S
swterami
I am having trouble using the recurring task custom options.
My goal: To create a task that recurs x days AFTER COMPLETION of the
task, regardless of the task start date. e.g., backup files 14 days
after last time files were backed up (with the goal of backing them up
every fourteen days, but if for some reason I miss the backup and ten
days go by, would I want to back them up again in 4 days? NO, of
course not - I would want to back them up 14 days from the last day I
backed them up.)
My options: the task recurrence patterns offer me the choice of
recurring every 14 days, OR there is a check box that says "After task
is complete, create a new task do in ___ days" where I get to fill in
the number of days. This language suggests to me that this option will
achieve my above stated goal.
The result: When I apply the "after task is complete . . . " option
above, set a start date and a reminder, and hit save, I get my
recurring task set up. The due date arrives. I don't finish the task.
Several days go by. I finish the task and mark it complete. A
non-recurring task is saved (the completed one) and a new recurring
task is created - ready for this - 14 days from the start date, NOT the
completion date.
I read through old newsgroup postings and found someone having the same
problem in 2003. A responder suggested that it is a decision that
Microsoft made because 50% of people want it to recur from start date
and 50% want it to recur from completion date - they chose to go from
start date. The poster thanks the responder for his/her comments but
subtley adds "isn't that redundant with the regular
weekly/monthly/daily interval patterns." I say YES, it is.
Here's something extra strange - and I fully confess this is based on a
foggy memory only - I SWEAR that when I was learning to use Entourage a
few months ago, looked at this feature and tested the "after task is
completed..." option, that it worked by resetting a task x days from
completion date, not start date. This could be my mind playing tricks
on me, or is it possible that in an update since then, by attempting to
solve other problems with recurring task synchronization problems, this
"after task is completed" option got screwed up? (but that wouldn't
explain the post from a couple years ago identifying this same
problem.)
Is there anything that can be done about this? It is useless to have
tasks that recur from the start date, unless you are a person who does
everything on the day it is due. Think of it:
- Mow the lawn. Miss it by three days, are you going to mow it in 2
days! No - you want from date of completion.
- Back up files
- Change the sheets
- water the houseplants
- wash the toilets
- wash the car
- change air/water filters
None of these things, if missed, would you want to do on a regular
interval from start dates - you want to do them next, x days from
whenever you did them last.
If this is simply the way it is programmed, Microsoft please
reconsider, and make this option what the option language suggests it
should be - not something that works exactly the same as if I had
chosen a regularly recurring interval. Thanks.
My goal: To create a task that recurs x days AFTER COMPLETION of the
task, regardless of the task start date. e.g., backup files 14 days
after last time files were backed up (with the goal of backing them up
every fourteen days, but if for some reason I miss the backup and ten
days go by, would I want to back them up again in 4 days? NO, of
course not - I would want to back them up 14 days from the last day I
backed them up.)
My options: the task recurrence patterns offer me the choice of
recurring every 14 days, OR there is a check box that says "After task
is complete, create a new task do in ___ days" where I get to fill in
the number of days. This language suggests to me that this option will
achieve my above stated goal.
The result: When I apply the "after task is complete . . . " option
above, set a start date and a reminder, and hit save, I get my
recurring task set up. The due date arrives. I don't finish the task.
Several days go by. I finish the task and mark it complete. A
non-recurring task is saved (the completed one) and a new recurring
task is created - ready for this - 14 days from the start date, NOT the
completion date.
I read through old newsgroup postings and found someone having the same
problem in 2003. A responder suggested that it is a decision that
Microsoft made because 50% of people want it to recur from start date
and 50% want it to recur from completion date - they chose to go from
start date. The poster thanks the responder for his/her comments but
subtley adds "isn't that redundant with the regular
weekly/monthly/daily interval patterns." I say YES, it is.
Here's something extra strange - and I fully confess this is based on a
foggy memory only - I SWEAR that when I was learning to use Entourage a
few months ago, looked at this feature and tested the "after task is
completed..." option, that it worked by resetting a task x days from
completion date, not start date. This could be my mind playing tricks
on me, or is it possible that in an update since then, by attempting to
solve other problems with recurring task synchronization problems, this
"after task is completed" option got screwed up? (but that wouldn't
explain the post from a couple years ago identifying this same
problem.)
Is there anything that can be done about this? It is useless to have
tasks that recur from the start date, unless you are a person who does
everything on the day it is due. Think of it:
- Mow the lawn. Miss it by three days, are you going to mow it in 2
days! No - you want from date of completion.
- Back up files
- Change the sheets
- water the houseplants
- wash the toilets
- wash the car
- change air/water filters
None of these things, if missed, would you want to do on a regular
interval from start dates - you want to do them next, x days from
whenever you did them last.
If this is simply the way it is programmed, Microsoft please
reconsider, and make this option what the option language suggests it
should be - not something that works exactly the same as if I had
chosen a regularly recurring interval. Thanks.