Use The Windows 10 Task Scheduler To Automate Almost Anything

When it comes to our privacy, it seems like the age of automation has arrived. From smart homes to Siri shortcuts, we can now do more by doing less. So why are you still doing repetitive tasks manually in Windows?

It turns out that Microsoft has really turned the dial to 11 when it comes to the Windows 10 version of Task Scheduler. It’s an application that allows you to do all sorts of tricky automation tricks.

Most of the simple tasks are easy to automate as well, as they simply involve launching the application with a few supported arguments (launch commands). Advanced Automation with Task Scheduler requires scripting to account for complex workflows.

We won’t go into Advanced Automation here as it won’t be of interest to most casual users and you need to be fluent in scripting or copy and paste someone else’s code!

To demonstrate how Task Scheduler works, we’re going to set it up so that the web browser opens at the same time every day, and certain sites are already open and ready to go.

Scheduling a task with Windows 10 Task Scheduler

• First things first! Find Task Scheduler in the start menu search bar and launch the application. Expand the application so that it fills the entire screen.

Schedule a task with the Windows 10 Task Scheduler

• First things, first! Find Task Scheduler in the Start menu search bar and launch the app. Maximize the application so that it fills the entire screen.

• The left-most pane contains folders containing scheduled tasks. Before we start, we’re going to create a folder for our custom tasks. Right-click the Task Scheduler Library and select New Folder. We named our task “My Tasks”.

• To the right of the main window is the Actions panel. On this panel, click Create Task.

• You will see a pop-up window.

• This is where we enter all the information Windows needs to complete the task. Name the task in the Name field. In this case, we chose morning reading. You can also add a description if you like, but this is not required.

• Now, on the Triggers tab, click New.

• As you can see, we have set the trigger on time. The promotion will take place every day at 6 am. When done, click OK. Now, on the Actions tab, click New.

• Here we used the browse button to find the application we want to launch. In this case, it’s Google Chrome. In the Add Arguments section, we enter the URLs that Chrome should open when executing a task. Write a complete URL (for example, https://articles.pkrtousd.gb.net/
• When done, click OK.
• The task should now appear in the My Tasks folder you created. To test if it works, simply right-click the task and select Run.