Tasks & Action Tracking

Pro Feature: Tasks & Action Tracking requires a Pro or Business subscription. During your 14-day trial, all features including Tasks are available.

Transform actionable emails into trackable tasks with InboxZebra’s GTD-style workflow.

Overview

The Tasks feature helps you manage emails that require action. Instead of losing track of important requests in your inbox, InboxZebra:

1. Detects actionable emails automatically using AI
2. Creates tasks linked to those emails
3. Tracks tasks through workflow stages
4. Monitors for replies when you’re waiting on someone

Opening the Tasks Pane

Click the Tasks tab in the main navigation (between Emails and Newsletters).

You’ll see your tasks organized in a Kanban board or list view:

• Kanban: Visual columns for each workflow stage
• List: Sortable list with stage filters

Toggle between views using the toolbar button.

How Tasks Are Created

Automatic Detection (AI)

When InboxZebra processes emails, the AI evaluates each one for actionability:

• “Can you review this document?” - ActionRequired: yes
• “Your package has shipped” - ActionRequired: no
• “Please submit your timesheet by Friday” - ActionRequired: yes
• “Meeting notes from today” - ActionRequired: no

Emails flagged as actionable automatically become tasks in your Inbox stage.

Key insight: Any email from any category can be actionable. A “Work” email, “Financial” email, or “Personal” email can all require action.

Manual Creation

To manually create a task from any email:

1. Right-click the email in the email list
2. Select “Create Task”
3. The task appears in your Tasks Inbox

”Tasks” Category

Emails categorized as “Tasks” also create tasks automatically. This category is for emails that ARE tasks themselves (not just emails that require action on something else).

GTD Workflow Stages

Tasks follow a Getting Things Done (GTD) inspired workflow:

Inbox

Unclarified tasks that need review. When you process your task inbox:

• Move actionable tasks to Next
• Defer tasks to Someday
• Mark tasks you’re waiting on as Waiting
• Complete simple tasks immediately

Next

Active tasks you’re working on. These are your current priorities.

Waiting

Tasks blocked on someone or something else:

• Track who you’re waiting for
• Monitor for reply detection (automatic!)
• Get notified when replies arrive

Someday

Tasks you want to do eventually, but not now. Review periodically.

Done

Completed tasks. By default, completing a task:

• Archives the linked email
• Adds a “Completed Task” label for searchability

Moving Tasks Between Stages

Using the Kanban Board

Drag and drop tasks between columns to change their stage.

Using Context Menus

Right-click any task card for options:

• Move to Inbox
• Move to Next
• Move to Waiting… (prompts for who/what you’re waiting on)
• Move to Someday
• Mark as Done

Using Task Detail

Click any task to open the detail sheet with all options.

Task Properties

Priority

Set task priority to help you focus:

• None - Default, no special priority
• Low - Can wait
• Medium - Should address soon
• High - Important
• Urgent - Needs immediate attention

High and urgent tasks show prominent indicators in the task card.

Due Dates

Set optional due dates to track deadlines:

• Tasks show red indicators when overdue
• View due dates in the task card and detail sheet

Waiting For

When a task is in the Waiting stage:

• Enter who or what you’re waiting for
• Optionally provide an email address to monitor
• InboxZebra watches for replies automatically

Reply Detection

When you’re waiting for someone, InboxZebra helps track responses:

How It Works

1. Move a task to Waiting stage
2. Enter the email address you’re waiting to hear from
3. InboxZebra monitors incoming emails
4. When a reply arrives, the task is flagged

Reply Behavior Settings

When a reply is detected, InboxZebra prompts you to decide what to do with the task.

Completing Tasks

When you finish a task:

1. Mark as Done (button or right-click > Mark as Done)
2. Choose whether to archive the email (default: yes)
3. The email gets a “Completed Task” label

Finding Completed Task Emails

In the Emails pane, filter by the Completed Task label to find all emails from tasks you’ve finished.

Learning from Your Actions

InboxZebra learns from your behavior to improve action detection over time. Every correction you make is stored as a learning example and fed back into the AI’s categorization prompts, making it progressively smarter at identifying which emails truly need action.

