Organize Tasks with Microsoft To Do

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About this lesson

Create and organize to-do items and tasks using the To Do app.

Quick reference

Organize Tasks with To Do

Use the To Do app to organize tasks and task lists. 

When to use

We use a To Do list whenever we want to easily log, monitor, and keep track of outstanding tasks and to-do items. 

Instructions

Microsoft To Do is a Windows 11 app that helps us manage all our tasks in one place. We can create To Do lists, organize and manage our tasks, and mark tasks as complete. It's a great way of keeping on track with outstanding to-do items. 

Open To Do

  • Click the Start button or press the Win key. 
  • Scroll down to 'T' or type To Do into the search bar. 
  • Click To Do to open. 

The To Do Interface

The Interface is divided into two sections: the left-hand menu and the main window. The left-hand menu is where we go to search for tasks and view our tasks in different ways. 

Tasks

Tasks shows us a list of all tasks we have created or tasks that have been assigned to us. If we simply want to see everything, this is where we go! 

If we want to filter the tasks and see which ones are due today, which ones are important etc, we can click on the other parts of the left-hand menu. 

My Day

My Day allows us to just focus on our day. We can see all of our current tasks for today listed here and we can also add a new task for today from here. 

Important

Important show us any tasks we have marked as important. 

Planned

Planned tasks are tasks that have a due date in the future. 

Assigned to me

This area shows us any tasks that have been assigned to us by ourselves or other people. 

Add Tasks

Let's add a task. 

  • Click on Tasks. 
  • Click in the Add a task field. 
  • Type a name for the task. 

The three icons on the right-hand side next to the task allow us to add a due date, set a reminder, and set a recurrence. We don't have to specify these when we add the task if we are pressed for time as we can edit the task later and add this information. 

  • Press Enter to add the task. 

Edit the Task

  • Click once on a task to edit. 

A pane will open up on the right-hand side. From here, we can choose Add to My Day to add the task to the My Day section. We can also add a task reminder, a due date, and set if we want the task to repeat. We can even add a file to the task from here and any useful notes about the task. 

Tasks that have gone past their due date will show in red in the task list. 

Add Steps

Some tasks are not singular, they might have multiple steps. For example, our task might be to create a user manual but that task has many steps. We can create steps for each task, similar to sub-tasks or mini tasks. 

  • With the task open in the pane, click Add step. 
  • Type a name for the sub-task and press Enter. 

We can click the three dots next to each sub-task and promote the sub-task to a main task, mark the sub-task as complete or delete the sub-task. 

We can delete the main task by clicking on the trash can icon in the bottom right-hand corner. 

Create Lists

Aside from the pre-set lists described above, we can create our own task lists in To Do. For example, maybe we are working on a specific project and we would like to group together all of the tasks related to the project, we can create a specific list just for those tasks. 

  • Click New list. 

A new list called 'Untitled list' will be created. This isn't very meaningful so let's rename it. 

  • Right-click on the list. 
  • Click Rename list or press F2. 
  • Type a name, 'Project Alpha'. 

Move Lists

If we have created lots of custom lists, we can move them to re-order by clicking on the three lines next to the list and dragging and dropping it to its new location. 

Create List Groups

We can group together lists that belong together by creating a list group. For example, maybe we have 3 task lists for different projects for one client. We could create a list group with the client name to organize the lists. 

  • Click the square icon to the right of the New list button. 

A new group will show in the left-hand menu called 'Untitled group'. 

  • Right-click on the group and click Rename group. 
  • Type a name for the group. 
  • Drag and drop lists to the group. 

Mark a Task as Important

If a task is important, we can mark it so it goes into our Important tasks lists making it easier to see. 

  • Click on Tasks. 
  • Click the star icon next to the task. 

Mark a Task as Complete

Once a task has been completed, we can mark it. 

  • Click on Tasks, 
  • Right-click on a task. 
  • Click Mark as Completed. 

Completed tasks stay in the task list in the Completed section and show with a strike-through. 

List Options

Change the Theme

The theme controls the overall look and feel of the To Do app. We might want to change this. 

  • Click on Tasks. 
  • Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Choose a Theme from the gallery. 

Sort Tasks

  • Click on Tasks.
  • Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Hover the mouse over Sort by. 
  • Choose how to sort the list. 

Print List

  • Click on Tasks.
  • Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Click Print list.

