"Emphasize" your task-list!

Context

The last publication showed how to create (manual) tasks in Microsoft Outlook. Before moving forward with sharing and planning features (which I will consider in the next publications), I strongly believe that we should focus on the different ways of finding, presenting, and highlighting our tasks in Microsoft Outlook. It is very common to "lose ourselves" in an enormous list of things to do and it always arising the difficulty of finding something important.

In this publication, I will explore the View tab and the features it promotes. You can access the View tab by clicking on the Task button (left side) and the View label as presented in the image below.

The next section aims to show you how to sort, group, and "emphasize" your tasks avoiding any forgetfulness and ensuring your attention to certain details. The information which is presented to you is highly configurable and I hope I can explain you in an easy way.

Grouping your tasks

I will start this section with the options set identified with a "1" circle in the image below. These six available options refer to the predefined grouping options that we can apply to our to-do list. Short note: I will leave Folder and Type options for other publications (respectively, about sharing and "flagging" your e-mails messages).

Using the option for grouping by Due Date, the task list is organized (and presented below the tab) by small groups of tasks following group conditions: to be done today, this week, next week, and this month. This task organization gives us a clear vision of what we need to deliver each week. This is my favorite group option and I use it daily. For example, it gives you flexibility, in case of having some free time this week, to "pick" some tasks expected for the next week. For me, the due date indicates the maximum delivery date assumed by someone (internal or external to our organization) and I always try to follow it. Basically, Outlook is organizing and showing you the deadline for delivering your task and I'm sure it can save you some upsets in case of forgetting. Do you remember I mentioned (on my first publication) that I always fill the field for the "Due Date"? I hope, now, you understand why! :)

Of course, you can also organize your tasks list by Start Date. Imagine that you want to define when you should start working on a certain task (something like "I should start working on this as soon I arrive from vacation"); in that case, you might not be so concerned with the due date. But the good news is that you can use both dates and organize your task list according to your needs. I confess I don't use this feature of defining the starting date, but it might be useful for you.

However, I do use (a lot!) the Importance group option. This allows you to organize your task list by importance, ensuring that you never miss your critical tasks. Very useful to focus on what is important to deliver on time for your clients, for example.

And, finally, group by Categories. I have also referred in my first publication that Categories might be used for several purposes. Imagine you want to categorize tasks by the department of your company or by project, or customer, or internal cost center... whatever! With Categories, you can create any type of classification according to your needs. In my case, I have defined categories for "Management Board", "Programming", "Documentation", "Clients requests", etc. It allows me to organize the type of tasks I have "in my hands". But, it's your daily organization and your business that create the rules for applying Categories. Don't miss them!

Task list presentation

This section will help you define how to visualize the information of your task list (available right below the tab), identified with a "2" circle in the image above.

The first option "Change View" allows you to access predefined views for task list presentation, like simple or detailed, today's and overdue tasks, etc. Honestly, I only use the "To-Do list" option, which (when applied with the group options presented in the previous section) gives me complete control of my tasks!

The good news is that you can manage all these options according to your needs! If you choose View Setting, you can define the fields to become available on your task list and also define the group options, sorting, and filter conditions according to certain fields. For a broader visualization of your views, you can choose "Manage All Views" and manage (add, edit, and delete) your predefined views.

Let's focus on the Configuration features presented in the image below.

You can configure:

• Columns: choose the fields you want to appear on your task list. You might also create new ones (we call them "user fields") to include additional information that might be important for you;
• Group by: you can group by any field to a maximum of four levels. For example, you can organize by Importance as a first level and Categories as a second level;
• Sort: you can sort by any field to a maximum of four levels;
• Filter: Microsoft Outlook allows a high configuration for filtering. I would like to highlight the following:

1. Search for words in the subject or in notes;
2. Categories;
3. Importance;
4. Has attachments;
5. Complete criteria to include several fields' conditions;

This is one of the most powerful features. You can create "dedicated" views for personalized subjects; for example, "a list with tasks considered as important for my Management Board". In such an example, you could use the Importance and Categories filters. You can create the combinations you need!

• Conditional Formatting: you can apply different font configurations according to certain criteria (similar to those defined for the filter, presented in the previous option). Imagine, for example, that you want to highlight your task list ("painting" the font with bold red) for your client ABC. You can create a condition as presented in the image below, which searches for the word ABC in the subject of any task.

• Format columns: you can define the width of the column for each field.

And if you regret any modifications you've made... you can always Reset your view to the default initial configuration :)

You can also define in the Reading Pane option if you want to visualize the memo field of your tasks at the right, bottom, or not visualize. Usually, I use the Reading Pane defined to the right. That way, I can click on the task list on the left side and check their contents on the right, as presented in the image below.

Next publication

In this publication, we have focused on organizing and displaying our task list! But... we are only at the beginning :)

I still have some tips for organizing your tasks by Folders and Types, but I will leave them for the next weeks when talking about sharing and planning your Microsoft Outlook tasks.

Stay tuned!