S
Sheryl
I use recurring tasks to remind me of things I need to do each month. Outlook
regenerates the next occurrence as soon as I mark the current one complete.
This makes my task list less skimmable. The recurring tasks are always there,
so I have to scrutinize each date to see whether it's something I really need
to pay attention to.
There are potentially two ways to solve this, but I can't see how to do
either one in Outlook:
1. Sort by Due Date in ascending order WITH EMPTY-DUE-DATE ITEMS AT THE
BOTTOM OF THE LIST.
They are currently at the top, so no matter which way I sort, my most urgent
tasks are sandwiched in the middle. Is there a way around this? I don't want
to hide the tasks with no due dates. I just don't want them to be first in
the list.
2. A dynamic date filter that lets me specify all tasks due within the next
two weeks, plus tasks without due dates (which I don't want to hide).
Although I can't sort tasks in an order that makes sense, it would help if
the list contained only relevant tasks (tasks due within two weeks). A
dynamic date filter would also let me use color coding to identify tasks with
due dates in 3 days or 14 days or whatever.
Outlook has a built-in filter for within the next week, but that isn't
enough lead time for my particular recurring tasks. I tried to use the
DateAdd method to create a dynamic task filter, but it doesn't work. (I tried
all kinds of ways to do it - created custom variables, put it directly in the
SQL, etc.) Yet I think Outlook used to support dynamic filtering because of
this KnowledgeBase article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321424
It says in part:
OL2002: View Filters Do Not Persist Formulas
SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Outlook 2000 and earlier, you can create custom views and
filter items based on formulas, which makes the views dynamic.
In Outlook 2002, formulas are evaluated before they are persisted and the
views are not dynamic.
----------
It goes on to give a workaround for Outlook 2002, but it seems like the
feature was removed entirely in Outlook 2003, which is weird since usually
features are added, not taken away. Am I reading this correctly? Did Outlook
2000 support formulas in view filters? Was this feature really removed in
later versions, or is there still a way to do this?
How are the built-in dynamic filters created (within 7 days, etc.)? Are they
scripts I can view, or hardcoded within Outlook?
regenerates the next occurrence as soon as I mark the current one complete.
This makes my task list less skimmable. The recurring tasks are always there,
so I have to scrutinize each date to see whether it's something I really need
to pay attention to.
There are potentially two ways to solve this, but I can't see how to do
either one in Outlook:
1. Sort by Due Date in ascending order WITH EMPTY-DUE-DATE ITEMS AT THE
BOTTOM OF THE LIST.
They are currently at the top, so no matter which way I sort, my most urgent
tasks are sandwiched in the middle. Is there a way around this? I don't want
to hide the tasks with no due dates. I just don't want them to be first in
the list.
2. A dynamic date filter that lets me specify all tasks due within the next
two weeks, plus tasks without due dates (which I don't want to hide).
Although I can't sort tasks in an order that makes sense, it would help if
the list contained only relevant tasks (tasks due within two weeks). A
dynamic date filter would also let me use color coding to identify tasks with
due dates in 3 days or 14 days or whatever.
Outlook has a built-in filter for within the next week, but that isn't
enough lead time for my particular recurring tasks. I tried to use the
DateAdd method to create a dynamic task filter, but it doesn't work. (I tried
all kinds of ways to do it - created custom variables, put it directly in the
SQL, etc.) Yet I think Outlook used to support dynamic filtering because of
this KnowledgeBase article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321424
It says in part:
OL2002: View Filters Do Not Persist Formulas
SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Outlook 2000 and earlier, you can create custom views and
filter items based on formulas, which makes the views dynamic.
In Outlook 2002, formulas are evaluated before they are persisted and the
views are not dynamic.
----------
It goes on to give a workaround for Outlook 2002, but it seems like the
feature was removed entirely in Outlook 2003, which is weird since usually
features are added, not taken away. Am I reading this correctly? Did Outlook
2000 support formulas in view filters? Was this feature really removed in
later versions, or is there still a way to do this?
How are the built-in dynamic filters created (within 7 days, etc.)? Are they
scripts I can view, or hardcoded within Outlook?