Having Google Tasks integrated into Gmail is probably one of the best things to happen to Google’s email app over the past few months. The only thing missing was that it wasn’t available for the Android app just yet. It looks like they’re planning to roll it out soon though as a code in the latest version of Gmail for Android seems to indicate its imminent arrival. It’s not yet enabled and you can’t force it just yet but the fact that’s it’s there in the code means we can expect it soon.
According to 9 to 5 Google, the Gmail for Android version 2019.4.14.246198419 (that’s a mouthful) has a code within in that has the “Add to Tasks” string. Hopefully, this means that we will be able to link an email to create a new task and even add a date or time reminder, subtasks, and other details you will need to finish the said task. This is something you can already do in the web version of Gmail and in fact you just need to drag an email to the right-hand side panel in order to start a new task.
As to how it will look, it’s possible that the button to add an email to a task will be found in the overflow menu. A toast message will appear at the bottom of the screen and there’s a link to view the task if it has been completed. It will then push you out to Google Tasks itself so you can add the details that you want to include.
Another possibility would be to use the Gmail Add-On UI paradigm that you see if you’re using Asana or Trello or other productivity apps that you connect to your account. There is a bar at the bottom of the screen where you will see all the available add-ons and takes up half of the display when you tap on it. You choose which one you want to access and it has some tasks that you can add your email to. This might be a more convenient option for users.
While you cannot yet enable this function, you can still update your Gmail app to the latest version which just has some bug fixes and improvements and nothing new to really add. Hopefully, the Google Tasks integration will already be included in the next update and that it will happen soon.
