---
title: How to log and work through callbacks
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/tasks/callbacks
description: Hand somebody a phone call to make, log each attempt, and close it out when you reach the person.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# How to log and work through callbacks



A **callback** is one person to phone back, handed to one teammate. It exists separately from
a task in <Ref to="tasks" /> because a phone call has a shape a task does not: a number to
dial, a person on the other end, and a count of how many times you have tried.

**Callbacks** is pinned in your sidebar with a badge counting the open ones.

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

Creating callbacks is open to every member by default. Posting the card into a chat channel
additionally needs you to be in that channel and able to post in it.

## When would you use one instead of a task? [#when-would-you-use-one-instead-of-a-task]

When the job is a conversation with a named human, and "did anyone actually reach them" is
the question you will be asked.

Somebody rings Fairgreen about a warranty repair while the person who can help is out. That
is a callback: a name, a number, what it is about, and somebody responsible for ringing back.

A task would hold the first two facts and none of the useful ones. It could not record that
Priya tried three times, and there would be nothing to tap to dial.

## How do you create one? [#how-do-you-create-one]

From **Create** next to your workspace name, or from the hover bar on any chat message, which
is where most of them start.

Fill in who should call back, then the contact. Search for an existing customer or type a new
name, add a phone number and an optional email, and write what the call is about.

Set the urgency: **Normal**, **Urgent** or **Emergency**. Normal shows no marker, Urgent
shows an amber dot, Emergency shows a rose one, and emergencies sort to the top of the list.

You can also post a card into a chat channel as you create it, which is how you hand one over
in front of the team rather than silently.

## What happens to the contact? [#what-happens-to-the-contact]

A new caller becomes a contact record you can find again. An existing customer gets a missing
phone number filled in.

An existing number is never overwritten. What you type is added when there was nothing there,
so logging a call cannot quietly change a customer's details. See <Ref to="customers" />.

## How do you work the list? [#how-do-you-work-the-list]

Your callbacks appear as cards under &#x2A;*To call (N)**, with a collapsed &#x2A;*Done (N)** section
underneath.

* Tap the phone number to dial it, which is the point of doing this on a phone.
* **No answer** logs an attempt and keeps the callback on your list. The card then reads
  "· tried 3×", so the next person to look knows the history.
* **Called back** closes it and moves it to Done.
* **Reopen** brings a closed one back when the conversation is not finished.

The pencil edits the assignee, the contact, the reason and the urgency, which is how you hand
a call to somebody else.

Hovering a linked customer's name shows their card, and the card links back to the chat
channel the callback came from.

## Who can close one? [#who-can-close-one]

The person it is assigned to, or the person who created it. That rule is enforced for real
rather than being a matter of etiquette, so a callback cannot be quietly closed by somebody
who was not involved.

Anyone can create one and hand it to anybody.

## Why was a phone number refused? [#why-was-a-phone-number-refused]

Because it could not be read as a phone number. The message asks for a valid one.

Extensions and notes typed into the number field are the usual cause. Put the number in the
number field and the rest in the reason.

## Where does the badge count come from? [#where-does-the-badge-count-come-from]

Open callbacks assigned to you. It falls when you close them, and the list shows your own
callbacks rather than the whole team's.

If you are looking for what a colleague owes, ask them, or look at the chat channel the card
was posted into.