Task Management: Status, Search, and Bulk Operations
Once you get comfortable with conversations, tasks pile up—last week's report, yesterday's meeting notes, the test task from just now, all stacked in the sidebar. This page explains WorkBuddy task management clearly: how to quickly find old tasks, understand the six statuses, and archive or delete in bulk—10 minutes to turn your task list from a "running log" into a "workbench."
This is lesson 2 of "Daily Use," based on WorkBuddy v5.9.3, following the official "Task Management" documentation.
- Haven't gotten your first task running yet? Go back to 1.4 Your First Task: From One Sentence to a Deliverable
- Want an overview of this stage first? Go back to 2.0 Daily Use
What You'll Be Able to Do After This Lesson
- Explain how the left "Tasks / Spaces" sections are each organized, and know that groups automatically show and hide based on tasks
- Use filters (status/date) and global search (⌘K / Ctrl+K) to locate a target among dozens of tasks in 10 seconds
- Understand the six task statuses and the four sidebar badges, and find the one most worth handling by priority
- Hover over "⋯" or right-click to open the task menu, and find the right entry for pin, rename, archive, and share in one go
- Enter bulk operation mode, use the X / E / Delete shortcuts to bulk check, archive, and delete, with a count confirmation dialog before deletion
Your Current Struggles
- That "sales data report" task from last week—you scrolled through three screens of the sidebar without finding it, so you had to re-describe the background and start a new one
- One task failed last night, and another sat there waiting for confirmation—I never noticed, and only found out the next day that I'd waited all night for nothing
- You've accumulated twenty-some scrapped test tasks, deleting them one by one until your hand ached, and you nearly deleted the one that was still running
When to Use This Technique
When you need to:
- Quickly find a task among ever-growing historical tasks and pick it back up
- See at a glance which tasks failed and which are waiting for your confirmation, so tasks don't quietly fall apart
- Regularly tidy up the list: pin the frequently used, archive the ones you don't look at, delete the ones you don't want
And you don't want to:
- Re-describe the background every time and start an identical task all over again
- Let scrapped tasks pile up in the list forever, making it slower and slower to scroll
- Open the menu and delete one by one until your hand aches
🎒 Preparation Before Starting
- Completed 2.0 Daily Use: Make WorkBuddy Your Work Companion, and gotten 1.4 Your First Task running
- Have 3–5 old tasks on hand you can freely experiment with—if that's not enough, quickly create a few for practice
- 10 minutes of reading time
💡 Does it cost credits?
Official rule: all conversations consume credits. The search, filtering, archiving, and deletion in this lesson are management operations that don't start conversations; only re-entering an old task and sending more messages consumes credits like a normal conversation. See 2.6 Credits and Pricing for the rules.
Core Idea
WorkBuddy task management mental model: the task list is not a dumping ground for chat history, but a "searchable, status-aware, organizable" workbench. Three key concepts:
| Concept | Meaning | Corresponding Operations |
|---|---|---|
| Two-section organization | "Tasks" lays out by recent activity, "Spaces" groups by workspace | Click a card to enter the task |
| Visible status | Six task statuses + four sidebar badges, aggregated by priority when collapsed | Locate via filters and aggregated badges |
| Menu as operations | Hover over "⋯" or right-click to bring up all management actions, with bulk support | Pin, archive, delete |
It's not the same thing as the AI conversation lists you've used:
| Traditional AI conversation list | WorkBuddy Task list |
|---|---|
| A row of titles, scrolled by eye | Tasks/Spaces sections + status filters + global search |
| Can only search the conversations themselves | Four types of content are searchable: tasks, spaces, artifacts, knowledge base |
| Deletion only one at a time | Bulk checking + keyboard shortcuts + count confirmation |
| Deleted means gone for good | Archived items are kept and viewable; deletion carries an explicit "irrecoverable" warning |
Follow Along
Step 1: Get to Know the "Tasks / Spaces" Sections of WorkBuddy Task Management
Why: Before finding tasks, first know where tasks live and how the lists change.
