Nine – Outlook for Android

Jan 5, 2017 [updated Jun 27, 2019]

Nine is an Android App that syncs with Exchange or Outlook.com and provides many MYN functions on your smartphone. Benefits:

  • It allows viewing and entering MYN tasks
  • It has an E-mail module with Category assignments
  • It allows conversion of e-mails to tasks
  • It has Calendar, Contacts, and Notes modules too, and everything syncs with the corresponding modules in Exchange or Outlook.com

Many MYN users have used it for years and love it. I used to recommend Touchdown for Android and MYN, but it’s been discontinued.

There is a full video in my paid MYN-Outlook Complete Video Training (the newer 365 version of that class) on how to use Nine with my advanced MYN system. It’s video number 22C.

Or if you are using my simple 1MTD system, see video 4.12 in the Outlook Inbox Ninja video course, it shows how to use Nine. Or see video 12 in the One Minute To-Do List in Outlook video course, it shows how to use Nine with 1MTD as well.

Below I show some notes on how to get started with Nine, in case you have not purchased any of the above video courses. Let’s look at those next.

Getting Started

  1. Search for Nine on the Google Play store. It’s called “Nine – Outlook for Android”
  2. Download and Install
  3. Enter your Exchange or Outlook.com username and password.
  4. You’ll be shown a Content to Sync window. By default all types are set to sync: Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. If you don’t want any of these to sync (say to speed up usage) then tap the ones that you don’t want and remove the green color. Tap Next.
  5. You are taken to the email module, and it may take a moment to sync.
  6. Email is set in conversation view by default. Tap 3-line-with-arrow menu in upper right to change that and to change many other settings.

Viewing Tasks 

  1. Tap the 3-line menu (hamburger menu) in upper left to navigate to main menu
  2. In main menu at very bottom, tap on the tasks icon.
  3. You’ll see three labels at the top of the list, All, Active, and Completed, that are actually menus. Nine defaults to Active tasks (that label has a faint green line under it showing it is chosen).  The Active choice is good for 1MTD and MYN: these are tasks not marked complete. Tap other labels next to it if you want to change that.

The other settings are not set correct for 1MTD or MYN, let’s fix those next.

Setting up Tasks for 1MTD

  1. Once at the tasks list….
  2. Tap 3-line-with-down-arrow menu in upper right.
  3. If you want to hide flagged-mail tasks, then tap the green check mark next to Show Email Flags to clear that. If it’s grayed out then it’s already off.
  4. Below that setting tap Group By, and then choose Priority
  5. Below that clear setting that says No Date On Top
  6. Below that, tap Sort By, and in the small window tap Sort by, and choose Subject. That way you can sort tasks within each group by typing a 1, 2, 3, etc in front of them–it sorts alphabetically. You’ll have to change Outlook To-Do Bar settings as I show below, to make it work the same. Tap OK
  7. Tap the Android Back button to get back to your tasks list.

You should see tasks grouped by Priority, and in alphabetical order within each group.

Modifying To-Do Bar in Outlook to Work with Nine and 1MTD

If you want to sort the same way in Outlook as you do in nine, then in Outlook tap Arrange By at the top of the To-Do Bar tasks list, choose View Settings, Tap Group By button and clear checkbox in upper left and then choose Priority, then OK; tap Sort button and select Subject, then Ascending, then OK (decline adding field); click OK; click OK. Now you can start typing 1, 2, 3, and so on to sort tasks within priority groups in a way that matches Nine.

By the way, again, you can see all this in videos. The video 4.12 in the Outlook Inbox Ninja video course,  shows all this for 1MTD. Or see video 12 in the One Minute To-Do List in Outlook video course, it shows all this as well for 1MTD.

Setting up Nine Tasks for MYN

Using my more advanced MYN system takes a bit more prep in Nine, but not that much more, and you can accomplish a lot more. Here are the set up steps:

  1. Once at the tasks list….
  2. Tap the funnel shaped button in upper right.
  3. Tap the start date entry, and then select third one down On or Before Today. Tap OK
  4. Tap left arrow next to Filter to get back to task list.
  5. Tap 3-line-with-down-arrow menu in upper right
  6. If you want to hide flagged mail tasks, then tap the green check mark next to Show Flagged to clear that.
  7. Leave No date on Top checked.
  8. Tap the Group By button and in window tap Priority.
  9. Tap Sort By button. Sort by Start Date, Order by Newest on Top. Tap OK
  10. Back at the tasks list, your list should now match your Outlook To-Do Bar Tasks MYN sorting fairly closely. Target Now tasks are colored light blue, by the way.

Using Nine to Add Tasks

  1. Tap large blue + sign in lower right to add tasks…
  2. You have to choose a start date (defaults to none). Ignore due date (it will set to same)
  3. Set priority, then tap Save in upper right.

