Restrict or lock a task for editing
Sometimes, you simply need to prevent tasks being changed. The use cases are many, I will provide some at the end of this post.
Basic Info:
It would be amazing if there were a check-box or a task menu setting to mark a task as "locked for editing" that would simply allow the task to be viewed only (similar to the read only access role). The setting can be reversible, so if you want to allow editing simply uncheck the "locked for editing" box.
If the ability to edit this box was somehow tied to either access roles or license type that would be even more of a game changer. Say for example that one license type admin has the ability to lock or unlock tasks, that would let me solve many of our challenges with request forms being edited after submission or canceled tasks being awakened from the dead unexpectedly.
Advanced Info:
Being able to the lock for various editable parts of a task would really expand the functionality; for example;
- task editing locked
- task title locked
- task description locked
- task status changes locked
- task custom fields locked
- task dates locked
- task comments locked
- task assignment changes locked
API & Automations:
If the locking/unlocking could be set via API and automations many of our wrike challenges would be solved.
Examples:
- We use tasks to track permits, once a permit is expired (status changed to expired) I do not want the task status being changed back to active)
- We use tasks to track awarded contracts, once a contract is closed (status changed to signed) we don't want the task status being changed back to in-progress or started
- When tasks are IT support tickets, i want to prevent the task description (ticket scope) from being edited while IT is trying to resolve the original ticket.
- preventing request forms for internal users from being edited after submission, which has no current work around.
- locking task comments when a task is completed or canceled.
Related Posts:
Cansu Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
Cansu Wrike Team member Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
I very much agree with Joel. Many times our engineering projects are kicked off with a scope that defines all characteristics of the project. It would be very problematic if the assigned engineer has completed 75% of the project and then the scope owner from upstream changes an aspect of the scope. Suddenly we don't know who's in the right and it gets messy very quickly.
Connor Trembley thank you for the kind words.
Sad to say but there has been almost zero meaningful development of the Wrike platform over the last 18 months.
Strip away the the holiday emoji's & use case templates (which I find no use for) there is nothing exiting or new to look at.
The automation engine is maybe the only thing, but we were already using the API so there are not any realized improvements from the addition.
Hey folks, thanks for your continued feedback here!
One thing I wanted to mention here in case it's helpful - it's possible to track who made changes in task descriptions by clicking on this version history icon:
And if you're interested in a deeper dive of what's been released in 2021, please check out this recent Community post 🙌
Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Thanks Lisa, haven't seen that before but that should definitely come in handy.
Joel, I worked with Wrike support and found a bit of a workaround. Basically you create a read-only folder that only you can edit (or whoever you'd like to have the permission). Then, in my use case, I would add a second tag to the desired task for this read-only folder. According to the support team, the most limiting access roll then takes precedent and locks the task. Suddenly it's a read-only task and both the team filling out the scope and the team abiding by it cannot edit it.
Not sure if this would tick all the boxes you're looking for but hopefully it helps a bit.
My business is suffering from a similar issue. Often times tasks are created with a scope in mind and then over time that scope changes. Although this is a natural progression it has added a layer of difficulty when attempting to back track on how we got where we are, who gave the direction and why?
As a best practice we've been attempting to use the comment field to provide changes in direction, however, this does not prevent anyone from making changes directly on to the description field. Because of this we are faced with the task assignee often times missing changes that were made to the description field or vice versa, adding time, frustration, accountability issues and overall hindering the project.
This very well may be an isolated issue to my business. However, if the ''locking'' of the description field is a feature that could be taken more seriously. I am all for it.
I have similar issues for my group, but also another case that this would benefit from. One case not covered here and not solved by having the history available is user errors. We have highly specific titles for tasks representing a unique analysis task that users rely on to find the given work they need to be doing. At least once a month a user accidentally changes the title of the analysis task to something completely wrong without realizing it and then move on to something else important for their work. A freak out ensues of "oh no all my notes and work is gone!" and then we have to try to hunt down where the task went and revert the change. Having the history allows us to eventually find and recover from the accidental change but it is frustrating to have to keep doing. Users are aware of this possibility but no amount of training or information is going to prevent this as analyst are focused on their work and can easily not notice mistakes made in tracking things when in Wrike.
Being able to lock even just the task title after creation would save us from this monthly exercise.
Thanks a lot for sharing your detailed use cases and workarounds here, everyone, that's super helpful for when we're discussing this suggestion with the Product team 🙌
Please keep upvoting the original post as it helps the team see how popular it is. If we have any updates for you, we'll make sure to let you know 👍
Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Any progress made at all with this? Would love to be able to auto-lock tasks when they are in a completed status.
Not at the moment Rory Hurlburt, so please make sure to upvote the original post above if you haven't done so yet - it will help to have more votes here for when our Product team reviews this idea 👍
Also, I'd recommend checking out Wrike's Access roles that can help with this use case.
Welcome to the Community 👋
Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Just another voice of support for this feature. Ideally for our team it would basically be a status that locks all editing on a task, only certain users can revert, dialogue is generated in the comment window when this occurs
Hi Alex Merrill, welcome to the Community and thank you for adding your support for this suggestion 🙌
Cansu Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
Cansu Wrike Team member Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
Any update here?
Hi Asifbhai Vahora, not for the moment, we'll be sure to let you know if anything changes.
Cansu Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
Cansu Wrike Team member Infórmate sobre las funciones y prácticas recomendadas de Wrike
Any updates on this request?
Hi Fatme Chahrour, welcome to the Community 👋
For now, it is possible to prevent users from editing by using Wrike's access roles. Could you please let me know if that would work for you?
Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover