Purpose
Each department has specific reasons to use Tasks in Open Dental. Below are some examples of reasons we use Tasks.
• Communication between corporate offices and dental offices
• To do items for other departments
• Requests for help
• Requests to check patient accounts, or appointments
• Training and learning from mistakes will be used by managers
Tasks should be used as often as possible to communicate about patients between departments. See below for instructions on how to use the Tasks function in Open Dental.
Help
If you are having any trouble using or receiving tasks, please open a ticket with IT for resolution as quickly as possible.
Create Task for Existing Person/Department
Be sure to have chart up related to the task you will be assigning
1) Click on ‘Tasks’ button
2) Scroll to department or employee you will be assigning task to
3) Double click the appropriate department or employee
T
4) Enter ‘Description’ in box such as note of what you need done a) Right-click and select ‘Add Quicknote’ to use templates
5) Double check ‘Task List’ to be sure you are assigning to the correct department or employee a) If not, click ‘Send To…’ and select the correct one
6) Change ‘Task Priority’ if needed (Set as HIGH for urgent issues, set as CRITICAL for issues where the office needs to contact the patient ASAP)
7) Double check Patient Name a) If incorrect, click ‘Change’ and select the correct patient
8) Once everything has been entered and reviewed Click ‘OK’ NOTE: The department/employee will receive a notification stating they have a new task
9) If Task is not related to a patient change ‘Object Type’ to ‘None’
10) Click ‘OK’ to send
Create Task Person/Dept Not Already On List
1) Click on drop-arrow next to ‘Tasks’ button
2) Click on ‘for (your name)’
3) Click on ‘Add Task’ button
4) Enter ‘Description’ in box such as note of what you need done
a) Right-click and select ‘Add Quicknote’ to use templates
5) Change ‘Task Priority’ if needed
6) Keep ‘Object Type’ as ‘None’
7) Click ‘Send To…’ to select employee you wish to assign task to
8) Click ‘OK’ to send task
Subscribing to an Inbox
You should subscribe to the inbox of each office you are associated with so you will get a notification when a task is created for one of your offices. For example, if you work at both AFDB Cicero and AFDB Pulaski, you would subscribe to both inboxes.
1) Click on arrow next to ‘Tasks’ button
2) Click on ‘Reminders’
3) Right-click on the inbox you wish to subscribe to and get notifications for
4) Click on ‘Subscribe’
Unsubscribing to an Inbox
1) Click arrow next to ‘Tasks’ button
2) Select ‘for YOUR NAME’
3) Click on the first tab ‘for YOUR NAME’
4) Hover over the inbox you want to unsubscribe to and right-click
5) Select ‘Unsubscribe’
Receiving a Task
1) The number of tasks you have been assigned will appear next to ‘Tasks’
2) Click on ‘for (your name)’
3) You will be able to see task assigned in the next screen
Completing a Task
1) Double click on the task to open
2) Once task has been completed Click ‘Done’
NOTE: Never click done until you completed the task. Once you click ‘Done’ the task will disappear from your list and you will only be able to find it by going to the patient’s chart or adjusting Options.
View Open Tasks
1) Click the drop-down arrow next to the ‘Tasks’ button
2) Click on ‘for (your name)’
3) Click on ‘Open Tasks’
4) Tasks are color coordinated according to priority
a) Pink – Reminder
b) Blue – Normal
c) Green – High
d) Red – Critical
View Finished Tasks
Once task is marked as ‘Done’ it will disappear from ‘Open Tasks’ and will then be visible only under ‘Finished Tasks’
1) Click on top left ‘Options’ button
2) Click the checkbox next to ‘Show Finished Tasks’
3) Adjust ‘Start Date’ to date you wish to begin viewing finished tasks
4) Click ‘OK’. The list will display
Suppress Pop-ups
When you receive a task for an inbox you are subscribed to, you will get a pop-up message in Open Dental. You can stop those from coming up while still receiving the number notification next to your Tasks.
1) Click arrow next to ‘Tasks’ button
2) Select ‘for YOUR NAME’
3) Select ‘Manage Blocks’
4) Click the checkbox for any subscription you want to block popups for
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