Outlook 2007 How to Link a Contact to a Task

[Dan Neuwirth]

Okay, I'm a long-time Outlook user, and generally consider myself to be
pretty knowledgable about the product...up until my recent (today) upgrade to
Office 2007. While love the upgraded look and feel, I can't help but feel
frustrated at things that used to be so simple now appearing to be quite
complex.

I need to be able to link Contacts to my tasks as I've always been able to
do in prior versions just by using the contact button. For example, in
Outlook 2003, if I had a task to call Bob Smith, I used to be able to link
the "Call: Bob Smith" task to Bob Smith's contact record simply by hitting
the [Contact] button at the bottom of the Task form and adding a link to the
contact. This allows me to six months later, look under Bob Smith's
"Activities" tab and see every task I've ever done, along with a log and
completion status that I've tracked in the Task when I entered it. It's been
fantastic.

However, in Outlook 2007, I am unable to find anywhere on the Task
Entry/Edit form where I can link a Contact. Microsoft's KB notes to select
"Link" under the "Actions" area of the Ribbon, but I only see "Save & Close"
and "Delete" in that area. What frustrates me is that I'm sure this is a
stupid simple task, but in the "new and improved" 07 interface I'm absolutely
stumbling over this... It's driving me crazy!

Any help...?

-Dan

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20060921.htm

 

[Dan Neuwirth]

Perfect!!!!

Thank so you so much---I knew this had to be simple but I just couldn't
figure out that "where that one checkbox was"!

-Dan

http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20060921.htm

Okay, I'm a long-time Outlook user, and generally consider myself to be
pretty knowledgable about the product...up until my recent (today) upgrade
to
Office 2007. While love the upgraded look and feel, I can't help but feel
frustrated at things that used to be so simple now appearing to be quite
complex.

I need to be able to link Contacts to my tasks as I've always been able to
do in prior versions just by using the contact button. For example, in
Outlook 2003, if I had a task to call Bob Smith, I used to be able to link
the "Call: Bob Smith" task to Bob Smith's contact record simply by hitting
the [Contact] button at the bottom of the Task form and adding a link to
the
contact. This allows me to six months later, look under Bob Smith's
"Activities" tab and see every task I've ever done, along with a log and
completion status that I've tracked in the Task when I entered it. It's
been
fantastic.

However, in Outlook 2007, I am unable to find anywhere on the Task
Entry/Edit form where I can link a Contact. Microsoft's KB notes to
select
"Link" under the "Actions" area of the Ribbon, but I only see "Save &
Close"
and "Delete" in that area. What frustrates me is that I'm sure this is a
stupid simple task, but in the "new and improved" 07 interface I'm
absolutely
stumbling over this... It's driving me crazy!

Any help...?

-Dan

 

[jlw]

Thank you for this. Unbeleivable how such a simple task can be so difficult.
I have spent hours searching for this answer and found nothing in the Outlook
help files or referrences--all were to Business Contact Manager. This was an
obvious ploy by Microsoft to encourage people to use the BCM bloatware rather
than the old familiar helpful things that actually worked.

http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20060921.htm

Okay, I'm a long-time Outlook user, and generally consider myself to be
pretty knowledgable about the product...up until my recent (today) upgrade
to
Office 2007. While love the upgraded look and feel, I can't help but feel
frustrated at things that used to be so simple now appearing to be quite
complex.

I need to be able to link Contacts to my tasks as I've always been able to
do in prior versions just by using the contact button. For example, in
Outlook 2003, if I had a task to call Bob Smith, I used to be able to link
the "Call: Bob Smith" task to Bob Smith's contact record simply by hitting
the [Contact] button at the bottom of the Task form and adding a link to
the
contact. This allows me to six months later, look under Bob Smith's
"Activities" tab and see every task I've ever done, along with a log and
completion status that I've tracked in the Task when I entered it. It's
been
fantastic.

However, in Outlook 2007, I am unable to find anywhere on the Task
Entry/Edit form where I can link a Contact. Microsoft's KB notes to
select
"Link" under the "Actions" area of the Ribbon, but I only see "Save &
Close"
and "Delete" in that area. What frustrates me is that I'm sure this is a
stupid simple task, but in the "new and improved" 07 interface I'm
absolutely
stumbling over this... It's driving me crazy!

Any help...?

-Dan

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

No, it had nothing to do with BCM - they wanted to clean up the onscreen
clutter and toggled it off as tests showed the majority of users didn't use
it.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



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Thank you for this. Unbeleivable how such a simple task can be so
difficult.
I have spent hours searching for this answer and found nothing in the
Outlook
help files or referrences--all were to Business Contact Manager. This was
an
obvious ploy by Microsoft to encourage people to use the BCM bloatware
rather
than the old familiar helpful things that actually worked.

http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20060921.htm

Okay, I'm a long-time Outlook user, and generally consider myself to be
pretty knowledgable about the product...up until my recent (today)
upgrade
to
Office 2007. While love the upgraded look and feel, I can't help but
feel
frustrated at things that used to be so simple now appearing to be
quite
complex.

I need to be able to link Contacts to my tasks as I've always been able
to
do in prior versions just by using the contact button. For example, in
Outlook 2003, if I had a task to call Bob Smith, I used to be able to
link
the "Call: Bob Smith" task to Bob Smith's contact record simply by
hitting
the [Contact] button at the bottom of the Task form and adding a link
to
the
contact. This allows me to six months later, look under Bob Smith's
"Activities" tab and see every task I've ever done, along with a log
and
completion status that I've tracked in the Task when I entered it.
It's
been
fantastic.

However, in Outlook 2007, I am unable to find anywhere on the Task
Entry/Edit form where I can link a Contact. Microsoft's KB notes to
select
"Link" under the "Actions" area of the Ribbon, but I only see "Save &
Close"
and "Delete" in that area. What frustrates me is that I'm sure this is
a
stupid simple task, but in the "new and improved" 07 interface I'm
absolutely
stumbling over this... It's driving me crazy!

Any help...?

-Dan