taskpad view filters (OL2000, IMO)

[mas]

Hi all,

I have a question about configuring the filter criteria for the taskpad
(the list of tasks that appears in some calendar views). I've asked in
m.p.o.calendaring but haven't had a response, so I thought I'd try a
more general question here in case anyone has any ideas. FYI I'm using
OL2000 (IMO) on Win2K.

What I'm trying to do is configure the taskpad to display just the set
of tasks I want. The problem I'm having is that "Today's Tasks" and
"Active Tasks for Selected Days" aren't doing what I think they should
be doing, which is display the tasks that are due today or on one of the
selected days respectively.

The questions I have are these:

* What are the exact criteria used by the taskpad views to select a
subset of tasks to display? Or, where should I look to find out?

* Are these easily configurable (eg. through some menu item)? If so,
how? (No, choosing "Customize this view..." from the r-click menu
doesn't work; the filters chosen there are applied to ALL taskpad views,
not just the currently selected one)

* Are they configurable by some other means, e.g. editing a registry
entry, or editing an HTML file like that used by Outlook Today? If so,
can you provide details?

And, more generally, is there an HTML template file used by Outlook
(like the outlook.htm file used by Outlook Today) to generate calendar
and taskpad views? If so, what is it?

I've tried all the right-click menus associated with the taskbar, I've
tried Google, I've searched the archives of all the m.p.outlook.*
newsgroups, I've searched the MSKB (197901 is the only remotely relevant
one, and that doesn't solve the problem), I've read "Outlook 2000 In a
Nutshell" from cover to cover; basically, I've read all the FMs I can
find and so far, no solution.

Any ideas, suggestions, solutions, or pointers to other fine manuals I
should read would be most gratefully appreciated.

Thanks very much.

mas

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

* What are the exact criteria used by the taskpad views to select a subset

of tasks to display? Or, where should I look to find out?

AFAIK, they are hard coded in the views. If you r-click on the field name
row and choose Customize Current View you'll see it's not using a filter.

* Are these easily configurable (eg. through some menu item)? If so, how?
(No, choosing "Customize this view..." from the r-click menu doesn't work;
the filters chosen there are applied to ALL taskpad views, not just the
currently selected one)

only to the degee you can using the right click on the header row and
choosing customize current view or right click on the New task row and
choosing taskpad settings.

* Are they configurable by some other means, e.g. editing a registry
entry, or editing an HTML file like that used by Outlook Today? If so, can
you provide details?

No. See above for ways to configure views on the task pad. Note that you can
use the Task folder and customize the views for the full task folder.

And, more generally, is there an HTML template file used by Outlook (like
the outlook.htm file used by Outlook Today) to generate calendar and
taskpad views? If so, what is it?

No, not that I'm aware of. You can create your own folder home page using
the outlook view control. See www.digidashlive.com and
http://www.poremsky.com/calendar.htm for more information.

 

[mas]

Thanks very much, Diane. I have a couple of follow-up questions if you
don't mind.

AFAIK, they are hard coded in the views. If you r-click on the field name
row and choose Customize Current View you'll see it's not using a filter.

Yes, I noticed that about the customize menu. Do you (or anyone) know of
any way to find out specifically what the filter criteria are, aside
from empirical experimentation? I can't tell whether mine are working
correctly, but they don't seem to be doing what they should.

Can anyone tell me whether the following behavior is correct?

* the "Today" view in the TaskPad shows: All tasks with a due date after
today that are either not completed or were completed today.

(should show only uncompleted tasks *due today* ?)

* the "Active Tasks for Selected Days" shows: All tasks that were (1)
_created_ on or before the selected days, (2) with a due date on or
after the selected days, and (3) that are not completed or were
completed on one of the selected days.

(should show only uncompleted tasks *due on the selected days*,
regardless of creation date ?)

only to the degee you can using the right click on the header row and
choosing customize current view or right click on the New task row and
choosing taskpad settings.

Can anyone confirm my experience that "Customize this view..." from the
menu displayed by right-clicking on the header row in the TaskPad
applies filters to ALL views, not just to the currently selected view?

No, not that I'm aware of. You can create your own folder home page using
the outlook view control. See www.digidashlive.com and
http://www.poremsky.com/calendar.htm for more information.

Thanks for the links, and for your helpful advice.

mas