How to Share Google Tasks

What Google offers

How to share Google Tasks with Google's own tools

Google Tasks has no option to share a list: its help page on lists covers creating, switching, renaming and reordering them, with no step for sharing. What Google's help documents instead is shared tasks: tasks you create in a Google Chat space or a Google Doc and assign to someone, which then show up in that person's own Google Tasks.

So these methods share single tasks, not whole lists. Here is how each one works, and where it stops.

Assign a task in a Google Chat space

Open a space in Google Chat, click Tasks at the top right, then Add task to space (on a phone, use the Tasks tab). Anyone in the space can add a task there and assign it to a member. The task appears in that person's own Google Tasks, in their default list, and on their Google Calendar if it has a date and time. Spaces are available for personal accounts too, and assigning tasks is one of the things they do.

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Thursday, Oct 9

You (via Tasks)Oct 9, 6:35 PM

Created a task for @Maya Chen (via Tasks)

Book the venue

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Add task to space

Book the venue

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Add dateSearch

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Maya Chen

maya.chen@example.com

Completed (1)

Order 200 raffle tickets

Completed: Thu, Oct 9

AAssigned to you

Limits of tasks in a Chat space

Only members of the space can be assignees, so invite someone to the space before you assign them a task. Shared tasks can't have subtasks and can't repeat. The assignee can edit the task from their own list, and the change reaches everyone in the space. Deleting a task in the space deletes it for everyone, including from the assignee's list.

Assign a checklist item in a Google Doc

On an eligible Google Workspace (work or school) account, you can assign a checklist item in a Google Doc as a task, to yourself or to someone in your organization: click Add to Tasks beside the item, enter the assignee, then Add. Give the assignee edit access to the doc. Personal Google accounts don't have this.

Launch checklist

• Write the announcement
• Update the pricing page
• Brief the support team

Add to Tasks

Update the pricing page

Assignee

Maya Chen

Date

Fri, 24 Oct

Add

Workarounds

How to share a Google Tasks list today: four workarounds

None of these turns a Google Tasks list into a shared one. Three move the list somewhere that can be shared or hand someone a copy; the shared account is here as a warning.

1. A shared Google Keep list, for a household

Make the list in Google Keep, click Collaborator and add people by name or email. Collaborators can edit the list along with you. With a Google family group, you can share a note with the whole family at once. The list lives in Keep, separate from your Google Tasks.

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Collaborators

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  alex.rivera@example.com
• MC
  Maya Chen

  maya.chen@example.com
• Person or email to share with

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2. A shared checklist in Google Docs

Make a checklist in a Google Doc (Format > Bullets & numbering > Checklist) and share the doc with everyone who should edit it. A shared spreadsheet with a column for what's done works the same way. Either one stays outside Google Tasks: only on an eligible work or school account can a doc's checklist items be assigned as tasks, and only to people in the same organization.

3. One Google account for everyone (don't)

You could sign everyone into the same Google account so they all see the same lists. It's a bad idea: sharing the account shares everything in it, from Gmail and Drive to Photos and every other Google service, and anyone signed in can change its password and lock the others out.

4. Print or export a copy

To hand someone a one-off copy, print the list from List options > Print list, or export your Tasks with Google Takeout. Both are snapshots: nothing you change afterwards follows.

Side by side

Ways to share Google Tasks, compared

Every row above in one table. “Real-time” means an edit by one person reaches the others without copying anything by hand.

Ways to share Google Tasks, compared: whether each shares a whole list, syncs edits, works on personal accounts, where the list lives, and what it costs

Method	Shares a whole list?	Real-time?	Works on personal accounts?	Where the list lives	Cost
Chat space task	No. Single tasks, assigned one at a time	Yes. An edit reaches everyone in the space	Yes	The space's Tasks panel, and the assignee's default Google Tasks list	Free
Docs checklist assignment	No. Single checklist items	Yes. The doc and Google Tasks sync both ways	No. Eligible Workspace plans only	The doc, and the assignee's default Google Tasks list	Included in eligible Workspace plans
Keep list	Yes, but a Keep list, not a Google Tasks list	Yes. Collaborators edit the same list	Yes	Google Keep	Free
Docs or Sheets checklist	Yes, but as a document	Yes. Everyone with edit access edits the same file	Yes	Google Docs or Sheets	Free
Shared account (don't)	Yes, every list in the account	Yes. It's one account	Yes	The one account everyone signs into, with its Gmail, Drive and Photos	Free, at the cost of everything in the account
KiteTasks (planned)	Yes. A Google Tasks list, shared from KiteTasks	Planned	Planned	Google Tasks, through KiteTasks	To be announced before launch

The KiteTasks row is the plan, not a release: shared lists are in development.

