diff --git a/src/gtimelog/main.py b/src/gtimelog/main.py
index dd66897c..bec697d2 100644
--- a/src/gtimelog/main.py
+++ b/src/gtimelog/main.py
@@ -1342,12 +1342,12 @@ def on_tasks_file_changed(self, monitor, file, other_file, event_type):
             GLib.timeout_add_seconds(1, self.check_reload_tasks)
 
     def check_reload(self):
-        if self.timelog.check_reload():
+        if self.timelog and self.timelog.check_reload():
             self.notify('timelog')
             self.tick(True)
 
     def check_reload_tasks(self):
-        if self.tasks.check_reload():
+        if self.tasks and self.tasks.check_reload():
             self.notify('tasks')
 
     def enable_add_entry(self):
diff --git a/src/gtimelog/timelog.py b/src/gtimelog/timelog.py
index 85d2c3b4..a5340cd4 100644
--- a/src/gtimelog/timelog.py
+++ b/src/gtimelog/timelog.py
@@ -250,6 +250,11 @@ def split_category(entry):
         """
         if ': ' in entry:
             cat, tsk = entry.split(': ', 1)
+            t, _, c = cat.partition('@')
+            if c and t:
+                # if category string can be further partitioned into non empty strings by '@'
+                # use 1st as task and 2nd as category
+                cat, tsk = c, t
             return cat.strip(), tsk.strip()
         elif entry.endswith(':'):
             return entry.partition(':')[0].strip(), ''
@@ -284,6 +289,10 @@ def grouped_entries(self, skip_first=True):
         work = {}
         slack = {}
         for start, stop, duration, tags, entry in self.all_entries():
+            cat, task = self.split_category(entry)
+            entry = task if task is not None else ''
+            if cat:
+                entry = cat + ': ' + entry
             if skip_first:
                 # XXX: in case of for multi-day windows, this should skip
                 # the 1st entry of each day