Using the E-mail Module to Use Categories

  1. Tap the 3-line menu (hamburger menu) in upper left to navigate to main menu.
  2. In main menu at very bottom, tap on the envelope icon.
  3. Open an email. To choose a category, tap the button to right of subject line. Category choice list is shown. Like all mobile Exchange mail apps, only categories currently in Inbox will be shown in list, and colors won’t match. To fix, first, in Outlook, assign all categories to some e-mail in your Inbox. Then open any email in Nine, tap the button to right of subject line,  and use the Edit menu at bottom of category window in Nine to assign proper colors (tap color dots to change color).

Converting Emails to Tasks

  1. Open any e-mail. If you open a conversation, then open an e-mail inside it to select it (conversion to tasks only works on single emails, not on entire conversations).
  2. In the open single email, tap the 3-dot menu in upper right.
  3. Tap Create a Task. In new task edit the subject line and set start date, then priority, then tap save in upper right. No attachments are picked up by the way.

Again, all of the material for Nine and MYN is shown in my paid MYN-Outlook Complete Video Training (the newer 365 version of that class). It’s video number 22C.

There are a lot more features in Nine, feel free to play around with it and its other modules.

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10 Responses to Nine – Outlook for Android

  1. Dragan Marian says:

    Many Thanks for the post. I’ve been using their native Outlook for Android App but lacked many features among which the most important of course is the possibility of setting up the MYN Tasks system the way you advise in your Total Workday Control Book.
    Marian

  2. jakob abrahamsen says:

    Hi Michael, whats your recommendation for best mail-handling app for iphone currently. I read in your book about the emailganizer and here online about touchdown, but both seems to be exactly what we are looking for?
    I have exchange server capability so currently use tasktask for tasks, and iphone natives mail application but need a good way to manage email folders (native app is horrible) and a better way to convert email to tasks. What do you recommend?

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      Jakob, take a look at iO app Preside. Really good folder management. Good conversion of emails to Exchange tasks. From the maker of emailganizer, his next level up. I’ve been meaning to write it up on the blog, but it was going through a lot of changes (improvements) when I last communicated with developer, so I wanted to wait for it to settle down. Tell me how you like it. Michael

      • jakob abrahamsen says:

        Hi Michael – thanks advise. Have downloaded and right off the bat it appears very powerful and looks like it has a lot of potential. Trying to find out if I can create tasks in Onenote (my GTD organizer) directly from Preside or whether I use Tasktask.

        Currently I am in the free version. Hope the free allowance to cover my needs as the Premium version is beyond my budget. Will let you know once I start using it more heavily.

        Jakob

  3. Clayton Drever says:

    Michael,

    I’ve just downloaded Nine. Seems like a good app except for one issue.

    When I enter tasks, or convert emails to tasks in Nine, they will appear in my outlook tasks, but do not appear in my outlook MYN to-do bar.

    Any suggestions? Do I have something so incorrectly?

    Thanks!

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      Clayton, we don’t have an android phone handy these days to test this, but I don’t recall that issue when we did.
      All I can think of is this:
      –you are creating a true task, right? Not simply flagging an email? Sounds like you are, but just checking.
      –curious, do those tasks have start dates entered? Not having them should still work, but will put them low in the priority section in the to-do bar. But maybe it’s related.
      –is it possible you have a different or weird filter entered in your to-do bar? Why don’t you right click top of to-do bar tasks, choose view settings, click on Filter button, and in that window choose advanced tab and screen shot that window, and email it to our support email, we can take a look.
      –something to play with. If you are using the MYN Views add in software (from ClearContext), use its menu to display flagged mail and see if your missing Nine tasks show up.
      –if not using that add in, something to play with: in the same filter window advanced ta mentioned above, see if you have a Message Class condition and try removing it (screen shot it first so you can add it back in later). Removing it will cause flagged mail to be displayed, but if it also displays your missing tasks (and you are sure they are true tasks) it means Nine is not setting the Message Class property on tasks, and we could contact them and suggest they do. And we can perhaps fix the problem by using a different condition in the To-Do Bar (there are other ways to filter out flagged mail tasks).
      That’s all I can think of for now. Michael

      • Michael Linenberger says:

        Clayton, good to hear it’s working again after removing your special filter from Outlook. (in communication via personal email). I figured it might be something weird like that added to Outlook. Yes, Nine is a good solution. Michael

      • Eric Young says:

        Side note: you might want to install NOX which is a virtualbox-based emulator that provides a full Android environment for software testing.

        It’s free to download and use: https://www.bignox.com/

  4. Joel Ungar says:

    I used Nine for a while and was generally pleased with it. However, it was messing up my Google Contacts. As you’d expect, I’ve got more than one person from the same company in contacts. On my phone (Samsung S10), it started combining things in weird ways. Say John and Paul both work for Apple Ltd. John’s contact record would show both his mobile and Paul’s mobile number. If Paul texted me, it would show up as if John was texting me. This went so far as to make lunch plans with what I thought was John and then Paul showed up. Once I removed Nine, it cleared up; I had a little clean up to do after.

  5. Ken Anctil says:

    If I’m not using Outlook sync (since this is personal email and I don’t use an exchange server), do you recommend Toodledo instead or still go with Nine?

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