Tasks and Time Management in Outlook : Tips and Tricks

Don't Delete: Mark it Complete

mmacbeth — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:13:00 GMT

I have heard of a few instances where people love the To-Do Bar, but can't figure out how to get tasks off of it. So here is a little explanation.

Because the To-Do Bar is a collection of tasks, flagged mail and flagged contacts, when you delete a flagged mail in the To-Do Bar, you are deleting the actual mail, not just some associated task. The upside of this means that there isn’t an extra version of this task eating up your mailbox quota – there is only one item represented in multiple places (To-Do Bar, Daily Task List, and in your mail file system.) In case you did not want to delete the actual mail, we provided a PONT (point of need training dialog) to warn you:

So now you're stuck, right? NO! Mark it complete! Only active (non-complete) tasks show up in your To-Do Bar. You can mark any task complete in the following ways:

1. Click on the flag

2. Right click on the flag, and select “Mark Complete”

3. Right click on the mail itself, select “Follow Up” then “Mark Complete”

4. In the open item, click on the flag in the ribbon and select “Mark Complete”

Marking a mail complete gets it out of the To-Do Bar, but you still have a record in the Daily Task List of when you completed it. The mail is still in your file/reference system, so next time you come across the mail, you see by the check mark that you took some action on it and it is done. You can just keep it for reference. Of course, if you don’t need it for reference, then by all means, hit delete!

An alternative way to make the item disappear from your To-Do Bar, is to clear the flag. Clearing the flag removes the “taskiness” from the mail – it is as though you never flagged it or dragged it to the To-Do Bar. You can clear the flag in the following ways:

1. Right click on the flag, and select “Clear Flag”

2. Right click on the mail itself, select “Follow Up” then “Clear Flag”

3. In the open item, click on the flag in the ribbon and select “Clear Flag”

If you prefer to have a checkbox in your view instead of the flags, then you can customize your view in the following way:

1. In the To-Do Bar, click on “Arranged By:…” and select “Custom…”

2. Click on “Fields…”, and remove all but “Task Subject” and “Categories.”

3. Add “Complete” (which is a Task Field), move it to the top of the list, and then click Ok.

4. Next click on “Other Settings…”

5. Under “Other” unselect “Use compact layout…” then click Ok and then Ok again to get out of the dialog.

Viola! Checkboxes on the left side of your task view!

Bottom line: Mark it complete! Don’t delete.

Olya's latest post: Assigning Tasks from Shared OneNote Notebooks

mmacbeth — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 04:10:00 GMT

Check out Olya's latest post on Assigning Outlook tasks from OneNote shared notebooks. She details how to use OneNote as a depository for a shared task list. Cool stuff!

-Melissa

Make your To-Do Bar only show tasks

mmacbeth — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 01:54:00 GMT

For some of you, flags may have had a whole different meaning, and the fact that the To-Do Bar is cluttered with your flagged mail and flagged contacts may not be working for you. Here is a solution: filter the To-Do Bar to just show tasks!

To filter the To-Do Bar to just show tasks, click on Arranged By: in the To-Do Bar and then select "Custom…" In the dialog that appears, select "Filter…" In the next dialog, click on the "advanced" tab. Click on the "Fields" button in the middle of the dialog and choose All Mail Fields->Message Class. Create the criteria "Message Class" "Contains" "Task" and add it to the list. Click Ok, then Ok again to exit the dialog.

Viola! Now there are only tasks in your To-Do Bar.

You can do the same thing if you only want to see e-mail in the To-Do Bar by swapping the value of Task with "IPM.Note."

-Melissa

Make that PST show up on the To-Do Bar

mmacbeth — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 02:30:00 GMT

Do you have a pst or an archive that has tasks and flagged mail it, but the tasks and flagged mail don’t show up on the To-Do Bar? Here’s how you can make it work!

Right click on the name of your archive, (in the picture below, the archive is named “StuffForToDoBar”), and select ‘Properties for “<name of your archive>...”’

In the dialog that appears, check the box next to “Display reminders and tasks from this folder in the To-Do Bar”

Viola! Tasks and flagged mail from your archive in the To-Do Bar!

Addendum to How to show tasks from some folders and not others in the To-Do Bar - a how-to guide

mmacbeth — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:41:00 GMT

Andrew Coates was kind enough to point out that there is another way to hide a folder that is much, much simpler. Thanks Andrew!

