Add New Activity menu option is used to create new projects, tasks, tickets, events, discussions, and users.

There are other options within AccuTask with identical functions, but this is the most direct one for adding new activities to your account. You might need to perform additional setup activities first before you can start using this feature. When an option on the Add New Activity menu is clicked, a new window is opened. For more information, see Adding a New Activity.

Dashboard

By default, your Dashboard is displayed when you log on to AccuTask. For more information, see The DashBoard.

Work

The Work menu option displays links to the Projects, Tasks, Tickets, Events, Calendar, Timeline, Discussions, Files, and Reports pages in AccuTask. When a link that appears on this menu option is clicked, the appropriate page is displayed in the space where the Dashboard can be seen.

CRM

The CRM menu option displays links to the Companies and Contacts maintenance pages in AccuTask. When a link that appears on this menu option is clicked, the appropriate page is displayed in the space where the Dashboard can be seen.

Administration

The Administration menu option displays links to the Activities, Data Import/Export, Users, Teams, and Account pages in AccuTask. When a link that appears on this menu option is clicked, the appropriate page is displayed in the space where the Dashboard can be seen.

Time Tracker

The Time Tracker menu option allows tracking of time spent working on a specific project and task.

Help

The Help menu options displays links to our Support Page and Blog.

Profile

The Profile menu option is where you manage your profile, invite new users to join you in your AccuTask workspace, upgrade your account, seek help from AccuTask Support, and log off from your AccuTask account.

The Quick Menu

The Quick menu contains links to the Projects, Tasks, and Tickets pages in AccuTask. It also has links to your Messages and Notifications pages, and a button to toggle your browser to full-screen mode. When you have unread messages and notifications, their numbers are superimposed on the Messages and Notifications icons.

The Search Bar

The Search bar allows you to search your AccuTask account for specific projects, tasks, tickets, and other activities. To search your AccuTask account, enter the search term on the box, then click the Search icon.

Adding a New Project

After creating an account, you can go ahead and add a new project to your account.

1. On the Main menu, click Add New Activity>New Project.

   

2. On the Create a Project window, leave the default category and type as-is, then enter a title and description for the project. You can define categories, types and other project settings later.

   

3. Click Create. Not only does this create the project but it also creates a notification. The notification icon then shows 1 superimposed on it, denoting that there’s one (1) unread notification.

Adding a Task to a Project

Next, you will need to add a task to the project.

1. On the Main menu, click Add New Activity>New Task.

   

2. On the New Task window, select the project to be added with a task.
3. Leave the project category as Uncategorized for now.
4. By default, the task type is set to Task. Leave this as-is for now. Bug and Story are the other task types.

   

5. Select a priority for the task. Tasks are prioritized as Low, Medium, or High.
6. Enter a title or name for the task.
7. Optionally, you may enter a description for the task.
8. Leave the Assign to line blank, since you haven’t added other team members to your project yet.
9. Pick a start and due date for the task from the calendar.
10. When you pick a due date in Step 9, a Does it repeat? button appears at the bottom. Leave this toggled off for now.
11. Click Save. Repeat Steps 1-10 to add more tasks to the project.

Adding Users to a Workspace

Now that you have set up a project and created several tasks under the project, the next thing to do is assign the tasks to project members. Before you can do this, you need to add users to your AccuTask workspace.

There are two ways to add a user to your workspace:

• Directly add a User
• Send an Invitation Email

To Directly Add a User

1. On the Main menu, click Administration>Users.

   

2. On the User Settings page, the Users tab is selected by default. Click Add New User.
3. On the Add New User page, enter the user’s name and email address, then click Add.

   

4. AccuTask sends an email containing a link to the Login page of your workspace to the email address you entered in Step 3. The user clicks the link, then enters their email address and password (also included in the email notification) to create their AccuTask account and log on to your workspace.

To Invite a User to a Workspace

1. On the Main menu, click Administration>Users.

   

2. On the User Settings page, click the Invitation tab, then Invite New User.
3. On the Invite New User page, enter the user’s email address, then click Invite.

   

4. AccuTask sends an email invitation to the email address you entered in Step 3. The email contains a link to the Create AccuTask Account page. The user clicks the link to go to the page and create their AccuTask account. Once the user confirms the creation of their AccuTask account, they can log on to AccuTask.

Assigning Users to a Project

Now that there are other users in your workspace, you need to add them to a project first before you can assign them tasks under the project.

1. Click either Work>Projects on the Main menu or Projects on the Quick menu.

   

2. On the Projects page, select a project from the list.

   

3. On the Project Details page, click the Settings tab.

   

4. Browse to the Member Settings section near the bottom, then select the user to be assigned to the project from the list.

   

5. Click Add. The user then appears on the list of project members. To add more users, repeat Steps 1-4.
6. To allow AccuTask to correctly compute project costs, click Edit (or the Pencil icon to the right of the member name), then on the Permissions & Hourly Rate window, enter the hourly rate for the user before clicking Save.

   

Assigning a Task to a Project Member

After assigning users to the project, you may now assign project tasks to the user. You can assign a task to a project member via the Projects or the Tasks pages.

To Assign a Task from the Projects Page

1. Click either Work>Projects on the Main menu, or Projects on the Quick menu.

   

2. On the Projects page, select a project from the list.

   

3. On the Project Details page, click the Tasks tab.
4. Under the Tasks tab, click the task to be assigned from the list.

   

5. On the Task Details window, assign the task to the user, then click Save.

   

To Assign a Task from the Tasks Page

1. Click either Work>Tasks on the Main menu or Tasks on the Quick menu.

   

2. On the Tasks page, select the project, then click the project task to be assigned from the list.

   

3. On the Task Details window, assign the task to the user, then click Save.

   

Summary

In this QuickStart guide, you learned the minimum steps to get up and running with AccuTask.

To know more about AccuTask and its extensive project management features, feel free to explore our comprehensive knowledge base.