Matching the Windows Outlook To-Do Bar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal, of course, when using any smartphone tasks app like TaskTask with Exchange is that you can see and edit your tasks both in Outlook and on your iPhone, and presumably to have the two lists sync and match exactly<\/em>. Most of my clients use Windows Outlook, and for them I recommend using the To-Do Bar to view and edit their tasks in Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But sometimes that\u2019s hard to do, to get an exact match in both places. This article is to help fix that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the\nstart of this article I am going to focus on why, if you are using my 1MTD\nsystem and trying to get drag-to task sorting to match, they might not match\nand how to fix it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And in the\nrest of the article I go over other reasons Outlook and TaskTask might not\nmatch, reasons that apply to MYN as well. Again, I identify fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Drag-To-Settings for 1MTD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the very\nend of the article at the link above, you might notice that I say that I\nsometimes have trouble getting the 1MTD preset settings in TaskTask to work\nquite right with regard to the ability to drag tasks up and down to reorder their\nposition within a given priority group. And in that article, I provided a workaround\nwhere instead of using the drag-to position, you could instead use alphabetical\nsorting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, in\ncase you have had those difficulties also, I’ve made some discoveries recently\non how to fix that\u2014how to make the TaskTask drag-to sorting match your Outlook\ndrag-to sorting. I really do believe drag-to sorting is better than the\nalphabetical sorting workaround I provided at the end of that article, so take\na look at what I have written below to see if it will help you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with the Outlook To-Do Bar 1MTD Settings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The instructions\nI give 1MTD users for setting up the Windows Outlook To-Do Bar is to simply\narrange the To-Do Bar task list by Importance. For example, that\u2019s what I show\nin the Quick Start video at\nthis link<\/a> (scroll down on left to the Quick Start video, it\u2019s free).<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you simply\narrange the To-Do Bar task list by Importance, the result is that tasks are\ngrouped by priority: high, normal, and low. And then tasks within each of those\ngroups are sorted manually. What \u201cmanually\u201d means is that you can drag tasks\nvertically into any order within each of those priority groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like drag sorting as applied in 1MTD, it’s a very intuitive way to sort and prioritize a list. But also keep in mind, when you advance to MYN you must give up drag sorting. That’s because Start Date sorting takes over, and that’s even more powerful. But again, this section is about 1MTD users who want to sync drag sorting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matching Drag Positions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If, when using 1MTD, you do<\/em> drag tasks into position in the Outlook To-Do Bar, then ideally, whatever smartphone to-do list app you use would match that drag sorting, so you can see your priority-order clearly on your smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TaskTask\nallows you to do this. (And by the way the new Microsoft To-Do app does not<\/em> allow that\u2014it will not<\/em> match the drag-to settings in the\nOutlook To-Do Bar. So TaskTask is better in this way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To get\nTaskTask ready for that, you should use the 1MTD preset built into TaskTask. I\ntell you how to do that in the article at the link at the top of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, the\nway to manually drag tasks in TaskTask is to go to a task list and click the\nEdit button in the upper right. That displays drag bars at the right of each\ntask. Then drag the tasks as needed. Click Done in the upper right. Then click\nthe Sync button in the lower left to get those positions synced into Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the\nsame should work the other direction. Drag some tasks vertically in Outlook,\ncome back to TaskTask, click the Sync button, and they should match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\nthis ability to sync the drag-to order into Outlook seems to work for some\npeople, and not for others. For a long time, it did not work for me. I\u2019d drag\ntasks in one location, and nothing would change in the other. I think it has\nsomething to do with using multiple computers on your same Outlook account, but\nI’m not really sure why it fails when it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, I\njust discovered a simple solution, one that works for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the To-Do\nBar do this one-time fix: simply drag sort every single task at least once\u2014drag\nthem out of order and then back into order. Then refresh the screen in TaskTask\n(click the Sync button in lower left). <\/p>\n\n\n\n For some reason\nthat works, and that should do it, the drag order should match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if\nit does not work for you, you might need to do a one-time reset of the cache in\nTaskTask\u2014that clears out the older sorting. The way to do that in TaskTask is\nthis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your drag positions should match\nafter that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me know\nif this solution to duplicating drag-to positions works for you. It worked for\nme and I tried it in three different Exchange accounts, including one the was\nan Outlook.com account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Thoughts on Matching the Two Lists: Multiple\nTask Folders and Flagged Mail Tasks Complicate Things<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now