Task Till Dawn

Manual
Copyright © 2017 - 2019 Oliver Matuschin

Version 2.21
Table of contents
Overview 1
System requirements 1
Windows 1
macOS 1
Installation 1
Portable mode 2
Removal 2
Software updates 2
Bug reports and feedback 2
The task list window 3
Opening the task list window on macOS 3
Opening the task list window on Windows 4
Task list overview 5
Creating a task 6
Metadata 7
Actions 8
Configuring an action 9
Workflow variables 9
Assigning result variables 11
Assigning input variables 12
Using variables inside text fields 12
Variable conversion cheat sheet 13
Schedule 14
Events 15
Useful tasks 16
Quicklinks 16
Opening applications, files or folders 16
Mounting a network share on macOS 16
Automatically copy camera photos from storage device 16
Hourly time announcement 16
Overview
Task Till Dawn is a free task scheduler for Windows and macOS. Automate your recurring and tedious
tasks so that you can concentrate on your actual work. With the built-in graphical editor, you can
create your workflows from a variety of ready-made actions. You can then have these executed on a
schedule or triggered by certain events. Most actions are available across platforms, so you can use
your workflows on both Mac and Windows with little or no adjustments.

To keep the overview you can sort tasks into groups. A built-in import and export functionality allows
for easy exchange of tasks between multiple workstations. Thanks to the optional portable mode you
can also start Task Till Dawn directly from a USB stick. An icon in the task bar under Windows or in
the menu bar on the Mac allows convenient quick access to frequently used tasks.

System requirements
Task Till Dawn is available for Windows and macOS. The system requirements described below are
the minimum system requirements. Running Task Till Dawn on older operating system versions than
listed might work, but it is not supported. Also, not all actions are available on all systems and all
versions.

Windows
• Windows Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 RS SP1 (64-Bit) or newer
• About 200 MB of free disk space for the application and the JRE
• Java 8 runtime

macOS
• Mac OS X 10.8.5 or newer
• About 200 MB of free disk space

Installation
There’s not much to say regarding the installation. Simply move the application file to a place on your
hard drive you like. The first time you start the application an assistant will be shown which takes you
through the initial setup. It is recommended that you confirm the automatic start of Task Till Dawn.
Tasks cannot be executed while the application is not running.

All the settings and tasks will be stored on the startup drive of the computer you run it on.

If you want to run Task Till Dawn from a removable storage device you can leverage the portable
mode as described in the next chapter.

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Portable mode
Task Till Dawn can be started in portable mode. When this mode is enabled, all settings, tasks, log-
files and so on are stored in a data folder at the same place where the application resides. This makes
it possible to start Task Till Dawn from a removable storage device – like an USB stick – on different
computers while keeping all the settings and tasks.

Not all features are available though when the application is started in that mode. For example, the
autostart feature will be disabled.

To enable portable mode, simply create an empty file named „portable“ (or „.portable“ on the Mac, if
you want the file to be invisible) in the same folder where the Task Till Dawn application resides. The
next time you start Task Till Dawn from this location it will be running in portable mode. You can verify
this by having a look at the „About Task Till Dawn“ information window. Below the version number it
should then state „Portable mode“.

On Windows one can also start Task Till Dawn from the command line with the argument „portable“.
This is an alternative way if creating the „portable“ file is not feasible.

Removal
If you want to get rid of Task Till Dawn, quit it if it is currently running and put the application file to the
trash.

Software updates
Task Till Dawn features a built in update check which can inform you about available software
updates. You can either trigger the update check manually or the application can look for updates
automatically upon startup, if you’ve enabled the automatic update check in the preferences.

Installation of updates needs to be done manually. Just download the newest version from
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/downloads/ and replace the existing application on your
computer with it. Please ensure that you quit the existing application before you replace it
with the newer version!

Bug reports and feedback

Even though I invest a lot of time into testing of Task Till Dawn it can always happen that a bug
remains undiscovered. Additionally, some bugs or issues only appear with certain operating system
versions and / or hardware configurations.

If you find a bug, please let me know using the build in feedback function! The sooner I know about a
bug, the faster I can fix it.

Of course any feedback is appreciated, not only regarding bugs! If you have a good idea for
improvements, just let me know.

