Michael Linenberger's Blog

October 7, 2015 [Updated Oct 11, 2015]

A few MYN and 1MTD users have started to update to Outlook 2016 so I thought I’d better chime in on our support for this new version of Outlook.

Windows Outlook 2016

I’ve been using Windows Outlook 2016 for about a 6 weeks now and like it, but it’s not a major upgrade. Outlook 2016 for Windows does have a few new interesting features. My favorites are the potential of its Groups feature, and the new ability to attach documents as links into OneDrive. One new feature I don’t like is the Clutter folder. It promises to filter out e-mail clutter automatically, but I don’t trust auto-filtering and prefer to set up my own Outlook rules to filter mail.

There are a lot more beneath-the-surface changes, but really Outlook 2016 is mostly just like Outlook 2013, and when using the Windows Outlook 2016 desktop application for MYN or 1MTD, just use all of our Outlook 2013 instructions for it. The Tasks module is essentially identical to Outlook 2013, so all Outlook 2013 MYN and 1MTD instructions apply—just follow our writings and videos on that.

Windows users, note that you need Exchange 2010 or newer for Outlook 2016, so check that before upgrading Outlook.

Mac Users, Caution on Upgrade!

The Mac version of Outlook 2016 has a few improvements compared to Outlook 2011 for Mac. However, in some installs it is broken in a few critical ways that mean it will not work for MYN or 1MTD. So if you are using Outlook 2011 and are considering upgrading to Outlook 2016 for Mac to use it with MYN or 1MTD task management, we recommend you upgrade with caution, leaving a way to roll back to the previous version (2011) should problems arise.

What’s wrong with the Mac Outlook 2016 version?

• On most installs the Scripts menu is missing so you cannot convert emails into tasks. More on this here and here. [update: some users apparently are able to see the Scripts menu, see discussion in comments below]
• And a reader named John posted the following: “Just upgraded to Office 2016 for Mac and the smart folders for tasks are not working properly. Specifically, when adding a new smart folder, setting the “Within Last” date field will not include tasks created and dated on the current date. This means you will only see tasks with a start date of yesterday and prior – those entered today will not show up until tomorrow. ” [Note: We have not been able to duplicate that issue, so keep an eye open in your copy in case this problem shows up–Michael].

Also, as with the Windows version, Outlook for Mac 2016 will not run with Exchange 2007 or earlier. Lot’s of organizations are still wed to Exchange 2007, so investigate what version your org has before upgrading Outlook.

Their are some hacks to reinstall the Scripts menu (see comment discussion below), but we are not a fan of hacks, and apparently it was removed for security reasons, so you might not want to add it back even if you can hack it back in. That said, some users apparently have no problem seeing the Scripts menu. And we are still not sure what’s going on with the smart folders and couldn’t duplicate the issue. So apparently some users will be okay with Outlook 2016 for Mac and some not okay. Let us know in comments below how it goes with your install and with the MYN settings.

Of course, if you are only using the Mail, People, and Calendar functions on the Mac Outlook application (and not Tasks), feel free to upgrade to Outlook Mac 2016, and then use Toodledo for MYN or 1MTD task management. You can always convert Outlook 2016 emails into Toodledo tasks. In fact, maybe these Outlook 2016 for Mac task issues will give you reasons to consider switching from Outlook tasks to Toodledo tasks.

Michael

Oct. 7, 2015

You may have seen the product announcements from Microsoft yesterday including the new Surface Pro 4, and a new hybrid laptop/tablet called the Surface Book. Since I track Windows productivity tablets, I thought I’d share my thoughts on them. I like the Surface Book a lot, but am not convinced the Surface Pro 4 is the right answer. Here are more details on my thoughts:

Surface Pro 4

I’ve never been a fan of the Surface Pro line for the average knowledge worker, and with this fourth iteration of the Pro, I’m still not there yet. Yes, its new specs are impressive, and the feature updates are quite good, especially the keyboard/trackpad. But as with all of the previous Surface Pro models, in my mind these computers are too heavy and too big to be a true tablet, and too small to do extended work as a laptop, so they don’t really fill a niche I am interested in. I could see some job roles where they make sense; for example if you work on your feet a lot (medical, industrial, and so on) and need the power of a full PC. Or perhaps are a graphic or sketch artist and need a large-format pen computer (it excels at that). But if you are looking for a PC that can serve as an iPad-like true tablet too, I think you will not be happy with how big and heavy it is. Continue reading →

Oct 4, 2015

A few weeks ago, the Toodledo folks released a number of new menu interface changes to the Toodledo web version called the ribbon. Here is a summary image provided by Toodledo folks that describe the first set of changes:

They’ve also changed some other menus as shown in this graphic they provide:

Even more changes have been made, and more may still be coming. The MYN team will be modifying our Full MYN-Toodledo video course to catch up with these changes, later, after things settle down a bit and all recent Toodledo interface changes are done. In the meantime, read more about this here and here:

http://www.toodledo.com/forums/1/21293/0/introducing-the-ribbon.html

http://www.toodledo.com/forums/1/21581/0/breadcrumb-bar-update-part-2.html

Michael

Oct. 4, 2015

I had an MYN user talk to me the other day and she was telling me how badly she felt that she was not completing all of her Critical Now tasks each day. She basically was beating herself up for not keeping what she felt were obligations she had made to herself. I realized that I never beat myself up that way so it made me think that perhaps many people might misunderstand the right purposes of the MYN and 1MTD to-do lists.

