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The Queue: follow and control background work

See every import and AI job in one place, filter them, pause or resume them, and fix the ones that need you.

Time
2 minutes
Steps
5

Importing papers and running AI analyses take a little time, so they run in the background while you keep working. The Processing queue shows all of this work in one place, one row per paper (or per task, such as an AI analysis of several papers).

  1. Opening the Processing queue from the rail

    Step 1Open the Queue

    Choose Processing queue in the rail on the left. Its icon shows a small count while jobs are in progress.

    The heading says how many items are in the queue, about how long they have left, and how many failures need you. When nothing is left, it says Everything is done.

    Below it you see Storage saved today, how many papers were Done today, and the OCR pages of any scanned paper being read.

  2. Filtering the Queue by Running and Failed

    Step 2Filter the list

    Use the Filter list on the left: All, Running, Paused, Queued, Failed or Done today. Each shows how many rows it holds, so the numbers match the list.

    Below it, Where this runs reminds you that papers are read on this device while the tab is open. On the Student and Researcher plans, CurTask finishes the reading for you if you close it. See Why CurTask asks you to keep the tab open.

  3. A job's progress bar and its speed

    Step 3Follow a paper's progress

    Each paper shows its jobs: a progress bar with one part per step, words saying where it is, and a status. Failures are explained in plain words under the bar. AI analyses also show their speed: Standard speed on the Free plan, Fast on paid plans.

  4. The Resume, Cancel and Resume all buttons

    Step 4Pause, resume or cancel

    Each paper has its own buttons on the right: Pause while it runs, Resume when it is paused, and Cancel to stop it. To pause or resume everything at once, use Pause all or Resume all at the top.

    If reading was interrupted, the paper shows Interrupted with Resume reading and Stop.

  5. A failed paper with its Retry button

    Step 5Fix what needs you

    A paper that needs you says why, in plain words, with the action that fits:

    • Retry when an import failed for a reason that may pass (steps that already finished are not repeated). Retry failed at the top retries them all.
    • Add the PDF when a paper you found in Discover was saved but the publisher's website didn't let CurTask download its free PDF. Add it yourself, or Retry later. See Add a PDF to a paper later.
    • Import again when the file itself must change, for example a password-protected PDF.
    • Manage storage when your storage is full. See Storage, compression and freeing space.
    • Open OCR review → when some scanned pages were hard to read. See Check scanned pages.
    • Add details when CurTask couldn't find the title, authors and year. See Fix a paper's details.
    • Remove deletes a paper that couldn't be imported. It isn't offered for a paper that is fine, for example one saved without its PDF or one whose AI task failed.

    An AI task that failed (an analysis, a matrix fill, a writing suggestion) says why, for example that the AI service didn't answer. Start it again where you began it, for example from the matrix column; only what is missing is done.

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