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The task list window
When you start Task Till Dawn, the first thing you see is normally the task list window (or just „task
list“). If you have changed the application preferences so that the list does not show up automatically,
you can open it in several ways.

Opening the task list window on macOS

Find the application icon in the dock and right click on it. The dock menu which opens contains an
entry called „Show task list“. Click it and the task list will appear.

If the application is not visible in the dock then have a look at the right side of your menu bar. There
should be a small Task Till Dawn icon. Click on it and a menu will drop down. This menu also contains
an entry called „Show task list“ which you can use to open the list.

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Opening the task list window on Windows
On Windows, Task Till Dawn resides in the task bar notification area in form of a small icon. The task
bar notification area is usually located at the bottom right area of your screen. If the icon is not visible,
click on the arrow pointing upwards at the leftmost side of the notification area. It should then appear.

You can either double click on it to show the task list, or right click on it to open a menu. This menu
contains an entry called „Show task list“ which you can use to open the list.

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Task list overview
Within the task list you can group, rearrange, add and delete tasks. It also gives you a nice overview
of all the assigned schedules, the last execution dates and more.
When you open Task Till Dawn for the first time, the task list is empty.

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The window consists of the following areas:

1. The task area: Once you’ve created at least one task it will appear here. Rearrange tasks by
dragging them around with the mouse while holding your mouse button.
2. The toolbar: Use the toolbar to manually run tasks, stop running tasks, create new ones etc.
3. The sidebar: It displays all the groups available to sort tasks into. Groups have no special
functionality, they are meant to help you keep track of your tasks if you have a lot of them. A task
can be assigned to different groups at once. The group „All tasks“ always contains all of the
available tasks. You can rearrange groups by dragging them around with the mouse. Add one or
more tasks to a group by dragging the tasks onto the group name. As soon as the name gets
highlighted let go of the mouse button and the tasks will be assigned.
4. The group toolbar: Use these buttons to create new groups, edit existing ones, or delete a group.
You can also open any group in a new window.

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Creating a task
There are several ways to create a new task (not all of them are always available):
- Click the „New task“ button in the task list window toolbar.
- Choose File > Create new task (from the File menu at the top of your screen).
- Right click on the application icon in the menu bar (on macOS) or in the task bar notification area
(Windows) and choose „New task“.
- On macOS: right click on the application icon in the Dock and chose „New task“.

All of these do the same thing: they open the task configuration window.

The task configuration window is used to configure everything related to a single task. Using the four
toolbar buttons at the top of the window you can switch between different sections. Once you’re
done setting everything up, click the „Create“ button at the bottom right corner of the window to store
the task.

All the different sections of the configuration window are described in the following chapters.

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Metadata
In the Metadata section you can give the task a name, a description, and define an execution limit.
Also, it is possible to activate or deactivate a task.

The section contains following areas:

1. The task name field: Enter a descriptive name of your task here. The name will later be shown in
the task list and in all menus where you can choose a task. The name is mandatory and cannot
be left empty. Multiple tasks can have the same name.
2. The description field: You can use this field to give a detailed description of what your task does. It
is only shown in the task list.
3. Enable or disable this task using the checkbox. A deactivated task will never be executed
automatically, but it can be executed manually.
4. Define an execution limit. The task can either be deleted or deactivated after the defined
maximum execution limit has been reached.
5. If you activate this option notifications will be disabled for this task. This means that Task Till Dawn
will not notify you when this task is ran or stopped. How Task Till Dawn will notify you in general
can be configured in the preferences in the tab „Notifications“.

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Actions
Use the Actions section to build the workflow, which is the heart of every task and actually defines
what the task does. A workflow consists of actions which are executed one after another, starting
from the top of the list defined in the workflow area (4).

