Tasks from a PDF comment

Turn a comment in a PDF into a task, and get back to the exact place in the document with one click or tap.

Make a task from a comment

Open a PDF attached to a task or to a note, and open a comment on it.
Click or tap the task circle beside the trash button on the comment's card.

In a PDF attached to a task, the comment becomes a subtask of that task. In a PDF attached to a note, it becomes a task of that note.

Either way, the new task is named after the comment's words, the highlighted words go into its description, and it gets a due date like any new task. The name is copied once: editing the comment later does not rename the task.

A filled circle means the comment is already a task. Tapping it again asks before taking the task away.

Tip: Write @ and a name in the comment to assign the task to someone. If nobody answers to that name yet, choose Add Person "…" under the field. See People.

Go back to the comment

Each task made from a comment has a document button. Click or tap it to open the PDF at the comment, with the comment's card open. For a note's PDF, the note opens and the PDF with it.

The task's page or form also has a From a Comment in a PDF row, with the highlighted words, the file and the page. Click or tap it to open the PDF at the comment.

The way back is kept inside the PDF itself, so it survives saving, syncing and the file leaving the app. If the comment has since been deleted, the PDF opens on its page and searches for its words. If the PDF has been removed from the note, the app tells you.

In the PDF's list of annotations, a comment that is a task carries the task's circle — empty while the task is open, ticked once it is done.

The comment's card shows a single colored dot beside the task circle, the trash button and Done. Tap the dot to choose another color. Turn the iPhone sideways to see all six colors in a row.

Work with subtasks

On the task's card, subtasks sit under their parent as cards of their own, and the parent shows a count such as 2/5.

In the Tasks list, the count on a parent is a button: click or tap it to show the open subtasks under their parent, and again to put them away. An open subtask that is due today or late also appears in its own group, with its parent's name under it. Finished subtasks appear under their parent only when Show Completed is on.

Add a subtask by hand

On the task's page or form, go to the Subtasks section.
Choose + Add Subtask and type its name.
Press Return to start the next subtask right under it. Press Return on an empty one to finish.

A subtask left without a name is removed. A subtask can't have subtasks of its own.

Finish or delete a task with subtasks

Ticking off a parent while a subtask is still open asks: Complete All, or This Task Only.
Deleting a parent asks: Delete Task and Subtasks, or Delete Task, Keep Subtasks. Kept subtasks become tasks of their own.
Ticking off the last subtask does not tick off its parent.

A task with no open subtasks asks nothing.

Note: On the Apple Watch and in Shortcuts, nothing asks: deleting a parent keeps its subtasks as tasks of their own, and ticking a parent off leaves its subtasks open. The watch shows subtasks under their parent and lets you tick them off, but you can't make subtasks there.