The left sidebar is your task ledger, divided into two sections:
| Section | What it shows | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks | Recently accessed or recently updated tasks; each card shows the task title, current status, and last update time or creation time | Quickly getting back to the work at hand |
| Spaces | Tasks organized by workspace, letting you view historical tasks for a project in one place | Reviewing all tasks of a specific project |
The lists adjust dynamically based on the number of tasks; two rules are worth remembering:
- Only projects with tasks are shown: projects without tasks are not displayed; a group appears automatically once a task is added, and hides automatically once all its tasks are deleted
- Groups are collapsed by default: groups (including folders within spaces) show only some tasks by default; click "View more" to expand all, and after expanding, click "Collapse" at the end of the group to fold it back
Click a task card to go directly to its conversation and results page; if you keep sending messages in an existing task, WorkBuddy will continue processing based on the previous context—this is covered in detail in Step 4.
You should see: in the "Tasks" section on the left, every task card carries a title, status, and time.
- I can explain how the "Tasks" and "Spaces" sections are each organized
Step 2: Use filters and global search to quickly locate tasks
Why: Once tasks pile up, scanning the list by eye is inefficient; WorkBuddy provides two locating tools—"Filter" and "Search"—at the top left of the window.
Filter—narrow things down within the current list. Click the "Filter" button to open the panel:
| Filter method | Purpose |
|---|---|
| By status | For example, in progress, completed, failed, etc. |
| By date | View tasks within a specified time range |
| Reset filters | Clear all conditions and restore the unfiltered task list |
Global search—find content across tasks, spaces, artifacts, and the knowledge base. Click the "Search" button, or simply press ⌘K / Ctrl+K:
- After entering a keyword, you stay on the "All" page by default; matched keywords are highlighted, and a persistent shortcut hint bar sits at the bottom
- When no keyword is entered, the "All" page shows recent browsing history in reverse chronological order—handy to use as "recently used"
- When there are no matching results, it shows "No related results found"
Search results fall into four categories:
| Category | What it shows | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks | Matching tasks | Click to open the task |
| Spaces | Matching spaces | — |
| Artifacts | Matching artifacts | Supports further filtering by file type |
| Knowledge base | Titles and body text of knowledge base objects | Matches are highlighted; click to jump to the knowledge base preview page |
The "All" page groups results from the four categories; when a group has more results, click "View all" at the end of the group to enter that category. Click any result, and WorkBuddy navigates to the corresponding location in the navigation and content, briefly highlighting the match.
Shortcuts inside the search window:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ↑ / ↓ | Move the selected result up or down |
| Enter | Open the currently selected result |
| ⌃+Tab (Mac, the Control key, not ⌘) / Ctrl+Tab (Windows) | Switch category |
| Esc | Close the global search window |
For jumping quickly between tasks, there are also three basic shortcuts (⌘ on Mac, Ctrl on Windows):
| Shortcut (Mac) | Shortcut (Windows) | Action |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘+K | Ctrl+K | Open global search |
| ⌘+Shift+E | Ctrl+Shift+E | Locate the current task |
| ⌘+[ / ⌘+] | Ctrl+[ / Ctrl+] | Switch to the previous / next task |
To change the default key bindings: click the avatar at the bottom of the left sidebar → Settings > Shortcut settings. Shortcuts for some actions are also shown directly when you hover over the corresponding entry point.
You should see: pressing ⌘K / Ctrl+K opens the search window; type a word from an old task's title, that task appears in the results with the keyword highlighted.
- I used global search to find an old task and opened it with Enter
Step 3: Understand the six task statuses and the sidebar status markers
Why: Status is the dashboard of the task list—check statuses before acting, and don't let a failed task sit unattended for a week.
Tasks have six statuses during execution and management:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| In progress | WorkBuddy is executing the task |
| Completed | The task has finished executing |
| Failed | A problem occurred during execution and the task did not complete |
| Pending | The task is waiting for further processing or input |
| Planning | WorkBuddy is analyzing the requirements and organizing an execution plan |
| Archived | The task has been archived for later reference |
In addition, four common "needs your attention" status markers are displayed on the right side of task rows on the left:
| Marker | Description |
|---|---|
| In progress | The task is currently executing |
| Completed, unread | The task is completed, but the results have not been viewed yet |
| Failed | The task failed to execute; the icon is a red exclamation mark; the marker disappears after you view the task |
| Awaiting confirmation | The task has stopped to wait for your confirmation or additional information |
Aggregated markers—collapsed groups report only the single most important thing. When the "Pinned", "Tasks", or "Spaces" groups (as well as folders within spaces) are collapsed, the task statuses inside that need attention are aggregated level by level and shown on the right of the title row, displaying only the highest-priority one:
Awaiting confirmation > Completed, unread > Failed > In progress
It is not displayed when there are no tasks in these four states under the layer; archived tasks are not included in the aggregation. Clicking the aggregation icon expands the corresponding group and jumps directly to the first task with a status—keep clicking through them, and you can bring the count of "abandoned" tasks down to zero.