Which one?

Which one should I use?

It depends on who you share with and what accounts they have.

• HouseholdShared Keep list
• Workspace teamAssign in a Google Doc
• Mixed personal accountsChat space
• One list everyone editsKiteTasks beta

Which way to share Google Tasks fits which group

Scenario	Recommended approach
A household, partner or family	A shared Google Keep list, shared with your family group
A team on Google Workspace	Assign checklist items in a Google Doc
A mix of personal accounts: friends, a club, volunteers	A Google Chat space, with tasks assigned to its members
One Google Tasks list that everyone edits	KiteTasks shared lists: join the beta for early access

Not sharing

Things that look like they share Google Tasks but don't

Four features people try first. Each shares something, just not your task lists.

Troubleshooting

When sharing a task doesn't work

The four questions that come up most, with what Google's help pages say.

Questions about sharing Google Tasks

Can you share Google Tasks?

Not a whole list: Google Tasks has no option to share one. You can share single tasks instead: create a task in a Google Chat space or a Google Doc and assign it to someone, and it appears in that person's own Google Tasks. Assigning from a Google Doc needs an eligible work or school account.

How do I share a Google Tasks list?

Google Tasks has no option for it. For one list that several people can edit, use another Google tool: share a Google Keep list with collaborators, or share a Google Doc that holds a checklist. Both live outside Google Tasks.

Which should I use to share tasks: Keep, Chat, Docs or KiteTasks?

For a household, partner or family, share a Google Keep list, with your family group if you have one. For a team on Google Workspace, assign checklist items in a Google Doc. For a mix of personal accounts, such as friends, a club or volunteers, use a Google Chat space and assign tasks to its members. For one Google Tasks list that everyone edits, KiteTasks shared lists are in development: join the beta for early access.

Can I share Google Tasks with my family?

Google Tasks isn't among the family features Google lists. A Google family group gets a shared family calendar and shared Google Keep notes and lists, so for a household to-do list, share a Google Keep list with your family group.

If I share my Google Calendar, can people see my tasks?

Sharing your Google Calendar does not share your task lists. Tasks without a start and end time are always private. Tasks with a start and end time stay private by default too, unless you give someone the “Make changes and see event details” permission or higher on your calendar, or change that task's visibility.

Does Add to Tasks in Gmail share the task?

No. Add to Tasks in Gmail and Google Chat turns an email or a message into a task in your own Google Tasks. Nobody else sees it.

Is there an @task shortcut in Google Docs for sharing tasks?

Only on an eligible work or school Google Workspace account: typing @task in a Google Doc, or clicking Add to Tasks beside a checklist item, creates a task you can assign to someone in your organization, one item at a time. Personal Google accounts have checklists in Docs but no task assignment.

How do I assign a task to someone in Google Tasks?

From a Google Chat space: open the space's Tasks panel, add a task and choose a member of the space as the assignee. Spaces are available for personal accounts too, and assigning tasks is one of the things they do. The task appears in that person's Google Tasks, in their default list. On an eligible work or school account, you can also assign a checklist item in a Google Doc to someone in your organization. Shared tasks can't have subtasks or repeat.

Why can't my collaborator see the task I assigned?

In a Google Chat space, only members of the space can be assignees, so invite the person to the space first. The task goes into their default Google Tasks list, not a list you choose. From a Google Doc, the assignee has to be in your organization and needs edit access to the doc.

Why did an assigned Google Tasks task disappear?

Deleting a task in a Google Chat space deletes it for everyone in the space, including from the assignee's own list, and reporting an assigned task as spam removes it from the assignee's list too. Leaving the space doesn't delete the task: Google's help says it stays in the space and in the assignee's list.

Why doesn't an assigned task show up on my phone?

Shared tasks go into your default list in Google Tasks, so open that list in the Google Tasks app, or the space's Tasks tab in the Google Chat app. You can move the task to another list afterwards. A task with a date and time also appears on your Google Calendar.

Why can't I assign a task from the Tasks sidebar in Gmail?

The Google Tasks side panel in Gmail and Google Calendar has no assignee field. Google's help describes assigning tasks only from a Google Chat space or a Google Doc, so create the task there instead.

Can KiteTasks share Google Tasks lists?

Not yet. KiteTasks is a Mac app for Google Tasks, available now as a one-time purchase. Sharing a Google Tasks list with the people you work, study or live with is in development, with no release date yet. You can join the shared-lists beta for early access.