Discussion on:

Three tips for making Outlook's To-Do bar work for you

I have used this side panel for a while to help me be organized. The calendar is handy for looking up dates, I show the next 3 appointments so I have an idea of what is coming up soon.

I use the To-Do List to focus on what I need to do, but only what I plan on doing *this* week and only go a couple of steps into the entire task (steps like "print invoice", "call client" and "put invoice in mail" instead of "bill client"). It also shows flagged emails I have to either do something or reply to.

When I have to send our weekly activity log on Monday I comb through the completed To-Do items. In the calendar view I see not only what has been completed, but when it was completed.

Then every Monday I re-evaluate my tasks and change the due dates to the end of the week.

This helps me keep track of what I need to do (steps) and what I have done and when. Of course I'm interested in other ways to work it.

Much of what you have discussed doesn't appear to be applicable in Outlook 13. i.e. only today's events or another highlighted day's events are displayed (very useful???) and so forth.

I'm with @markwit. This feature has been severely degraded in Office 2013 to the point where it's rendered almost useless. I'm an early adopter but this is the single key reason why I'll be sticking with Outlook 2010.

is similar to Hometoy.

I don't leave it open, a quick click on the bar will open and close it. Using the locks it open.

I only show the current month on the calendar
I only show the next three appointments
The Task List shows Icon (so I know whether it is email or task) and Subject (so I know what to expect). I have it arranged by Due Date and Show in Groups. Now I know what needs to complete today and which are the quickest to get out of the way.

I also set my Due Date Flag a couple of days earlier (if possible) to reduce snafu's.

My Wish List would have been to have
the calendar more optimizable to show the current 30 days instead of the current month
Appointments to only show Todays appointments or have the appointments setout similar to the tasks.

I don't know much about Outlook 13 but from all I have read, I think I will stay with 2007 for a while longer.

I'm one of those who wanted to like it, but have kept the bar hidden since I started using Outlook 2010. lol Thanks to this article I'll give it another try if I can 'fix' the task list. C-:

I like the idea Susan mentioned of removing the flagged messages so I can just see actual Tasks... but wish it was one of the things she included steps for since I'm missing something and can't figure it out. Does anyone know exactly how to make flagged items no longer show in the To-Do bar, in Outlook 2010?

Thanks in advance.

If you only want to see tasks and NOT emails in your To-Do Bar, try this:

Show you To-Do bar
Right click on the Subject bar
Select Customize Current View
Select Filter
Select Advanced tab
From the Field drop down menu, select All Mail Fields/Email accounts
Add Condition doesnt contain and YOUR email address in the value field
Select Add to List and OK

This worked well for me with ONE email account. I could not get it to work with more than one account either by adding more than one account to the value my.email.com; my.otheremail.com or as two separate filters.

Everyones setup is usually different so you will just need to play with the filters.
You cannot edit a filter, you will need to delete then add.

Hope this helps.

With more than one email account, as previous instruction except in the VALUE remove your email and replace with @

Do you mean right-clicking on the flag and selecting "Clear Flag"?

then that would probably be correct but PCF was asking about removing the flagged messages so I can just see actual Tasks. A filter would be needed in that instance.
I use 2007 but assume the filter would be the same in 2010.