The To-Do bar in Outlook

Tags Outlook

Question

What are the features of the To-Do bar in Outlook?

Answer

The To-Do Bar displays flagged messages, tasks from your Tasks folder, and upcoming meetings, appointments, and events from your calendar. To enter the To-Do Bar click the Task menu in the bottom left of your screen. In the To-Do Bar, you can see these things at a glance, without having to switch to other windows in Outlook:
                 

  1. Because the subject of a message doesn't  always describe the task that you need to do, you'll be glad to know that you can change the subject of a flagged message in the To-Do Bar. When you do this, the subject of the message in the Inbox is unchanged.      
  2. If you like to delete messages after you've finished with them, you'll probably prefer to use Tasks to keep track of things you need to do. (When you drag a message to the Tasks button, you create a new item, so deleting the message doesn’t affect the task).
  3. If you like to keep your messages (either in your Inbox or in folders — which we'll talk about in a later lesson), you'll probably prefer to use follow-up flags because flagging is quick and easy. However, don’t delete items from the To-Do bar.
    1. You may be tempted to delete items from the To-Do Bar when you've completed them. DON’T DELETE, MARK TASK COMPLETE!  When you complete a task, mark it as complete using the Mark Complete command. (A quick way to do this is to simply click the flag next to the item, or right click and mark as complete.) Completed items will drop off of your list onto a completed tasks list, however if you delete them they are gone for good.
    2. By marking an item as complete is that you'll see it listed on your completed tasks list on the day of which you completed it. To see this list click Tasks, in the lower navigation bar. And the completed task will be crossed out under tasks not to do list (to-do list is a list of things you have not finished yet) so that you'll know you've completed it.

For more information about Outlook 2016, please view this article from the CTL: Outlook

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