Definition

This action retrieves the complete details of a single, specific task from a designated task list within Google Tasks. By providing a unique Task ID, you can access all associated information for that task, such as its title, status, due date, and notes.

Key capabilities:

• Locates a specific task using its unique identifier.
• Searches within a specified Google Tasks list or the default list.
• Outputs detailed information about the task for use in subsequent actions.

This action is fundamental for automations that need to check on, update, or route information based on the current state of a specific task.

Inputs

1. Connection
   • Purpose: This field establishes a secure, authenticated connection to your Google Tasks account. It authorizes Zenphi to access your task lists and retrieve task information on your behalf.
   • Practical Guidance: You will need to select a pre-configured Google Tasks connection from the dropdown menu or create a new one. This is a one-time setup that allows all subsequent Google Tasks actions in your flow to function correctly.
   • Use Case Context: You would use this field to grant Zenphi the necessary permissions to find the task you are looking for in your Google account.
2. Task List
   • Purpose: This field specifies the name of the task list where the desired task is located. Google Tasks organizes tasks into different lists (e.g., “Work,” “Personal,” “Project X”).
   • Practical Guidance: You can select the list from a dropdown that appears after your connection is established. Alternatively, you can provide the list’s name or ID as a static value (e.g., typing “Project X Team Tasks”) or use a dynamic value from the token picker if a previous step in your flow provided the list name. If you leave this field empty, Zenphi will search in your default task list.
   • Use Case Context: You would use this field to tell Zenphi to search for the task only within your “Q4 Marketing Campaign” list instead of all your lists.
3. Task Id
   • Purpose: This field requires the unique identifier of the exact task you want to retrieve. Every task in Google Tasks has a unique ID that distinguishes it from all others.
   • Practical Guidance: The most common way to use this field is to insert a dynamic value using the token picker from a previous action, such as a “Create Task” or “List Tasks” action. This allows you to find a task that was just created or found in your workflow. You can also select the task from a list by clicking the icon inside the input field or, less commonly, paste in a static value if you already know the specific ID.
   • Use Case Context: You would use this field to provide the specific ID of a task, like “abc123xyz,” to get its details.

Outputs

1. Id
   • Data Description: The unique identifier for the retrieved task.
   • Workflow Utility: This ID is essential for any follow-up actions that need to modify this specific task. For example, you can pass this token to an “Update Task” action to change its due date or to a “Delete Task” action to remove it.
2. Status
   • Data Description: The current status of the task, which will be either needsAction (incomplete) or completed.
   • Workflow Utility: This output is perfect for creating conditional logic in your flow. You can use an “If Condition” action to check if the Status is completed before proceeding with an approval step or sending a notification.
3. Completed Time
   • Data Description: The date and time when the task was marked as complete. This field will be empty if the task is not yet completed.
   • Workflow Utility: This information is valuable for reporting and auditing. You can log this timestamp in a Google Sheet to track team productivity or use it in an email notification to confirm when a task was finished.
4. Due Time
   • Data Description: The assigned due date and time for the task.
   • Workflow Utility: This can be used to send automated reminders. For example, you could compare this date with the current date and trigger an email or chat message if the task is overdue.
5. Notes
   • Data Description: The text content from the task’s description or notes field.
   • Workflow Utility: The notes can be passed to other actions to provide context. For instance, you could include the Notes in the body of an email notification or use them to populate the description of a new item in another system like Jira or Asana.
6. Parent
   • Data Description: The unique identifier of the parent task if this task is a subtask.
   • Workflow Utility: This helps you understand the task hierarchy. You could use this ID in another “Find Task” action to retrieve details about the main parent task.
7. Position
   • Data Description: A string that indicates the task’s order relative to its sibling tasks within the same list or under the same parent.
   • Workflow Utility: While less commonly used in automation, this could be useful for complex scenarios where you need to replicate the exact order of tasks in another system.
8. URL
   • Data Description: A direct link to open this specific task in the Google Tasks user interface.
   • Workflow Utility: This is extremely useful for notifications. You can include this URL in an email or a chat message to give a user a one-click way to navigate directly to the task.
9. Title
   • Data Description: The title or name of the task.
   • Workflow Utility: This is commonly used in communications within your flow. You can use the Title as the subject line of a notification email or as the main heading in a report about the task’s status.
10. Deleted
    • Data Description: A true/false flag indicating whether the task has been deleted.
    • Workflow Utility: This can be used as a safeguard in your flow. You can add a condition to check if Deleted is true before attempting to update the task, preventing potential errors.
11. Hidden
    • Data Description: A true/false flag indicating whether the task is hidden.
    • Workflow Utility: Similar to the “Deleted” output, this can be used in a conditional check to determine if a task is active and visible before taking further action on it.
12. Links
    • Data Description: A collection of any links that have been associated with the task.
    • Workflow Utility: If a task contains important URLs, you can extract them from this output and use them in other steps, such as logging them to a spreadsheet or sending them to a team member.
13. Updated Time
    • Data Description: The date and time the task was last modified.
    • Workflow Utility: This is useful for tracking changes. You can use this timestamp to trigger a part of your flow only when a task has been recently updated, ensuring you are working with the latest information.

Example Use Cases

1. Check Task Status for Approvals Retrieve a task’s status to verify it is completed before automatically triggering a subsequent approval or notification step in a workflow.
2. Send Detailed Task Reminders Find a specific task and use its details, such as the title, notes, and due date, to populate a rich, context-aware reminder email or chat message.
3. Archive Completed Task Information After a task is marked complete, use this action to fetch all its final details (like completed time and notes) and log them into a Google Sheet or database for reporting.
4. Sync Task Details Across Platforms Retrieve a task’s full information from Google Tasks to create or update a corresponding item in another system, such as a Jira issue, an Asana task, or a Salesforce record.

Example

Scenario: A project manager tracks high-priority Task IDs in a Google Sheet to oversee critical deliverables. Every morning, they want an automated email report listing the current status of these specific tasks, so they don’t have to manually check each one in Google Tasks.

Steps to Implement:

1. Trigger the Flow: Start the flow with a Scheduled Trigger set to run daily at 9:00 AM.
2. Get the IDs: Add a Google Sheets > Read Range action to retrieve the list of Task IDs from the tracking spreadsheet.
3. Process Each Task: Add a Foreach Item loop to iterate through the list of IDs retrieved from the sheet.
4. Find the Task Details: Inside the loop, add the Find Task action.
   • Connection: Select your authenticated Google Tasks connection.
   • Task List: Choose the “Critical Projects” list (or map it dynamically if the sheet contains list names).
   • Task Id: Use the token picker to insert the Column A (Task ID) value from the current item in the loop.
5. Send Notification: Inside the loop (or after building a list), add a Send Email action. Use the outputs from the Find Task action to populate the email:
   • Subject: Status Update: Title
   • Body: “The current status is: Status. Due on: Due Time. Link: URL.”

Outcome: The project manager receives an automated status check on their specific high-priority tasks. The flow takes a raw ID from a spreadsheet and uses Find Task to hydrate it with live data (Title, Status, Link), ensuring the report always reflects the real-time state of the work.