You should see: run a new task, and the card status changes from "Planning" to "In Progress", then to "Completed" when it finishes; if you don't open it to view the result, the sidebar will keep showing the "Completed, unread" badge.
- I can state the priority order of the aggregation badges and have used the aggregation icon to jump to a task with a status
Step 4: Keep working on existing tasks, continuing with the context
Why: The official position—tasks that are completed, failed, or temporarily interrupted can all be re-entered to continue adding messages, building on the existing context instead of starting from scratch.
Three types of scenarios best suited for "going back and continuing":
| Scenario | Example (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| The first result isn't complete enough and you want to refine it | "Add another section on risk warnings" |
| The execution failed; add information and try again | "The file is in the data folder on the D drive, read it again" |
| Extend with new requirements based on previous results | "Turn this report into a 10-page PPT as well" |
There is only one step: click the task card in the task list to enter the conversation and result page, then send a message. WorkBuddy will continue processing based on the previous context—where the data is, what format you want, none of that needs to be said again.
💡 For a failed task, look at the reason before retrying
The "Failed" badge (red exclamation mark) only disappears after you have viewed that task. Enter the task, first see which step it got stuck on, supply the missing information, and then send—this succeeds more easily than resending as-is.
You should see: It picks up your new message within the old task's context, without asking you to re-describe the background.
- I have re-entered a completed or failed task and successfully continued it
Step 5: Use the task menu to organize a single task: pin, rename, archive
Why: A list stays useful only with regular tidying. All management actions are collected in one menu—learn them all at once.
How to open it: hover over a task row and click the "⋯" button; or simply right-click the task row. Pinned tasks, temporary tasks, workspace conversations, project tasks, assistant tasks, and tasks in search results all support the right-click menu.
The 10 actions in the menu:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Pin | Pin tasks you access frequently or follow ongoing, for quick lookup and opening |
| Rename | Change the task name so the title more accurately reflects the task content |
| Share task | Generate a public link and send it to other channels |
| Open in standalone window | Use when viewing multiple tasks at once, convenient for switching and comparing |
| Save to workspace | Enables multiple Agents collaborating at the same time, persists in the task list, and supports opening and viewing via the IDE |
| Open folder | Directly open the folder where the task is located, to view or manage related files |
| Open in CodeBuddy | Open the task's workspace with CodeBuddy to continue code development; shown only when CodeBuddy is installed locally and the task is in code development mode |
| Batch operations | Handle multiple tasks at once, covered in detail in the next section |
| Archive | Archive tasks you don't need to see in the list for now; once archived, they can be viewed in "System Settings" > "Data Management" |
| Delete task | Delete tasks you no longer need; if you may want to review them later, prefer archiving |
Menu items vary slightly by task type: "Save to workspace" is shown only for tasks not yet assigned to a workspace (after saving, the task moves under the corresponding space); cloud tasks have no "Open folder". The actual menu prevails.
Archive vs. delete, told apart in one sentence:
| Archive | Delete | |
|---|---|---|
| In the list | Disappears | Disappears |
| Can it be recovered | Yes—go to "System Settings" > "Data Management" | No—removed from all devices, unrecoverable |
| Suited for | Tasks that are done but may need reviewing later | Tasks you are certain you'll never want |
You should see: After archiving a task, it disappears from the list; open "System Settings" > "Data Management", and it's there.
- I archived a task and found it in "System Settings" > "Data Management"
Step 6: Batch operations and deletion: understand "unrecoverable"
Why: To clean up twenty test tasks, opening the menu one by one is too slow. Batch operations + keyboard shortcuts clear them all at once—but first understand the weight of deletion.
