Organize Computer Files, Tasks with Outlook
It's Easy to Manage Appointments, Work and Social Schedule
Mar 8, 2009
MS Outlook©, that huge all-purpose digital secretary and Windows utility, has a Task function that tops most users' lists of essential software. People multitask. If they don't write stuff down, most busy people forget. Outlook Tasks remembers. It creates and displays reminders to keep the user on time.
How many ways do working people try track appointments? How do soccer moms manage game schedules? How do teens manage social life? What about web sites to look at, phone calls to make, customer phone numbers and personal data?
Outlook gives a digital tap on the shoulder.
Quick Start Guide to Outlook TasksHere are a series of steps for those just getting started with Tasks in Outlook:
- Open Outlook, any version - they operate pretty much the same way.
- On the left, vertical navigation bar - the list of folders - there's a button for tasks. It can also be accessed by clicking actions then new task on the top menu tabs.
- A form appears. User can fill in how ever much of the info he wants to track. For example, subject, due date, the reminder checkbox and the reminder dates, as well as the note space below those to describe what is needed.
- Then it's click save and close or go further into the process. There are books written just on Outlook - an extremely robust program. But a lot of the functionality is about groupware - sharing contacts, tasks, and calenders between workers on a network.
- User can now set a follow-up, or reminder date for the appropriate day and hour. When that time arrives, as long as the program is open, Outlook pops a little reminder up on it's interface - the same form the user filled out initially.
- Outlook Tasks can be set to make a sound, an audio alert, when a reminder comes up.
Once configured, there are a number of further personalization steps that the user can take.
After Outlook Tasks is Configured
Whenever she wants, the user can click tasks in Outlook's main navigation bar to see the list of reminders, no matter how far out their dates go. They can be viewed by date, subject, or categories assigned. If Outlook isn't open when the reminder comes up, it will list them all when the users next starts the program. If the user emails a task to someone, Outlook reports back when the job is completed.
It's easy to learn Tasks. The best way to dive in is to create a couple tasks - set reminders for an hour out and watch what happens.
For some, the only negative is - it's possible to reschedule a task any number of times. If a procrastinator doesn't want to do something when it comes up - say call the dentist to set an appointment - the task can be clicked away.
It might be best if Outlook would reach out and slap the slacker's hand. Now that would be a program!
Maryan Pelland is a tech writer for web and print publications. Her specialty is baby boomer tech.
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