I'd like to add another entry to my original "important" requirements list: a system-wide hot key for adding new tasks (a la Ctrl-Z in Zoot)

Graham

Jack Crawford wrote:

Just to get back to Graham's original post and comprehensive list.
My only refinement would be to move email syncing from important to critical.

I would personally choose more general terms for a task manager's essential interconnection, including e-mail, like supporting drag-n-drop and/or copy/pasting of links from other programs. Nowadays, many of the programs we discuss here provide URLs (links) to their contents. Programs such as Zoot, Surfulater, Evernote, Outlook etc.

This means that one can easily link to all the content related to a specific task, wherever that content may be. Syncing IMHO would add quite a lot of redundancy to a program that obviously isn't conceived to handle e-mail (or whatever). On the other hand, one may want to have an all-round solution, though I personally prefer the specialised software approach.

I do understand that sometimes it's good to have all the information locally (a related e-mail after all may just be a small note) so, ideally, the task manager should provide an option to link to or to copy the required information (as long as the original program supports both options as well).

On a different theme, my own personal highlight would be hierarchical task management, i.e. not just one level of categorisation/tagging but many. This is one of my issues with the program I currently work with, Tasktop.

Last but not least, I would require filtering (by whatever column value) and some kind of hoisting in order to maintain focus.

alx

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Graham, I like the web-based program given with my signature.

Which program are you referring to exactly?

alx

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Jack Crawford wrote:

>My only refinement would be to move email syncing from important to
critical.

I would personally choose more general terms for a task manager's
essential interconnection, including e-mail, like supporting drag-n-drop and/or
copy/pasting of links from other programs. Nowadays, many of the programs we discuss
here provide URLs (links) to their contents. Programs such as Zoot, Surfulater,
Evernote, Outlook etc.

I agree Alex. A poor choice of words on my part. I meant email connectivity rather than syncing. My point simply was that there are many task managers out there that do not offer email import or some other email link.

As to my earlier missing post, I had a system failure when I tried to send it. I don't know whether it was a website issue or a problem at my end. I didn't keep the contents so I would be grateful if someone can repost - assuming that it is considered of interest. :-)

Jack

[re-posted here from RSS on behalf of Jack]

Graham Rhind wrote:

I only started using Outlook with version 2007 (I'm no expert with it!) and I think it's the new flagging system in that version that gives >no option to copy the e-mail instead of flagging it as a todo. See http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/10/26/don-t-delete-mark-it-complete.aspx

It would be nice if there was a way around it.

Hi Graham

I just tested this and I get a different result on my Outlook 2007 SP1. Flagging an email (i.e. follow-up) places a task in the To-do Bar. Trying to delete the task there does give the message about deleting the email as well. However, marking it complete in the To-do Bar (right click | follow-up | mark complete) causes the task to disappear. It does not appear at all in my tasks folder. The original email remains where it was, but now with the header changed to indicate that there had been a follow-up now completed. Was the problem fixed in SP1?

If this still doesn't work, I would use the old 2003 techniques: drag & drop the email onto the task folder to create a new task, or open a blank new task and insert item (the relevant email).

I agree it's important to be able to link emails and tasks (as well as emails and calendar items).

Hope this helps somehow.

Jack

[re-posting again, with apologies for the previous message. I think I know what the problem was; an extra ">" got in somewhere in the quoted version Graham's post.]

Graham Rhind wrote:

I only started using Outlook with version 2007 (I'm no expert with it!) and I think it's the new flagging system in that version that gives >no option to copy the e-mail instead of flagging it as a todo. See http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/10/26/don-t-delete-mark-it-complete.aspx

It would be nice if there was a way around it.

Hi Graham

I just tested this and I get a different result on my Outlook 2007 SP1. Flagging an email (i.e. follow-up) places a task in the To-do Bar. Trying to delete the task there does give the message about deleting the email as well. However, marking it complete in the To-do Bar (right click | follow-up | mark complete) causes the task to disappear. It does not appear at all in my tasks folder. The original email remains where it was, but now with the header changed to indicate that there had been a follow-up now completed. Was the problem fixed in SP1?

If this still doesn't work, I would use the old 2003 techniques: drag & drop the email onto the task folder to create a new task, or open a blank new task and insert item (the relevant email).

I agree it's important to be able to link emails and tasks (as well as emails and calendar items).

Hope this helps somehow.

Jack

Indeed, it was an extra > within the URL. I've fixed the previous two posts in case someone stumbles across them first.

Thanks,
Chris

Also you may wish to try this:

Link the email to the task - not insert into task body.
I move the email to the folder for 'storage'
Open a New Task
Fill in the subject and details
Insert Menu | Item
Select the Outlook item
Radio button - as Shortcut

Now there is a link to the email and the task subject or body is what ever I wished.

Great tip Arnold! Thanks a lot!

Graham

Arnold wrote:

Also you may wish to try this:

Link the email to the task - not insert into task body.
I
move the email to the folder for 'storage'
Open a New Task
Fill in the subject and
details
Insert Menu | Item
Select the Outlook item
Radio button - as Shortcut

Now
there is a link to the email and the task subject or body is what ever I wished.

I have NOT been following this thread as I am retired ;-). However, I just ran across a listing of some To-Do List managers that someone might be interested in. It is at
http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com/2007/02/12-to-do-find-to-do-list-manager.html

-c