Sorting by due date in Outlook

[zzzagman]

Here is one for those skilled in tweaking Outlook...

One of the preferred ways of viewing the tasks (to do's) is to sort them "Asscending" by due date. This way the most urgent tasks appear on top... The problem is that the tasks with no due date (Due date=None), are sorted first, effectively placing the least stringent tasks (someday, maybe...) on top.

For someone who has a lot of "maybe" tasks with no due date, I would like it very much if the NONE value would be sorted at the bottom. I don't know if this can be accomplished in Outlook, but I am sure it would be a feature greatly appreciated by many.

All ideas welcome!

Calin

[whkratz]

Hi Calin -- You might want to take a look at the following thread on the NetCentrics GTD Addin forum:
http://gtdsupport.netcentrics.com/fo...p?TOPIC_ID=164

[zzzagman]

Thanks. Calin

[flounder]

Here is one for those skilled in tweaking Outlook...
One of the preferred ways of viewing the tasks (to do's) is to sort them "Asscending" by due date. This way the most urgent tasks appear on top... The problem is that the tasks with no due date (Due date=None), are sorted first, effectively placing the least stringent tasks (someday, maybe...) on top.
Calin

I found this web page searching for a solution to this exact same problem. I then came up with this solution solution last night...

When you create tasks with due dates, usually a "reminder" alarm is automatically set for that task by Outlook. You can use this fact to sort FIRST by "Reminder*** (decending)", THEN BY "Due Date (ascending)". This way all tasks with reminder alarms (e.g. those with Due Dates) will appear at the top sorted by most current to furthest away and all tasks without reminders will appear at the bottom. Basically just what you and I were hoping for.

*** Note: you may need to select the "All Tasks fields" from the "Select available fields from" dropdown.

[JMcCarthy]

The way Outlook sorts tasks was driving me CRAZY! Why anyone would want tasks with no due date sorted above tasks due today is beyond me. Anyway, this solution worked perfectly! I did have to go into my Outlook Task options and set a default reminder for new tasks and show the Reminder column in my task list. I don't really want a reminder for my due date tasks but I figure it can't do any harm (and may help).

Another possible option was the one I had resorted to after an unsuccessful visual basic script attempt. I customized the views so that my Tasks and To-Do List we identical, except that I filtered my To-Do List for only tasks due in the next 7 days. That hid the tasks with no due date and I like the focused view on priority tasks, but I had to remember to switch to my full task list once the priority tasks were complete so I could tackle a few with no due date.