MAY 2019
6
Use Outlook to create Tasks from emails
By Arnold Villeneuve
Back in the 1990s PIMs were all the rage. They helped you
keep track of contacts, tasks and related information.
A PIM (i.e., personal information manager) is a software
application that serves as a planner, notebook and address
book all in one. PIMs are especially popular for PDAs (per-
sonal digital assistants), since this is why most people have
them.
And guess what? Today your PDA is your cell phone!
But it is also important to remember that everything is
connected, so the email and tasks lists in your cell phone
are (or should also be) connected to your desktop applica-
tion at work or your laptop or tablet.
While we all have several devices, they should all be
showing you the same information. And one of the main
things that drives our day is our to-do list – or "tasks."
Are you task oriented?
In this article we are going to focus on ensuring that your
Microsoft Outlook email application is being used to your
"task oriented" advantage. In the next article we will focus
on making sure your Tasks are reflected across multiple de-
vices so that you can work from anywhere. And please note
that although we are talking about Microsoft Outlook in
this article pretty much every "email application," whether
desktop or webmail based, can do the same great task-driv-
en activities for you.
"By flagging email messages, you can track responses to
messages that you send. You can also make sure that you
follow up on messages that you receive. In either case, you
can include a reminder alert." — Microsoft
Microsoft Outlook supports a number of Follow-Up
Flags based on your requirements:
• Flag to remind recipients to follow up
• Flag to remind you to follow up
• Flag to remind you and recipients to follow up
• Find responses to your flagged messages
• Stop tracking an email conversation
• Flag a message that you receive
• Flag an email to remind you to follow up
Flagging an item for follow-up is great but it is not always
the most effective way of gathering all of the information
you require in one place. It does not leave room for notes
or additional information.
Instead of flagging an email for follow-up the better
option is to create a Task from an email!
Creating a Task from an email is an easy way to add
notes and additional information to the email while con-
tinuing to keep the email alive until all related tasks are
completed. And you can always use a follow-up flag on a
Task just to really keep on top of your game.
To create a Task from an email simply click on the
email and drag it to the Task icon in the bottom left
of the Microsoft Outlook application as demonstrated
here.
The old way: Remember to follow up
The better way: Create Tasks from emails for quick note-taking
Continued on page 7
