Want details? Read on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main differences<\/strong> between desktop Outlook and Outlook\nOnline can be summed up in three words: tasks, views, and automation<\/em>.\nWindows desktop Outlook does a much better job on all three of these. Let\u2019s\nstart with tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The Tasks experience in Outlook Online is highly dependent on whether or not you\u2019ve triggered \u201cThe new Outlook\u201d setting in the upper right corner of the Tasks window (available only to Office 365 subscribers). That switch looks like this when activated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, for some Office 365 accounts, that switch has been removed and you are already in the new Outlook Online experience. Conversely, most corporate accounts don’t have access to this since they are using an on-premises version of Exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you are not<\/strong> in the new Outlook mode, then you\u2019ll see the normal, older, Outlook Tasks module, the one that has been around for years within Outlook Online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This older tasks module offers roughly the same fields<\/em> as desktop Outlook tasks, but it has only about 10% of the sorting and filtering features. One such missing feature is that it has no ability to drag-sort tasks<\/em>, something I am favoring these days for my 1MTD system<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, you can\u2019t drag-convert emails to tasks<\/em>. And of course, there is no To-Do Bar tasks list view<\/em> in Outlook Online with the older tasks module. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, the older tasks module offers a very limited experience when used online<\/em>. The result is you cannot use it to implement the MYN system<\/a>, and you really cannot even use it for the simple 1MTD system either\u2014it\u2019s just not very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you have<\/em> triggered \u201cThe new Outlook\u201d setting, or if you have it by default, then your task experience is completely different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, you now do<\/em> have a very rough equivalent of the\nOutlook To-Do Bar available. It\u2019s not sorted right for MYN, but at least it shows\na task list along with your email. You activate it by clicking this button in\nthe upper right part of the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you click that, you\u2019ll see the Tasks pane appear at the right side of the inbox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Really what\u2019s happening here is that you are now in the \u201cnew\u201d\nOutlook Online experience, and so you are now using the Microsoft To Do tasks\nmodule instead of the old tasks module. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are some good features in this new module. Among them are you can drag-sort tasks vertically and you can drag emails to that pane to convert emails to tasks (or to calendar events).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact that you are accessing a completely different tasks module in the new Outlook Online is especially noticeable when you click on the Tasks icon in the lower left corner of the Outlook Online window. In desktop Outlook this would take you to the Tasks folder. But in the new Outlook Online, this will redirect you to an entirely different product, the Microsoft To Do website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have written about this new Microsoft To Do product extensively,\nand in fact I have a whole video course<\/a> on how\nto use it. I\u2019ve also written a recent\narticle<\/a> on my conclusions about Microsoft To Do. Some of my conclusions\nhave evolved since I produced those videos, so you might want to read that article\ntoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the net net is this: unless you are using the new Microsoft To-Do product and Office 365 with Exchange, the Outlook Online tasks experience is pretty worthless, I\u2019d stick with Windows desktop Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s talk now about the second of the three main differences between Windows desktop Outlook and Outlook Online: Views<\/strong>, and in particular, email list views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The default Outlook Online Inbox view roughly matches the standard compact view of desktop Outlook. In this view you\u2019ve got a few lines of the email displayed for each item in the inbox list, and you\u2019ve got a Reading pane view of the email off to the right, as I show below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can turn that Reading pane on and off if you click Settings\n(the gear icon in upper right), and then use the controls in the lower portion\nof the Settings pane that opens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you turn the Reading pane off, then you get a single-line list of email in your Inbox, as I show below, one that is roughly similar to the single-line view in desktop Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These compact and single-line views are okay, but you have very little control over them. For example, if you studied my Outlook Inbox Ninja course<\/a>, you\u2019ve seen that the inbox in Windows desktop Outlook offers a ton of view options that can greatly speed your processing of email. Not so with Outlook Online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, one problem in the Outlook Online compact inbox view, the top one above, is this: Even if you have a large monitor you cannot drag-widen the inbox list on the left past a certain rather narrow point. And its widest setting is way too narrow in my opinion. There are many other limitations compared with Windows desktop Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third main feature gap in Outlook Online is in automation. Here I mainly refer to limits in using Outlook Rules and Quick Steps. The Rules module on Outlook Online is okay, but it is nowhere as powerful as the one built into Windows desktop Outlook. That will slow you down if you heavily filter your incoming mail, like I recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My bigger complaint is that the Quick Steps feature is\ncompletely absent in Outlook Online, and Quick Steps is a really nice feature. As\nI show in my Outlook\nInbox Ninja course<\/a>, one of the great things about Quick Steps is the\nautomating of one-click filing. Since that\u2019s absent in Outlook Online, it\nbecomes slow to use folders other than the Archive folder for folder filing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Outlook Online is quite usable if you have moderate volumes of email, calendar, and contacts. It is a good choice if you have decided to work purely in a web browser environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you get too much mail and need to process it rapidly, you\u2019ll be greatly disappointed by Outlook Online. Rather, Windows desktop Outlook is the better way to go. And if you want to use my powerful MYN tasks system along with Outlook, there is really no choice: you should be using Windows desktop Outlook to truly get control of your tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I decided to do an experiment recently in which I switched to using Outlook Online for all my daily email. So, I put my usual Outlook Windows desktop software aside for a while. Why would I do this? More and … Continue reading Outlook Tasks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/the-new-outlook-switch-single.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe\u00a0Older\u00a0Outlook\u00a0Tasks\u00a0Module<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft To Do Tasks: The\u00a0New\u00a0Tasks\u00a0Pane<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/activate-tasks-pane.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/task-pane-to-do.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTasks Folder = Microsoft To Do Website<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Outlook Online Views<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/outlook-online-compact.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/outlook-online-single.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNot Good for Speedy Email Processing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n