Hi, All- Getting back in the consulting game again. I've been a GTD advocate for quite sometime, going back to the Managing Actions and Projects days. Some years ago I was using the Netcentrics app. It worked well for me,especially interfacing with Outlook. Now, I'm finding a need a robust list management tool again. I'd appreciate people's thoughts and advice of using either Outlook or One Note for GTD. I see that both have guides that can be purchased and downloaded. What works for you? Does One Note and Outlook integrate with each other in this system? Any help or thoughts are truly appreciated.
One Note v Outlook as GTD Tools
- Thread starter bartco
- Start date
kelstarrising
Kelly | GTD expert
Hi Bartco! I can give some thoughts on this as I wrote the OneNote Guide.
Outlook will give you one central basecamp for the key components for your workflow: Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. OneNote will only replace Outlook Tasks and Notes. So you'll still need Outlook or something equivalent for Email, Calendar, and Contacts.
Here are some pros and cons that I see...
Outlook for Tasks:
Easy to turn an email into a Task
Easy to drag and drop Tasks on to the Calendar
In the same app where you are working Email and Calendar, so less toggling around
Sequential/linear design, for those who like to see things in traditional list format
Supports due dates
Notes app is extremely limited.
OneNote for Tasks:
More visually creative design for lists, for those who don't want linear format
Expandable list options (i.e. multiple Notebooks, tagging, color coding tabs, etc.)
No due date structure (but I explain options for that in the Guide)
A little more work to capture actionable emails into OneNote entries
Outlook and OneNote do integrate and sync, but it's not as streamlined as you might think. And I can see many people get tangled up in overusing this feature, particularly if they are trying to mirror everything in both Tasks and OneNote.
A couple of scenarios that could work would be to use Outlook Tasks for Project and Next Action lists, but use OneNote for project support and reference. Or, don't use Outlook Tasks at all and put all lists in OneNote. That's the scenario I lead with in the Guide, because I didn't want to make the Guide just about people who also use Outlook.
There is value in getting both Guides, if you will be using both apps.
Hope this helps!
Kelly
Outlook will give you one central basecamp for the key components for your workflow: Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. OneNote will only replace Outlook Tasks and Notes. So you'll still need Outlook or something equivalent for Email, Calendar, and Contacts.
Here are some pros and cons that I see...
Outlook for Tasks:
Easy to turn an email into a Task
Easy to drag and drop Tasks on to the Calendar
In the same app where you are working Email and Calendar, so less toggling around
Sequential/linear design, for those who like to see things in traditional list format
Supports due dates
Notes app is extremely limited.
OneNote for Tasks:
More visually creative design for lists, for those who don't want linear format
Expandable list options (i.e. multiple Notebooks, tagging, color coding tabs, etc.)
No due date structure (but I explain options for that in the Guide)
A little more work to capture actionable emails into OneNote entries
Outlook and OneNote do integrate and sync, but it's not as streamlined as you might think. And I can see many people get tangled up in overusing this feature, particularly if they are trying to mirror everything in both Tasks and OneNote.
A couple of scenarios that could work would be to use Outlook Tasks for Project and Next Action lists, but use OneNote for project support and reference. Or, don't use Outlook Tasks at all and put all lists in OneNote. That's the scenario I lead with in the Guide, because I didn't want to make the Guide just about people who also use Outlook.
There is value in getting both Guides, if you will be using both apps.
Hope this helps!
Kelly
Thanks, Kellly. I believe I will use One Note for support and reference materials, as used to use Outlook for everything else as you mentioned. I had switched to Gmail for a while but I will need Outlook again for clients. I will solely use Outlook again. As I'm familiar with the Outlook for GTD model, it should be fairly easy, I hope, to go back. Both manuals may be a useful review. Do you know if they can be purchased as a bundle? Thanks so much for your quick and detailed reply!
kelstarrising
Kelly | GTD expert
bartco said:
Glad to be of help! I don't think they come as a bundle, but I'll mention that to the Products team as a request. Good luck and keep us posted how it goes.
Bartco,
I have to agree with everything Kelly said. I recently moved from using OneNote as my system to using Outlook as my system with OneNote as Project Support Materials. Unfortunately OneNote, although very powerful, has some major shortcomings to being a complete GTD software.
Outlook is just better designed to be the software to use for email and calendar. Once you find and use the overlooked "tasks" tab you won't look back.
I used and can recommend the "GTD and outlook setup guide" that can be found here: https://gtdconnect.com/store/home.php?cat=263. (I'm not getting any money for the advertisement either!) It runs through how to set up a views in calendar as well as some "GTD best practices", and it shows you how to use categories as contexts which is instrumental in setting up your next action lists.
There are a lot of resources online (think youtube) to setting up outlook as your system.
I have to agree with everything Kelly said. I recently moved from using OneNote as my system to using Outlook as my system with OneNote as Project Support Materials. Unfortunately OneNote, although very powerful, has some major shortcomings to being a complete GTD software.
Outlook is just better designed to be the software to use for email and calendar. Once you find and use the overlooked "tasks" tab you won't look back.
I used and can recommend the "GTD and outlook setup guide" that can be found here: https://gtdconnect.com/store/home.php?cat=263. (I'm not getting any money for the advertisement either!) It runs through how to set up a views in calendar as well as some "GTD best practices", and it shows you how to use categories as contexts which is instrumental in setting up your next action lists.
There are a lot of resources online (think youtube) to setting up outlook as your system.
One other consideration is wunderlist... I find it amazing. Also, Since Microsoft purchased, there are rumors of tighter integration coming for outlook.
I used outlook, and loved it when coupled with Task Task on iphone. But I have 1 system for personal and biz... It kinda bugged me that the IT department could see that learn to play the banjo was on my someday maybe list!
I used outlook, and loved it when coupled with Task Task on iphone. But I have 1 system for personal and biz... It kinda bugged me that the IT department could see that learn to play the banjo was on my someday maybe list!
Suelin23
Registered
I resisted Outlook tasks for years however had to come to grips with the fact that OneNote alone or OneNote plus an iPhone app just wasn't working at all for me. I've changed over just in the last couple of months and am already noticing a huge improvement because of the integration with email which is my biggest inbox. I still use OneNote for project support but all NA are in Outlook tasks. Ideas for future actions go in OneNote.
Thanks for that suggestion, Kelly. In the setting described above, where would "someday/maybe" live?