Positive Examples (Trains the AI to Detect Action)

These actions teach the AI that similar emails should be flagged as actionable:

• Manually create a task from an email — Right-click an email and select “Create Task.” InboxZebra saves the email’s subject and sender as a positive example, so the AI recognizes similar patterns in the future.
• Recategorize an email TO the “Tasks” category — Moving an email into the Tasks category signals that it requires action, which is recorded as a positive learning example.

Negative Examples (Trains the AI to Skip)

These actions teach the AI that similar emails should not be flagged as actionable:

• Dismiss an AI-detected task — When the AI flags an email as actionable but you disagree, deleting that task can record a negative example. Whether it does depends on your dismiss learning mode (see below).
• Recategorize an email FROM the “Tasks” category — Moving an email out of the Tasks category signals that it does not require action, which is recorded as a negative learning example.

Dismiss Learning Modes

When you delete an AI-detected task, InboxZebra shows a dialog with two options:

• “Delete & Learn” — Removes the task and adds a negative example, so similar emails are skipped in future.
• “Delete Only” — Removes the task without affecting AI behavior.

Tier Limits on Learning Examples

The number of learning examples stored per category depends on your subscription tier:

When the limit is reached, the oldest examples are replaced by newer ones. Manual corrections (tasks you create or dismiss yourself) are prioritized over automatic ones, so your direct feedback always carries the most weight.

How It Works Under the Hood

Learning examples are included in the AI’s categorization prompts as few-shot examples — real email subjects and senders that you have corrected, along with whether they required action. This gives the AI concrete reference points for your preferences.

When the AI processes a new email, it sees your examples and uses them to calibrate its judgment. The more examples you provide, the better the AI becomes at matching your expectations. After roughly 10-20 corrections, most users see a noticeable improvement in detection accuracy.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Task Management

Multi-Account Support

Unified View

By default, the Tasks pane shows tasks from all your email accounts combined.

Filtering by Account

Use the account filter dropdown in the toolbar to show tasks from a specific account only.

Account Indicators

In multi-account mode, task cards show which account each task came from.

Task Cards

Each task card shows:

• Subject - Email subject (2 lines max)
• From - Sender name
• Priority indicator - Icon and color for priority level
• Due date - Shows date, red if overdue
• Waiting badge - Orange badge when in Waiting stage
• Reply detected - Green envelope when reply arrived
• Account indicator - Which email account (multi-account only)

Task Detail Sheet

Click any task to open the detail sheet:

• View linked email - Opens the full email
• Stage picker - Change workflow stage
• Priority control - Set priority level
• Due date toggle - Enable and set due date
• Waiting for fields - Who/email (Waiting stage only)
• Complete button - Mark done with archive option
• Delete button - Remove task (keeps email)

Tips for Best Results

Process Your Task Inbox Regularly

Don’t let tasks pile up in Inbox. Daily or weekly reviews help you stay on top of actionable items.

Use Due Dates Strategically

Not every task needs a due date. Reserve them for actual deadlines to avoid due date fatigue.

Correct AI Detection

When the AI incorrectly flags (or misses) an actionable email:

• Creating/dismissing tasks trains the model
• After 10-20 corrections, accuracy improves significantly

Combine with Categories

Tasks and categories work together:

• Categories organize WHAT emails are
• Tasks track WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

A “Work” email can be actionable. A “Financial” email can require a response. Any category’s emails can become tasks.

Common Questions

Q: What’s the difference between the “Tasks” category and the Tasks feature? A: The “Tasks” category is for emails that ARE tasks (like “TODO: Review report”). The Tasks feature tracks emails that REQUIRE action - from any category. Both create trackable tasks.

Q: Can I have multiple tasks from one email? A: Currently, each email maps to one task. For emails with multiple action items, track the primary action and use the email for reference.

Q: What happens to tasks when I delete the email? A: The task remains but shows that the linked email was deleted. You can keep or remove the task.

Q: Can I create tasks without emails? A: Tasks are always linked to emails. For standalone tasks, use a dedicated task app alongside InboxZebra.

Q: How do I see all my overdue tasks? A: In list view, sort by due date. Overdue tasks show with red indicators and sort to the top.

Next Steps

• Categories - Organize emails by type
• Labels - Add secondary labels including “Completed Task”
• Search & Filtering - Find specific emails and tasks
• Settings - Configure task behavior preferences