What a scheduled task actually is
A scheduled task is an ordinary prompt with a time attached. You write the instruction once, tell ChatGPT when to run it, and it delivers the result on schedule — daily, weekly, monthly, or just once — without you opening the app. When a task runs, ChatGPT can check the web if the prompt needs current information, then sends you the answer as a notification or a message.
The point is simple. Until now, you started every conversation. Scheduled tasks flip that around: the routine work comes to you. For a desk worker, that's most useful for the small jobs that repeat every week and quietly eat your time — the briefing you retype, the reminder you forget, the thing you keep meaning to check.
How to set one up
Open the Scheduled page from the ChatGPT sidebar on web or mobile. Create a new task and write a prompt that includes the timing, for example: "Every weekday at 8am, give me a three-line summary of the day's top news in commercial construction." ChatGPT confirms the schedule, and the task appears in the Scheduled panel.
From that panel you can open a task to read its past results, see when it next runs, and pause, edit, or delete it. If a task isn't giving you what you want, open it and sharpen the wording — that editing loop is where these go from novelty to genuinely useful.
The limits to know before you start
Two honest constraints. First, tasks run plain text only — no file uploads, no voice, and no custom GPTs inside a task. Second, they run roughly once an hour at most, so this is for routine updates, not live monitoring. There are also caps on how many you can have running: Plus users get up to five active tasks, Business and Edu get ten, and Pro and Enterprise get fifteen. The feature needs a paid plan; the free tier doesn't include it.
Three tasks that earn their place
The Monday briefing. Start the week with the dates and deadlines you'd otherwise dig for. A standing prompt like "Every Monday at 7:30am, list the key deadlines, meetings, and one worthwhile read for an operations manager this week" sets the tone before you open your inbox.
The Friday nudge. Turn a task you avoid into a two-minute job. "Every Friday at 3pm, remind me to write my weekly status update and give me my three-part structure: completed, at risk, next." It arrives, you fill in the blanks, you're done.
The watch list. Keep half an eye on something without checking it manually. "Every weekday at 9am, check for major news about [a supplier or regulation you track] and tell me only if something has changed." Most days it says nothing — which is exactly what you want.
What not to schedule
A scheduled task is good at fetching and summarising. It is not good at anything that needs your judgement or anything that sends, posts, or changes something on its own. Don't set up a task that emails a client or updates a record without you in the loop. Use tasks to bring information to you; keep the decisions and the sending in your own hands.
Set up exactly one scheduled task. Pick the routine check you most often forget or the prompt you retype most, use the template above, and give it a sensible time. Let it run for a week, then open it and tighten the wording based on what came back. One good task is worth more than five you ignore.