How to Group Tasks by Client in a Task App: A Practical Guide to Avoid Mixing Deadlines and Priorities

Managing multiple clients at once is a common challenge for freelancers, self-employed professionals, and small teams. The key isn’t just about grouping tasks by client in a task app, but doing so in a way that prevents deadlines, priorities, and contexts from overlapping. When each client has their own demands, due dates, and urgency levels, a disorganized system can lead to costly mistakes: delivering a report late, missing a meeting, or—worse—confusing one project’s requirements with another’s. The solution isn’t working longer hours; it’s structuring information so every task is where it should be, visible when you need it, and hidden when you don’t.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Foco to create a scalable system that lets you group tasks by client without losing sight of what truly matters: making progress on each project without mixing deadlines or priorities. You’ll learn how to set up projects, tags, and custom views so that, instead of jumping between tabs or scattered tools, you have everything in one place, organized by context and accessible with a single click.

1. Create Projects by Client: The First Step to Separate Contexts

The foundation for grouping tasks by client in a task app is assigning a dedicated space for each one. In Foco, this is done by creating a work for each client. Each work acts as an independent container, with its own name, color, and task list. For example, if you work with three clients—a marketing agency, a design studio, and an e-commerce business—you’ll create three works: one for each.

How to Create and Customize a Work in Foco

• Open Foco and click the + button in the sidebar.
• Select New Work and enter the client’s name (e.g., 'Marketing Agency XYZ').
• Assign a distinctive color (e.g., blue for Client A, green for Client B). This color will apply to all tasks in the work, helping you identify them instantly in Panorama mode.
• Optional: Add a brief description with key details, such as the type of project or delivery frequency (e.g., 'Monthly social media campaigns').
• Save the work. It will now appear in the sidebar and in Panorama mode, where you’ll see all your tasks, each with its client’s color.

The color isn’t just aesthetic: in Panorama mode, where tasks from all works are displayed together, you’ll be able to tell at a glance which task belongs to which client. This is especially useful when reviewing your daily or weekly workload and needing to prioritize without wasting time searching for context.

2. Use Tags to Categorize Tasks Within the Same Client

While works let you group tasks by client, within a single project, different types of tasks often coexist: meetings, deliverables, follow-ups, or ideas. This is where tags come in. In Foco, tags are unlimited, customizable with colors, and allow you to filter or group tasks regardless of which work they belong to.

Practical Examples of Tags by Task Type

• Meetings: Use a tag like '@meeting' (with a striking color, like red) to mark all tasks related to calls or meetings. This way, when you need to prepare for a week of meetings, you can filter by this tag and see only those commitments.
• Deliverables: Tag as '#report', '#design', or '#code' depending on the type of work. This helps you group similar tasks from different clients (e.g., all pending reports, regardless of the client).
• Follow-ups: Use '@waiting' for tasks that depend on others (e.g., 'Waiting for client feedback on the logo'). This keeps them visible without cluttering your main list.
• Ideas: A tag like '#backlog' for non-urgent tasks you want to save for later (e.g., 'Campaign proposal for Christmas').

To add a tag to a task, open the task, click on Tags, and select an existing one or create a new one. Tags are especially useful when combined with Foco’s filters: for example, you can see all tasks with the '@meeting' tag from all your clients in one list, or filter by '#report' within a specific work.

3. Set Up Custom Views to Prioritize Without Mixing Contexts

One of the advantages of grouping tasks by client in a task app like Foco is the flexibility to switch views depending on what you need at any given moment. Foco offers three main views—List, Kanban, and Calendar—each with a distinct purpose. The key is configuring them to show only what’s relevant in each context.

List View: Group by Dates and Priorities

The List view is ideal for planning your day or week. It groups pending tasks into sections like Today, This Week, Later, and No Date, plus a collapsible section for Done tasks. Within a work (Foco mode), you’ll only see tasks for that client, allowing you to focus on one context without distractions. But if you need to see all your tasks at once, Panorama mode will display them mixed, each with its client’s color.

To prioritize, use the Scheduled Date (when you’ll work on the task) and Due Date (the deadline) fields. In List view, you can group and filter by either of these dates. For example, if today is Monday and you have three deliveries due on Friday, filter by Due Date to see only the tasks due that week, regardless of the client.

