TaskTask iOS Tasks App for 1MTD & MYN, Complete Guide

Mar 2, 2017

TaskTask is a great tasks app for iOS (iPhone or iPad) that syncs with Exchange Server. Since most companies use Exchange Server, this is the app most corporate users should choose to sync their tasks with desktop Outlook, so you can use those tasks on your smartphone. TaskTask also syncs with Office 365 mail servers and newer Outlook.com accounts.

I have been recommending TaskTask for years and have various articles and videos about TaskTask spread about in my blogs and lessons. To consolidate and update that information, below are the complete steps for getting started with TaskTask and configuring it for either the 1MTD or MYN systems. TaskTask now provides a one-click setup button for 1MTD and MYN, making setup easy. But there is still a bit to study to understand the TaskTask setting options, and there are other settings you might want to make, so read on.

The article below is for version 5.2.3 of the app. I’ll try to keep this page updated if these steps change with new app versions. Users of my paid MYN-Outlook Complete Video course will continue having the TaskTask video lesson updated, and that video covers everything shown here for MYN users.

1MTD users, video 11 in the 1MTD Outlook video class covers all the material below and more.

Also, these steps assume that you already have either an Exchange Server account, an Office 365 Mail account, or an Outlook.com account, and that you are currently using one of those along with desktop Outlook.

For both 1MTD and MYN: Getting Started and Syncing Your App

  1. Download TaskTask from the Apple App Store. Once downloaded, open it.
  2. When TaskTask starts, it will ask you to indicate if you are using Exchange or Office 365. The Office 365 mail server is essentially the same as Exchange, but choosing Office 365, if you have it, speeds up the configuration. However, if choosing Office 365 fails to connect, go back and choose Exchange. Outlook.com users should choose Exchange.
  3. Enter your email and password for your account. If all goes well, you’ll go to the Folders screen which means you are linked.
  4. However, it fails to connect, it will ask for more details on your Exchange server, like your detailed server address. But before hunting that down, go back and try again on the simple username/password approach, sometimes the link works better on the second or third try. Once linked, TaskTask will remember your credentials and you won’t have to do this linking again.
  5. After linking to your account, you’ll then be taken to the Folders screen. Notice that the sync icon is spinning in the lower left, showing that your tasks are syncing in.

Using TaskTask

We haven’t added the 1MTD or MYN settings yet, but let’s play with TaskTask a bit first to get a feel for it. Here are some steps you might want to try to give you an overview.

  1. From the Folders screen, open either the All Tasks or Tasks view. If your tasks have finished syncing in you’ll see all your tasks here, including flagged mail tasks. But again, note that these are not yet in 1MTD or MYN sorting.
  2. You can edit a task by tapping on it, then making edits, and then tapping Save in the upper right.
  3. To create a new task do this: tap the plus sign at the bottom of the task list screen and a blank new task window opens. Type the task subject at the top and choose an Importance level near the bottom. Generally, you can ignore all the other values in that window. Tap Save in the upper right.
  4. If you want to add several tasks all at once, tap the lightning-bolt-with-plus-sign icon at bottom. Then type several task names with a return in between, and then tap Create in the upper right. That adds all tasks all at once, and default settings are applied to them (e.g. importance is Normal on all of them; start date today with MYN settings).
  5. To mark a task complete, open it and tap complete at the bottom. There is also a trash can at the bottom to delete tasks. Or from the list view drag a task to the left to delete it.

Understanding the concept of Folders in TaskTask (1MTD and MYN):

The TaskTask Folders screen can at first be a bit confusing. Here is how it works.

  1. To get to the Folders screen from your tasks list, click Folders in the upper left corner.
  2. At the Folders screen, tap on All Tasks. Again, this list is not yet in 1MTD or MYN order—we’ll fix that in the next section. With default settings, it shows both true tasks and flagged-mail tasks. If you have linked multiple accounts into TaskTask, the All Tasks view combines them all into one task list, which can be useful. If you only have one account, obviously it only shows tasks from that account.
  3. Click on Folders in upper left to go back to the Folders screen and next chose Flagged Mail, which is a little further down the screen. This list view shows you only flagged mail tasks.
  4. Click on Folders in upper left to go back to the Folders screen and notice there is a Tasks item in the folders list as well. If you only have one account synced in, going to this list shows the same items as All Tasks, again with flagged mail tasks shown.
  5. If you enter multiple accounts in TaskTask, a separate section forms for each account in the Folders Screen. The Tasks item in each account section shows just the tasks in that account (again, initially with flagged-mail tasks), and the All Tasks view at top combines tasks from all your accounts into one list, which is helpful.
  6. I’ll discuss how to filter out flagged mail, if you want, below.

That’s an overview of how the Folders Screen works. Next, you are going to set up TaskTask for either 1MTD or MYN. The latest versions of TaskTask come with presets for MYN and for 1MTD making their setup simple. So, the next step is to choose one of those presets. (Note, you do this separately for each tasks folder/view.)

