The Tasks Module
Click on Tasks in the Navigation Pane to get to the Tasks Module
Outlook's Tasks Module is the place to experience the full richness of Outlook's time management system. Like the To-Do Bar and the Daily Task List, the Tasks Module shows flagged mail and contacts, along with all of their tasks from Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote, and Project server.
Tasks Module
By default, the reading pane is on and is on the right side so that you can read your tasks just like mail (even your RSS feeds!) If you want to change the reading pane to the bottom to see more task columns, or turn it off so you can see more tasks, just click on View -> Reading Pane. Like the other modules (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Journal, and Notes), you can search in the Tasks module.
The Task Module gives you a place to focus just on tasks and pivot your task data in different ways. For example, you can see a simple list of your tasks, or look at a more detailed view by clicking on the different view options in the Navigation Pane. You can also filter the view to only show you active tasks or just the ones that you have completed. I find that the completed view is really useful for rolling up status for my boss each week.
You may also notice that there are multiple "task" folders listed in the folder section of the Navigation Pane. The top folder is the "To-Do Bar Task List," which is a search folder (essentially a virtual folder that persists a search query) that includes all flagged mail, flagged contacts, and tasks from across your different stores, including tasks in subfolders. The "To-Do Bar Task List" is the same folder that populates the tasks in the To-Do Bar and the Daily Task List, and it is the default folder of the Tasks Module. The second folder, "Tasks," just contains tasks in the current store and is a regular folder. Why two different folders? In Outlook, search folders cannot be shared through Exchange, cannot be drop targets when items are dragged to them, and cannot have subfolders, so we continue to show the Tasks folder to satisfy these scenarios. (If you see multiple "To-Do Bar Task List" folders, that is a known bug.)
Look for tips on the Task Module coming soon.
Comments
- Anonymous
February 24, 2006
I think the biggest problem I have with the new features of Outlook is the fact I'm going to have to wait months, if not a year, before I get to use them. I'd much rather be using them now because they look fantastic. - Anonymous
February 25, 2006
People tend to send emails, instead of task-requests. Please do tip us about creating task requests from and email and assigning adresses to the Status-Update-List. - Anonymous
February 26, 2006
I've used the Beta 1 for a while, and I use the Task Module with the reading pane off. The problem is that in the default tasks view, when I flag emails to follow up, they show up in the To-Do List (that's great) but only the subject of the email appears (and not the name of the person that sent the email...). I think the default view of the To-Do List in the Tasks Module should automatically display the subject AND the name of the recipient of the email, to give more context to the task (since changing the name of the task in the To-Do List changes the subject of the email too, and that's not convenient many times). - Anonymous
February 26, 2006
Carlos,
Thank you for bringing up some good points about the Tasks Module and thanks for using Beta1!
First, currently here is a bug in the Tasks Module where the subject is in the view instead of the To-Do Title (which is the subject of tasks and a special field for flagged mail/contacts.) The net result is that the To-Do Bar and the Tasks Module don't match.
Secondly, when you change the "subject" of flagged mail by editing it in the To-Do Bar, you are changing the To-Do Title, not the actual subject of the e-mail. To see what I mean, flag a mail, click on the mail in the To-Do Bar, change the "subject," and then open the mail (right now that means that you have to right click on it and select open (a bug that has been fixed.)) You should see that the subject in the mail has not been changed.
Hopefully my next post will show you how to add the recipients field to the view, though I understand why you might want to have that field on by default.
Thanks for your comments!
-Melissa - Anonymous
February 27, 2006
I've been on the Office 12 beta for about 3 months, but I can't seem to get the tasks from OneNote to appear in the Task View of Outlook. If I could get that to work, it would greatly increase the benefit of both apps. BTW - In OneNote I'm referring to "Note Flags".
Thanks for the great info in this blog...
Eric - Anonymous
February 27, 2006
Eric -
The OneNote note flags are items that you create in OneNote and they don't go into Outlook's task pane. If you wanted to create an Outlook task from OneNote you should either:
1) Insert-->Outlook Task
2) Look on the toolbar right next to the note flags, there should be an item to create Outlook tasks (look for the Outlook for follow-up flag)
3) Ctrl-Shift-1, 2, etc which will create a new task for today, tomorrow, etc.
I hope that is clear. - Anonymous
February 27, 2006
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 13, 2006
A column by Jason Fry in the WSJ (registration required) talks about how he's changing how he uses his... - Anonymous
March 14, 2006
Will Sharepoint Tasks integrate well with Outlook 2003 tasks, or is Office 12 a requirement? - Anonymous
April 26, 2006
I have a sharepoint site with lots of info and tasks setup.
We need those tasks to appear on peoples Outlook task lists.
How do i do this>?
anyone know?
mel - Anonymous
April 26, 2006
Mel,
Take a look at Andrew Ash's post: http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/03/21/557531.aspx above on SharePoint.
You will need a v3 SharePoint server and Outlook2007, which are not yet released.
-Melissa - Anonymous
May 31, 2006
The comment has been removed