BASIC TASKER TUTORIAL

Alright guys, so here is a basic tutorial on using Tasker. I am putting this together to help out those of
you who asked for it. Getting a basic understanding of how Tasker works and how to setup your first
Profile + Task will hopefully act as a catalyst to setting up more complicated Profiles + Tasks.

As a disclaimer, I am by no means a power-user. My phone runs a set of basics tasks day to day that
work well for me. I have a basic understanding of how Tasker works and I would recommend you
read around if you want to get more in-depth.

In this we will setup a basic Profile and Task that does the following:
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When my phone receives an SMS (with a specific set of characters) it is going to play a song.
I use this specifically for when I leave my phone around the house on silent and I have no
idea where it is.

Lets begin with the basic layout of Tasker. Tasker is divided into 3 tabs. Profiles, Tasks, and Scenes.

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Profiles
o Profiles are a set of designated conditions/contexts. That is, for Tasker to do
something it needs to have a specific time/event that causes it to trigger a particular
task.
o In the case of our example the Profile is going to be:
When we receive a SMS with a specific message in it

[This screenshot shows some of the Profiles I have setup.]

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Tasks
o Tasks are exactly what they say they are. They are specific tasks you want to happen
when your condition/context set out in your profile has been fulfilled.

In the case of our example the Task is going to be in this order:

Turn the ringer volume to 7 (max)
Turn the alarm volume to 7 (max)
Play a song

[This screenshot shows some of the Tasks I have setup. Try to have a naming convention for your
tasks. I dont and it is pretty cluttered.]

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Scenes
o Scenes are a graphical interface setup by you to work as part of a task. In the case of
our example we dont need a scene.

Variables are also a key component of Tasker however we are going to ignore them at the moment
as we do not need them for what we are about to do. My knowledge of Variables is severely lacking
so I wont get into them.

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So! Lets get started on our first example.
1. Navigate to the Profiles tab and hit the plus sign.
2. We now need to designate our first context. In this case we want it to be: when we receive
an SMS which is under Event >> Phone >> Received Text
3. Now it asks for some more details of this event.
a. We want to specify the type of message that will be received. >> SMS
b. We dont want to specify a sender because we want to be able to send this message
from anyones phone.
c. We do however want to specify Content. Tasker needs a specific set of characters
that can be identified which will prompt a task. If we dont specify what is going to
be in the message then every message you receive will carry out our task.
For this example my set of characters will be as follows *WAKEUP*. It can be
whatever you want.
d. The profile is now complete! Click here to navigate back

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4. Tasker now requires that you attach a task to be carried out when we receive an SMS.
5. Navigate to the New Task + that should appear in a list before you.

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6. Give that Task a name! I am going to call my Phone is Lost.

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7. Tasker now wants us to edit that Task. Now we must add an action so hit that plus sign.

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8. This will prompt a series of Action categories. Remember there are 3 we need so we will do
them one at a time.

a. Audio >> Ringer volume. Just make sure it is set to the max and you can navigate
back.

b. Audio >> Alarm volume. Again make sure it is set to max and then navigate back.
c. Media >> Music play. Now we need to specify a song/piece of audio that you want
to play.
i. Click the Magnifying glass and navigate through to your file. In my case I
want to play the Intro to Its always sunny in Philadelphia.
ii. Start can be left at the value, 0.
iii. We do want to tick the Loop box.
iv. Stream can be set to Media.

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9. That is it! While on this screen hit the play button to test it works. When you start it, it will
present you with a stop button as well to stop the task.

It is important to note that when you receive a message to carry out this task you will have to
navigate back into the specific Task in Tasker and click the stop button to end the song.

I really hope this helps. If you are still confused about any of the instructions let me know and I will
amend the portions you are stuck on and try to make them clearer. Make sure you have a play with
Tasker and google examples of what people have already achieved. It is a really brilliant app and if
you give it some time you will figure out what else you can do with it.

Thanks guys!
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