Configuration Steps for 1MTD and MYN

  1. Open a folder you want to apply the 1MTD or MYN settings to, say the All Tasks folder. You must repeat these settings on each folder you want to use; if you have one account that’s likely All Tasks and Tasks. However, you might want to apply different settings to one of the other folders, which can be useful; just keep that in mind.
  2. Once in the list view for a folder, tap the box-with-arrow icon in the lower right;
  3. Tap Change View in the pop up menu. In the View Options screen that opens, at the top under View Name, it probably initially says Default View. But whatever it says tap it. Then choose either Master Your Now (MYN) or One Minute To-Do List.
  4. To save that setting then click View Options in upper left; then click Done in upper left. You’ll be taken back to the list view for that folder, and the settings should be applied.
  5. For both, looking at your tasks list you’ll see that your tasks are grouped by Importance, which is the same as Priority in Outlook. In MYN, future-dated tasks will be hidden (not so in 1MTD). And default new tasks now come in with a priority of medium, and in MYN they come in with a start date of today. In MYN, to reprioritize within groups, set the start date to various settings.
  6.  For both 1MTD and MYN, if you also want to apply these same settings to the Tasks folder, go back to the Folders screen, select Tasks, and repeat these steps.

1MTD and MYN: Hiding Flagged Mail Tasks.

You will quickly see that, by default, TaskTask includes flagged mail in all views. If you like seeing them, then just leave that setting as is. But if you decide you want to remove flagged-mail tasks from your task lists (and these days I think you should), here is how to hide them:

  1. Go to the Folders screen.
  2. Click the gear icon in the lower right corner;
  3. Tap Options; click Accounts; choose your current account that is synced in (it will be at the top);
  4. Tap Advanced; turn off Flagged Mail Items choice.
  5. To save that setting then click Account in upper left; choose Done in upper right; choose Options in upper left; click Done in upper left, and you’ll be back at the Folders window.
  6. You’ll see that the Flagged Mail item is gone from the Folders list.
  7. If you open either the All Tasks view or the Tasks view for the account you chose in step 3 of this section, you’ll see flagged-mail items are no longer there, either.
  8. If you have multiple accounts synced into TaskTask, repeat these steps for each account.
  9. If you are not hiding flagged-mail tasks in your desktop copy of Outlook, and want to them there too (so your lists match), scroll down to the next section.

1MTD and MYN: Hiding Flagged-Mail Tasks in Desktop Outlook

If you decided above to hide flagged mail tasks in TaskTask, you might want to hide them in Outlook. If you are using the Mac, simply toggle the Flagged Items setting at the top of any view. If you are using Windows Outlook, here is how to change that in the To-Do Bar:

  1. Click the Arrange by label above your To-Do Bar tasks list.
  2. Choose View Settings
  3. Click the Filter button and then click the Advanced tab.
  4. Next, find the Field dropdown button in the middle left, click it, choose All Mail fields, and from its submenu choose Message Class.
  5. In the next drop down choose Contains.
  6. In the value box type the word “task” (no quotes).
  7. Click Add to List button. Then click OK.
  8. Then click OK at the bottom of the View Settings window.

1MTD: Sorting within Priority Groups & Syncing that Sorting with Outlook

If in your copy of Windows desktop Outlook, you are using the standard 1MTD To-Do Bar task list settings that I teach for 1MTD Outlook, recall you can drag tasks into position within priority groups in Outlook. That way you can indicate which tasks are most important in each group. When tasks sync into TaskTask with 1MTD settings, TaskTask attempts to duplicate that dragged order. Check that now; examine your Outlook task order within priority groups, and examine it in TaskTask, and if the orders match, great! If not, read the next section below about changing to an alphabetical Subject sort.

If drag sort is matching in TaskTask, note that you can also drag-sort tasks within priority groups right in TaskTask. Here’s how:

  1. In a task list view in TaskTask, tap the Edit button in the top right.
  2. You’ll see three-line symbols appear to the right of each task.
  3. Tap and hold your finger on one of those, and drag the task into a new position.
  4. When finished, tap Done in the upper right.

Those new sorting positions should sync back to Outlook. You might have to tap the sync button in the lower left of the screen to force a sync to see that. However, if it does not sync back to Outlook, then read the next section about changing to an alphabetical Subject sort.

