Using Outlook

[RussReynolds]

Guys,

Thanks so much..this information is great.

I would really love to buy Davids GTD with outlook but do not have a credit card. I use PayPal online. If anyone is willing, I could send them the money via paypal and then they could purchase the book and forward it to me?

This is a lot to ask so no problem if not.

Thanks for all the well thought out info guys, this is great.

[dgorecki]

Just another take on what everyone's been saying here

I use between 2 and 4 categories for every task:

1 is for context: @home, etc.. (pretty standard)

1 is for Project: I use Clearcontext that makes this real easy since the Project name assigned in CC synchronizes with the category and brackets those categories with "[" and "]"

1 optional one is for Important contacts. I prefix them with a "^" so that they are sorted together. This category can either be a person I deal with on a regular basis, or a role on a project. For instance, I have one called ^Project Sponsor, and can be used for any project. I can then filter on the project and "^ Project Sponsor" and get a list of what I need to talk to that person about. Use of Roles keeps the number of categories down.

1 other optional one is called !Now which I use for Next Actions. When sorted by project I can easily see the next action, or I can see all my !Now cats in one place and see what projects they belong to.

Good luck on your system!!

[MossMan]

@Russ, no problem!

That is fantastic info. Simple and very effective. Thanks a million.

[sdann]

@AndyD,
I have some questions re your project set up in Outlook:

1. do you add the individual project [project name] to the master category list or just the category list? (I can see adding [!projects] to the master category list, but does it make a difference with the individual project?)
2A. When you are done with a project, do you then just mark the "task" as completed in your [!project]?
2B. and do you just then delete the actual project [project name] from the category list?

Thanks.

[AndyD]

@MossMan: many thanks for the feedback - very much appreciated. Glad the info was of use!

@sdann: Hope the following helps:

1) it's entirely personal preference whether you add the project name to just the category list or add it to the master category list.

I add it to the master category list, simply to avoid all the "- not in master category list" suffixes that appear if the categories not in the master list. Apart from that it works exactly the same.

Once the project is completed and the tasks deleted (but still remain in the Deleted Items folder - set NOT to empty on closing Outlook) I just edit the master category list and remove any no longer current project names.

The cool thing is that even though you delete the category, any tasks linked to it still retain the category.

This means you can go into the Deleted Items folder, view by category again and you'll see all your past projects and tasks. To use an old one again, simply drag the task (or category header if you want the entire project) back into the Tasks folder and it'll copy them back over.

2A) Yes, the project task is always the last one to be completed. When the project is complete I simply tick it off - but generally don't delete it or it's linked tasks until the next review.

When you tick it off as completed in it's own project category, it's also marked as completed in the [!Projects] list too!

It's cool to go back and see the projects ticked as completed in the [!Project] list!

2B) Yes, once the project is completed, it's completed ticked as complete, but not deleted until the next review. Then I delete the tasks, [!Project] task and project category from master category list as described in 1)

One point is that nothing is permanently deleted - they're simply in the Deleted Items folder and can be reviewed or re-started at any time.

Hope this helps, please let me know if not! Also, let me know if you'd like any further info.

Cheers,

Andy.

[sdann]

The cool thing is that even though you delete the category, any tasks linked to it still retain the category.

This means you can go into the Deleted Items folder, view by category again and you'll see all your past projects and tasks. To use an old one again, simply drag the task (or category header if you want the entire project) back into the Tasks folder and it'll copy them back over.

One point is that nothing is permanently deleted - they're simply in the Deleted Items folder and can be reviewed or re-started at any time.

I like this. Sometimes I have a new project with similar tasks. Thank you for the clarification!

[AndyD]

Just make sure Outlook is set not to empty the Delete Items folder when you close Outlook!

The option is in the Tools > Options section.

Best regards,

AndyD.