Today’s article is about how to better utilise the new “homepage” view we created for Outlook in Part 1. I want to show you how to customise the Taskpad or To-Do Bar (depending on which version of Outlook you’re using – 2003 or 2007).
Let me explain the confusing ‘Part 4(a)’ title: There are significant differences between the two versions so I’m going to split this article into two parts. Today we’ll look at the To-Do Bar [version 2007] and, in the follow-up article, I’ll show you how to achieve the same thing with Taskpad [version 2003].
Before we start: In order to follow this guide you’ll need to go back to Part 1 of Optimising Your Outlook for Efficiency and work through the steps to set-up your “homepage” view for Outlook the same way I have mine.
Now we can begin to customise the To-Do Bar for added ease, and efficiency! Firstly go up to the View button in your tool bar and, in the drop-down menu, go to where it says To-Do Bar. Make sure the options you have ticked are the same as the ones shown below.
With that done we can move into customising the To-Do Bar itself. Look at the bar just below the ‘date navigator’. It should say ‘Arrange by’ but if yours doesn’t its okay…
Right-click on the bar and you should be greeted with a pop-up window. Go to where it says ‘Customize Current View’ (or it may simply say Customize) and click on it.
The settings box pictured below should appear…
Click on the button marked Fields and change the list of available fields on the right-hand side of the screen to match the ones I have displayed in the picture below.
When you’re done press okay and then click on the button below Fields that says Group by…
You shouldn’t have to do too much here, just make sure the box next to: ‘Automatically group according to arrangement’ is ticked. This should grey out all of the other options. Click okay to close the window.
Now go to the next button down, marked Sort and make sure the drop down under ‘Sort items by’ is set to ‘Due Date’ and ‘Ascending’. Click okay again.
Now move down to the button marked Other Settings and in the pop-up box ensure that ‘Use compact layout’ is un-ticked – as shown in the image below.
With that done we can ‘okay’ our way back to the main Outlook screen and you should be able to see a difference in the information you are receiving from the To-Do Bar, and a difference in how it’s set out. If everything has gone well, it should look like the image below.
This view allows you to see the work you have to get done Today – plus all of your upcoming work – so you should be able to better-manage your priorities.
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