# Custom Statuses
<span class="related-pages">#feature/statuses</span>
## Introduction
> [!released]
Custom Statuses were introduced in Tasks 1.23.0.
Custom statuses represent any non-standard markdown tasks.
Here are some tasks with example custom statuses, that is, with non-standard characters between the `[` and `]`:
```text
- [X] Checked
- [-] A dropped/cancelled task
- [?] A question
- [/] A Half Done/In-progress task
```
They **require custom CSS styling or theming** in order to display correctly in Tasks blocks or Live Preview.
Here's the kind of thing that you can do with custom statuses and styling:
 
## What's the Big Deal?
People have been using themes and CSS snippets to style custom checkboxes in Obsidian all along.
What Tasks' custom statuses allow you to do is to **also customise the behaviour of your tasks**.
## Default custom statuses
This is what the Custom Statuses look like initially in Tasks' settings, showing the two custom statuses that Tasks provides by default:
And this is how you can use them:
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| Status Symbol | Next Status Symbol | Status Name<br>`status.name includes...`<br>`sort by status.name`<br>`group by status.name` | Status Type<br>`status.type is...`<br>`sort by status.type`<br>`group by status.type` | Needs Custom Styling |
| ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
| `/` | `x` | In Progress | `IN_PROGRESS` | Yes |
| `-` | `space` | Cancelled | `CANCELLED` | Yes |
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## Setting up your custom statuses
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> [!info]
> Broad steps to understand and set up Statuses (or "Alternate Checkboxes"):
>
> - Understand what Statuses are:
> - [[Statuses]]
> - [[Custom Statuses]]
> - Choose your status styling scheme: this will determine the names and symbols for your custom statuses:
> - Some common ones are shown in [[About Status Collections]]
> - Set up your status styling scheme
> - [[Style custom statuses|How to style custom statuses]].
> - Configure Tasks to use your custom statuses
> - [[Set up custom statuses|How to set up your custom statuses]]
> - [[Check your Statuses]]
> - Optionally, update your tasks searches to take advantage of the new flexibility
> - [[Filters#Filters for Task Statuses|Filters for Task Statuses]]
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### First choose your styling scheme
You can use any snippet or theme you wish. If you are already using a snippet or theme that supports "custom checkboxes", you should stick with that.
If, however, you are using the default theme, or a theme that doesn't know style "custom checkboxes", you will need to pick one.
[[About Status Collections]] has a list of the ones that Tasks already has one-click support for, to help you choose.
### Install your styling scheme
For example, you could follow [[Style custom statuses|How to style custom statuses]].
### Editing custom statuses
Your choice of styling facility will determine which letters and characters you wish to use in your custom statuses.
Now you can follow [[Set up custom statuses|How to set up your custom statuses]].
Or you can read about [[Status Settings]], and see how to [[Editing a Status|edit a Status]].
> [!warning]
Remember to set up your chosen CSS Snippet or Theme before setting up the custom statuses.