Kanban View: Visualize Workflow by Client

The Kanban view is perfect for projects with defined stages, like developing a website or creating a campaign. In Foco, columns are customizable: you can create columns like To Do, In Progress, Review, and Done, or adapt them to your workflow (e.g., Draft, Design, Approval).

The power of Kanban in Foco is that you can use it at two levels: within a work (to see only tasks for one client) or in Panorama mode (to see all tasks from all clients, each in its column and with its color). For example, if you manage multiple design projects, in Panorama mode you could see all tasks in the Review column and prioritize those closest to delivery.

Calendar View: Sync Deadlines and Avoid Overlaps

The Calendar view is essential for grouping tasks by client without losing sight of deadlines. Here, you’ll see tasks with a Scheduled Date (not to be confused with the due date) in a weekly or monthly calendar. If you connect your Google Calendar or Outlook, you’ll also see your external events alongside your tasks, helping you avoid overlaps.

For example, if one client asks for a meeting on Tuesday at 10:00 AM and another sends an email with a delivery due the same day, in the calendar you’ll see both commitments and can block time to work on the delivery before or after the meeting. The Calendar view is available in the Foco plan (4 €/month) and above.

4. Why Foco Wins Over Generic Alternatives for Managing Multiple Clients

Many freelancers and self-employed professionals start by using generic tools to group tasks by client: spreadsheets, note-taking apps, or even paper lists. However, these solutions have clear limitations when working with multiple projects at once:

• Lack of context: In a spreadsheet or note-taking app, all tasks look the same. There are no colors, tags, or views to help you quickly distinguish which task belongs to which client or what its priority is.
• Difficulty prioritizing: Without separate scheduled and due dates, it’s easy to confuse when you should work on a task and when it’s due. In Foco, these fields are separate and can be filtered independently.
• No calendar sync: If you use Google Calendar or Outlook for meetings, having tasks in another tool forces you to switch tabs constantly. Foco shows your external events alongside your tasks in the Calendar view.
• Limited collaboration: In a spreadsheet, sharing tasks with a client or teammate requires giving access to the entire document. In Foco, you can invite collaborators to a specific work or share a single task via a public link, without exposing the rest of your organization.

Foco is designed specifically for those who manage multiple works at once (clients, personal projects, team tasks). While other apps are built for single projects or individual use, Foco lets you separate contexts without isolating them: you can see all your tasks together (Panorama mode) or focus on one client (Foco mode), switch views as needed, and use tags to categorize tasks regardless of which work they belong to.

5. Advanced Tips to Keep Your System Organized

Use Voice Capture to Save Time

If you receive many tasks via email or messages, Foco’s voice capture can save you time. Simply dictate the task (e.g., 'Meeting with Client X on Thursday at 3:00 PM to review the report, urgent priority, reminder 30 minutes before') and Foco will transcribe the text, automatically detect the date, time, priority, and reminder, and create the task with the audio attached. In the Plus plan (20 €/month), this feature is unlimited and includes Burst, which lets you dictate multiple tasks in a row and review them before saving.

Automate Recurring Tasks

If you have recurring tasks (e.g., 'Send weekly report to Client Y every Friday'), use Foco’s recurrence feature. When you mark a recurring task as done, Foco will automatically create the next occurrence. You can set recurrences to daily, weekly (with specific days), monthly, or yearly.

Review the Daily Briefing to Stay on Track

In the Plus plan, Foco’s daily briefing sends you a summary at the time you choose, including what you accomplished the previous day, which tasks are due today, what others owe you, calendar updates, and the day’s most impactful event. It’s a way to start your day with clarity, without manually reviewing each work.

An organization system is useless if it doesn’t help you make decisions. The key to grouping tasks by client isn’t the tool, but how you configure it to show you only what you need, when you need it.

Conclusion: A System That Adapts to You, Not the Other Way Around

Grouping tasks by client in a task app like Foco isn’t about following rigid rules; it’s about creating a system that adapts to how you work. Projects (works) give you separation by context, tags let you categorize within each client, and custom views show you what you need at any moment. Unlike generic tools, Foco is built for those who juggle multiple projects at once: it lets you see everything together when you need to and isolate a client when you need to focus.

Start by creating a work for each client, add tags for the most common types of tasks, and explore the views to find the one that best fits your workflow. Over time, you’ll adjust the system to your needs, but the essential—keeping every task where it belongs—will already be solved.