Every job requires a variety of tasks during a given day. Maybe yours includes meeting new clients or writing letters or downloading information into various software applications. Regardless, staying on top of all the tasks you need to perform is crucial. By organizing them effectively, you can plan ahead for tomorrow, and improve your productivity at the same time.
The Tasks program is a feature of Microsoft Office Outlook that helps you create lists of task-related items. But dig a little deeper, and you will find it also does more for you than act as a simple list program. Using these four Microsoft Office Tasks feature tips will help you stay one step ahead of the competition.
1. Customize your view
In Tasks, you can find your tasks and view their status at a glance. Choosing the appropriate view saves time because you can determine which item is most critical on your list without scrolling through all other tasks still marked as incomplete. For example, do you prefer to manage your time by tackling the task that needs to be completed first or by the client name? A variety of options in Tasks help you sort tasks according to your requirements.
There are three key sections in Tasks to note:
•Navigation Pane—Tasks Current View is represented in the left pane. This illustration shows the Simple List view is currently displayed under the To Do bar.
•Subject—This column lists the current tasks you have established. In the Simple List view, you see a subject and a due date.
•Status—This column indicates whether the task has been completed, both with a check mark in the box and a line through the task.
First, decide which Current View works best for you. For example, if you prefer to see items in a visual format, try the Task Timeline. If not, you might prefer the By Category view, which shows your tasks by the categories you have established in a text-only view. This view is particularly helpful if you have specific groups or individuals to complete tasks for. Try out different options until you find one that suits you best.
You can customize your view to sort your tasks by subject, status, due date, percent complete, or category. There are literally dozens of ways you can customize your task lists to suit your needs. You can even change the font and column sizes.
Experiment with different options. If you don’t like the way your tasks appear, you can always change the view to the original or choose a new one. The trick is to decide which view will streamline your tasks so that you aren't digging for information. Your views may not look anything like a co-worker's, and that's okay. This is your chance to personalize Outlook to meet your goals. To find out more about customizing views, go to Create, Change, or Customize a View.
When setting your view, you will also want to consider the reading pane. To find out how to use the reading pane, go to Turn the Reading Pane On or Off. When you turn on the reading pane, you can immediately see any notes that are associated with the selected task. This view can be a great time-saver because it quickly offers you all the information you need to complete a task."
2. Detail your time, billing, or mileage
It's not easy to remember the date you drove to an appointment with a client or how much time you spent completing a task in the office. Most people try to remember to bill the time or mileage later. Often, that means deciphering multiple sticky notes or scraps of paper.
However, you can eliminate that mess by storing all that information in one task. Then, when you need to bill the client, you can easily retrieve the details from your task.
Add details to a task - Do one of the following:
Open a new task. On the File menu, point to New, and then click New Task.
Open an existing task. In Task, double click the task you want to open.
Do one of the following:
In Outlook 2003, in the task, click the Details tab.
In Outlook 2007, in the task, on the Task tab, in the Show group, click Details.
Type the desired details:
Total Work — Enter the total number of hours you have spent for a given client. When you invoice the client, it will be easy to do a search by client and tasks and tally the number of hours.
Actual Work — Type the actual number of hours spent on the task.
Companies — Type the company involved. Sometimes a task will not specifically name the client, so this information is key to helping you track which tasks were performed for each client.
Mileage — Type the relevant date, mileage, and purpose of the trip.
Billing Information — Type the billing information related to the specific task. Perhaps you charged this task at the full rate, but if not, this is a good place to remind yourself of the rate charge. You can add a note to yourself about why the full rate was not charged, for example.
Do one of the following:
In Outlook 2003, click Save and Close.
In Outlook 2007, In the Actions group, click Save & Close.
At the end of each billing period, you can then easily sort through the information by clients and add up the details quickly.
3. Set up tasks from Excel
If you use Microsoft Office Excel, you will likely see a few tasks in the spreadsheets you create. For example, let's say that you created a workbook that outlines all possible aspects of a proposed project. One of the spreadsheets may detail milestones for the project—some or all of which may be yours. Rather than take the time to enter all the necessary information into Outlook that might be needed to complete the task, you can export the Workbook instead, and easily create a new task directly in Outlook from Excel.
You will need to be in the Excel workbook instead of in Outlook to set up this task, but the application integration in Microsoft Office makes this an easy task to set up.
4. Send status reports for assigned tasks from Outlook
If you ever have a client or task that is of utmost importance to your boss, this tip will become a favorite. In Outlook, you can send a periodic status report. It's a great way to communicate that you’re managing things efficiently and remind your boss how well-organized you are.
The report is automatically generated from Outlook to an e-mail message that you send.
Author Bio: S.E. Slack
S. E. Slack specializes in simplifying complex topics so the masses can both understand and apply difficult concepts. She is a co-author of Breakthrough Windows Vista: Find Your Favorite Features and Discover the Possibilities and CNET Do-It-Yourself Digital Home Office Projects. She has written five other books.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/book.aspx?ID=10366&locale=en-us
