What do you use Outlook Tasks for?

M

mlprater

Registered
Hi Folks,

I have no need for the task panel.

But it's such a clever aspect of outlook.

How do you use it?

I have four folders in Outlook.
Urgent/Important
Not-Urgent/Important
Urgent/Not-Important
Not-Urgent/Not-Important

I get to inbox zero everyday just about, and often get to what's in box 1. The others often fly into the ethos. I make sure my friends and family understand that, and so far it's reduced my stress quite a lot. Now that I'm comfortable with this system, I'm ready to bolt on another feature.

Sorry if this duplicates some other discussion. I can't search the forum for "tasks" very easily, so I'm posting.

Also, this is my first post. If there is some other forum I should use, please let me know. I'm new to G(S or T)D.

Thanks,
Matt
 
D

dashik

Registered
I personally don't use Outlook's Tasks as my task manager (I have another tool for that), but I do use the Tasks feature as my ticker system.

A lot of the web apps you see for GTD now may or may not have a full-fledged ticker system (called "reminders" or "notifications" or similar), but I have one main problem with those: The "notifications" are too subtle. Some will either simply pop up within the browser window (requiring me to keep my browser open all the time to the page), while others have the option of sending me an email (which, again, I might not immediately check). Others have the option of sending a text message to my mobile phone, but I'm in a particular situation where I can't/don't want to receive text messages.

So only Outlook's obtrusive "pop-up" system is really effective for tickling or reminding me of certain tasks when I'm at my computer. I find that it's also useful as a general reminder system, or if you want to make it a habit of doing something at a certain time everyday. I often have a task reminder pop up with a checklist of items to do when it's time to, say, do a routine backup of my computer files.

I'm not sure if this wholly answered your question, but just offering my perspective on things.
 
A

ArcCaster

Registered
I used Outlook tasks for years after setting up using the GTD setup guide. Liked it very much. Store next actions in it by context. If you are at your computer, look at the computer next actions and pick the appropriate one. If you are at home, look at the home next actions and pick the appropriate one.

Don't use ticklers at all. Shut off email notification as well. Tried to implement instant messaging in my group many years ago and received tremendous flack -- 'why are you interrupting my "flow"'. So I don't use text messaging at work.

a perspective from a trainer/course developer
 
G

Gardener

Registered
I tried to use Outlook's Tasks as an integral part of an Outlook-based work GTD system, and found that Outlook Tasks apparently lost its mind with a folder structure of any complexity. It's always possible that my install of Outlook had some sort of corruption, but it was always rock-solid with email and horribly flaky with tasks, so I'm not trying again. I moved my work GTD system to a self-coded database application, and Outlook is now only an inbox. (I have to use Windows at work, or I would be using OmniFocus.)
 
M

mlprater

Registered
Ah ha! All kinds of jargon that's new to me. I can't tell whether they're helpful because I don't know what I'm doing, but thank you for the effort. I'll have to review and get back to you with any concluding thoughts.
 
J

JeffB

Registered
I recommend spending the $10 on the Outlook GTD setup. It taught me how to do GTD at a deeper level.

I have since switched to Todoist so I can have a syncable mobile app.

Dashik, great idea on using Tasks for a tickler file. Makes sense, I hadn't thought of that.
 
J

Jenn

Registered
I use Outlook Tasks for all of my Next Actions. They are sorted by category and linked to the email that the are sourced from if that is relevant.
I do sync them with my iPhone and I'm able to sort by context when away from my computer. I definitely recommend the set-up guide if you are not using a Task list at this time. It's a key part of the system.
 
OF user

OF user

Registered
I use Outlook tasks as my list manager for work. I like the setup others have referred to, i.e. the setup guide. I use 2013 but anything from 2007 on up is fine. I also tried the Netcentrics add in but I like the setup guide version better.
 
V

VigneshVel

Registered
  1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Task.
    Keyboard shortcut To create a new task, press CTRL+SHIFT+K.
  2. In the Subject box, type a name for the task.
    NOTE You have now entered enough information to create a task. The following steps are optional, but will help you better manage your tasks in Outlook.
  3. On the Task tab, in the Actions group, click Save & Close or continue with the following steps to customize your task.
  4. If you want, set the Start date and the Due date for the task.
    If you specify a Start date, the Due date field is automatically set to the same day. You can change the Due date field to any date that you want.
  5. If you want to make the task recur, on the Task tab, in the Options group, click Recurrence.
  6. In the Task Recurrence dialog box, click the frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly) with which the task should recur, and then do one of the following:
    • Make the task recur based on a regular interval In the Recurrence pattern section, select the options for the frequency interval that you want. Do not select Regenerate new task, or the task will not recur at regular intervals.
    • Make the task recur based on completion date Select Regenerate new task, and in the box, type the amount of time after which a new task must be generated.
      Each time that you mark the task complete, a new task will be created based on your specifications.
      TIP This is your best choice when you do not want the next reminder for a task to appear until the previous one is marked as complete. If you do not mark the item complete, the next reminder will never appear. For example, if you have a reminder to pay your utility bill on the 15th of each month and you do not mark the occurrence on April 15th as complete, in May you will still see the not yet completed April 15th task. Only after you mark the April 15th task as complete does the May 15th occurrence of the task appear.
  7. Click OK to close the Task Recurrence dialog box.
  8. If you want to add a reminder alert, select the Reminder check box, and then enter the date and time for the reminder.
  9. You can specify a custom sound to be played with your reminder. Click
    ac5a8dbf-56e9-46a8-b194-f9eee8f66a08.gif
    , click Browse, select the sound file to play, click Open, and then click OK. This changes the reminder sound only for this task.
  10. If you want to track your progress on this task, in the Status, Priority, and % Complete boxes, enter the values that you want.
    The Status and % Complete fields are linked. When you change the value in either field, the value in the other field changes accordingly.
 
B

Brickster

Registered
I use Outlook to send/receive emails and integrated it with https://pyrus.com/ in order to turn all emails into tasks. Later they can be routed and assigned to a particular person within our company. With regard to GTD concept, I also have all this set up within Pyrus. In such a way, I'm getting all my correspondence organized.
 
S

Stew

Registered
I use Outlook Tasks in much the same way as recommended in the GTD Outlook Setup Guide, with one twist. Rather than use categories I have a separate Task folder for each list (one per context, agendas, projects, and someday/maybe). My reason for this that I use Outlook at work and a Mac at home. Keeping items in separate folders allows for syncing between the Apple Reminders app on my Mac and iPhone using MS Exchange. Using categories adds a level of complexity to my system that, for me, is unnecessary. I've tried other third-party apps to sync the categories, but they were not reliable.
 
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