Entering batch mode: Right-click a task row and choose "Batch operations" (the same item is also in the task menu). Once in the batch selection state, these shortcuts take effect:
| Shortcut (same on Mac / Windows) | Effect |
|---|---|
| ↑ / ↓ | Move focus between tasks; moves only, does not open a task |
| X / Space | Check / uncheck the currently focused task |
| Shift+↑ / Shift+↓ | Select multiple consecutive tasks upward / downward from the starting point |
| Shift + click | Select all tasks between the last click and the current click |
| ⌘+A / Ctrl+A | Select all / deselect all currently selectable tasks |
| E | Archive the selected tasks; a confirmation pops up first |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete the selected tasks; a confirmation pops up first |
| Esc | First press clears the selected tasks, second press exits batch operations; when a confirmation dialog is open, Esc closes the dialog first |
Note: When no tasks are checked, E and Delete have no effect. These shortcuts only work in batch operation mode; after exiting, normal keyboard behavior resumes.
Before deleting, read what the dialog says. Single deletion: hover over a task row, click "⋯" > Delete task, and the confirmation dialog appears right next to the task row:
| Task status | Prompt text | Primary button |
|---|---|---|
| Normal task | After deletion, these tasks will be removed from all your devices and cannot be recovered. | Delete task |
| Running task | This task is currently running; deleting it will immediately terminate the run and cannot be recovered. | Stop and delete |
Keyboard works here: Enter to confirm, Esc to cancel, and clicking blank space also cancels. After a successful deletion, a "Task deleted successfully" toast appears at the top.
Batch delete: Check the tasks you want to delete, click "Delete" at the bottom, and confirm in the popup. Both the popup title and the result message include the count—"Confirm deletion of 2 tasks?" "Deleted 2 tasks". Running tasks cannot be checked; wait for them to finish or stop them first, then delete them together.
You should see: Check 2 tasks and click delete; the popup title shows the count; after confirming, a message appears at the top: "Deleted 2 tasks".
- I have batch-archived at least 2 tasks, and I read each confirmation popup first
Step 7: Managing workspaces: rename, remove, and create in place
Why: Workspaces are drawers for tasks. Only when the drawer names are right and the count is appropriate can you find things quickly.
How to open: hover over a workspace row and click the "⋯" button, or right-click the workspace row directly:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Open folder | Open the local folder where the workspace resides and directly view and organize the files in it |
| Open in CodeBuddy | Open this workspace with CodeBuddy to continue code development; shown only when CodeBuddy is installed locally |
| Rename | Customize the display name. The default name is a timestamp; renaming only changes the display name, not the actual folder path, and it persists after restart |
| Remove from list | Remove workspaces you no longer use from the list to reduce clutter; the local folder is not deleted |
💡 Naming has real-time validation
Both renaming and naming in "Save to workspace" are validated in real time: the name cannot be empty, must not contain \ / : * ? " < > | illegal characters, must not exceed 255 characters, and must not duplicate a sibling name; when the input is invalid, the button is grayed out and the reason is shown. The name in "Save to workspace" defaults to the current timestamp, which you can keep as is or change to a custom name.
Create a task in place within a workspace: When you want to start another piece of work in that workspace while keeping the existing task records, hover over the workspace group and click the "New Task" button on the right—it creates a task directly under that workspace and automatically selects it, so you don't have to enter the workspace first before creating.
You should see: After renaming a workspace to a project name, the name in the list changes and persists after restarting WorkBuddy; the corresponding local folder path remains unchanged.
- I renamed a workspace to a real project name
For detailed operations, refer to the official documentation: Task Management.
Checkpoint ✅
- I can explain how the "Tasks" and "Workspaces" sections are each organized, and how groups expand and collapse
- I used ⌘K / Ctrl+K global search to find an old task or artifact
- I can list the six task statuses and state the aggregate badge priority: Pending Confirmation > Completed Unread > Failed > In Progress
- I have archived a task and know to go to "System Settings" > "Data Management" to retrieve it
- Before batch deleting, I checked the count in the popup; deletion removes tasks from all devices and cannot be undone
Pitfall reminders
❌ Treating deletion as the default cleanup method
Symptom: You delete finished tasks right away; two weeks later, when you want to retrieve last week's report, it's nowhere to be found.
Cause: The official rule—after deletion, the task is removed from all your devices and cannot be recovered.
Correct approach: If you just don't want to see it in the list, use archive (viewable anytime in "System Settings" > "Data Management"); delete only when you're sure you'll never need it again.
❌ Deleting a running task, thinking "delete first, deal with it later"
Symptom: During batch deletion, one task can't be checked; or the delete popup button says "Stop and Delete".
