Suggestion - Relative "Go To Date" (Eg Go To 3 Months From Date X)

[Mnavag]

A thought that struck me when trying to answer a question from someone about
a date 6 months from a particular date, which was a business date, rather
than just the same date in the calendar month.

It would be nice of the "Go To Date (Ctrl - G)" Functionality in the
calendar was extended to allow for the "Going To" of "relative" dates.

This would function much like the Go To functionality in Word, where you can
enter + or - to move relative a certain number of items (eg, move +4 pages,
move -2 sections)

For example, the "Go To Date" dialog with:

Date (ie, the date to go to, or use as base)
[ ] (checkbox) Relative By [.........] (textbox for value) [.....] (textbox
/ combo with units).

(Or a free form text box for some kind of semi-structured relative entry)

This would allow be to perform activities like:

"Go To One Calander Year From Date X"
"Go To 28 Days From Date X"
"Go To 6 Weeks From Now"
"Go To 1st Working Day After Date X"
"Go To 2nd Working Day Before Date X"
"Go To Last Working Day 6 Months From Now"

Some possible problems with this idea are:
* Definition of working day (probably just use the configured working week)
* Complexity of multiple relative references (Last Working Day 6 Months From
Date X)

Other Thoughts...
* Could be constrained (avoiding text analysis) through a heirachy of menu
items instead. Choose Date X, then right click and have Go To - (Next Month |
Next Quarter | Next Half Year | Next Year)
* Not really that difficult to perform manually for months, since you can
select date X, and then scroll through the months.

Kind Regards,

g.


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[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

It already does some of what you want (at least in OL2003 but probably in
earlier versions). I entered (without the quotes) "7/1 + 45d" and the
calendar jumped to 8/15 which is 45 days after 7/1.

 

[Mnavag]

Vince, indeed it does!

It just didn't "look" like it was possible when I was trying to figure out
how to do it.

One more tip noted for my everyday use.

Many Thanks.

g.

It already does some of what you want (at least in OL2003 but probably in
earlier versions). I entered (without the quotes) "7/1 + 45d" and the
calendar jumped to 8/15 which is 45 days after 7/1.

A thought that struck me when trying to answer a question from someone
about
a date 6 months from a particular date, which was a business date, rather
than just the same date in the calendar month.

It would be nice of the "Go To Date (Ctrl - G)" Functionality in the
calendar was extended to allow for the "Going To" of "relative" dates.

This would function much like the Go To functionality in Word, where you
can
enter + or - to move relative a certain number of items (eg, move +4
pages,
move -2 sections)

For example, the "Go To Date" dialog with:

Date (ie, the date to go to, or use as base)
[ ] (checkbox) Relative By [.........] (textbox for value) [.....]
(textbox
/ combo with units).

(Or a free form text box for some kind of semi-structured relative entry)

This would allow be to perform activities like:

"Go To One Calander Year From Date X"
"Go To 28 Days From Date X"
"Go To 6 Weeks From Now"
"Go To 1st Working Day After Date X"
"Go To 2nd Working Day Before Date X"
"Go To Last Working Day 6 Months From Now"

Some possible problems with this idea are:
* Definition of working day (probably just use the configured working
week)
* Complexity of multiple relative references (Last Working Day 6 Months
From
Date X)

Other Thoughts...
* Could be constrained (avoiding text analysis) through a heirachy of menu
items instead. Choose Date X, then right click and have Go To - (Next
Month |
Next Quarter | Next Half Year | Next Year)
* Not really that difficult to perform manually for months, since you can
select date X, and then scroll through the months.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Dates and natural language haven't changed at all - so it should work in all
versions. My favs are the shortcuts for date and time fields.

All of the day fields accept natural language (lower case accepted):
christmas day, 2 weeks from tomorrow, last week etc and you can use keyboard
shortcuts: 2w, 2d etc. But one of my favorites is creating an appointment
based on a date - if I need an appointment 2 weeks after Halloween I can
open an appointment form, type halloween in, press enter and put the cursor
in the date field and type 2w, press enter (select or delete the date
already there or enter + 2w at the end of the date). The appointment is now
for 11/14. You can also open an appointment by clicking a specific date and
type in a shortcut to advance it.

Some shortcuts:
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20030717.htm
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20030721.htm

I don't expect to see to much changes in this feature - as they add more
things, it makes it complicated and buggier. With the exception of
negatives, it works very well once you get the hang of it. There may be a
shortcut for negatives I haven't discovered, but if not, 'before' works -
it's more typing than I'd like though.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

It already does some of what you want (at least in OL2003 but probably in
earlier versions). I entered (without the quotes) "7/1 + 45d" and the
calendar jumped to 8/15 which is 45 days after 7/1.

A thought that struck me when trying to answer a question from someone
about
a date 6 months from a particular date, which was a business date, rather
than just the same date in the calendar month.

It would be nice of the "Go To Date (Ctrl - G)" Functionality in the
calendar was extended to allow for the "Going To" of "relative" dates.

This would function much like the Go To functionality in Word, where you
can
enter + or - to move relative a certain number of items (eg, move +4
pages,
move -2 sections)

For example, the "Go To Date" dialog with:

Date (ie, the date to go to, or use as base)
[ ] (checkbox) Relative By [.........] (textbox for value) [.....]
(textbox
/ combo with units).

(Or a free form text box for some kind of semi-structured relative entry)

This would allow be to perform activities like:

"Go To One Calander Year From Date X"
"Go To 28 Days From Date X"
"Go To 6 Weeks From Now"
"Go To 1st Working Day After Date X"
"Go To 2nd Working Day Before Date X"
"Go To Last Working Day 6 Months From Now"

Some possible problems with this idea are:
* Definition of working day (probably just use the configured working
week)
* Complexity of multiple relative references (Last Working Day 6 Months
From
Date X)

Other Thoughts...
* Could be constrained (avoiding text analysis) through a heirachy of
menu
items instead. Choose Date X, then right click and have Go To - (Next
Month |
Next Quarter | Next Half Year | Next Year)
* Not really that difficult to perform manually for months, since you can
select date X, and then scroll through the months.