Configure task and issue preferences for a group

Last update: February 7, 2025

CREATED FOR:

Admin

If groups in your organization need to configure a task or issue preference independently from the way it is configured at the system level, an Adobe Workfront administrator can unlock the preference. Then, as a group administrator, you can configure the preference for your group and it will affect all tasks or issues associated with your group.

If there are any groups above the group you manage, their administrators can also do this for your group. The same is true for Workfront administrators (for any group).

For information about how the Workfront administrator unlocks preferences, see Lock or unlock project preferences for all groups in the system.

TIP

Group-level configuration is also possible for project preferences. For information, see Configure project preferences for a group.

NOTE

Typically, an unlocked preference remains unlocked indefinitely. If the Workfront administrator re-locks it, the system setting takes effect again and settings for the preference made by the group administrators are lost.
The preferences set for the group that is associated with a project take precedence over the preferences set for the Home Group of the user who creates the project.
Some group-level preferences affect project templates that you create for the group. For more information, see the section View, work with, and create templates for your group from the Groups area in the article Create and modify a group’s project templates.
After a Workfront administrator unlocks a preference at the system level, you can configure it and then lock it to ensure that everyone in your group and in its subgroups is using the same configuration. This is parallel to the ability that a Workfront administrator has to configure and lock a preference for everyone in the system. For more information, see Lock or unlock a project, task, or issue preference for subgroups.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront plan

Any

Adobe Workfront license

New: Standard

Or

Current: Plan

Access level configurations

You must be a group administrator of the group or a system administrator.

For more detail about the information in this table, see Access requirements in Workfront documentation.

Configure unlocked task and issue preferences for a top-level group

TIP

If you are a Workfront administrator, you can bypass steps 1-4 by going to Setup > Project Preferences > Tasks & Issues, then searching for the group’s name in the box at the top of the page.

Click the Main Menu icon in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner, then click Setup .
In the left panel, click Groups .
Click the name of the group for which you want to configure unlocked task and issue preferences.
On the page that displays for the group, in the left panel, click Task & Issue Preferences.
On the page that appears, continue with one of the 5 sections listed below these steps to configure settings for the areas New Task Defaults, Issues, Deletion, Actual Dates, and Access, then click Save.

If you hover over the lock icon for a preference that you need to configure and a tool tip displays to tell you that is locked, you can ask your Workfront administrator to unlock it for all groups in the organization.

When it is unlocked, you and other group administrators can configure it separately for your own groups. Also, you can lock it for your group and any subgroups below your group.
- New Task Defaults
- Issues
- Deletion
- Move
- Actual Dates
- Delegation
- Access

New Task Defaults

Start Date on New Tasks

Determines the default start date for new tasks for project managers. The start date for new tasks can either be the planned start date of the project or the day the task is created on.

Duration Type

Determines the relationship between the number of resources (and their allocation percent) and the duration or the total effort for the task. For more information, see Task Duration and Duration Types: article index

Revenue Type

Calculates planned and actual revenue estimates for a task. When the Revenue Type is set to Not Billable, the hours planned and the actual hours recorded do not generate a revenue estimate for the task, and the work on the task does not contribute to project-level revenue.

Cost Type

Calculates planned and actual cost estimates for a task. When set to No Cost, the hours planned and the actual hours recorded do not generate a planned or an actual cost estimate for the task, and the work on the task does not contribute to project-level costs.

Issues

Automatically update Resolvable Issue status when the status of the Resolving Object changes

When someone converts an issue into a project or task, both the original issue and the converted project or task become resolving objects. This setting lets you correlate the resolution of the original issue to the resolution of its resolvable object. For more information on resolving objects, see Overview of Resolving and Resolvable Objects.

In order for this setting to have any effect, the option to Keep the original issue and tie its resolution to the task must be selected.

When this setting is enabled, you can create custom statuses with the same key for both issues and projects or tasks. When the project or task (as a resolvable object) turns into the custom status, the change also reflects on the status of the issue. The status key must be the same for the issue and project or task statuses.
When this setting is disabled, resolving object statuses are automatically set to the default status, instead of the custom ones. For more information about the default statuses, see Access the list of system issue statuses.

