diff --git a/src/Task.cpp b/src/Task.cpp
index a99e14eac..8d657e34b 100644
--- a/src/Task.cpp
+++ b/src/Task.cpp
@@ -2009,29 +2009,7 @@ void Task::modify (modType type, bool text_required /* = false */)
           // Dependencies are specified as IDs.
           if (name == "depends")
           {
-            // Parse IDs
-            std::vector <std::string> deps;
-            split (deps, value, ',');
-
-            // Apply or remove dendencies in turn.
-            for (auto& dep : deps)
-            {
-              if (dep[0] == '-')
-              {
-                if (dep.length () == 37)
-                  removeDependency (dep.substr (1));
-                else
-                  removeDependency (strtol (dep.substr (1).c_str (), NULL, 10));
-              }
-              else
-              {
-                if (dep.length () == 36)
-                  addDependency (dep);
-                else
-                  addDependency (strtol (dep.c_str (), NULL, 10));
-              }
-            }
-
+            column->modify (*this, value);
             ++modCount;
           }
 
diff --git a/src/columns/ColDepends.cpp b/src/columns/ColDepends.cpp
index 4a2bb49b5..ffc6cca63 100644
--- a/src/columns/ColDepends.cpp
+++ b/src/columns/ColDepends.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include <utf8.h>
 #include <i18n.h>
 #include <main.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
 
 extern Context context;
 
@@ -147,3 +148,30 @@ void ColumnDepends::render (
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+void ColumnDepends::modify (Task& task, const std::string& value)
+{
+  // Parse IDs
+  std::vector <std::string> deps;
+  split (deps, value, ',');
+
+  // Apply or remove dendencies in turn.
+  for (auto& dep : deps)
+  {
+    if (dep[0] == '-')
+    {
+      if (dep.length () == 37)
+        task.removeDependency (dep.substr (1));
+      else
+        task.removeDependency (strtol (dep.substr (1).c_str (), NULL, 10));
+    }
+    else
+    {
+      if (dep.length () == 36)
+        task.addDependency (dep);
+      else
+        task.addDependency (strtol (dep.c_str (), NULL, 10));
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/columns/ColDepends.h b/src/columns/ColDepends.h
index c41416730..c46a82610 100644
--- a/src/columns/ColDepends.h
+++ b/src/columns/ColDepends.h
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ public:
   void setStyle (const std::string&);
   void measure (Task&, unsigned int&, unsigned int&);
   void render (std::vector <std::string>&, Task&, int, Color&);
+  void modify (Task&, const std::string&);
 
 private:
   bool _hyphenate;