12 June 2026 · Project Management
5 Steps to Build a Project Task List in Standard Time®
Standard Time® lets you define an entire project's task hierarchy by typing into a plain-text editor — no forms, no dialogs. Indentation does the work: subprojects at the left margin, tasks indented under them, and nested subprojects indented further for multi-phase jobs. Here is the complete process from opening the editor to seeing results in the Project Tasks grid.
-
1
Open the Text Editor from the Properties Panel
From the Home screen, open the Projects page and click any project row to select it. The Properties panel slides open on the right side of the window. Locate the Tasks field and click it — a plain-text dialog opens showing the current task list for that project. If the project has no tasks yet, the editor is blank and ready to type into. Whatever you type is saved verbatim — indentation and line breaks included — and Standard Time® re-parses the task list each time you click Save and Close.
-
2
Place Subprojects at the Left Margin
Type each subproject name starting at column 0 — no spaces or tabs before it. Subprojects are the top-level groupings for a project: phases, work streams, or any category that makes sense for the job. You can have as many subprojects as you need; just start each one at the far left of the text editor. Note that subprojects are completely optional — if your project is simple enough, you can skip them and just list tasks flat with no indentation at all.
-
3
Indent Tasks One Tab Under Their Subproject
Below each subproject name, type the tasks that belong to it — each indented with a single tab character. Press the Tab key at the start of each task line to create the indent. Any number of tasks can follow a subproject. When you start the next subproject at column 0, everything below it belongs to that subproject instead. Use tab characters rather than spaces for consistent parsing — mixing the two can produce unexpected hierarchy results.
-
4
Add Nested Subprojects for Multi-Phase Projects
For complex projects with many phases, add a third level of hierarchy using nested subprojects. A nested subproject sits at the same one-tab indent as a regular task, but has its own tasks indented below it at two tabs. Standard Time® determines the difference automatically: if the line below a one-tab item is indented two tabs, that one-tab line becomes a nested subproject. Nested subprojects roll their task totals up to the top-level subproject above them, giving you intermediate phase totals without any extra configuration.
-
5
View Results in the Collapsible Project Tasks Grid
After clicking Save and Close, open the Project Tasks page to see your hierarchy. Subprojects appear as parent rows with summary totals — time logged to tasks beneath them rolls up automatically. Click the expand/collapse triangle on any subproject row to hide or show the tasks beneath it. Collapse everything for a high-level summary; expand only the phase you are actively reviewing. Subprojects remain useful even if employees never scan them on the shop floor — their totals accumulate from task scans without any extra steps at the scan station.