# Cases and tasks

> Working a case file day to day, the tabs, statuses, tasks, and the timeline that keeps a record of everything that happened.

A case is where the day-to-day work actually happens. Once the first two fields
are filled in and the record exists, you will come back to it repeatedly:
adding services, ticking off tasks, checking what the agent has noticed. This
page covers that routine work.

## Moving between statuses

Every case has a status, shown as a row of steps at the top of the case.
Click a step to move the case there. By default a case starts at **First
Call** and moves through the stages a file naturally passes through:
Arrangement Conference, Arrangements Confirmed, In Care, Pending Documents,
Service Scheduled, Service Complete, Aftercare, and Closed. Your firm can
change this list under **Your Company**, in **Workflow & Types**.

(Screenshot: The row of stages at the top of a case, from First Call to Aftercare, with Arrangements Confirmed selected.)

(Screenshot: The Cases page, listing cases with their status badges, the next service and the primary contact.)

The status is how your team sees at a glance where each file stands. It
shows as a badge on the Cases page, where you can filter on it, and the
agent can update it as it works the case. It is internal: families do not see
it in their portal.

## The tabs

Once a case is open, its work is split across tabs: Overview, Services &
Tasks, Documents, Family notebook, Notes, Agent, and Assistant. Most of your
daily work happens in **Services & Tasks**, which is where this page focuses.
**Family notebook** shows what the family has shared through their portal,
topic by topic.

> **Note:** Overview and Documents are covered in
> [Creating your first case](/docs/getting-started/first-case/). The Agent and
> Assistant tabs are covered in
> [Working with the agent](/docs/getting-started/the-agent/).
## Tasks

Tasks are the to-do list for a case: things someone needs to do, with an
optional due date and an owner. They sit below the case's services and
meetings on the Services & Tasks tab, split into an open list and a
**Completed** list.

To see the open tasks of every case at once, switch the **Cases** page to
**Tasks**. They are grouped by when they are due. Narrow the list with **All
tasks**, **My tasks** or **Unassigned**, tick a task off right there, or click
it to open its case.

(Screenshot: The Tasks view on the Cases page, with open tasks from every case grouped under Today, Tomorrow and This week.)

- **Quick add.** Type a title into the field at the top and press Enter. The
  task appears immediately; there is no separate form to fill in.
- **Inline editing.** Click a task's title to edit it in place. Press Enter to
  save, or Escape to discard the change.
- **Drag to reorder.** Grab the handle on the left of a task and drag it up or
  down. The order you set is the order the list keeps.
- **Checking one off** moves it from the open list to the Completed list,
  struck through, rather than deleting it.

(Screenshot: The task list on a case: the quick add field, open tasks with their due dates and owners, one assigned to the family and shared, and the completed tasks struck through below.)

### Due dates and assignment

Hovering a task reveals its due date and assignee controls.

- **Due date and time.** Click the calendar icon to pick a date, and optionally
  a time from a set of quick options or your own choice. A task with a passed
  due date is marked overdue in red.
- **Assignee.** Click the assignee icon to hand the task to a colleague, to
  Lethra, or to the family. Tasks assigned to nobody have no assignee icon
  showing until you hover.

### Sharing a task with the family

A task can be marked as shared with the family, for things like "sign the
release form" or "send us the photos for the slideshow". Sharing is the icon
next to the assignee: a share icon while the task is internal, a check mark
once it is shared. Click it again to stop sharing.

> **Note:** A task must have an assignee before it can be shared. If you assign it to the
> family directly, sharing is automatic since there is no one else it could be
> for. Removing the assignee also stops sharing.
## The timeline

Every case keeps a timeline on its **Agent** tab: a record of the calls,
emails, and messages that have happened on it, grouped into threads. Each thread shows its channel, when
it was last active, and how many events it contains. Expanding a thread shows
every message or call in order, with any attachments.

(Screenshot: The timeline on the Agent tab: threads by email, call and chat, with the Order of service thread opened to show the email sent and the family's reply.)

The timeline is not something you maintain by hand. It fills in as the case
is worked: an email the agent drafts and you send, a reply that comes back, a
call you log. It is the place to look when you need to reconstruct what was
actually said and when, rather than relying on memory or a scattered inbox
search.

## Next

Putting services and meetings on the calendar: [Scheduling](/docs/daily-work/scheduling/).

Source: https://lethra.ai/docs/daily-work/cases-and-tasks/