Outlook 2007: Assigning Project Tasks

Written by: Michele McDonough • Edited by: Michele McDonough
Updated Jul 22, 2011 • Related Guides: Microsoft | Outlook 2007 | Microsoft Outlook

Don’t fall into that trap of getting stuck handling all unwanted tasks in a project. Instead, learn how to assign and transfer work using the task scheduling abilities of Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Unless you are only using Outlook 2007 to manage your own personal projects, there will frequently be times when you need to assign or transfer project tasks to another person or team. Making these assignments through the task system can help a great deal in keeping track of all the information for the task, including the progress that has been made and how much work any one person or team has on their plate.

In earlier articles of this series, we created a new folder and several sample tasks to demonstrate how Outlook could be used as a project management tool. We will refer back to some of those segments in the instructions below.

Assigning Tasks to Other Team Members

Step 1: Open the task list that contains your project items.

Step 2: Find the project task that you want to assign to another person or team. Double-click on that item to open the task in a new window. (Click the image below for a larger view.)

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Step 3: Make sure that the Task tab on the Outlook ribbon has been selected. Click on the Assign Task button located in the Manage Task portion of the ribbon.

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Step 4: Fill in the email addresses of the parties to whom you are assigning the task. You can also update other task information in this window and include additional remarks in the note section that will appear in the recipients’ email message.

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Step 5: When you have finished entering the information, click the Send button. The task will now show up as assigned in the main window of the project task list.

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Note: Outlook 2007 will not allow you to assign a task to yourself using this method. By default, a newly created task will automatically be considered to belong to you. If you need to transfer an assignment that was previously made to another person back to yourself, click on the Cancel Assignment button that appears in the main window for the task.

In Part 6 of this series, we’ll show how you can create and send status reports directly from your project task list.

References and Additional Resources

Microsoft Outlook Official Site, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/

All screenshots taken by author.

Michele McDonough Jun 10, 2011 10:07 PM

RE: Outlook 2007: Assigning Project Tasks

As far as I know, each task owner needs to set up his own reminder -- if anyone else knows an alternative way, please share!

Anonymous Jun 10, 2011 2:22 PM

Shared Tasks

when you create a shared task for a select group of people, can you set up the reminder to notify all of the recipients on the shared task?

Michele McDonough Jan 30, 2011 5:17 AM

RE: Spyros

One thing you can do - instead of actually using the "assign" feature, you can create a new field and call it something like Task Owner. Then, you can put the assignee's name in this field - which can then be sorted and grouped, just like any other field.

Spyros Jan 28, 2011 11:53 PM

Is it possible to assign a task but not send it?

I am in an environment where people do not use outlook very much. I assign tasks to them by phone but I need to track the assigned names in my outlook task list so I can sort it by names when I want to. Is it possible to assign the tasks but not send them the task? just keep it for me for follow up reasons?
Thanks for your help.

Carol Lynn Coronios Dec 20, 2010 9:16 AM

Sarah

If I understand what you're asking, you can simply drag it from the task area in the To Do Bar onto the appropriate date in the calendar. It will open into an appointment and you'll have to add a time. Not QUITE as perfectly integrated as it might be, but a lot better than previous versions.
If there's a more efficient way, I'd LOVE to hear it.

sarah Dec 17, 2010 12:51 PM

can you export tasks into outlook calendar? if so what are the steps :S

Walter Crabtree Dec 13, 2010 8:19 PM

A Functional Solution...

Thank you for your response. I found your article because I wanted to more easily track actions items for direct reports managing different business units.

I decided to add the "Category" field and insert the appropriate business unit name along with each task. Items are not in separate folders but I can easily sort, view, and monitor progress.

It is not the perfect solution but it is very functional and great for folllow through and accountability.

Michele McDonough Dec 13, 2010 5:54 PM

Getting Automatic Updates

Unfortunately, Outlook doesn't seem to support Automatic Updates for tasks that aren't in the default task folder - those items would have to be updated manually. That does make the issue a bit of a pain, especially if you have a large number of tasks to track.

If you're using an Exchanger server, Microsoft does suggest a workaround that involves setting up a "dummy" account to hold the new task folder - more details on that solution can be found here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lv-LV/exchangesvrclients/thread/f2ba6a71-0ef0-462a-b7cd-cd7747cc0cb6

But, even that seems a little awkward.

One thing that you can try is to keep everything in the default task folder, but create a new field called Project and enter the name of the project to which each task is related. Then, the entire folder of tasks can be sorted and grouped by this field - making the field act like a subfolder of sorts.

Walter Crabtree Nov 29, 2010 1:05 PM

Automatic Updating of Assigend Tasks

Outlook does not allow automatic updating of assigned tasks when the assignee changes the task status or accepts/declines the task.

The assignee does automatically send an email after an update is saved. However, the message on the updated task reads "Cannot locate task in your Task List"

If an assigned task is in my task folder and not a project fold, I do receive automatic updates.

Please help.... Thanks.

Carol Lynn Coronios Aug 17, 2010 10:20 AM

Assigning tasks from a customized task folder

Same issue as Elissa & Cheryl - "
Outlook does not allow automatic updating of those tasks when the assignee sends back a progress report or accepts/declines the task. I'd like to know if there is a way around this."

Cheryl Jul 6, 2009 2:57 PM

I have the same problem/question as Ellissa where Outlook does not allow automatic updating of those tasks when the assignee sends back a progress report or accepts/declines the task.

Thanks for your help.

Elissa Ostergaard Jul 2, 2009 11:45 AM

assigning tasks from a separate task folder

I found that if I created a separate task folder and then assigned tasks from that folder to other people, Outlook does not allow automatic updating of those tasks when the assignee sends back a progress report or accepts/declines the task. I'd like to know if there is a way around this.

Outlook 2007: Assigning Project Tasks

Assigning Tasks to Other Team Members

References and Additional Resources

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