When you have complex tasks that you perform often, it can become quite a headache to recreate them every time. Instead, use templates to create complicated tasks in seconds. Here are four approaches to choose from depending on your specific needs.

You can copy a task and move it to a new queue all in one step with the copy to queue function. It’s especially useful for checklists and templates, and it makes duplicating tasks with subtasks a breeze!

To copy a task to a new queue, hold down the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (Windows) while you click and drag the task to the desired queue.

A notice will appear indicating that you are making a copy of the task. Drop the task on the desired queue. A copy will be created there, with the original remaining in place!

Try creating a queue just for your templates or checklists you use often. Whenever you need a new one, copy the desired task template to the right queue all in one go.

Even simple tasks are useful to duplicate. For instance, if you have multiple tasks with almost the exact same name, you can create several copies at once. Then you can go through and make the minor edits, saving you lots of time.

To duplicate a task, click the more button and choose Duplicate Task from the dropdown menu.

Select the number of copies to make, and click Create Tasks.

The copies will be created which you can then modify as necessary.

If a task has subtasks, when you click the duplicate icon you will have the option to duplicate open subtasks as well. This is particularly useful for creating templates for sets of tasks you repeat often.

❗️Please Note: When duplicating tasks with subtasks you can only make one copy at a time.

You can then modify the copy as necessary.

Sometimes a single task won’t cut it. For more complex scenarios that happen on a regular basis, you can duplicate entire queues.

Maybe you have a process you need to follow every time you take on a new client, or you want to copy the same procedure for the annual gala. Having a template queue to duplicate can make those processes much simpler.

To duplicate a queue, choose Duplicate from its dropdown menu in the left-hand panel.

The Quick Add Window takes templates to the next level. You don’t need to waste space with tasks and queues preset with filler information awaiting to be copied, or worry about duplicating a complex task after you’ve already marked some of the subtasks complete. Instead, you can have one queue just for holding your task templates, and the Quick Add Window does the rest.

Click on the Quick Add button or press q to open the Quick Add Window.

Once open, you can type out all the tasks and subtasks you need using GQueues’ Quick Add Syntax.

Before you click Save, make sure to copy the text within the Quick Add Window. Then create a new task in your Quick Add Template Queue and paste it in the task notes. Then when you need to make a copy of that task, just copy from the notes and paste into the Quick Add Window!

This is super handy for complicated tasks that need to be repeated often, but not necessarily on a set schedule, and/or require cooperation from multiple team members.

Have even more complex workflows you want to use often? Try creating a template team! This lets you combine multiple template queues and template tasks. Once you have your template team set up the way you want it, it can be reused whenever you have an iteration of that project come up.

When you're ready to use it, create a new team from scratch. During the setup phase, you'll be asked if you want to import data from your account. Choose the queues from your template team. Just make sure you click Import so the original copy remains in your template team. And you're done!

The method above will only copy over data in the queues themselves, not any data for the team as a whole. To bring over team tags too, you'll need to export the template team and then import a copy of it into your account.

Open the team settings and export all team data. Make sure you don't modify the file or open it in Excel, Sheets, or other data applications. Then go to your general GQueues settings in the Import/Export tab and import that csv backup file. Voila! A copy of all your queues, tasks, and tags from your template team will populate in a new team, which you can rename and edit as necessary, while the template remains untouched to use later on 😄

👉 Pro Tip: For inspiration on how to organize your work, check out our Template Gallery! They're a great resource of anyone looking for different ways to set up GQueues, and if you're a BUSINESS user, you can import full, ready-made template teams for a variety of uses!