About this lesson
Tasks are to-do items that are tracked electronically and can be recurring weekly or monthly.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2016, 2019.
Quick reference
Tasks: New and Recurring
Tasks are to-do items that are tracked electronically and can be recurring weekly or monthly.
When to use
A task list allows you to keep track of to-do items and check them off as they are completed. The process is simple and has many useful features.
Instructions
- Click the Tasks icon on the Folder Pane (aka Navigation Pane.)
OR 
- Click New Task.
- Enter the information for the task.
- Choose Details to record job specific task details for billing purposes.
- Make it a recurring task.
- Know your task icons.
- Mark as Done: Checking the box will put a line through the task indicating it has been completed. It remains on the task list as long as you determine it should.
- Categorize tasks.
- Sort tasks by clicking the column headers.
- The Task Folder Pane: The folder pane shows the tasks and the to-do list which includes flagged emails for follow up.
​​​​​​​
- 00:04 All right, this lesson is about tasks.
- 00:06 Take a look at the bottom on the navigation pane.
- 00:08 We've got our email, we've got our calendar, we've got our contacts.
- 00:11 But I don't see tasks because they're behind the dot dot dot.
- 00:15 And that is because my navigation pane, I had made it real skinny and so
- 00:19 we didn't see the task and the notes down there.
- 00:22 So if that happens to you and you can't see your task, just make sure to hit
- 00:26 the dot dot dot, which means more more more, it's an ellipsis.
- 00:29 Click that and there you will see tasks on the list.
- 00:32 All right, when we activate tasks, this is our task ribbon right up here, and we can
- 00:37 do a new task or a new email or new items, we can delete a task, forward a task.
- 00:42 Let's see, what's this one?
- 00:42 More respond actions.
- 00:44 I can mark a task complete, I can remove it, follow up, change the view of my task,
- 00:49 move tasks, categorize tasks, mark it as important or not important,
- 00:53 all of these wonderful things.
- 00:55 But we can't do anything until we actually click a brand new task.
- 00:58 So I'll go ahead and click a brand new task right up here on the left.
- 01:02 So when we are in a task, I'm going to go ahead and type in a task,
- 01:05 send timesheet reminder of two employees.
- 01:07 All right, I want to do this every Friday.
- 01:09 So I will click on this and I will choose Friday, and it is due on Friday.
- 01:14 And so I can Save & Close, Delete, I can Forward this, I can add Details,
- 01:19 check out the Details button.
- 01:20 When I click Details, maybe I need to travel for this.
- 01:24 Maybe you are a contractor and you need to charge for travel time, your mileage,
- 01:28 some billing information notes.
- 01:30 Here this section of details is where you would add all that information.
- 01:35 I'm going to go ahead and click back on to task itself.
- 01:39 I'm not done with this.
- 01:40 This Assign Task is wonderful,
- 01:41 I can actually assign it to a co-worker to do for me.
- 01:44 Send a Status Report, so if I'm actually the one doing it, I can it tell here,
- 01:48 update the person who assigned this to me with a status report.
- 01:51 Let's hang out here on Recurrence, though, for a second.
- 01:54 I'm going to go ahead and click on Recurrence.
- 01:55 I need this to happen every Friday.
- 01:57 So I can recur this daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
- 02:00 But at this point and right now for this task,
- 02:03 I need this every week on a Friday for every single week, not every two weeks,
- 02:07 not every three weeks, every single week.
- 02:09 And I will end this after 52 occurrences for an entire year.
- 02:15 All right, I'm going to go and hit OK.
- 02:16 And when I hit OK, look what happened.
- 02:20 I can actually skip a recurrence.
- 02:22 So maybe one of these Fridays we have off.
- 02:24 I can skip that recurrence.
- 02:26 I can categorize, follow up, mark it with high or low importance.
- 02:29 All right, let's go ahead and I'm going to Save and Close.
- 02:32 And take a look what happens on the main screen.
- 02:35 Here is my timesheet reminder to employees.
- 02:37 Notice the little symbol, it is a clipboard with a little blue circle on it.
- 02:42 That is the recurring symbol.
- 02:43 This is marked with a flag.
- 02:46 I have not categorized it and it's due on Friday.
- 02:49 Now, Friday comes and goes, I'm done with that task.
- 02:52 Notice the other 52 that I scheduled haven't shown up, thank goodness,
- 02:57 that would incredibly clutter your screen.
- 02:59 It would be unmanageable.
- 03:01 But look what happens when I mark this as done.
- 03:03 Click, I finished it.
- 03:05 The brand new one came in.
- 03:07 It's scheduled for the Friday after next.
- 03:10 And look at my original one, it has a line through it as completed.
- 03:14 This is why we use a recurrence, and then you mark them done and
- 03:17 the next one comes right in.
- 03:19 So you never forget to schedule your timesheets that are due on Friday.
- 03:23 All right, stick with me,
- 03:24 we're going to continue on with that lesson in the next video.
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.