there\nare a couple other things to keep in mind if you’re trying to match your To-Do\nBar task list with the TaskTask task list. There are a few things that may\nprevent the two lists from showing the same tasks. I am not talking about task\norder, but rather which<\/em> tasks are\nshown in each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are 1)\nhaving multiple task folders in Outlook, 2) having multiple Exchange accounts linked\ninto a single instance of Outlook, and 3) hiding or not hiding flagged mail\ntasks. Let\u2019s talk about 1 and 2 next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have\nmultiple folders or multiple accounts in Outlook, you probably want to make\nsure you are looking at exactly the same folders in TaskTask. If you are not,\nthen the two lists will not match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason is\nthat the Outlook To-Do Bar is a virtual<\/em>\nview that combines<\/em> all of the tasks\nfolders and accounts that you have in Outlook into one combined task list. So,\nif you have multiple tasks folders in Outlook, or multiple accounts in Outlook,\nthe To-Do Bar will show the combination of all of those. And that may not match\nwhat you see in TaskTask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nsolution? <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\nreally want to see the combined contents of all your Outlook task folders in TaskTask\n(so as to match the To-Do Bar), then in the Folders window in TaskTask, simply select\nthe folder name called All Tasks and that will show you all your tasks in all\nfolders and all accounts combined into one list. See below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And for\nthis to work, if you do have multiple accounts in Outlook, then you must have the\nsame multiple accounts added to TaskTask. The way to add more accounts to\nTaskTask is to click on the gear icon at the bottom of the Folders window,\nclick on Accounts, and add more accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One Account, Multiple Folders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But even if\nyou have only one account linked in both Outlook and TaskTask, you can still\nhave an issue if you have more than one tasks folder in Outlook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For\nexample, I have a separate task folder called Old-Tasks in Outlook. In that\nfolder, I store old tasks I am not interested in doing, but ones that I might\nwant to research later due to old information in the Notes of those tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem\nis, the incomplete tasks in that folder still show up in my To-Do Bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So again,\nin this case, to make a match between the To-Do Bar and the list in TaskTask, I\nhave to be sure to choose the All Tasks folder in TaskTask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the To-Do Bar show only One Folder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But really,\nthe best solution is to think carefully about why you have multiple folders in\nOutlook, and whether you really want to combine them all into the Outlook To-Do\nBar. Generally, I cannot think of a reason why you would want to do that\u2014have them\nall combined like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Normally\nthe only reason I create extra task folders in Outlook is to have a separate place\nto archive<\/em> old tasks and to get them\nout of my main list. That was my initial reason for the Old-Tasks folder I\ncreated. But then I realized I goofed by putting incomplete<\/em> old tasks in there\u2014I did not really want them showing in\nmy To-Do Bar, but they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are\ntwo fixes for this. One is to open that Old-Tasks folder and mark ALL the tasks\nin there complete. Recall completed tasks do not show up in the To-Do Bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other\nsolution, if you really want to have incomplete tasks in another folder, but\nones you don\u2019t want to see in your To-Do Bar each day, is to filter the To-Do\nBar so it does not show the contents of other task folders. That\u2019s eventually\nwhat I did\u2014I set it up so that only my main Tasks folder shows in the To-Do\nBar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is how\nto filter the Outlook To-Do Bar to show only your main Tasks list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you do\nthose steps, you will now see that the To-Do Bar task list has been shortened\ndown to only show you the tasks that are in your main Tasks folder. And that’s\nprobably what you want, it’s a much shorter and simpler list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And now, in\nTaskTask, the way to match this is simple. Just be sure to click on the Tasks\nitem in the folders window (see the second item in the figure above). If you do\nthat, your TaskTask list, and your To-Do Bar, should both only be displaying\nyour default Tasks folder, and they should match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiding Flagged Mail Tasks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If at that\npoint, the two lists still don\u2019t match, it may be due to flagged mail tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember, in\nnearly all my MYN and 1MTD instructions these days I tell you to hide<\/em> flagged mail tasks in the Outlook\nTo-Do Bar. But TaskTask will show<\/em>\nflagged mail tasks by default, and that would cause the two lists not to match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that\ncase, I would also hide flagged mail tasks in TaskTask. To do that, follow the\ninstructions in the link at the top of this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As may know, my favorite iPhone tasks app is called TaskTask. This article is on how to make sure that it matches your Windows Outlook To-Do Bar task list. TaskTask is great because it synchronizes its task list with either … Continue reading ![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/tasktask-folders-1.PNG\")
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