The task manager Google Tasks is a nice little tool that is deeply integrated into other Google products via a sidebar but cannot be used as a standalone app in the browser. Because the platform wasted a lot of potential as a result, an external developer stepped in and developed a Chrome extension that allows Google Tasks to be used as a normal web app. In fact, the extension of the Google Tasks platform gives a real boost.
It’s been a long time since the big restart of Google Tasks and it was a double-edged sword for desktop users: although the app has been given a modernized interface, it has completely lost its independence. Task management can only be accessed via the sidebar of Gmail, Google Drive or Google Calendar and cannot be removed from this narrow view. That may seem sensible to Google’s strategists, but sensible or even comfortable use in this form is out of the question. This integration just got better.
The Chrome extension Full Screen for Google Tasks can finally solve this problem and bring more convenience to the interface: Even if the name suggests it, the extension doesn’t inflate Google’s app but rather superimposes it as an independent app. It is a completely new and independent web app, which you must also grant access to the tasks in the Google account when you use it for the first time. Once you’ve done that, you’re good to go. The app queries the data directly from Google Tasks via API and makes more of it than Google’s hobbyists, for whom this area is also apparently rocket science.
Because the extension comes with a completely independent interface, a lot is organized a little differently but is still more intuitive to use than the official app. In addition, it is strongly based on the typical Google design: On the left side you will find all your task lists and the entire rest of the window is for the actual tasks and their management.
The web app can also be used directly via the extension URL via a button in the Chrome browser. The last one is very handy because you can treat it like a normal web app and even create a link on the desktop or anywhere else – native use is finally possible. Alternatively, the app also has the option to collapse into a compact mode with a floating window if you might prefer that.
A nice little extension, but it has an enormous effect and actually catapults Google Tasks into a completely different sphere. Anyone who used the old interface and is now trying out the extension will know what I mean. Remember: there are no additional features, but this standalone use was long overdue.
Maybe Google will notice that too and will add more at some point – because, before that, it would have been unthinkable that tasks could one day be as important as, for example, the notes app Keep. But at least you are currently on the right track.