If you have one particular folder that you want to hide, for example, a task folder of Christmas presents for your family (not exactly tasks, but tasks are a convenient place to keep such lists), you can exclude that folder by customizing the view. Here are the steps:

Click on the "Arrange By:" header in the To-Do Bar and select "Custom..."
In the Customize View dialog, click on the "Filter..." button.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Under “Fields” select “All Task Fields” and then “In Folder"
Click on the “Condition” drop down, and select “doesn’t contain”
In the value field, type the name of the folder you want to exclude and then click “Add to List” (Ok, Ok)

It may seem appealing to do the reverse and list only the folders that you want to include, but each folder in the mail hierarchy would need to be included for flagged mail to appear in the To-Do Bar, so excluding is actually better.

Mischa may still want to go the "Categories" route since he has so many folders he wants to exclude. For those of you with only one or two folders that you want to exclude, this way is much simpler. Thanks Andrew!

I would also like to thank Brandon Bloom for his VBA script (commented below)

-Melissa

How to show tasks from some folders and not others in the To-Do Bar - a how-to guide

mmacbeth — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:59:00 GMT

Recently, I received the following e-mail and I thought I would post my response:

Hi Melissa,

Since you’re so active on bloggin on Outlook I was wondering if you can help me solve this question. I have about 35 task folders in Outlook and by default this great new feature To-Do Bar scans all of them and puts about 300 elements in the bar. All I want To-Do Bar to scan is the original Task folder and maybe one other. Is it possible (or will it be possible) to tell this view (cause that’s what it actually is right?) which Task folders to scan? ...

With kind regards,
Mischa

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to turn off a folder or set of folders in the To-Do Bar (though it is something we thought about. From SQM data, most users do not have more than one folder.) There are a few tricks that you can do, however, to hide these tasks in the To-Do Bar. For example, you could create a new category: "Not In To-Do Bar." Here are the steps:

1. In the To-Do Bar, Arrange by: Folder (Click on the Arrange by: Due Date header in the middle of the To-Do Bar, and select “Folder”)

2. Right click the header of a folder that you want to exclude, and select Categorize-> “All Categories...”

3. In the “All Categories…” dialog, create a new category “Not In To-Do Bar”

4. Continue applying the “Not In TDB” category to all of the folder headers that you don’t want to appear in the To-Do Bar. (Note: you are just applying the categories to items in these folders – the folders themselves do not have categories on them. New tasks created/added to these folders will need to have the category added to them.)

5. Once you have finished, remove the “Not In TDB” category from your To-Do Bar View ()

a. click on the header in the To-Do Bar, and select “Custom…”

b. In the Customize View dialog, click on “Filter…” button.

c. Click on the Advanced tab.

d. Under “Fields” select “All Task Fields” and then “Categories”

e. Click on the “Condition” drop down, and select “doesn’t contain”

f. In the value field, add “Not In To-Do Bar” and then click “Add to List” (Ok, Ok)

And unwanted tasks are hidden from your To-Do Bar!

If you want to view your tasks in the To-Do Bar by category, start date, due date, just click on “Arrange by:” and select the appropriate arrangement: your filter will persist. If you want this same filtered view in the Tasks module, you will need to repeat step 5. The Daily Task List in the Calendar cannot have its view filtered by category, so in this case, you may want to minimize it – unless, of course, you want to see tasks with due dates and start dates from other folders in the Daily Task List.

-Melissa

Make that mail an appointment

mmacbeth — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 03:58:00 GMT

How often have you received an e-mail that is about something you want to put on your calendar? For example, I received an e-mail about a presentation about Office Live.

I am interested in learning more about Office Live, so I want to go. What to do? In Outlook 2003 and earlier, I could drag the mail to the Calendar icon and then to the Date Navigator in the Calendar, but what if there was a better way? In Outlook 2007, all I need to do is drag the mail to the Date Navigator and presto! New appointment on the day of my choosing, with all of the mail's info right there.

Drag a mail item to the To-Do Bar to make it an appointment!

Change the appointment time and I'm all set.

