I turned Gmail into a lightweight task manager and finally ditched my to-do apps — here's how

23 Dec 2025, 13:30 by Anu Joy · Android Police

Like most people, I’ve tried my fair share of task managers. I’ve bounced between third-party Android apps such as Todoist, TickTick, and Notion.

However, nothing really clicked. I was getting overwhelmed by the number of lists I had to maintain and decisions about where a task belonged.

But at some point, I realized I was spending more time managing tasks than doing them. The breaking point was the lack of context. Most of my tasks didn’t start as tasks at all.

They began as emails, with requests, follow-ups, approvals, and commitments sitting in my inbox. Shuffling them into a separate app felt like busywork.

So, instead of adding yet another system, I tried something simpler.

I turned Gmail itself into a lightweight task manager, right where the work was already happening.

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Rethink what tasks actually are

One reason most task managers never stuck for me was that they treated every task the same.

A quick reply, a meeting follow-up, and a long-term project all ended up as identical checkboxes, which made my to-do list feel heavier than it needed to be.

I realized that the problem was how I was defining tasks.

When I stepped back, I realized many of my “tasks” weren’t tasks at all. They were emails I needed to respond to, decisions I needed to make, or information I needed to reference later.

By forcing everything into a traditional task manager, I was duplicating work.

If an email takes under two minutes, I handle it immediately. If it needs follow-up, it becomes a task. If it’s purely informational, it stays archived.

After I stopped trying to extract tasks from email and instead worked within it, managing my workload became simpler.

Turning emails into tasks (without leaving Gmail)

The feature that made this system click lives in plain sight on Gmail’s desktop interface.

Open the Tasks panel from the right-hand sidebar, drag an email into it, and Gmail instantly turns that message into a task.

The task inherits the email’s subject as its title, includes a direct link back to the original message, and syncs automatically with the Google Tasks app.

On the mobile app, you can open an email, tap the three-dot menu icon at the top, and select Add to Tasks.

What makes this so effective is how frictionless it feels.

I don’t have to copy details, switch apps, or decide how to phrase the task. I can rename it on the spot to something actionable, like “Reply with edits,” “Send invoice,” or “Review document,” and move on.

The original email stays attached, so context is never lost. If I need to check an attachment, re-read a thread, or confirm a deadline, it’s one click away.

You can quickly create multiple tasks by clicking the checkboxes beside the emails and dragging them into the Tasks panel.

Using Google Tasks for everything that isn’t an email

After Gmail and Google Tasks became my default for email-based tasks, the obvious question was what to do with everything else, such as ideas, reminders, and personal to-dos.

Anything that didn’t start as an email went straight into Google Tasks. I’d add them manually from the Tasks app on my phone or the sidebar on desktop.

I keep the titles short and resist the urge to over-organize.

The key was treating Tasks as a catch-all rather than a planner. It was where unfinished things went, so they didn’t take up mental space.

Where this setup falls short, and why I keep it anyway

My Gmail-and-Tasks setup isn’t perfect, and I won’t pretend it replaces every feature of a dedicated task manager.

Google Tasks is intentionally simple. It doesn’t support a tagging system, project hierarchies, or built-in analytics or productivity reports.

If you manage large, multistep projects with dependencies and timelines, this system will feel limiting.

It also isn’t great for long-term planning. Although you can add deadlines in Tasks, it doesn’t offer advanced features like weekly planning modes, workload balancing, or progress tracking; things that apps like TickTick and Todoist do well.

If you rely on those features to stay motivated, Google Tasks may feel barebones.

But that simplicity is why I keep it.

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I’m already living inside the Google ecosystem. Gmail is open all day, while Google Calendar runs my schedule. And Google Tasks integrates with both. There’s no separate inbox of things to process.

With Gmail and Tasks working together, I can easily create tasks while I’m reading an email, not later when I might forget.

Every task links back to the original email, so I don’t have to copy details, paste links, or wonder why I added something in the first place.

For day-to-day work, that’s far more useful than a powerful task manager.

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The beauty of using Gmail as a task manager

After years of bouncing between dedicated to-do apps, I finally found a system that sticks because it fits seamlessly into how I already work.

Gmail, paired with Google Tasks, keeps my actionable items front and center without asking me to maintain yet another app or ecosystem.

However, it isn’t perfect. It lacks advanced project views, reminders for complex workflows, and some of the gamified features that other task managers offer.

But for me, the simplicity is the point.

Gmail has become my lightweight, always-accessible task manager that helps keep my day organized without feeling like extra work.