#509 How to hide (but not delete) items?
Hi,
Short question
How do I hide a completed task but retain a record of it in the software for audit purposes?
Best I can figure out: Export to HTML file each time; then delete.
Long version here is my use case.
I'm a nurse in a clinic. I need a way to track expiring medications which we keep in stock for various purposes. I've been using a spreadsheet + outlook reminders but it's not ideal.
I exported the existing spreadsheet to CSV and imported it to Task Coach (worked perfectly).
Say my lidocaine is expiring August 31, 2019.
- Subect: Lidocaine 1% 1mL plastiamps
- Category: Procedure supply drawer #2 (I'm going to use "category" as location)
- Actual due date: August 31 2019
- Started date: August 15, 2019 (I place an order with the pharmacy)
- Completion date: August 25, 2019 (the lidocaine arrives and I replace old stock with new stock)
- Copy/paste item and update new due date to March 30 2022 (exp date of new item)
After August 25, I only want to see the new item. Otherwise the program will soo be filled with irrelevant and discarded items.
With the spreadsheet, I would duplicate the sheet each time I updated it, strikethough format discarded items, and print a copy to put in a binder (this business is not is not comfortable enough with technology to have digital-only). Then next time I would delete the strikethroughed items. But the record remains in the previous sheets. Every year I start the workbook fresh.
I am the only person in charge of this. No collaboaration or other users will be involved other than once every year or two I have to show that I've been doing it.
Hope this makes sense!
Well, the short answer is to just visually hide completed items. I personally hide them by default (and just delete ones I don't even care to keep on record incidentally).
Under the View menu, Filter, choose "Hide completed tasks".
You can show them again if you need to check something.
Incidentally, there's a quick button in the toolbar for switching between hide/show completed items, and you can even shift-click it to show only completed items. You can also use the gear to add hide/show buttons for the other states too.
If you end up with so many completed tasks that you want to just export them to a new file for backup and clear them out, there's a file menu option to save selected tasks to a new file.
Let me know if that fully answers your question! Cheers
Last edit: Aaron Wolf 2019-08-01
Note I edited to add an extra point about toolbar buttons (in case you only read the answer by email and that doesn't show)
closing as answered
btw, if you are on Linux, excited to tell you that https://github.com/taskcoach/taskcoach now has updated Python3 Task Coach packages for Debian and Ubuntu based systems, you can try the AppImage, but I'm using the .deb options and everything is working for me.
If you are on other OS's, we hope to get to packaging for them eventually