The MYN and 1MTD to-do list is a tool to get your overwhelmed workday under control. When you’ve got tens of new action requests coming in each day, you need a tool to prioritize them, and that’s what the MYN and 1MTD to-do list is all about. It gives you a way to sort them by urgency so that nothing critical drops through the cracks. And it gives you a way to revisit less critical items to see if their timing is now right. It can also be a tool to plan out your day so that you focus first on your most important items.

But, when you place something on an MYN or 1MTD list, it’s not supposed to be an obligation to do something at a particular time. Just because you write an item down doesn’t mean you have to do it. You write it down mainly to give yourself perspective of how it compares to other things. And to allow yourself to consider how, in some cases over time, its relative priority stacks up against other things.   Continue reading →

Sep. 25, 2015

You probably know that I recommend you use the iPhone and iPad app called TaskTask to access your Exchange Server -based MYN or 1MTD tasks when on the road. However, there are more and more cases where TaskTask cannot connect to your corporate Exchange Server. In some cases, it’s because corporations are, for security reasons, blocking access to their servers by third-party apps. In other cases, it’s because they’re using access protocols that are just not supported by TaskTask. So is there an alternative app?

The app Pocket Informant iOS is a possible alternative. It often works were TaskTask will not because it does not connect directly to the Exchange Server, but rather syncs your tasks through the native iOS Reminders app (which usually has no problem connecting to Exchange). There are a few problems, however. Continue reading →

Sept. 22, 2015

Office 2016 is available starting today, in a graduated roll out. Here is an excerpt from a Zdnet article about that:

The Office 2016 apps are available in 40 languages starting today. Office 365 subscribers can choose to download manually the new Office 2016 apps as part of their subscription starting today. Automatic updates of the Office 2016 apps will begin rolling out to consumer and small business subscribers in October 2015, and to commercial customers early next year. Office 2016 is also available today as a one-time purchase for both PCs and Macs.

For more details, read the full article here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-new-and-still-to-come-in-microsofts-office-2016-for-windows/

What about the Outlook portion of the Office suite?  Well, I’ve been using Outlook 2016 on and off for about a month now, and I like it. It’s not dramatically different from Outlook 2013, most of the improvements are behind the scenes, and in collaboration tools.

Learn more about the full Office 2016 suite from Microsoft here:

https://blogs.office.com/2015/09/22/thenewoffice/

Michael

Sept 10, 2015

The lightweight 10 to 11 inch Windows tablets now available are pretty good productivity tools, primarily because you can use a full copy of desktop Outlook on them but still use them like an iPad as your media consumption device. However the early lightweight Atom-based tablet versions (such as the Asus Transformer T100, the Lenovo ThinkPad 10, and so on) were relatively underpowered when pointed toward real work. And if you upgraded to a heavy, full-powered hybrid to make up for that (Surface Pro, Lenovo Yoga, and so on), you probably found it felt more like a laptop, and so you really didn’t get the full tablet experience. For example, you can’t hold a nearly 2-pound Surface Pro in one hand to read a book like you can with a less-than-one-pound iPad. And the wide-screen aspect ratio of these PC hybrids meant portrait use was rather silly.

New Cherry Trail Atom Tablets

However, the brand-new Cherry Trail Atom-based lightweight Windows 10 tablets have pretty much solved all that. The Cherry Trail processors are as fast as the Intel Core i3 or i5 line was a few years ago, but they enable a light and thin tablet format because they need no fan and use relatively little power.    Continue reading →

Sep 7, 2015

I previously showed you how to add tasks to your Exchange-based Outlook using voice commands and iPhone Siri. Well, you can also add tasks to Toodledo using voice. Here are two articles that show you how, one for iPhone Siri, and one for Android Google Now:

• iPhone Siri add tasks to Toodledo
• Android Google Now add tasks to Toodledo

Yet another reason to consider using Toodledo for tasks if Outlook tasks are not working for you.

Michael

Sept. 5, 2015

With the widespread adoption of Office 365, and with the recent releases of all the mobile versions of Outlook, it’s getting hard to tell who the “real” Outlook really is! There are so many different applications out there from Microsoft that are called Outlook that the name is getting very muddled.

In fact, I was helping a client over the phone the other day who said his Outlook To-Do Bar wasn’t working right, he said that he couldn’t get the MYN view installed in it. It took me a few moments and I finally realized he was using the web version of Outlook (through Office 365 online). Of course he was having troubles, because the web version doesn’t have a To-Do Bar. The main point here is he didn’t even know he was in the web version, he thought he was using real Outlook! It’s really not his fault, Microsoft has so extensively cashed in on the Outlook name recently, using it everywhere, that they’ve created their own mess.     Continue reading →

Aug 31, 2015

We’ve moved! Our new office is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Here’s the new contact information:

Phone (for arranging paid training only): 505-395-4541
For book support or MYN or 1MTD questions, send an email to:
support@michaellinenberger.com

Company Address:
Michael Linenberger
150 Washington Ave.
Suite 201
Santa Fe, NM 87501