What are absences in Task Manager?
Absence statuses in Task Manager show who's available before you assign them a task. Everyone sets their own status in their profile. That way, you can check whether someone is absent before assigning them work.
In the profile you can choose one of four states: “Available” (default), “Holiday”, “Sick leave” and “Away”. For an absence you give a start date, and you can also add an end date and a message. The status and dates are visible to the team: in threads, next to your avatar, and in the calendar.
An account lock is separate. An administrator can lock a user's account. This immediately ends that person's sessions and prevents them from logging in again. No one can lock their own account or that of another global administrator. The other statuses are for information only: someone on sick leave can still access the app.
How does it work?
Set your status in settings: click the cog, open the “Profile” tab, then go to “Availability status”. Choose an absence type and enter a start date. An end date and message are optional. The app won't accept an end date earlier than the start date.
An absence entered in advance only takes effect from the specified start date - before then, the team sees you as available. If you enter an end date, banners, indicators and automatic replies disappear once that date has passed, without you having to do anything. You do not need to remember to change your status when you return.
When you message someone with a “Holiday” or “Ill” status in a task or chat thread, an auto-reply appears in that thread. It includes your mention and the message from that person's profile. If they haven't entered a message, you'll see the default text. An auto-reply appears once a day in a given thread. It may appear again the next day or in another thread.
The AI Assistant warns you when you try to assign a task to someone who is away. The administrator can see the list of people who are away. Every status change is recorded in the account history. The administrator can see and change another person's current status in the Users window, under “Account status”.
What do you gain?
You don't promise a client a deadline without knowing that the person managing the project is on leave. You find out they're absent before assigning the work, not after several days of silence.
You don't send follow-up messages just to find out why someone isn't replying. The information appears in the same conversation where you're waiting for a response. You also won't get the same auto-reply after every message.
When the marked leave period ends, you don't need to worry about an outdated absence message. Your team sees you as available.
An everyday example
On Monday, a manager assigns work for the week. They want to assign a task to the person who handled it before. When they try, the AI Assistant flags that the person is absent. The manager can pass the task to someone else before agreeing a deadline with the client.
Later that day, someone on the team messages the person on leave in an old thread. An auto-reply appears, with the message set by that person in their absence profile or the default text. There's no need to wait for the absent person to return.
Frequently asked questions
What does the absence status show in Task Manager?
In a task thread or chat that an absent person is part of, a banner reading “Some participants are away” appears above the messages, showing their name, the type of absence and the dates. A coloured status dot appears next to that person's avatar, and the calendar shows an absence bar at the top of the day.
Can I set someone else's absence status?
Only an administrator can change another user's status. Everyone sets their own status in the “Profile” tab in settings.
Do I need to turn off my absence status when I return from leave?
No, if you enter an end date. Once that date passes, your absence ends automatically: banners, indicators and auto-replies disappear.
Can someone on sick leave log in?
Yes. The “Holiday”, “Ill” and “Away” statuses are for information only and don't restrict access to the app. Only an administrator's account lock prevents someone from logging in.
How many times will an auto-reply be sent?
An auto-reply appears once a day in a given thread. Further messages in the same task or chat on the same day won't trigger another one. It may appear again the next day or in another thread.