Tips for the Outlook Tasks Module

mmacbeth — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 01:27:00 GMT

Below are some tips for the Tasks Module (most are oldies (will work in most versions) but goodies):

1. Outlook 12: See the thread of a conversation of a flagged mail in the Tasks Module: Here’s the scenario: You flagged a mail message, and now you want to see the full thread to see if there has been any more mail on it. Click on the infobar in the reading pane and click “Find all related messages.” A dialog will pop up with the messages in the thread.

The Tasks Module: Click on the Infobar to find all related messages

2. Change the location of the Reading Pane: Want to see more information about your tasks? Click View->Reading Pane and select the location of the Reading Pane – or turn it off!

Turn the Reading Pane on or off through the View menu

3. Tips for standard “Table Views:”

a. Change the sort: Want to see your completed tasks sorted by the subject, and not the date complete? Left click on the subject column header.

b. Add a properties to your view: What if you like Outlook’s out of the box views, but you want to add a checkbox? Right click on the header and select “Field Chooser.” A new dialog will pop up with a list of properties. Drag and drop the properties you want into the view, such as Complete.

The Field Chooser

c. Remove a property from the view: Don’t like a property? Left click on the column header and drag it off. Presto! Column is gone. This state will persist between sessions of Outlook until you reset the view.

d. Group your items: If you want to see all of your tasks grouped together based on due date, for example, right click on the Due Date column header and select “Group by this field.”

4. Customize the view even more: Want to change the way that overdue tasks are colored, but only in a particular view (look under Automatic Formatting…)? Want to add the “new item row” to the current view (look under Other Settings…)? Right click on the header and select “Customize Current View…” Or just click on “Customize Current View…” in the Navigation Pane. A dialog will appear that will let you customize the view almost any way you want, just click on the buttons. Note: You can customize the To-Do Bar the same way by clicking on the words “Arrange by:” in the To-Do Bar, and then select “Custom…”

Customize the View

5. Reset your view: Messed up your view? Click on “Customize Current View…” in the Navigation Pane. In the dialog that appears, click “Reset Current View” in the lower left corner. Note: You can reset your view in the To-Do Bar through the same dialog by clicking on the words “Arrange by:” in the To-do Bar and then selecting “Custom…”

6. Add a new property: Don’t have enough properties to represent your data? (For example, you are big fan of the Franklin Covey system and you want to add a more detailed priority field (A1, B1, A2, B2, etc.)) Right click on the header and select “Field Chooser.” In the dialog, click “new” at the bottom and create a new category that suits your needs.

7. Create a custom view: What if the default Outlook views are fine, but what if you are a big Franklin Covey user and you want your own view with your own properties? Here’s how to do it: Set up your view the way you want it, then click on “View” in the menu bar, and then “Current View,” “Define Views.” Click “New” on the right side. Decide if you want your custom view to be applicable to just the current folder, visible only to you or to everyone whom you share the folder with, or to all task folders, and then click OK. If everything is how you want it, click OK in the next dialog (the Customize View dialog) and then OK again and then you are done!

8. Share your tasks: Want your boss to see what you are working on? Right click on the Tasks folder and select Share Tasks… and send your boss a Sharing Request (in Outlook12) or enter your boss’ alias into the dialog that appears.

Sharing Request

9. Outlook 12: Reminders for all flagged mail: Want reminders on everything you flag in Outlook12? Go to Tools->Options…, click on the Task Options button and check the box next to Set reminders on tasks with due dates. (This box is checked in Outlook2003 and earlier, and off by default in Outlook12.)

Task Options

10. Short cut keys of fun:

a. Control-Shift-K creates a new task.

b. Alt-F1 turns on/off the Navigation Pane.

c. Alt-F2 turns on/off the To-Do Bar.

11. Outlook 12: Get your tasks, flagged mail, and flagged contacts from other stores to show up in the To-Do Bar: Right click on the store name in the Navigation Pane and select “Properties for <name of your store>…” In the dialog that appears next, check the box next to “Display reminders and tasks from this folder in the To-Do Bar.” Then click Apply and OK. Shutdown Outlook (restart) and open it again and you will see your tasks from other stores start to populate the To-Do Bar!

Store Properties

There are many other things that you can do in the Tasks Module – this is just a start. For more tips on tasks, see http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/CH062556521033.aspx, and for tips on table views (the standard views in Tasks are all table views) see http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/CH063564721033.aspx.

If you know some tips and tricks for tasks, please post them in your comments. Thanks!