Tip 630: Cancel Assigned Tasks

A reader wanted to know how to recall or cancel a task assigned to someone so that she could reassign to it someone else.

While you can’t recall the task, as long as you have a copy on your task list you can create an unassigned copy and assign the copy to someone else. Click Details tab or button to access the Unassigned Copy command.

Create unassigned copy of task

This effectively cancels the task as you will not receive updates to the task, but does not remove it from the recipient’s task list.

If you want to continue to receive updates on the assigned task, Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the assigned task to create a new, unassigned task containing the same information.

Published June 16, 2009. Last updated on August 19, 2014.