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The section contains the following areas:

1. This list contains several categories which might help you to find an action based on what you
want to do. Select a category and the action list (2) will be filtered to only display the contents of
the selected category. Click on „Library“ to see all actions available.
2. This is the action list. Use these to build your workflow with. Simply double click an action, or drag
it while holding your mouse button, to add it to the workflow (4).
3. Once you select an action in the action list (2), this area displays a description of what the action
does. It also displays information about what data the action requires as input (if any) and whether
the action returns a result or not.
4. This is the workflow area. It displays all actions of the workflow and also lets you configure actions
(if the action can be configured). You can rearrange actions by dragging them around with the
mouse while holding your mouse button. A workflow is executed from top to bottom.
5. Click on „Save“ to store your recent changes or on „Save and close“ to also close the task
configuration window. Click on „Cancel“ to discard any changes since your last save.

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Configuring an action
Once you have added an action to the workflow, all available configuration options will be shown.
Note that there are also actions which cannot be configured at all.

The following example image shows the retrieve folder contents action and how it is displayed inside
of a workflow. It offers one configuration option („Include subfolders“). The fields above and below the
action are used to configure the input and output variables. Variables are described in the next
chapters.

Workflow variables
Variables define data most actions can work with, and actions can also return variables as a
processing result – which can then be used again as input for subsequent actions.

A variable consists of a variable name and a variable type. The type of a variable is defined by the
action returning the variable as its result and is indicated by an icon. The variable name can be freely
assigned but has to be unique per workflow.

The variable type defines what kind of data the variable actually contains. For example, an action
working with files will most likely return a variable containing one or more files as a result. Whereas an
action working with text will probably return a variable containing one or more text strings.

The following variable types are available:

Icon Type Description

Single file or
Variable containing a single file or folder reference.
folder

Multiple files
Variable containing multiple file or folder references.
or folders

Text string Variable containing a text string.

Variable containing a number. Number variables are treated like text string
Number
variables.

Task Variable containing a single task reference.

Multiple tasks Variable containing multiple task references.

Date and
Variable containing a timestamp which consists of date and time.
time

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If you select an action in the action list, the description area displays the type of variables the selected
action allows as its input, and what type of variable it returns as its result.

Variable types are not directly interchangeable. However, Task Till Dawn offers some automatic
variable conversion options for most of them, which makes it possible to use a variable as an input for
an action which would normally require a different variable type to work with.

For example, if you want to pass a file variable to an action which needs text strings to work with
instead, Task Till Dawn allows you to define that you would like to use some property like the file name
of a file variable as the text string input.

All available variable conversions are listed in the Variable conversion cheat sheet!

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Assigning result variables
To create a variable of a certain type, use an action which returns a variable of the required type as its
result. For example, let’s assume that you’d like to copy some files somewhere using the „Copy files
and folders“ action. The action itself offers no way to directly specify which files it should copy.
Instead, it copies all the files provided in the variable specified as its input.

To create a variable which can be used at the input, and to specify which files the variable should
contain, you can use the „Specify files and folders“ action.
It offers a list where you can add files and folders to and whose references will then be stored in the
result variable for later use with other actions.

In the picture above, the variable „Specified files and folders“ is returned as the result of the „Specify
files and folders“ action and then directly passed into the „Copy files and folders“ action.

Variable names for result variables are often automatically assigned by Task Till Dawn once you add
an action to your workflow. Of course you can also create new variables or reuse existing ones.
Simply click on the area below the arrow pointing downwards. A menu will then pop up offering all
variables with a matching type which can be reused, and also a menu entry to create a new variable.
A variable remains available for selection in the workflow as long as it is assigned anywhere. If this is
no longer the case, it is automatically removed.

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Assigning input variables
If an action allows the assignment of one or more input variables, an arrow pointing downwards is
shown above the action inside the workflow. Above the arrow, the currently selected input variable is
displayed. If no variable has been selected, the text „No input“ is shown instead. Task Till Dawn tries
to automatically preselect matching input variables as soon as you add an action to the workflow.

Click on the area displaying the variable name and a menu will pop up. It contains all available
variables which can be used as input for the action. If variables do not directly match the required
variable type, but can be converted, the available conversion options will also be displayed per
variable in the menu.

In the picture below, the only variable which can be used as input for the action „Delete files and
folders“ is the one named „Selected files“. Click on a variable name and it will become the input
variable for the action. Click on „No input“ to unassign a previously selected variable.

