You cannot change the color of an individual task in Google Calendar. Instead, the color of every task is determined by the color of the task list it belongs to, meaning you must change the task list color to change task color in Google Calendar.
Can you change task color in Google Calendar?
It is a common frustration: you want to assign a specific color to a single task for quick visual identification, but Google Tasks simply does not support color-coding for individual tasks. This is a deliberate design choice to keep the interface minimal. The color you see on a task chip in your calendar is actually the color of the entire task list that contains that task. If you need to differentiate tasks by color, you must organize them into separate lists, each with its own color. If you originally created it as a calendar event, you can first change an event to a task on Google calendar to then manage its list assignment. While you cannot color tasks individually, you can change background on Google calendar to improve overall visual contrast.
How to change task color by changing the list color on a computer
On a computer, you change the color of a task list through the Google Tasks sidebar, which is available in Gmail or the standalone Google Tasks web app.
- Open Google Tasks by clicking the Tasks icon in the right sidebar of Gmail or by navigating to the Google Tasks website.
- In the left sidebar of the Tasks panel, locate the task list whose color you want to change.
- Click the three-dot menu next to the list name.
- Select "Edit list" or "Set color" from the menu that appears.
- Choose a color from the preset options. The new color will immediately apply to all tasks within that list, and any tasks with due dates will appear as colored chips on your Google Calendar in that same color.
How to change task color by changing the list color on a mobile device
The process on a mobile device is very similar, using the Google Tasks app for Android or iOS.
- Open the Google Tasks app on your phone or tablet.
- Tap the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-left corner to open the list panel.
- Find the task list you want to recolor and tap the three-dot menu next to its name.
- Choose "Edit list" from the options.
- Select a new color from the palette. The change will sync across all your devices and update the appearance of those tasks on your Google Calendar.
How to visually distinguish individual tasks with emojis
Since you cannot color individual tasks natively, a verified workaround is to add colored circle emojis to the beginning of your task names. For example, you can add a red circle emoji (🔴) to urgent tasks, a green circle (🟢) to personal errands, and a blue circle (🔵) to work items. This creates a visual coding system within a single list, allowing you to quickly scan and categorize tasks at a glance without needing to create a separate list for every category. This is especially useful if you want to keep related tasks together but still give them distinct visual markers.
Understanding Google Tasks color limitations
Google Tasks offers a preset palette of colors for task lists, typically around 12 options. There is no native option to create new custom colors or use hex values for task lists within Google Tasks. This means you are limited to the predefined set. Additionally, tasks with due dates will appear on Google Calendar as colored chips that match the color of their assigned task list. If you accidentally change a list color and want to revert it, you will need to manually select the previous color from the palette, there is no dedicated undo in Google Calendar for this specific action. The minimalist design of Google Tasks, where all individual tasks appear identical, is a deliberate choice to keep the interface simple, so these workarounds are the best way to achieve visual organization.
