{"id":185,"date":"2010-04-22T12:28:59","date_gmt":"2010-04-22T20:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/masteryourworkday.com\/?p=185"},"modified":"2014-02-05T21:29:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T05:29:08","slug":"outlook-tip-relief-at-last-removing-flagged-mail-from-outlooks-to-do-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/outlook-tip-relief-at-last-removing-flagged-mail-from-outlooks-to-do-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlook Tip: Removing Flagged Mail from Outlook\u2019s To-Do Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated Aug 2, 2012<\/p>\n

[updated, Feb 3, 2014, newer version of this article here<\/a>; article below is out of date]<\/p>\n

\"book\"<\/p>\n

In Outlook 2007 and 2010 any mail you flag<\/em> in the Inbox will be listed in the To-Do Bar like other tasks. I call these \u201cflagged-mail tasks.\u201d Many Outlook users have a love-hate relationship with this feature, but I encourage using them for one and only one purpose: flagging mail you cannot reply to immediately (see page 159 in Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook 3rd Ed. for more information). The idea is to flag them for a day or so and then clear the flag; don’t retain them long.<\/p>\n

However, if you create and hold onto too many flagged items, you can end up with five, ten, even fifteen extra \u201ctasks\u201d in the To-Do Bar task list\u2014and those can quickly clutter that list. Or maybe you are just starting to use the To-Do Bar task list and have been flagging mail for years, and so have hundreds or thousands of these flagged items in your To-Do Bar, and you want to get them out.<\/p>\n

5-Steps to set a Filter removing Flagged Mail Tasks<\/strong>
\nYou can quickly create a filter to keep flagged mail out of the To-Do Bar. Here\u2019s how. The instructions below are for Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Right-click the task list header in the To-Do Bar (e.g. right-click the label \u201cTask Subject\u201d)<\/li>\n
  2. Select \u201cCustomize Current View\u201d (called \u201cView Settings\u201d in 2010) and click the \u201cFilter\u2026\u201d button, and then click the Advanced tab; you are going to add another filter rule to whatever is already there, as follows.<\/li>\n
  3. In the box just below the Fields drop-down button type the phrase \u201cIn Folder\u201d as shown below.<\/li>\n
  4. From the Condition drop-down select \u201cDoesn\u2019t Contain.\u201d And in the Value box type the word \u201cInbox\u201d; your entries should match the figure below.<\/li>\n
  5. Then click the \u201cAdd to List\u201d button, and then click OK buttons all the way out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s it! Flagged mail in your Inbox will no longer be listed in the To-Do Bar.<\/p>\n

    [Note flagged mail stored in other folders still will be shown, so you may want to add another filter for, say, the Processed Mail folder; but if you have more than one folder rule used you need to use the SQL tab and replace the OR with an AND between those rules, so it’s a bit more complicated.]<\/p>\n

    Make this Outlook change today. You will enjoy a much less cluttered To-Do Bar task list and you will focus much better on the tasks you really need to track each day.<\/p>\n

    Implement the Full System<\/strong>
    \nAnd finally, if you have not set up the full Total Workday Control Outlook task system in your copy of Outlook yet, be sure to do that today by following Lesson 3 in the book or by taking the webinar described above; it provides the real power you need to get ahead of e-mail and tasks.<\/p>\n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Updated Aug 2, 2012 [updated, Feb 3, 2014, newer version of this article here; article below is out of date] In Outlook 2007 and 2010 any mail you flag in the Inbox will be listed in the To-Do Bar like … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2640,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/2640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}