diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index df23e0ae..acbe050d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 mypy_report
 docs/build
 docs/source/_build
+tools/*.txt
 
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
diff --git a/rich/progress.py b/rich/progress.py
index 5d0c9069..1fd95db7 100644
--- a/rich/progress.py
+++ b/rich/progress.py
@@ -412,6 +412,15 @@ class Progress:
             if refresh:
                 self.refresh()
 
+    def advance(self, task_id: TaskID, advance: float = 1) -> None:
+        """Advance task by a number of steps.
+        
+        Args:
+            task_id (TaskID): ID of task.
+            advance (float): Number of steps to advance. Default is 1.
+        """
+        self.update(task_id, advance=advance)
+
     def refresh(self) -> None:
         """Refresh (render) the progress information."""
         with self._lock: