> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/field-operations/tasks/the-tasks-inbox-folders-status-filters-and-search.md).

# The Tasks inbox: folders, status filters, and search

The Tasks page is organized into folders down the left side, each holding a kind of follow-up work. Recurring Services covers responses to your service reminders, split into Approved, Declined, Ask Someone Else, Email Bounced, Unanswered, and Custom.

Quotes holds Signed, Email Bounced, and Unanswered quotes. Jobs groups completed and incomplete visits, such as Complete (Ready to Invoice), Complete (No Invoice Needed), Incomplete (Needs Another Visit), Missing Summary, and Never Clocked In.

Invoices covers Email Bounced, Overdue, Payment Failed, and Print and Mail. Deficiencies and Service Requests each have a single All view. Folders your business adds appear under their own category, after that category's built-in folders unless your team has reordered the category in Settings. The folder counts show open tasks, not ones already done.

Quotes and Invoices appear only if you have permission to see them, and Service Requests appears once your website or Customer Portal request form has been published. Across the top of the list are status filter pills, one per status, each showing its name and a count.

Deleted tasks are excluded from both the list and its folder and status counts, including tasks removed when their job is deleted.

Click a pill to show or hide that status, and you can have several active at once to combine views. Above the list is a search box that matches on address, name, email, and custom fields, so you can jump to a specific task without scrolling. In the Jobs and Deficiencies folders the same box also matches the job number, so you can type 10310, J10310, #J10310, or a configured year form such as 26-10310 to pull up that job's tasks — a Deficiencies task matches the job its inspection report was completed on. Folders your business adds work like Jobs folders for search, wherever they sit, so tasks there get the same job-number search, plus a match against the task's own description text. The list loads more tasks as you scroll to the bottom.

The page remembers where you work. The folder you picked last is the one you land in the next time you open Tasks, and the folders you expanded in the left-hand list stay expanded, so you don't have to reopen them every visit. This is remembered per browser, so a different computer starts fresh. Opening a task from a link — a notification, or a property's task list — still takes you straight to that task, without changing the folder you normally come back to.

On desktop, long folder navigation scrolls independently. Task details and the timeline use the normal page scroll.

Open a task’s timeline to review its history. Resolving a task, recording a deficiency retest, and clearing or restoring a deficiency each add a visible entry.

## Search every folder at once

The search box searches the open folder. To search every folder in the sidebar instead, open the **This folder** dropdown at the left of the box and choose **All folders** (Workflows tasks aren't searched). It stays on **All folders** until you switch it back.

While searching every folder:

* The list groups the matches under each folder's name, best matches first. In the sidebar, each folder's count changes to its number of matches: folders with matches show their count in bold, folders without any are greyed out, and groups with matches open on their own. Click a folder in the sidebar to see only its matches. To see them all again, click that folder again, click **All results** at the top of the sidebar, or click **Show all folders** next to the result count.
* A line above the list reads, for example, "12 results for “Harbor” across 4 folders". Open and in-progress tasks are searched by default; tick **Include completed** to search completed tasks too. **Clear search** takes you back to the folder you were in.
* Click a result to open it on the right. The folder it lives in is shown above it; **Go to folder** opens that folder with the task selected.
* When a search matches a very large number of tasks, only the closest matches are shown; add more to your search to narrow it down.
* You can select results to work on them together, including a whole folder of results with the checkbox in its heading — see [Select several tasks and work on them together](/field-operations/tasks/select-several-tasks-and-work-on-them-together.md).

![Tasks inbox](https://3838208579-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Flu1pgNH0CrkCPslG8suQ%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-fa6395436978b8393faee358b717f07107d18e31%2Ftasks-inbox.png?alt=media)

> **Where to find it:** The Tasks page. A folder list runs down the left side, status filter pills sit across the top of the list, and a search box sits above the tasks themselves; the dropdown at its left picks **This folder** or **All folders**.

## Related guides

* [Select several tasks and work on them together](/field-operations/tasks/select-several-tasks-and-work-on-them-together.md)
* [How tasks are created and organized](/field-operations/tasks/how-tasks-are-created-and-organized.md)
* [Task folder and subfolder meanings](/field-operations/tasks/task-folder-and-subfolder-meanings.md)
* [What creates Deficiencies tasks](/field-operations/tasks/what-creates-deficiencies-tasks.md)
* [What creates Invoices tasks](/field-operations/tasks/what-creates-invoices-tasks.md)
* [What creates Jobs tasks (and moving them between folders)](/field-operations/tasks/what-creates-jobs-tasks-and-moving-them-between-folders.md)
* [What creates Quotes tasks](/field-operations/tasks/what-creates-quotes-tasks.md)


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters:

```
GET https://learn.withessential.com/field-operations/tasks/the-tasks-inbox-folders-status-filters-and-search.md?ask=<question>&goal=<user_goal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
