Tightened Task Permissions: Create, Edit, and Delete – Forecast

What's new

Admins can now control who can create, edit, and delete tasks using the new Manage Tasks permission.

This comprises three separate permissions, set per permission profile — Admins can set each individually or as a group using the Manage Tasks checkbox. A new Manage Task permission toggle is available for the Contributor (Collaborator seat) profile and can also be configured by Admins.

Previously, anyone who could open a task could change its key details or delete it outright. Now Admins can lock that down.

Please note: All three permissions are enabled by default for every existing permission profile. With this, no existing behavior is expected to change unless an Admin goes into the permission profiles and intentionally updates the permissions.

For the Contributor (Collaborator seat) profile, the toggle in the permissions settings enables Admins to strip out the three permissions from this otherwise locked profile. The toggle is off by default, consistent with the permissions being enabled by default for existing permission profiles.

Why it matters

This lets teams separate the people who define a task from the people who work on it — protecting dates, estimates, and assignments from unwanted changes. It's also a foundation for more controlled, automation- and AI-driven workflows down the line.

Who it's for

Admins — set the permissions
Managers / task owners — get protection for their tasks
Team members / task workers — work within whatever limits are set

How it works

Three independent permissions, toggled per profile:

Create: Allows a user to create new tasks in a project, including subtasks.

Note: Creating a subtask is also covered by the Edit Tasks permission, so a profile only needs one of the two enabled to allow this action.

Edit — Allows a user to edit a task's core details, including:

Name, description, priority, and labels
Assignees, role, owner, and followers
Start/due date, estimate, and recurrence
The bug and billable flags

It also covers reassigning a task's phase, milestone, or sprint, and creating or re-nesting subtasks and dependencies. Current values and existing subtasks/dependencies are always visible to everyone — this permission only governs adding or changing them.

Deleting a subtask is included here too, but deleting a top-level task requires Delete Tasks.

Note: The Approved flag is also controlled by this permission, but changing it additionally requires Manage Phases.

Not included:

Status changes
Comments and file attachments
The Blocked flag
Favorite/star
Manual-mode time left and progress
Custom fields

Note: Moving a task between projects requires Manage Projects.

Delete — Allows a user to delete any task, including top-level tasks.

Note: Profiles with Edit Tasks can already delete subtasks without this permission — this one is needed specifically for deleting top-level tasks.

When edit is restricted, these fields become read-only: name, description, dates, estimate, assignees, role, owner, followers, priority, labels, recurrence, bug, billable, and approved. Moving a task to a different phase or sprint, and creating or editing subtasks or dependencies, are also blocked.

Some actions stay open to everyone regardless of the edit permission: moving a task through workflow statuses, comments, files, progress / time left, blocked, star, and custom fields.

Restrictions are enforced everywhere a task can be changed — the task modal, Timeline, Scoping, Task Board, and Sprints.

Note: Edit is all-or-nothing for now. Restricting individual fields one by one isn't supported yet. Custom fields also stay editable regardless of the edit permission.

How to get there

Admins will go to their Admin panel and then Permissions.
Click into the permission profile group and make your way to the category Manage Tasks: there you will see the Create, Edit, and Delete options.
From there, you will see descriptions of each and have the flexibility to toggle on or off.

For the Contributor (Collaborator seat) profile, the toggle in the permissions settings enables Admins to strip out the three permissions from this otherwise locked profile.
The toggle is off by default, consistent with the permissions being enabled by default for existing permission profiles.

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