Sep. 24, 2017
Reader David Morrison sent me the following Windows Outlook tips, which I have copied word for word below. And one of them I will write about separately later. Thanks David!
From David:
- What I have found to be helpful is to setup a second calendar called TASKS (Outlook allows you to turn on and off alternate calendars – and display side by side or overlay) I use this to potential times to do tasks. This is opposed to the main calendar that has appointments (and I have yet another for just reminders that are not tasks or hard appointments)
- I am able to change the appointments from one calendar to another by simply dragging it to the calendar name in the folder pane – it removes it from one then places it in another (holding ctl will copy it instead of moving it)
- I am able to drag these appointments to the task bar, creating an appointment ( it seems to by default create it in the priority:normal section – if you know how to have them be priority high please let me know.
- I can also drag tasks from the task bar to the calendar to put them in a proposed time to accomplish the task.
- I can drag these appointment ( proposed task times) around the schedule to move to another time
- I can select multiple calendar items and by holding shift key keep them all selected and shift them together (holding ctl will copy them).
Separately, David wrote this:
You can press control and use the mouse scroll wheel [in the Calendar view] to quickly change from day to week to month view. What I do is keep two calendar windows open – one is set to next seven days or alternatively, a set of days that might be from two days ago for ten day (set by setting the view to Day, then by clicking the first day (in the folder bar calendar) then shift clicking the last day), the second calendar is set for month view to see the big picture plan. Having two calendars with different time scales (and maybe different active calendars) is helpful. I can have a big picture without messing up the scale in the other window I have set up.
I also use this technique with mail – I keep one window open to the inbox, the second to the processed mail folder – I find myself often having to check on the content of mail that I have received – maybe to find an attachment, for example.
Lastly I always keep a contacts view open on my third monitor (the docked) at all times. All told I have five outlook windows open on three monitors.
One of the problems I see with maintaining a separate do lists and appointments is that one has to manage at least two interfaces. That itself is a time killer, distraction, and recipe for missing things. I keep everything in the Outlook calendar if it is something that will take more than 2 minutes of my time. For tasks there is usually a deadline, and they usually take time. They belong in the calendar, otherwise one risks running out of time to complete them. I use the tasks functionality to keep track of delegated work. This is a similar approach to the post. I’ve written more about this at my linked in account https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-am-green/
I agree with David on dragging tasks into the calendar. I have used this for a number of years and it works really well for the bigger tasks.
Oh and by the way, MYN is the best single thing I have ever learnt in business, everyone should use it.
Thank you Michael
These are creative ways to leverage Outlook features to manage your schedule and tasks effectively. Thanks for sharing. By the way, if you have difficulty calculating your working hours or salary, time calculator is the perfect suggestion to help you solve that problem.