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Create a Task From a Message in Outlook

< 1 minute read

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This might be a familiar scenario: You get an email in your inbox and the sender needs you to complete a task. Well, you don’t have to manually go in and create a task reminder for yourself. There’s actually an easier way to do this, right from within the email itself.

  • In Outlook, click on the email and then drag it to the tasks button in the bottom-left corner of your inbox.
  • It will automatically create a task that contains the information that was provided to you in the email. Now, just slap a time on it for when you want to complete it by and you’re good to go.

Some of you might be asking: Can’t you just flag a message and have it appear in your to-do list in tasks? 

Yes, you can do that, but there are downfalls to this method. If you delete the email message, the item is removed from the to-do list. If you do the drag-and-drop method, the task stays in the list. This is because it created a unique task, rather than just placing a notification there based on the email. This makes it more effective for managing your tasks separately, and it allows you to keep your email inbox clean without compromising your task list.

Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

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