May 7, 2019 Update: I might have a better fix for that than what I show below. Read this article first, before taking the alphabetical-sort steps below

1MTD: Changing to Alphabetical Subject Sort within Priority Groups

I have found that TaskTask with 1MTD settings is not always able to match the dragged positions in Outlook or visa versa. I am not sure why, but it might be related to using multiple desktop copies of Outlook on the same account, and Exchange getting confused on which sorting to match. So if drag sorting is not syncing for you, and you want the sorting within priority groups to match both in Outlook and TaskTask, you’ll need to switch to another sorting method. As a replacement, I recommend using an alphabetical sorting on Subject within each priority group; that way you can add numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on) in front of the task names to sort them within the priority groups. You’ll need to do that both in TaskTask and in your desktop copy of Outlook in its To-Do Bar task list. Here’s how to do that in TaskTask:

  1. Open a folder you want to apply the 1MTD or MYN settings to, say the All Tasks folder and display the task list. (By the way, you will need to repeat these settings on each folder you want to be using).
  2. Once in the list view for that folder, tap the box-with-arrow icon in the lower right.
  3. Tap Change View in the pop up menu. In the View Options screen, find the section that is titled Grouping and Sorting.
  4. Set the Group By to Importance.
  5. Set the Sort By to Subject. Leave Invert Sort off.
  6. To save those settings, click View Options in upper left; then click Done in upper left. You’ll be taken back to the list view for that folder, and the settings should be applied. Add some numbers to task subjects to sort them.
  7. If you also want to apply these same settings to other folders in TaskTask, like the Tasks folder, go back to the Folders screen, select Tasks, and repeat these steps.

Here’s how to make that same change in the Windows Outlook To-Do Bar, to sort alphabetically on Subject within priority groups:

  1. Click the Arrange by label above your To-Do Bar tasks list.
  2. Choose View Settings
  3. Click the Group By button and clear the checkbox in the upper left. Then group by Priority. Leave at Descending. Click OK and go back to the window with the tall stack of buttons.
  4. Next, click on Sort and in the top Sort Items By section, sort on Subject, Ascending. When you click OK it will ask you if you want to add the Subject field. Respond No.
  5. Then click OK at the bottom of the window with the tall stack of buttons.

Your Outlook To-Do Bar should now be grouped on Priority and sorted within those groups alphabetically by subject. And that sorting should now match that in TaskTask.

Wrap Up

That’s it! Let me know in comments (click the Reply button) how this works for you, or if you have any questions.

Michael

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14 Responses to TaskTask iOS Tasks App for 1MTD & MYN, Complete Guide

  1. Sachin says:

    Have you yet evaluated Microsoft’s new app “To-Do”? I use your system with Outlook, and the mobile part of that had been a big hole? Many of us will appreciate if you can evaluate it and guide us how to integrate this with Outlook system. The power of customizing views which you taught has been a real attraction for Outlook Tasks. Hopefully this new app will help us get there. MS folks should be listening to you in this matter. Thanks.

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      From first glance, it does not look like it will work with MYN. But we invite motivated users to try it out and let us know. But question, why do you say there is a big hole in the mobile part of Outlook and MYN? If you have iOS or Android, (and are on Exchange or Outlookcom) there are great apps that work with MYN–all covered in this blog. (Unless you use Windows phone, no good app there). Best, Michael

  2. Markus says:

    Well, its not really true that there there is no good app for Windows Phone (= Windows 10 mobile).
    Have a look at 2Day (https://www.2day-app.com), it syncs with exchange tasks, supports the MYN Settings and is pretty good in my opinion!

  3. Michael Linenberger says:

    That’s good to hear, I forgot about them. I even wrote about them three years ago:
    http://www.michaellinenberger.com/blog/windows-phone-app-2day-updated-for-start-date-syncing/
    Glad they are still at it!
    Michael

  4. Claud says:

    Have you used Todoist?

  5. Barbara says:

    Michael, your system is great and I have used it for years, but Task Task doesn’t cope with the new 2016 exchange server my company has installed and it means the system is breaking down! What options do you suggest?!

    I’ve tried contacting the developer at Task Task, but no response

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      Thanks Barbara, I reached out to the TaskTask folks today and heard back that it’s a known issue that just popped up due to some recent changes in Exchange 2016. They said they were on it and would get back to those who queried them shortly. Hope that helps. Michael

      • Barbara says:

        Hi Michael,
        Still haven’t heard anything from TaskTask or seen any bug fixes/updates. Do you know if there is still going to be a fix? I have Exchange server at work, and iphone/ipads etc for on the move. It is making life extremely difficult as I cannot move secure email content onto Toodeledo (medical field) which means I can only check tasks at my desk… Barbara

  6. James Nelson says:

    Michael,
    Do you have any suggestions on the best practices when using an administrative assistant as a “delegate” in Outlook.

    • Michael Linenberger says:

      I am afraid I do not–I have no reason to do that here and so have not “trained” myself on it. Michael

  7. Marc says:

    I can’t see assigned tasks in the app until i read them in Outlook at my PC. After reading the task appears immediately in the app. Can I fix this somehow?

  8. Andrey K. says:

    Hello!

    Will the tasks be normally synced with Tasktask if I use Exchange Server 2013 with ActiveSync?

    Thanks!

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