Outlook 2007 To-Do

In a busy world, forgetting about an appointment or task is becoming easier and easier.  Microsoft Outlook 2007 has a feature called the To-Do Bar, which I use daily to map out my day/week. It’s very configurable, includes a Calendar, my upcoming Meetings, and my Active Tasks. Although enabled by default, I like to make a few customizations to optimize fully. So here are a few tips I think you might find helpful. How-To Expand the Outlook To-Do Bar First, just in case you minimized your To-Do Bar, let’s make it visible again by setting it back to the Normal or Expanded view. This way, you can benefit from the To-Do Bar. Like all thing Microsoft, however, there are always several ways to do the same task, as shown below: 1.   Click the View menu, To-Do Bar, then click Normal to set To-Do Bar to the full extended view

  1.   Optionally, click the Double Arrows « on the far right to Expand the To-Do Bar

How-To Minimize the Outlook To-Do Bar

3.   If you need more space for writing/reading an email, you can also quickly minimize the To-Do Bar

How-To Customize To-Do Bar Display/Options

4.   Right-click the To-Do Bar Header and click the features you want to be enabled/disabled or displayed/not displayed.

Use the Outlook To-Do Bar to Create Appointments and Tasks

You can Drag and Drop almost any Outlook Item onto the Outlook To-Do Bar.  This feature is a great time-saver!  For instance, dragging and dropping an Email onto a day on the Calendar will create a new appointment using the Email as the Calendar Invite Message Body.   Or, if you Drag and Drop an Outlook Contact onto the To-Do Bar calendar, it will address a new Calendar Appointment to that contact. 5.   Quickly Create new Calendar Items by dragging notes, emails, contacts, or task items to the To-Do Bar calendar.

6.   You can also drag an Email onto the Task Section of the To-Do Bar to create a new Task using the details from the email.

7.  Another quick way to create tasks is to Type a Task directly into the To-Do Bar itself.  Tasks typed in the To-Do bar will show up underneath. “Today.”

  1. Click the follow-up Flag to mark a task complete

9.   Right-click the Follow-up Flag on the Task for the full Options Menu to do everything from adding a reminder, delete a task, set a due date, etc.

Assign and Customize Category and Colors

10.  Right-click the Oval next to Tasks to Assign a Task to a Category and designate the Color.  I base priority on color, and that works well for me.

11.  For extra details on a specific date, hover over the Task or Calendar Item.

These are just a few of the key features of the Outlook 2007 To-Do Toolbar, which I use every day. I bet if you explore a little, you can find a few more great tips. Please feel free to share your favorite tip below! Comment Name * Email *

Δ  Save my name and email and send me emails as new comments are made to this post.

Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 16Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 42Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 30Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 25Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 31Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 62Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 70Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 3Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 46Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 81Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 64Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 83Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 29Effectively Using the Outlook 2007 To Do Bar - 23