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#1
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I am looking for software that handles task lists better then Microsoft
Outlook. Does anyone in this group have any suggestions? I have tried using Outlook and I am frankly stunned that it is a product of the largest software company in the world. My specific gripes are 1) Outlook allows you to assign tasks to multiple categories. However, it is difficult to only select specific categories of tasks to view at once. You have to view all categories at the same time. So, if a task is in two or three categories it appears on the screen multiple times. If you have a large number of tasks you might only want to look at a few categories at once. 2) Formatting for printing task lists is limited, so say the least. a) It is not possible to have the subject line word wrap to a second line, in table format. So if your subject line is long and you are printing a table format list to a small page (for example a Day Runner Running mate page), the subject line gets cut off. b) The preview of the task notes is limited to two or three lines and the formatting elliminates line breaks. It should allow you to select the size of the preview text and if you want line breaks ellimiated. c) It is not possible to insert page breaks before a new category heading so that new categories appear at the top of the page. 3) It is not possible to select the order that categories are displayed. You can select the order that individual tasks are displayed, but not categories. 4) You cannot view multiple task folders in the same task list. I prefer to keep different categories of tasks in folders and sub folders. But it is not possible to view the tasks from multiple folders or even sub-folders in a single list. So I have to use one folders for all tasks and use categories to organize them. These are major deficiencies in my opinion. I can see why people consider MS software inferior, because it is. -Jonathan |
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#3
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Take another read through your response and then consider this: Perhaps
the reason tasks is a "not very useful feature" of Outlook and the "least used in Outlook" is because it is POORLY WRITTEN!! Also, I'd appreciate if you would explain to me what is so exacting about the complaints I have above. IMO, all of them are common sense features that should have been included in the software. |
#4
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Just beacuse features you want are not there, does not mean a piece of
software is poory written. I happen to think that the features you want are reasonable - but very specific. You can not say MS software is inferior. Inferior when compared to what? What is Excel inferior to? What is Outlook inferior to? Are you really saying that the task feature of Outlook is inferior to the task feature of another specific program? anyway... 1) have you tried the Group By box? Group by Category, then you can sort and expand or collapse the ones you want. Also, in all of Outlook, leave the Find 'toolbar' open. In there, type in the categories you want to view such as gliding; shop and you will see only the categories you want (acts like a filter). 2) a) b) and c). Yes. 3) You can by Ascending/Descending. Group by Category. 4) So tell me... you say you prefer to keep different catetgories of tasks in different folders, yet you have some tasks in more than one category. Does that mean you have tasks in more than one folder? Neal wrote in message ups.com... Take another read through your response and then consider this: Perhaps the reason tasks is a "not very useful feature" of Outlook and the "least used in Outlook" is because it is POORLY WRITTEN!! Also, I'd appreciate if you would explain to me what is so exacting about the complaints I have above. IMO, all of them are common sense features that should have been included in the software. |
#5
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Ok, inferior or not inferior, poorly written or not. I can't prove any
of these statements in the amount of time I want to discuss this so I will take them back. But my general impression is that non-Microsoft software is more user-friendly. Perhaps I should have said I am simply dissapointed with the usability of Outlook tasks and I think there is a lot of room for imporvement. 1) Yes I am using Group By. The main problem I have with this is that Outlook always shows all categories and orders them in ascending or descending alphabetical order. So if you have several groups you still have to sort through all the groups, to find the one you want which may be several screens down. There is no easy way, that I have found so far, to view only one specific group on the screen at once. Ok, I haven't looked at using the search folder yet. Perhaps I can make it more usable if I figure that out. 2) Another quibble I have with the printing options is that when you print the tasks on small dayrunner or daytimer pages, three pages to a letter or A4 paper, it would be nice if the page boundaries and ring hole positions were also printed so that it is easy to cut the pages to the appropriate size and punch the holes in the right place so that the pages fit in the organizer. To me this seems like a fairly obvious feature when a little thought is put into it. 3) see comment in 1) 4) Basically what I had envisaged is having the ability to store tasks in separate folders according to a primary category, such as a project title. But also have the ability to see tasks from multiple folders at once. For example all tasks that are due today regardless of what folder they are in. Like I was saying above, perhaps what I want to accomplish can be done with the search folder and having all tasks in one folder in one gargantuan task list. I haven't looked into this yet. -Jonathan |
#6
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1) To see just one group on the screen, filter the view. Create a new named view if you need to see that group often.
