Support

Getting started

For Task to keep its numbers aligned with Mission Control, open System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Mission Control and turn off:

• Displays have separate Spaces
• Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use

Task stays in the menu bar. It does not appear in the Dock.

The tag-shaped menu-bar icon contains the current numbered Desktop. Fullscreen and Split View Spaces leave the tag unnumbered because macOS does not assign them a Desktop number.

Name your Spaces

Right-click the Task menu-bar icon. The text field at the top of the menu contains the current Desktop name. Edit it there and Task updates that Desktop’s entry immediately.

For bulk edits, choose Configuration…. Task opens the local plain-text file in your default text editor. Add one numbered description per line:

splash_duration = 1.5

1 = Focus work
2 = Email and messages
3 = Research and reference
4 = Planning and admin

The file is stored locally at:

~/Library/Containers/com.500nits.Task/Data/Library/Application Support/Task/spaces.txt

Task does not overwrite the file when it launches, changes Spaces, or shows a splash. It writes only when you edit the Desktop name, release the splash-duration slider, or complete a verified numbered-Desktop reorder in Mission Control.

spaces.txt is an app-owned canonical file. When Task writes it, duplicate entries collapse to their last value and custom comments, unknown keys, and custom formatting are removed.

If you drag numbered Desktops into a new order in Mission Control, Task uses their stable identities to move each name to its new Desktop number automatically.

Set the splash duration

Right-click the Task icon and use the Splash duration slider. Choose any value from 0.1 to 5.0 seconds; the default is 1.5 seconds.

The value is saved immediately when you release the slider as splash_duration in spaces.txt. If that setting is missing or invalid, Task uses the 1.5-second default without rewriting the file.

When Task appears

Your current Space name appears briefly when you:

• move to another Space;
• open Mission Control;
• left-click the Task menu-bar icon.

If you use more than one display, Task shows the name on every connected display. A fullscreen Space shows its visible app name, such as Safari. Split View shows both apps from left to right, such as Safari · Notes.

Menu-bar controls

The small number inside Task’s tag shows the current numbered Desktop. Right-click the icon to rename that Desktop, set the splash duration, open the full configuration, enable or disable Start at Login, read the About panel, or quit Task. Start at Login is always opt-in.

Install a source build

Run make install from the Task source directory. It regenerates the app and menu-bar icon assets first, builds the Release app, stops the running Task process, and replaces /Applications/Task.app.

Troubleshooting

The wrong name appears

Confirm that both Mission Control settings listed above are off, then check that the number in spaces.txt matches the Space’s position in Mission Control.

No name appears after editing

Edits in the menu field save immediately. If you edit the full configuration instead, save it as plain text and keep one mapping per line in the form number = description. Then switch Spaces or left-click the menu-bar icon.

Task is not visible

Look for its numbered tag-shaped icon in the macOS menu bar. If the menu bar is crowded, macOS or a menu-bar manager may have hidden it.