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Configure system-wide task and issue preferences

Last update: Mon Mar 03 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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  • Admin

As an Adobe Workfront administrator, you can configure system-wide preferences for tasks and issues. These preferences impact the way that your users create tasks and issues in Workfront.

By default, task and issue preferences are locked and group administrators cannot modify them at the group level unless you unlock them for all groups throughout the system. For more information, see the section Lock task and issue preferences for groups in this article.

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:

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 layout-auto html-authored no-header
Adobe Workfront plan Any
Adobe Workfront license*

New: Standard

or

Current: Plan
Access level configurations System Administrator

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

Configure task and issues preferences for everyone in Workfront

  1. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

  2. In the left panel, click Project Preferences >Tasks & Issues.

  3. On the page that appears, continue with one of the 6 sections listed below to configure settings for New Task Defaults, Issues, Deletion, Actual Dates, and Access:

New Task Defaults new-task-defaults

Start Date
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
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.

For information on the different revenue types, see Overview of Billing and 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 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. When this is deselected, the issue is deleted.

    NOTE:

    Users without access or permissions to delete issues will not be able to delete the issue as they are converting it, regardless of the status of this setting. For information about access and permissions to issues, see:

  • Allow Primary Contact to have access to the task: Gives the primary contact (issue creator) View access to the task to review the task, stay informed of its progress, and make comments on the Updates section of the task.

  • Allow these settings to be changed during conversion: Allows the user who is converting the issue to change these options during the conversion of an issue to a task.

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. When this is deselected, the issue is deleted.

    NOTE:

    Users without access or permissions to delete issues will not be able to delete the issue as they are converting it, regardless of the status of this setting. For information about access and permissions to issues, see:

  • Allow Primary Contact to have access to the project: Gives the primary contact (issue creator) View access to the project to review the project, stay informed of its progress, and make comments on the Updates section of the project.

  • 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 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.

  • 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.

    note tip
    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. The warning message does not display when deleting a project.

  • 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.

  • 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 to another project. 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. You can move tasks within the same project, even when this option is deselected.

Actual Dates 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 system to temporarily delegate their work to others.

When this setting is enabled, 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 note
    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 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.

  1. Click Save.

Lock task and issue preferences for groups lock-task-and-issue-preferences-for-groups

If groups in your organization need a task or issue preference configured differently for their unique workflows, you can unlock the preference for all groups throughout the organization so that they can configure it on their own. When a preference is unlocked and the group administrator modifies it, the tasks or issues associated with the group are affected by the group-level setting for the preference instead of the system-level setting.

For information about how a group administrator configures task and issue preferences for a group, see Configure task and issue preferences for a group.

NOTE
After a Workfront administrator unlocks a preference at the system level, any group administrator can configure it and then lock it to ensure that everyone in their group and the subgroups below 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 Configure project preferences for a group and Lock or unlock a project, task, or issue preference for subgroups.

To lock or unlock a task or issue preference so that groups can configure it:

  1. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

  2. Click Project Preferences > Tasks & Issues.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • If you want administrators of groups below your group to be able to configure a preference for their groups, unlock it Unlock toggle .

    • If you want your group and all groups below it to use your configuration for a preference, make sure that it is locked (this is the default).

      note important
      IMPORTANT
      We recommend that you communicate with the administrators and users in groups throughout the system to ensure that all needs are accounted for in the way you configure a locked preference. When you lock it, your configuration for it is inherited by all groups in the system. And if the preference has been unlocked for any period of time, your configuration replaces those that group administrators might have made.

  4. Click Save.

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