When converting an issue to a task

The settings in this section determine what happens during the conversion process from issue to task:

Keep the original issue and tie its resolution to the task: When you are converting the issue, it remains visible as an issue until the task is complete. The status of the issue automatically changes to Closed when the task completes.
Allow Primary Contact to have access to the task: Gives the primary contact (issue creator) access to the task to review the task, make updates, and stay informed of its progress

When converting an issue to a project

The settings in this section determine what happens during the conversion process from issue to project:

Keep the original issue and tie its resolution to the project: When you are converting the issue, it remains visible as an issue until the project is complete. The status of the issue automatically changes to Closed when the project completes.
Allow Primary Contact to have access to the project: Gives the primary contact (issue creator) access to the project to review the project, make updates, and stay informed of its progress.
Allow these settings to be changed during conversion: Allows the user who is converting the issue to change the listed options during the conversion of an issue to a project.

Deletion

Allow users to delete tasks and issues with logged hours

Lets you determine whether you allow the deletion of tasks or issues where hours are logged. This option is selected by default.

Tip: This setting also applies to deleting projects that have tasks or issues with hours logged on them. This setting does not apply to deleting projects where time is logged directly for the project.

Consider the following:

When it is selected, you receive an informational warning when you delete a task or issue. The warning reminds you that if the task or issue has logged hours, they will either be moved to the project or deleted. You can configure whether the hours are deleted or moved to the project in the Timesheet & Hours Preferences area of the Setup. After you confirm that you have seen the warning, the task or issue is deleted. For more information about configuring Timesheet & Hours Preferences, see Configure timesheet and hour preferences.

Tip: When you delete a project with tasks and issues that have logged hours, the logged hours are either deleted or they are preserved according to the settings in the Timesheet & Hours Preferences area of Setup.
When you deselect this option, you receive a prohibitive warning when you delete a task or issue with logged hours, or when you delete a project with hours logged for its tasks or issues . The warning specifies that the administrator does not allow for tasks or issues with logged hours to be deleted. The tasks, issues, or projects that have hours logged for tasks and issues cannot be deleted.

Move

Allow users to move tasks and issues with logged hours

Lets you determine whether you allow the move of tasks or issues where hours are logged. This option is selected by default.

Consider the following:

When it is selected, you can move tasks and issues that have time logged. The hours also move with the tasks or issues.
When you deselect this option, you receive a prohibitive warning when you move a task or issue with logged hours. The warning specifies that the administrator does not allow for tasks or issues with logged hours to be moved. The tasks or issues that have hours logged cannot be moved to another project. You can move tasks with logged hours within the same project, even with this option deselected.

Actual Dates

When a task or issue goes from "New" to "In Progress," set the Actual Start Date to

Select one of the following options for when the Actual Start Date is recorded in Workfront when a task or issue goes from New to In Progress:

Now: The Actual Start Date is set to the current date.
The Planned Start Date: The Actual Start Date is set to the Planned Start Date of the task or issue.

When a task or issue is completed, set the Actual Completion Date to

Select one of the following options for when the Actual Completion Date is recorded in Workfront when a task or issue is completed:

Now: The Actual Completion Date is set to the current date.
The Planned Completion Date: The Actual Completion Date is set to the Planned Completion Date of the task or issue.

Delegation

Enabling the Allow users to delegate their tasks and issues setting allows all users in the group to temporarily delegate their work to others.

When this setting is enabled, group users can see the following:

The Delegate link in their My Work, My Tasks, or My Issues widgets in the Home area. They can delegate task and issue assignments from there.

NOTE
The Delegate approvals link is always enabled in the Home area.
An indication that a task or issue is delegated to another user in the Assignments and delegations area in the task or issue header.
An indication that a task or issue is delegated to another user in their My Work widget in Home.

If you disable the Allow users to delegate their tasks and issues setting, the delegations that are currently scheduled will stop and the users delegated will receive an email notification that the delegation was stopped.

For information about delegating work to others, see the following articles:

Access

When someone is assigned to a task

Give them ... access to a task: Defines the default permission a user has to the task they are assigned to. For more information about task permissions, see Grant access to users.
Also grant them ... access to the project: Defines the default permission a user has to the project on which they have a task assigned to them. For more information about project permissions, see Configure system-wide project preferences.

When someone is assigned to an issue

Give them ... access to a task: Defines the default permission a user has to the task they are assigned to. For more information about task permissions, see Grant access to users.
Also grant them ... access to the project: Defines the default permission a user has to the project on which they have a task assigned to them. For more information about project permissions, see Configure system-wide project preferences.

When someone submits a request

Give them ... access to the issue: Defines the default permission a user has on a request they submitted. For more information, see Share an issue.
People from the same company will inherit the same permissions for all requests: Allows users to see requests submitted by other users from the same company as them. They have the same permissions on those requests as they have on their own submitted requests.

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