In this article:
1. What Is a Card Subtask?
2. How to Create Subtasks?
2.1. How to Create Subtasks with AI
2.2. How to Manage Subtasks
3. How to Edit a Subtask?
4. How to Restore a Subtask?
5. How to Rearrange the Order of Subtasks?
6. How to Display Subtasks in the Closed Card View?
Option 1: Icon
Option 2: Row (all)
Option 3: Row (unfinished only)
In Businessmap, subtasks help you outline smaller tasks inside a card. If a subtask proves to be too big, you can convert it to a separate card. Here is everything you need to know about subtasks in Businessmap!
1. What Is a Card Subtask?
Subtasks are the simplest level of a task breakdown. A subtask can be considered a smaller task, which is part of a more complex one. In other words, it is an element of completing a larger task. You can think of subtasks as checklists that can be checked off when complete.
Subtasks are useful when you have multiple items to do on a given card to show their progress. The subtask is created at a card level and has two states: checked and non-checked. It does not inherit the card properties and can be completed by different users (who have access to the board).
2. How to Create Subtasks?
All subtasks are stored in the Subtasks tab of the respective card. In Businessmap, you can create subtasks both from the open card view and the Context menu in the closed card view.
To create a subtask, open the Subtasks tab (see image above), or click the Context menu icon (or right-click on the closed card) and select Subtasks (see image below).
If no subtasks have been created, the Subtasks tab will display a single value of 0 in brackets. You can create, assign, edit, reorder, and delete subtasks in the Subtasks panel. You can also convert a subtask into a card.
To create a subtask, open the Subtasks tab and press Space or click the “add a subtask” link. Enter the subtask name in the text box. You can optionally assign the task, set a deadline, and/or attach a file. A rich-text editor becomes available where you can further format your subtask text. Once a subtask is created, you can set a deadline for it from the calendar icon. Similar to card deadlines, a subtask's due date will be colored in red if the date has passed and in orange if it is set for the current day.
Use the "Add Subtask" button to add the subtask or press Ctrl + Enter.
Notes:
- You can assign the subtask to a registered Businessmap user → select a name from the dropdown list with board members. The subtask owner can be different from the card owner.
- You can't assign subtasks that have been marked as complete.
2.1. How to Create Subtasks with AI
If the “Enable AI” security control is enabled for the account, users will be able to create subtasks with the help of AI based on a card's title and/or description. You can generate subtasks when creating a new card or for already existing cards. Simply open the Subtasks tab and click the AI icon in the lower right corner of the tab. Alternatively, you can use the Subtasks field in the card details. Once you click the icon, the system will prompt you to confirm the action.
You can add all suggested subtasks, add individual subtasks, or cancel all suggestions.
Important: When using this feature, your card data is securely sent to a third-party AI service (Azure OpenAI by Microsoft). As per Microsoft's guidelines, your data is kept private, it is never shared, and is never used to train their AI models.
2.2. How to Manage Subtasks
The subtasks you create appear as a checklist in the dedicated panel. When you complete a subtask, check the box to mark it as done.
The Subtask tab displays the number of total subtasks in the card and lets you see the number of completed subtasks vs all subtasks from anywhere in the card. For example, when 1 out of 2 subtasks is completed, the numerical fraction will display 1/2.
To focus on uncompleted tasks, you can choose to Hide completed subtasks from the button in the top right corner. Hover over a subtask to see:
- Subtask ID
- Date/time of creation
- Date/time of completion (if checkmarked)
To update multiple subtasks at once, press Cntrl/Cmd and click on the respective subtasks.
3. How to Edit a Subtask?
Open the subtasks tab, hover over an unfinished subtask, and use the Options icon (the three dots) to:
- edit a subtask
- convert a subtask to a card — when converting a subtask with a deadline, the deadline will be preserved in the new card.
- delete a subtask
You can double-click a subtask to enable the edit mode. To add or update a subtask deadline, click the deadline icon.
Note: If a subtask is marked as complete, it cannot be edited anymore.
4. How to Restore a Subtask?
If you have deleted a subtask by mistake, you can restore it using the card revisions from the top right corner menu in the open card view.
You can learn more about it in our dedicated article on card revisions here.
5. How to Rearrange the Order of Subtasks?
Oftentimes, when creating and working with subtasks, you need to change their sequence. To reorder subtasks, you need to open the subtasks tab, and hover over a subtask to see the reorder icon (the up and down arrows). Just drag and drop the respective subtask to the order you want.
Important: Reordering subtasks triggers the subtask modification feature from business rules.
6. How to Display Subtasks in the Closed Card View?
In Businessmap, you can customize how subtasks are displayed in the closed card view. There is a separate setting for cards and initiatives. To access the view settings, click the Configure views icon in the Board Sidebar located to the right of your board interface.
This will open the view settings panel where you can configure how subtasks appear in the closed view. To configure how subtasks are displayed in cards workflows, select the Card view tab. To configure subtasks in initiatives workflows, click the Initiative view tab. Navigate to the Subtasks settings (you can use the filter to quickly search for it).
You have the same subtask view options for cards and initiatives:
- Icon
- Row (all)
- Row (unfinished only)
- Off — no subtask details will be displayed in the closed view.
Option 1: Icon
With the Icon option, you will see a checkmark icon and the subtask count. It shows the completed vs the total number of tasks (e.g. 2/5). Clicking on the preview icon will redirect you to the Subtasks tab.
Option 2: Row (all)
The Row (all) option displays all subtasks in separate rows, regardless of whether they are checkmarked. That way, you can mark a subtask as complete directly from the closed card view. This view option gives you a clear image of all subtasks that are part of the card/initiative, as well as their current status.
You can also quickly create new subtasks without opening the Subtasks tab. Just type in the subtask name in the New subtask… box at the bottom of the card (under the existing subtasks) and click Enter to add it to the card.
Option 3: Row (unfinished only)
With the Row (unfinished only) option, the system will automatically hide completed subtasks in the closed card view. All subtasks remain available in the Subtasks tab.
If you checkmark a subtask as complete in the closed view, it will be automatically hidden.