A task list is a set of tasks. It can either be all the tasks for a project, the tasks that need to be accomplished tomorrow, your life goals, etc. To add a new task list, click on the Add a new list link on the left. The only field required to add a new list is it's title. Everything else is optional. Note that premium users may create an unlimited number of lists, and free users can only have one active list at a time.

A task list can have an unlimited number of tasks. To add a task to a list, click on the Add your first task link when viewing the list. Tasks can optionally have a date associated with it, which in most cases would be a due date. After a task has been added, options for the task can be shown by expanding the task. To expand a task, either click on its title, or click on the link to expand all tasks in a list.

You can send anyone to your task list to reserve tasks. This scenario is optimal when you have a large group of people that will be reserving tasks for themselves.

To enable the list to be sharable with the public, you must access the sharing dialog: Click the down arrow to the left of the list title under My lists and select Sharing. On the Public tab, select Share this list with the public. Copy the Public URL and paste it into an email to whoever you want to share the list with.

People who visit this list will be able to reserve tasks for themselves, complete items that they have previously reserved, and add notes to a task.

While using contacts isn't a requirement, it can greatly enhance your experience with OurTaskLists. When you have a list of contacts, you can: assign tasks to them and share ownership with them.

To add a contact, go to your contacts lists by clicking on the Contacts link at the top of the pane to the left. Next click the Add a contact link and either supply a user name or email address. If the user is not found, you have the option of sending them an invitation and they will be added as your contact after they sign up.

If you want to add many contacts from your organization, the above method can be tedious. There is an easier way to do it, but it requires that the potential contacts visit a publicly shared list first. On the Visitors tab of the Sharing dialog you can view a list of visitors to a publicly shared list. Visitors who are not already contacts will have a plus sign next to their name. Click on the plus sign, and they will automatically be added as a contact.

A user can either reserve a task for themselves, or you can assign a task to them if they are in your contact list.

To assign a task to a contact, expand the task options by clicking on its title. Once expanded, click on the Assign to... link. From the list of contacts in the drop-down list, select the contact to assign the task to. Notice that you can also assign the task to yourself using this method.

Aside from sharing a task list with a large audience, you can also designate one or more contacts to be owners of a task list. The difference is that a list owner has full administration privileges (add/remove tasks, change task assignments, etc), where a user using a publicly shared list can only reserve a task for himself, complete tasks, and add notes to a task.

To share ownership of a task list, first go to the Ownership tab of the Sharing dialog. Here, you will see the list of owners for the list (not including yourself), as well as a Share ownership with... link. Click this link and select the contact to share ownership with from the drop-down list that appears.