A quick reminder: task vs. action
A task is the unit of work that shows up in your queue — for example, an inbound email, a workflow trigger, or a file upload. Every task represents something that landed in Task Manager, whether or not anyone has done anything about it yet.
An action is a specific follow-up item attached to a task — a reply, a call, an SMS, a note, or a promise to pay. Actions are only created when someone (a user or the AI) explicitly flags that something needs to happen next, often because they want to come back to it later or hand it to a colleague. A task can have no actions, one action, or several.
Where each number appears
Task count — the number in brackets next to a tab name, e.g. Emails Received. This appears on every tab: My tasks, All tasks, and any custom tab you've created.
Action count — the number shown on each quick filter, the icons displayed just above the task list (mail, call, SMS, note, promise to pay, general). For example, a mail icon showing "13." Quick filters are the controls; the numbers on them are action counts.
What each number tells you
Task count = the total number of tasks currently sitting in that tab, based on the tab's filters. If you're in Emails Received, this is every email that's come in and generated a task — your real total of emails to be aware of.
Action count = of the tasks in the tab you're viewing, how many have an action of that type explicitly created against them (either suggested by AI or added by a user). A task can have no actions attached and still be unresolved — a user might simply reply directly without ever creating an action for it.
Example 1: "How many emails have I received?"
This one is answered by the task count, not the action count.
Say you open the Emails Received tab and see Emails Received (20). That "20" is your real total — every email that's come in. The mail quick filter above the list showing an action count of "13" is a different, narrower thing: it tells you how many of those 20 emails have someone specifically tracking a follow-up on them. The other 7 don't have a tracked action, but that doesn't mean they're done — it just means no one has created a follow-up item for them.
Example 2: "Within chosen view, how many calls do I have to make?"
This one is answered by the action count, not the task count.
Say you're in the All tasks tab and it shows All tasks. That number doesn't help you here — it includes every task type across the board, so scrolling through 181 tasks to find the ones that need a call isn't practical. Instead, look at the call quick filter above the list — say its action count shows "6." That tells you: out of all 181 tasks, 6 currently have a call action tracked against them. Click the quick filter to jump straight to those 6 tasks.
Quick reference
Question you're asking | Number to use |
"How many emails came in / do I need to be aware of?" | Task count, e.g. Emails Received (20) |
"How many emails have a tracked follow-up (assigned, scheduled, or AI-suggested)?" | Action count on the mail quick filter, e.g. 13 |
"How many calls do I need to make?" | Action count on the call quick filter, e.g. 6 |
Things to note
Action counts are scoped to whatever tab or filters you currently have applied — they'll change as you switch tabs.
Available action types are: email, call, SMS, note, promise to pay, and general.
Action counts include actions owned by you as well as unowned actions in that view — not just tasks assigned to you.
On accounts with a large number of tasks, counts may take a moment to load.