Using variables inside text fields

Many actions allow you to enter some text containing variables – for example the „Speak text“ action.
If you see a small „+v“-button on the left side inside a text field, it means that variables are supported.
Click on it and a menu pops up showing all variables which contain a text string or can somehow be
converted to a text string.
If you select a variable it will be inserted into your text and evaluated during execution of the action.
To remove a variable from your text, delete it using the delete or backspace key on your keyboard.

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Variable conversion cheat sheet
The following table shows all available variable conversions.

Source Target Conversion

Single file or folder Multiple files or folders Can be directly assigned

Text string • Path (/folder/example.txt)

• Name (example.txt)
• Parent path (/folder)

Elements of any type Can be directly assigned

Multiple files or folders Single file or folder • First element of list

• Last element of list

Text string • Path of the first list element

• Name of the first list element
• Parent path of the first list element

• Path of the last list element

• Name of the last list element
• Parent path of the last list element

• Comma separated paths

• Comma separated names

• Space separated paths

• Space separated names

• Paths as multiline list

• Names as multiline list

Elements of any type Can be directly assigned

Task Text string • Task name

• Task description

Elements of any type Can be directly assigned

Date and time Text string • Date and time (8/31/18 3:55 PM)
• Timestamp (1980-08-31 1555512)

• Date in short form (8/31/80)

• Date (Aug 31, 1980)
• Date in full length (August 31, 1980)

• Time in short form (3:55 PM)

• Time (3:55:12 PM)
• Time in full length (3:55:12 PM CEST)

• Day (31)
• Month (08)
• Year (1980)

• Day (Sunday)
• Month (August)

• Hour (15)
• Minute (55)
• Second (12)

• Unix timestamp (336578112)

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Schedule
The Schedule section allows you to set up an optional schedule for your task. Task Till Dawn will
execute your task every time the schedule occurs.

The section contains the following areas:

1. Select this option if you don’t want to your task to be executed based on a schedule. It is
preselected initially.
2. This option sets up an interval schedule. The task will be executed every specified seconds,
minutes, hours or days. Lets say you define an interval schedule of 5 minutes and create the task
at 8:02 am, then it will be automatically executed at 8:02 am (right after you created it), at 8:07
am, 8:12 am and so on. If you want the task execution to start exactly at a given time, use the
optional schedule validity options (4). You can also define that the interval should only be taken
into account between certain hours of every day. To do that, check the option „Only execute
between…“ and specify start and end times.
3. Use this option to specify a fixed time at which your task should be executed.
4. These options allow you to specify a time range during which the chosen schedule should be
valid.
5. Specify whether a task execution should be skipped or not if the schedule was missed. For
example, let’s assume you’ve set up a fixed time schedule for 5pm (without any other limitations),
but your computer happens to be off at that time. You turn on your computer at 6pm. Now, if
you’ve selected this option, Task Till Dawn will consider your schedule missed and re-schedule
the task to be executed on the next day at 5pm. Without this option being selected, your task will
be executed as soon as you turn on your computer.
6. Here you can limit the schedule validity to specific days or days of a month.

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Events
The Events section allows you to define multiple optional events which – as soon as they occur –
trigger the execution of your task. It is possible to define a schedule and multiple events for a task at
the same time. Whichever comes first triggers the task’s execution.

The list of available events depends on your operating system. Not all events are available on all
systems.

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Useful tasks
On my blog I have created a category where I collect examples of useful tasks. Have a look to see
what you can do with Task Till Dawn:
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/blog/categories/useful-tasks

Quicklinks
Opening applications, files or folders
This small tutorial shows how to open other applications, files or folders.
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/blog/opening-applications-files-or-folders

Mounting a network share on macOS

See how to mount a network share on macOS. Contains also an example about how one can
determine whether a share has already been mounted.
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/blog/mounting-a-network-share-on-macos

Automatically copy camera photos from storage device

A task which automatically copies camera photos from any storage device - for example USB sticks,
CDs, memory cards or even network drives - as soon as they are inserted or connected.
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/blog/automatically-copy-camera-photos-from-storage-devices

Hourly time announcement

This task makes your computer speak the time to you hourly during working hours. Never miss the
end of the working day again and delight your colleagues with this tonal
accompaniment of everyday life!
https://www.oliver-matuschin.de/en/blog/hourly-time-announcement

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