Cause: Deleting a running task immediately terminates it and cannot be undone, so checking it is disabled and the button text is changed to "Stop and Delete".
Correct approach: Wait for it to finish, or stop it first, then delete it together with the others.
❌ Ignoring the red exclamation mark in the sidebar
Symptom: A red exclamation mark stays on the right side of a group header row, and tasks keep piling up.
Cause: That's the "Failed" aggregate badge—a collapsed group only shows the highest-priority status (Pending Confirmation > Completed Unread > Failed > In Progress), and the Failed badge only disappears after you've viewed that task.
Correct approach: Click the aggregate icon to jump straight to the first task with a status; handle it, then click the next one.
❌ Giving up after one search returns no results
Symptom: You search a term and get "No related results found".
Cause: Global search matches keywords across four types of content—tasks, workspaces, artifacts, and knowledge base—so an obscure term won't hit anything.
Correct approach: Try a shorter keyword more likely to appear in the original text; or use the filter panel to narrow down by date/status.
Advanced tips (optional)
🔧 Use aggregate badges as your daily to-do list. Before leaving work, scan the sidebar: if "Pending Confirmation" is showing, go confirm; "Completed Unread", go review the results; "Failed", click in to see why—clicking the aggregate icon takes you straight to the first task with a status, so clearing them is fast.
🔧 Cloud tasks have no "Open folder". Cloud tasks run in a cloud sandbox—they keep running even when your computer is off, but they can't access local files, which is why their menu has no "Open folder". To make tasks run automatically on a schedule, see 3.3 Scheduled Tasks: Letting WorkBuddy Work on Its Own on Time.
🔧 Searching the knowledge base is faster than digging through folders. The "Knowledge Base" category of global search searches the titles and body content of knowledge base objects, highlights hits, and clicking jumps straight to the knowledge base preview page—great for finding a passage in an old document. For how to build a knowledge base, see 3.4 Knowledge Base and Memory.
🔧 Tweak shortcuts until they feel right. If the default keys don't suit you: avatar at the bottom of the left sidebar → Settings > Shortcut Settings lets you adjust them; hovering over an entry also shows that action's shortcut. For the full quick reference, see Shortcuts and Operations Cheat Sheet.
Lesson summary
✅ The mental model of WorkBuddy task management: the task list is a "searchable, status-aware, organizable" workbench—two-section organization → locate → check status → resume tasks → organize → manage workspaces.
✅ The three-piece locating toolkit: the filter panel (status/date), global search (four types: tasks, workspaces, artifacts, knowledge base, ⌘K / Ctrl+K), and basic shortcuts (⌘+Shift+E to locate the current task, ⌘+[ / ⌘+] to switch tasks).
✅ The status mnemonic: Pending Confirmation > Completed Unread > Failed > In Progress—a collapsed group shows only the highest-priority one, and clicking it takes you straight to the first task with a status.
✅ Archive vs delete: archived items go to "System Settings > Data Management" and are viewable anytime; deletion removes them from all devices and cannot be undone—when in doubt, archive.
✅ Three batch keys: X to check, E to archive, Delete to delete; E and Delete have no effect when nothing is checked, and running tasks can't be checked.
Key actions recap:
| Key action | Recommended approach | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Find a task | Global search ⌘K / Ctrl+K, or filter by status/date | Official task management documentation |
| Check status | Six statuses + four sidebar badges, aggregates shown by priority | Official task management documentation |
| Resume a task | Click the card to enter, then send a message continuing the context | Official task management documentation |
| Organize tasks | Hover "⋯" / right-click menu: pin, rename, archive | Official task management documentation |
| Batch cleanup | Right-click → batch operations, X / E / Delete shortcuts | Official task management documentation |
| Manage workspaces | Workspace row "⋯": rename, remove from list, create in place | Official task management documentation |
Next Lesson Preview
Now that the task ledger is sorted out, the next lesson tackles "how to feed materials to it." In the next lesson you'll learn 2.3 A Complete Guide to Input Methods: Voice, Files, and Prompt Templates.
You will learn:
- Voice input with ⌥ held on Mac / ALT held on Windows, and how audio-to-text consumes credits
- Drag and drop up to 50 files at once, and forward WeChat/WeCom chat history directly to it
- Extra-long inputs collapse automatically, and the ↑ key recalls the most recent 20 historical inputs
- Pick official prompt templates by scenario so you start off on the right track