How do I view in one place only specific tasks on multiple tasklists?
Asked by Eli Windchy:

I have very long tasklists for multiple projects. Is there a way to make just the first few tasks of every tasklist appear on a single page/chart/etc. in Confluence?

None of the taskreports seem to approximate this (unless I make a bogus assignee but that's not permitted.)

I'm open to using an alternative to tasks and taskreports if there's a better way to reach this goal!


Answers:
author: Natalie Paramonova [Stiltsoft]
body: Hello [@Eli Windchy](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3871461) ,

We have two apps that you may find useful in your case.

The first is the [Table Filter and Charts for Confluence](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/27447/table-filter-and-charts-for-confluence?hosting=server&tab=overview&utm_source=community) app. With its help, you can filter the [Task Report](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/task-report-macro-590260009.html) macro (it is displayed as a table) and [set the limited number of rows to display](https://docs.stiltsoft.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=42239875#Sorting,freezingandothertableviewingoptions-ShowfirstNrows).

The second option that may work for you is the [Handy Macros for Confluence](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1214971/handy-macros-for-confluence?hosting=server&tab=overview&utm_source=community) app (in case you use Confluence Server). The [Handy Tasks](https://docs.stiltsoft.com/display/HMFC/How+to+use+Handy+Tasks?utm_source=community) extension is included in this app. With its help, you can quickly filter your task list and add view tasks in the page view mode. You don't need to add any macros, just expand the panel.![show panel.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/91654i90BB1BA7F77DB8A7/image-dimensions/678x252?v=v2 "show panel.png")

![add task view.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/91653i59CEDD28916C901F/image-dimensions/548x273?v=v2 "add task view.png")

comments: author: Shannon S
body: Hi Natalie,

Thank you for providing those solutions from your add-ons!

Hopefully it can help you, [@Eli Windchy](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3871461), since the built-in parameters might not be the thing you need.

Shannon


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Eli,

Welcome to Atlassian Community. It's nice to meet you!

By default, the Task Report Macro will show all tasks.

If you want to only show the first few tasks, you'll need to at least tell the macro how to choose those few tasks to display. You can do this using parameters to control how many it shows, such as assignee, created date, etc.

Have a look at the [Task Report Macro](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confcloud/task-report-macro-724765319.html) page and see if any of those parameters might help you to build shorter task reports.

Let me know if you have any questions about that!

Take care,

Shannon

comments: author: Eli Windchy
body: Thanks, Shannon. I am looking for something different from the parameters offered (incomplete, date, assignee, etc.). I want just the first few tasks of many tasklists to appear on a single page.

If I can't just specify "first three tasks," then is there a way to specify

* The first 200 characters of a tasklist?
* Tasks that start with a special character or numeral, say zero?
* Individual tasks with a label that a macro can pull into a Task Report?

Best,

Eli


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Eli,

There are a few parameters offered on the Task Report macro documentation which I shared with you that would still be able to help you accomplish a few of those tasks.

For example, if you want to be able to display the the first set of any specific tasks, you need to first tell Confluence how you want the tasks to be sorted in the Task Report Macro. This can be done using the ***sort by*** parameter, which allows you to sort using due date, assignee, or page title. You can then use the parameter ***number of tasks to display*** to determine how many tasks will display. Note that this won't work to restrict to a specific number of characters.

Secondly, there's another parameter in the macro, ***label(s)***, that allows you to display only tasks from pages that contain a specific label. Since you apply labels to pages and not tasks, you won't be able to label specific tasks, but you can still use the page label in this example.

Restricting tasks by their content specifically isn't possible, so you won't be able to only show tasks that start with a 0, per your example.

I recommend that you also take a look at the [Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/). I know there are a few add-ons that are alternatives to the built-in tasks management in Confluence. Most of the ones I know are for Server, but if you have a look there, you may also be able to find something to help you with Cloud.

Regards,

Shannon


author: Eli Windchy
body: Thanks, Shannon. I've tried all of the above, and it's not yet there. Natalie's suggestion to use Handy Macros might work, but I need IT's permission to be able to install it. I've filed a request, and we'll see what happens. Really appreciate your efforts here, and have a great weekend,

Eli


author: Eli Windchy
body: Hi, Shannon. I gave the Task Report another try. I set it to show only the first 10 incomplete tasks, but instead it shows me **all** of the incomplete tasks which is \~60. I tried refreshing the list and the report, toggling the various options, etc. but I can't narrow the list that appears in the Task Report to 10.

Do you know common reasons a task report will pull in more than the 10, 20, or 40 requested via the macro? I have only one tasklist (so far), and the macro is set to only look one specific page.

My tasklist does have multiple levels, and I don't want to lose those.


author: Eli Windchy
body: The culprit is not the multiple levels in the tasklist: I tried again with a list that goes to 11 (don't laugh), and all 11 tasks appear on a 10-result Task Report.

Any ideas?

Eli


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Eli,

Thank you for reporting this.

Normally, if you have \~60 incomplete tasks, and set the pagination to 10, then it should show you all 60 of your incomplete tasks across 6 pages. I just wanted to be clear that when the feature is working, it will still show all of the results, but break them up into smaller pages.

In this case, it looks like the pagination feature isn't working at all. I was able to replicate the issue myself. I've reported this as a bug. There's not a workaround at this time, but I would recommend adding yourself as a watcher on the case so you can be updated if that changes in the future.

* [CONFCLOUD-69930](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-69930) *Task Report Macro no longer paginates results*

Please vote on the above bug, since it will help us with our prioritization efforts.

Thanks again, and let me know if you have any trouble or questions about that.

Shannon


author: Eli Windchy
body: Thanks, Shannon! Upvoted and watching as well.


author: Shannon S
body: Thanks, Eli!

Take care, and have a pleasant rest of your week.

Shannon


author: vasanth
body: Hi

can we set the default project while selecting task macro in confluence

![create_ticket.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/291355iDA9886C6AC031CCE/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "create_ticket.png")


Tags: confluence-cloud