How to Create an Automated Task with Windows 10 Task Scheduler

Windows Scheduler helps you automate your work

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Updated on March 5, 2021

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What to Know

In Task Scheduler, right-click Task Scheduler Library and select New Folder to organize your scheduled tasks. Name the folder and click OK.
Select the folder and click Create Basic Task and walk through each step of the wizard to create a trigger and action.
Create an advanced task by selecting Create Task and select each tab to configure triggers, actions, and other task features.

This article covers how to create an automated task in Windows 10 with Task Scheduler, including creating basic and advanced automated tasks.

How Windows 10 Task Scheduler Works

Task Scheduler has been a utility included through several versions of the Windows operating system. The ability to create an automated task with Windows 10 task scheduler opens up many possibilities. You can trigger windows to run tasks based on a schedule or system events. Task scheduler can launch an application or a script that performs tasks for you.

This can be helpful to do things like:

Launch a Chrome browser and Outlook app you use every time you use your computer.
Launch a time logging application at the end of the day to clock your work hours.
Trigger a batch job or PowerShell script with command prompt commands to clean your computer daily.
Automatically shut down your computer at the same time every day.

How to Create a Basic Automated Task

Use the steps below to launch an application on your computer at the same time every morning.

These instructions will walk you through the Basic Task wizard.

Select the Start menu and type "Task Scheduler" and select the Task Scheduler app to launch it.
You can organize your automated tasks into your own folder. Just right click on Task Scheduler Library in the left navigation tree, and select New Folder.
Give the folder a name like "My Tasks" and select OK.
Select the new folder you've created. In the Actions navigation bar on the right, select Create Basic Task. This will open the Create Basic Task Wizard. Type a name for the task in the Name field. Select Next to continue.
The next step of the wizard is to choose a trigger for your task. You can choose one of the time intervals, or one of the system events. In this example, we'll select Daily. Select Next to continue.
The next step is to fine tune the interval trigger. In this case we'll set the trigger to happen at 8 AM every day, starting today. Set the recurrence to every 1 day. Select Next to continue.
The next step is to set up the Action for the task. In this case, select Start a Program and then select Next.
Select the Browse button and browse to Chrome which should be located at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\". The file name is chrome.exe. Once you browse to the file, select it and select Open. Select Next to continue.
On the Finish tab of the Wizard, you'll see the Trigger status and Action you've created. Select Finish to close the Basic Task wizard.
You'll see your new task in the main pane in the Task Scheduler window. You can right click the task and select Run to to test it actually launches the way you want it to. Now the task will run every day at the interval you've set up.

How to Create an Advanced Automated Task

Instead of using the Basic Task Wizard, you can step through the task configuration window using the regular task setup window. In this example, we'll show how to launch Microsoft Word on the last day of the month.

To launch the Advanced Task configuration window, back on the main Task Scheduler window, select Create Task in the right navigation pane.
This will launch the Create Task window. On the General tab, type a name for your task in the Name field.

Two other settings you can adjust here include running the task only when you're logged in or any time the computer is on. You can also set the task to run with the highest privileges.
On the Triggers tab, select New. This is where you can adjust the schedule. In this case, select Monthly, select all months in the Months dropdown and set the Days dropdown to 30 for the end of the month. Make sure Enabled is selected. Select OK.

Under the Advanced settings section, you can configure delaying the task, repeating the task multiple times a day, killing a task that takes too long to run, or expiring the task.
On the Actions tab, select New. Select Start a program in the Action dropdown. Select the Browse button and browse to the Word executable at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\". The file name is winword.exe. Once you browse to the file, select it and select Open. Select OK.
On the Conditions tab, you can further configure your task to run:
- Only if the computer is idle
- Only if the computer's plugged in
- Wake up the computer to run it
- Only if you're connected to your network
On the Settings tab, you can further configure your task:
- To be run manually
- Run again if it fails
- Automatically restart
- Stop if it runs too long
- Force to stop if it doesn't end properly
- Delete the task if it's not scheduled to run again
Once you're done setting up all of the task tabs, select OK to finish. You'll see the task appear in the main Task Scheduler window.

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