Tasks in Outlook 2007

Outlook 2007 seamlessly integrates Tasks, Mail, Calendar and Contacts. Because of this, Outlook 2007 provides more ways to view tasks and to-do items. It makes it easier to manage everything going on at home and in your home office.

Tasks appear in three main locations:

• To-Do Bar
• Tasks
• Calendar

By default, the To-Do Bar appears in most Outlook views providing an easy way to view the most current Tasks. Refer to the To-Do Bar introduction at the start of this chapter for customizing its views.

Open Tasks by clicking the clipboard icon at the bottom of the Navigation Pane to view the tasks. With Tasks open, you can quickly change the Tasks settings by selecting a different option from the "Current View" in the "Navigation Pane." Click "Customize Current View" to customize the currently selected view.

The Daily Task List only shows in the Day and Week views of Calendar. Tasks appear at the bottom of Calendar. Tasks can appear on their start dates or due dates. To change this option, right-click "Show tasks on:" and select your preference.

The Day view lists the task, start and due dates, reminder time and folder location. Week view only shows the Task name. Modify the Daily Task List view by doing these steps:

1. Click "Daily Task List" from the "View" menu.

2. Select "Normal," "Minimized," "Off" or "Arrange By."

If you select "Arrange By," your choices are "By Start Date" and "By Due Date." This menu also lets you turn on and off showing completed tasks.

Daily Task List is the name of the Tasks appearing in Calendar. It doesn't say "Daily Task List" anywhere in Calendar, but Outlook's menus and Help file use the term.

Anytime you create a new task, Outlook flags it for follow up even when a task has no start and finish dates. Like any other feature in Outlook, you can create a new task in various ways. The fastest way to enter a new task is to type the task into the To-Do Bar where it says, "Type a new task."

Other ways to create a new task:

• Click "New" from the "File" Menu and select "Task."
• Use the shortcut, Ctrl+Shift+K.
• Enter the task into the text box at top of the Task window that says, "Click here to add a new Task."
• On the bottom of Calendar view in the Tasks, click a blank space and type in a new task.
• Drag an item, such as an e-mail message or contact, to the Tasks icon at the bottom of the Navigation Pane. This immediately opens a new task window where you can fill in the rest of the details.

Tip: Move a task to another day in the Calendar by dragging and dropping the task to the new date.

Right-click a task and select "Open" to add more details including the start and due dates, status, % complete, priority, notes, categories, follow up and reminders. You can also set the task's recurrence and assign it to others from this window.