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Comparing Lists in SharePoint, Outlook, and OneNote

2 minute read

Product Page Patterns 17

There’s a lot to do in a day’s work and there are many ways to create your to-do list. But how to create the best to-do list? We’re here to fill you in on the different types of lists you can make in Office 365 applications by comparing the list features available in SharePoint, Outlook, and OneNote.

Each application has their strong points and best use cases, and deciding between which application to use can come down to the type of project you’re working on, the collaboration your to-do list may require, or the specific list features you want to include. Check out the text below and watch the video above.

SharePoint Lists: For Your More Complex Lists

SharePoint lists are great for holding lots of data. They function similarly to a table you might use for project management. The columns you create are very customizable to the data you want it to host, and SharePoint also has valuable features available that you may have not thought of before. In SharePoint, you have the option to choose from a list of list options, or you can create your own customized list. The list options that SharePoint has templates for includes, announcements, a calendar list that can sync with your Outlook, a list you can import from an Excel spreadsheet, or a status list you might use to manage a project.

Click here to learn how to create and manage a list in SharePoint. The video above demonstrates how to build a customized list.

For To-Do Lists Tied to Your Emails

If a large chunk of your day is spent in email working on follow ups and action items from emails, then housing your to-do list in Outlook might be a good option for you. You can easily add items to your to-do list by clicking the flag button on an email in your inbox. Once the flag is selected, that email is added to your to-do list. You can also create a new task to add to the to-do list if it does not already exist in an email. After you’ve added an email or a task to your to-do list, you can easily share that line item with internal and external collaborators as well as Outlook and non-Outlook users.

Read here for more clarification on the difference between a To-Do list and task in Outlook.

OneNote Lists: The Notebook for Just About Any Note You Want to Save

OneNote is an application built for organization, so it makes sense to organize your to-do items in OneNote. OneNote has many features to add to your to-do list such as tags to prioritize or call your attention to. You can even add audio clips to your list to help you remember the pronunciation of a complicated word. Because lists in OneNote can be so customizable, they’re great to store personal notes for your eyes only, especially if you’re working off a shared to-do list and need to make annotations. You can even password protect your notes.

Click here to learn about more details in OneNote lists. The above video outlines a few of the many features available in OneNote.

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