---
title: "Adding and removing task dependencies"
description: "A dependency records that one task waits on another. Add them in the task's Dependencies section, choosing whether this task depends on the other or blocks it, or draw them as arrows between task bars on the Timeline view."
category: collaboration
section: projects-and-tasks
type: Tutorial
lastUpdated: 2026-08-28
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/collaboration/how-to-add-and-remove-task-dependencies
---

# Adding and removing task dependencies


A **dependency** records that two tasks are in sequence: one has to happen before the other. Adding them makes the order of work explicit, so whoever opens a task can see what it is waiting on and what is waiting on it.

There are two ways to work with them: the **Dependencies** section of a task, below its sub-tasks, and the **Timeline** view of a project board, where you draw them as arrows between task bars. They are the same links either way.

## Adding a dependency

1. Open the task.
2. Scroll to the **Dependencies** section.
3. Select **Add** at the top of the section.
4. Search for the other task by name and choose it.
5. Set the **direction** for that row:
   - **Depends on**: this task waits on the other one.
   - **Blocks**: the other task waits on this one.

The link is saved as you set it, and appears as a row in the section showing the other task's title.

> **You link tasks from the same project board.** The search offers the tasks on the board you are working in, so a task cannot depend on one that lives on a different board. If two pieces of work in different boards depend on each other, either move one of them ([moving a task to another board](/en/collaboration/how-to-move-task-to-another-board)) or track the link another way, such as a note in the description.

![The Dependencies section of an open task, below its sub-tasks, with one row reading Depends on and another reading Blocks, each naming the linked task, and the Add action in the section header](/images/collaboration/how-to-add-and-remove-task-dependencies/01-task-dependencies-section.png)

## Changing a direction

Each dependency row carries its own direction selector. Open it and switch between **Depends on** and **Blocks** to flip the relationship, without removing and re-adding the link.

## Drawing dependencies on the timeline

The **Timeline** view of a project board is the other way to work with dependencies, and it is usually the faster one when you are laying out a sequence of work. Drag from one task bar to another to draw an arrow between them, and the dependency is created. Select an arrow and delete it to remove the dependency.

Which link you draw between the two bars determines the kind of dependency recorded: from the end of one bar to the start of the next (the usual case, finish to start), or start to start, finish to finish, or start to finish. Dependencies drawn here and dependencies added in the task's **Dependencies** section are the same links, so a dependency you draw on the timeline also appears in the task.

See [Kanban, hierarchy, list and timeline task board views](/en/collaboration/kanban-hierarchy-list-timeline-task-board-views) for how to open the Timeline view.

![The Timeline view of a project board, with an arrow running from the end of the "Offline mode for the task list" bar to the start of the "Empty and error states" bar it blocks](/images/collaboration/how-to-add-and-remove-task-dependencies/02-timeline-dependency-arrow.png)

## Removing a dependency

Select the remove action on the dependency's row, or delete the arrow on the timeline. This deletes the link between the two tasks and changes nothing else: both tasks keep their own assignees, dates and progress.

## Dependencies compared with sub-tasks

Use a **dependency** when two separate tasks are in sequence, and a **sub-task** when the second piece of work is part of the first rather than a task in its own right. See [adding sub-tasks to a task](/en/collaboration/how-to-add-subtasks-to-a-task).

## Next steps

- [Adding sub-tasks to a task](/en/collaboration/how-to-add-subtasks-to-a-task)
- [Adding, editing and deleting a task due date](/en/collaboration/how-to-add-edit-and-delete-a-task-due-date)
- [Kanban, hierarchy, list and timeline task board views](/en/collaboration/kanban-hierarchy-list-timeline-task-board-views)
- [Adding, editing, archiving and deleting tasks](/en/collaboration/how-to-add-edit-archive-and-delete-tasks)