You might want to read up at http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/ about what's coming in Outlook 12. -- Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx wrote in message oups.com... Ok, inferior or not inferior, poorly written or not. I can't prove any of these statements in the amount of time I want to discuss this so I will take them back. But my general impression is that non-Microsoft software is more user-friendly. Perhaps I should have said I am simply dissapointed with the usability of Outlook tasks and I think there is a lot of room for imporvement. 1) Yes I am using Group By. The main problem I have with this is that Outlook always shows all categories and orders them in ascending or descending alphabetical order. So if you have several groups you still have to sort through all the groups, to find the one you want which may be several screens down. There is no easy way, that I have found so far, to view only one specific group on the screen at once. Ok, I haven't looked at using the search folder yet. Perhaps I can make it more usable if I figure that out. 2) Another quibble I have with the printing options is that when you print the tasks on small dayrunner or daytimer pages, three pages to a letter or A4 paper, it would be nice if the page boundaries and ring hole positions were also printed so that it is easy to cut the pages to the appropriate size and punch the holes in the right place so that the pages fit in the organizer. To me this seems like a fairly obvious feature when a little thought is put into it. 3) see comment in 1) 4) Basically what I had envisaged is having the ability to store tasks in separate folders according to a primary category, such as a project title. But also have the ability to see tasks from multiple folders at once. For example all tasks that are due today regardless of what folder they are in. Like I was saying above, perhaps what I want to accomplish can be done with the search folder and having all tasks in one folder in one gargantuan task list. I haven't looked into this yet. -Jonathan |
#7
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Hi Jonathan,
You may also want to take a look at the more generalized category of PIM software. I'll slip a "plug" in her for orGenta (since I have a personal interest in the product), but there are lots of other organizers out there. Your choice may be swayed by how well such organizers integrate with eMail, or their time-tracking abilities. -- Jeff ------------------------------------- wrote: Ok, inferior or not inferior, poorly written or not. I can't prove any of these statements in the amount of time I want to discuss this so I will take them back. But my general impression is that non-Microsoft software is more user-friendly. Perhaps I should have said I am simply dissapointed with the usability of Outlook tasks and I think there is a lot of room for imporvement. snip 4) Basically what I had envisaged is having the ability to store tasks in separate folders according to a primary category, such as a project title. But also have the ability to see tasks from multiple folders at once. For example all tasks that are due today regardless of what folder they are in. Like I was saying above, perhaps what I want to accomplish can be done with the search folder and having all tasks in one folder in one gargantuan task list. I haven't looked into this yet. -Jonathan |
#8
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I would have to agree that the task list in outlook seems to be the
lacking in a few areas that would otherwise make it a great tool. The one problem I tend to have with tasks is (and perhaps this is because I haven't figured it out yet) that other users aren't able to view my various task folders. I too like to have multiple folders dedicated to the various "large-scale" projects that I need to do. If a user tries to connect to my tasks, they are presented only with the default folder, not any of my subfolders. I'm also not able (or not knowing how) to synchronize task sub-folders onto my PocketPC using the standard ActiveSync software. I'm not in the corner of "MS is inferior", as I love their software, but I think in the next major update to Office they could improve on the functionality of tasks a little more. |
#9
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To access a shared folder that isn't one of the folders listed on the File | Open | Other User's Folder dialog, the mailbox owner needs to grant "folder visible" permission to the root of the mailbox and any other parent folders of the shared folder, as well as appropriate permission -- at least Reviewer -- on the shared folder itself.
The user who needs access then goes into Tools | E-mail Accounts or Tools | Services (depending on the Outlook version), brings up the properties for the Exchange Server service, and on the Advanced tab, adds the mailbox. For more information on folder permissions, with how-to screen shots, see http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/permissions.htm and http://office.microsoft.com/assistan...HA011134811033 Improving task managing is a major goal for Outlook "12." Visit http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth/ to see what's coming. -- Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx "rick.olson" wrote in message oups.com... I would have to agree that the task list in outlook seems to be the lacking in a few areas that would otherwise make it a great tool. The one problem I tend to have with tasks is (and perhaps this is because I haven't figured it out yet) that other users aren't able to view my various task folders. I too like to have multiple folders dedicated to the various "large-scale" projects that I need to do. If a user tries to connect to my tasks, they are presented only with the default folder, not any of my subfolders. I'm also not able (or not knowing how) to synchronize task sub-folders onto my PocketPC using the standard ActiveSync software. I'm not in the corner of "MS is inferior", as I love their software, but I think in the next major update to Office they could improve on the functionality of tasks a little more. |
#10
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Do you have a solution to the other problem mentioned by the previous
poster; "I'm also not able (or not knowing how) to synchronize task sub-folders onto my PocketPC using the standard ActiveSync software." I am trying to figure out how to do the same thing. I suspect it isn't possible, which would be another limitation on the usability of tasks in Outlook. Please prove me wrong. -Jonathan |
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