How to Schedule Tasks in Windows 10

Windows has been offering the Task Scheduler for several years, but still, many don’t realize how productive it can be. Automating mundane tasks like opening Google Chrome every day, emptying the Recycle Bin every week, shutting down Windows at a certain time brings a lot of convenience to the table. Well, the Task Scheduler in Windows 10 does that.

With Task Scheduler you can automate almost any task on your computer. In Windows, you can start programs, execute commands, send email, and much more by setting and scheduling a basic or advanced task. Today we will learn how to schedule, run and modify a task in Windows 10. So let’s start.

How to Create a Basic Task in Windows 10

If you only want to schedule a task to launch programs or send email, a basic task will suffice. So, let’s start with how to set up a basic task in Windows 10.

Stage 1: Open the start menu, type task Schedulerand press Enter.

Step 2: Right click on the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ folder and select New Folder. Give this folder an appropriate name such as ‘New Task’.

Stage 3: Now expand the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ folder and select the newly created folder. Click on the Actions menu at the top and select ‘Create Basic Task’.

Step 4: In the window below, give the task an appropriate name and a brief description. In this example, we will schedule Windows to open Google Chrome at 10 am every day.

Then click Next.

Step 5: Next, you will need to choose a trigger for the task. Daily, weekly, monthly, one-time etc. You can choose from the available parameters.

In this case, we will set it to Daily, as we want to schedule Chrome to open every day. Then press Next.

Step 6: Now you will need to assign a start date and time for the task. Since we want Chrome to open at 10am, we will set the iteration accordingly.

Step 7: On the Action tab, select the task you want to assign. In this case, we will select ‘Start a program’. Then paste the path of the program you want to start in the Program/script field.

Alternatively, you can use the Browse button to find the program. When finished, click Next.

Step 8: Finally, click Finish.

Once you complete the above steps, the task will run automatically according to the schedule.

How to Create an Advanced Task in Windows 10

If you want to set up a slightly more complex task with more options and settings in Windows, you can use the Advanced Task option in Task Scheduler. Here’s how.

For example, we will set Windows to automatically empty the Recycle Bin every week.

Sstep 1 Open the start menu, type task Schedulerand press Enter.

Step 2: Right click on the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ folder and select New Folder. Give this folder an appropriate name such as ‘New Task’.

Stage 3: Now expand the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ folder and right click on the newly created folder to select the Create Task option from the list.

Step 4: In the following window that appears, under the General tab, give this task an appropriate name, such as ‘Auto-Clean Recycle Bin’. Optionally, you can add a short description of the task.

Under Security options, select the user account the task should run under. You can also choose to run the task regardless of the user’s login status.

Step 5: Next, switch to the Trigger tab and click the New button to trigger the task.

Step 6: In the New Trigger window, use the drop-down menu to choose from multiple ways to start the task. For example, start a task on a schedule, log in, start, etc. you can choose.

Then assign an appropriate start date and time before setting it to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. Then click OK. For example, to empty the Recycle Bin every Saturday, select Weekly and then check Saturday.

Optionally, you can configure Advanced settings to delay, repeat, stop and end a task. When finished, click OK.

Step 7: Next, switch to the Action tab and click the New button. Under Settings, type ‘cmd.exe’ in the Programs/script box.

Under the Arguments tab, you can enter the command that should run at the command prompt. Note that this is optional and can be left blank. When finished, click OK.

After completing the steps outlined above, the advanced task should run once the conditions are met.

How to Edit or Delete a Task in Task Scheduler

If at any point you decide to change the settings of the scheduled task or disable the task altogether, here’s how to do it.

First open the Start menu, type task Schedulerand press Enter. Expand the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ folder and navigate to the folder containing the task.

Right click on the task and you will find all the options you need to run, edit or delete the task.

Select Run to optionally run the task. The task will be executed regardless of the specified conditions.

Select Properties to make changes to the task. You will then be taken to the window where you created the task. Here you can change the name, trigger, actions, conditions and settings of the task.

To disable a task, right-click the task and select Disable from the list. Similarly, you can choose Delete to remove the task completely.

Besides that, you can also use the Actions tab in the Task scheduler to see all running tasks or task history.

Managing Tasks at Hand

Overall, the Task Scheduler can be a real time saver. And once you get used to it, it only takes a few moments to set up different types of tasks. The best part is that you can plan even the most complex tasks and forget about them.