# Task Types

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/task-types

> Label tasks with the kind of work involved, such as Admin, Travel or Annual Leave, then report and export hours by type.

Task Types let you label each task with the kind of work it records, such as Admin, Travel, Team Meeting or Annual Leave. You create the list yourself, your team picks a type on each task, and the [Tasks Report](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/reports/tasks-report) and [Tasks Export](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/exports/tasks-export) then break time down by type.

Use Task Types when billable and unbillable are not enough to answer questions such as "how many hours did each coordinator spend on leave, training and admin this week?". A Task Type is only a label: it does not change whether a task is billable, its charges or how it is invoiced.

## How Task Types Work

1. The Account Owner turns on Task Types in **Optional Features**.
2. You add your types in **Settings > Tasks and Notes**. Astalty does not create any types for you.
3. Your team sets a type on each task from the Task Board, the task page or the **Create Task** form.
4. You review time by type in the Tasks Report, and download hours by type and team member in the Tasks Export.

Until at least one active type exists, the **Type** column and fields stay hidden on the Task Board and task forms, so turning the feature on changes nothing for your team until you are ready.

## Turning On Task Types

The Account Owner turns on Task Types:

1. Go to **Settings > Optional Features**.
2. On the **Task Types** card, select **Enable**.
3. Select **Enable Task Types**, then confirm.

![The Task Types optional feature page explaining that admins create, rename and archive types in Settings > Tasks and Notes, with an arrow pointing to the highlighted Enable Task Types button beside Back.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-enable-feature.png)

You can disable Task Types from the same card at any time. Your types, and the types already set on tasks, are kept and come back if you enable it again. See [Optional Features](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/optional-features#task-types).

## Adding Task Types

1. Open [**Settings > Tasks and Notes**](https://app.astalty.com.au/settings/tasks-notes) and find the **Task Types** table.
2. Select **Add Task Type**.
3. Enter a **Name**, then select **Create**. Each name can only be used once.

![The Tasks and Notes settings page with the Task Settings card showing Require a Task Type on every task set to Yes, and below it the Task Types table listing Admin, Annual Leave, Client Visit, Phone Call and Report Writing, with an arrow pointing to the highlighted Add Task Type button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-settings-list.png)

![The Create Task Type drawer with Personal Leave entered in the highlighted Name field.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-add-task-type.png)

The new type is available straight away wherever your team sets a type. Only people who can edit your organisation's settings can add, rename or archive types; everyone can choose them on a task.

To rename a type, open its actions menu, select **Edit**, change the **Name** and select **Update**. The new name shows on every task that already uses the type, including in reports and exports.

> **Plan your list around the questions you want answered**
>
> If you want a timesheet-style breakdown, add a type for each kind of time you need to total, for example Annual Leave, Personal Leave, Public Holiday, Training and Admin. Keep the list short enough that your team can pick the right type quickly.

## Requiring a Task Type

You can make your team choose a type on every new task:

1. In **Settings > Tasks and Notes**, select **Edit** on the **Task Settings** card.
2. Under **Task Types**, turn on **Require a Task Type on every task**.
3. Select **Update**.

![The Task Settings drawer with the Require a Task Type on every task switch turned on and highlighted under the Task Types heading, below the Assignment Notifications and Service Utilisation Cut-off settings.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-require-setting.png)

When this is on, the **Type** field is marked as required, and a task cannot be created or cloned in Astalty without a type. Your team also cannot clear the type from a task that has one; they can only change it to another active type. Tasks created before you turned it on keep no type until someone sets one.

The requirement only applies while you have at least one active type. It does not apply to tasks created by the AI assistant, from the Support Worker app, the Outlook add-in or the public API, or from an Astalty calendar event, so those tasks can still arrive without a type.

## Setting a Type on a Task

Your team can set or change a task's type in each of these places:

- **Task Board:** the **Type** column. Select **Set Type**, or the current type name, and choose a type. Select **Clear Task Type** to remove it. The **Add a new Task** row has its own **Set Type** button for the task you are about to add. See [Task Board](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/customising-your-task-board-view).
- **Task page:** the **Type** field in the right-hand panel. The change saves straight away. See [Task View](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/task-view).
- **Create Task form:** the **Type** field. See [Creating Tasks](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/creating-tasks).
- **Cloning a task:** the copy keeps the original task's type, as long as that type is still active.

![The Task Board for Monday 9th November with the Set Type menu open on the Plan review with Elena Marchetti task, listing Admin, Annual Leave, Client Visit, Phone Call, Report Writing and Staff Meeting, highlighted.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-task-board.png)

![A task page for Plan review with Brendon Bins with the required Type field set to Phone Call highlighted in the right-hand panel, below Participant and Date.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-task-view.png)

![The Create Task form with the required Type field highlighted below Primary Charge Item and Duration, showing Select...](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-create-task.png)

Only active types are offered. If a task already has an archived type, it keeps showing that type until someone changes it.

## Archiving a Task Type

Archive a type you no longer want your team to choose. You cannot delete a type, because past tasks still use it.

1. In the **Task Types** table, open the type's actions menu and select **Archive**.
2. Confirm.

An archived type is no longer offered when anyone creates or edits a task. Tasks that already use it keep it, and it still appears in the Tasks Report filter and the Tasks Export, so your history stays complete.

To bring an archived type back, change the table's **Status** filter to **Archived** or **All**, open the type's actions menu and select **Unarchive**.

![The Task Types table with the Status filter set to All, showing Legacy Intake marked Archived, and its actions menu open with Unarchive highlighted below Edit.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-archived.png)

## Reviewing Time by Task Type

The [Tasks Report](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/reports/tasks-report#report-columns) shows a **Task Type** column, and its **Task Type** filter narrows the report to one or more types, or to **No Task Type**. Combine it with the **Team Member** filter and the date range to see, for example, every Annual Leave task one coordinator recorded last month. The Total Billable Hours and Total Unbillable Hours cards update to match.

![The Tasks report for 2 - 8 Nov 2026 filtered to 3 team members, with the Task Type column highlighted showing Travel, Client Visit, Admin, Phone Call, Legacy Intake and Team Meeting against each task.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/task-types-tasks-report.png)

## Exporting Hours by Task Type

When Task Types is on, the Excel [Tasks Export](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/exports/tasks-export#task-type-sheets) adds a **Task Type** column to its **Tasks** sheet, and two more sheets:

- **By Task Type** lists each team member's task count and hours for every type they used.
- **Hours By Task Type** has one row per team member, with a column of hours for each type, then their billable, non-billable and total hours.

Set **From** and **To** to a single week, and the **Hours By Task Type** sheet works as a weekly timesheet for each team member.

> **Tick Include Unbillable to count leave and other unbillable time**
>
> The Tasks Export includes billable tasks only unless you tick **Include Unbillable**. Leave, training and internal meetings are usually recorded as unbillable tasks, so leave it unticked and those hours are missing from both task type sheets.