Email List

  • Click on Tasks.
  • Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Click Email list.
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  • 00:03 Microsoft To Do is a Windows 11 application that helps us organize
  • 00:08 all of our tasks and to do lists in one place.
  • 00:11 We can create to do lists, we can organize and manage our tasks,
  • 00:16 we can assign tasks to other people, and mark tasks as complete.
  • 00:21 It's a really great way of just keeping on top of any outstanding to do items, and
  • 00:25 it's a really comprehensive, nice looking application.
  • 00:29 So let's dive in and have a browse around.
  • 00:33 Once again, we're going to click on the Windows logo key, and
  • 00:36 we're going to do a quick search for To Do.
  • 00:38 Now this time I'm just going to use the search bar at the top here so
  • 00:42 let's type in to do, and it's this one it just here.
  • 00:46 Now this is one of those applications that I always like to have pinned to my taskbar
  • 00:51 because I use it so often to manage all of my tasks.
  • 00:54 And you can see straightaway it's popping up with do you
  • 00:58 want to pin Microsoft To Do to the taskbar so I'm going to say yes, yes I do.
  • 01:02 Let's expand to maximize the window.
  • 01:05 So first of all,
  • 01:06 let's get ourselves comfortable with the Microsoft To Do interface.
  • 01:09 Notice on the left hand side we have a menu.
  • 01:12 And this menu is kind of split into two parts,
  • 01:14 we have everything above the line and everything below.
  • 01:17 So let's deal with the items above the line first of all.
  • 01:21 Now if we click on My Day,
  • 01:23 this is basically going to allow us to focus on this particular day.
  • 01:28 So any tasks that I have to do today are going to show underneath My Day.
  • 01:32 If we click on Important this is going to show me all of the tasks that I've marked
  • 01:37 as important, so it allows me to get done the highest importance items first of all.
  • 01:43 If we click on Planned, tthese are tasks that are coming up in the future.
  • 01:48 And if we click on Assigned to me, these are tasks that have been specifically
  • 01:52 assigned to me either by myself or other people.
  • 01:55 And then finally at the bottom we have Tasks, now this is where you go just
  • 01:59 to see a big long list of all of the tasks that you have on your schedule.
  • 02:03 These other buttons above are really filters which filter
  • 02:07 out specific tasks from this task list, like the most important ones.
  • 02:11 Now everything above this line you'll see automatically when you open up
  • 02:15 Microsoft To Do.
  • 02:16 Everything below the line are tasks or to do lists that we've created for
  • 02:21 ourselves, so we can create our own custom lists and add our tasks to them.
  • 02:26 So you can see here I have one called groceries, and
  • 02:29 I just have some items in here that I want to remember when I go to the supermarket.
  • 02:34 So you can use To Do for personal items, or business related items as well.
  • 02:39 Now it doesn't matter where you're clicked within any of these menu items,
  • 02:43 you're always going to have the option to add a task at the bottom.
  • 02:47 So I'm going to click back on Tasks.
  • 02:49 I'm going to click in Add a task at the bottom here, and
  • 02:53 I'm just going to add a task in for myself Create Word Reference Guide.
  • 02:59 Now if I simply hit Enter here it's just going to add that task very quickly to my
  • 03:03 task list, so it's a nice quick way of just getting it there but
  • 03:07 we haven't really added any details.
  • 03:10 So what we can then do is click once to open the task, and we can go in and
  • 03:14 add more details related to this specific task.
  • 03:17 So if I want to do this today I could very quickly add it to the My Day area.
  • 03:22 I could set a reminder, so maybe I want to be reminded tomorrow.
  • 03:26 I can add a due date, so I'm going to say this is due next week.
  • 03:30 And if this is something that's going to repeat, so
  • 03:33 something that you need to do regularly, you can choose the repeat option and just
  • 03:38 tell To Do if you want it to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, so on and so forth.
  • 03:42 We can even add a file from here as well, so if we have a document or
  • 03:46 information that relates to this particular to do item we can pick that up
  • 03:51 from our files in File Explorer.
  • 03:53 And we even have a space at the bottom to add additional notes.
  • 03:57 Now right at the bottom in the corner we have a trashcan icon, so
  • 04:01 if you want to delete this task that is exactly where we go.
  • 04:04 And the only other thing that's worth pointing out in here is this Add step
  • 04:09 area, now some tasks might involve numerous different steps.
  • 04:13 For example, when I'm creating this Word Reference Guide there might be some mini
  • 04:17 steps within that.
  • 04:19 So for example, I need to research what I want to go in the reference guide.
  • 04:24 I want to create a template that I can use, and
  • 04:27 I want to make sure I have the correct word styles set up before I begin.
  • 04:32 So I could add all of these as many tasks of this overall task, and
  • 04:37 that is where we would go to Add step.
  • 04:40 So I can simply add all of those in and close down this task.
  • 04:44 Now if this is a particularly important task, if you take a look all the way over
  • 04:48 on the right hand side we have a star icon so I can mark this as important.
  • 04:53 And that means that I'm now going to be able to find this under the Important
  • 04:57 section over here.
  • 04:58 But what about if we have specific groups of tasks that we want to group together?
  • 05:03 So maybe I have specific clients and I have tasks related to those clients.
  • 05:08 This is where we can create our own custom task lists.
  • 05:12 So over on the left hand side, right at the bottom, I can click on New list.
  • 05:18 So I'm going to say that this is for Clients and hit Enter, and
  • 05:22 I can now go in and add lots of different tasks.
  • 05:26 So I'm just going to add a few random things in here very quickly so
  • 05:29 that we have some tasks in that list.
  • 05:31 Now I'm going to create a couple of other lists, so let's click on New lists.
  • 05:35 Let's call this one, Project Alpha,
  • 05:40 and we'll do another new list, Project Beta.
  • 05:48 Now I can reorder these lists, simply drag the three lines and
  • 05:53 move it into the position that you want it to be in.
  • 05:57 I can even create new groups for my lists.
  • 06:01 So notice this little icon in the bottom right hand corner, Create a new group.
  • 06:05 So I'm going to click this, I'm going to call this, let's say, Microsoft Projects.
  • 06:12 And then I can move my list to this specific group, so
  • 06:16 I can drag and drop them to group them all together.
  • 06:21 So now if I click the drop down arrow I can see all of the different task
  • 06:25 lists that I have in here.
  • 06:27 So it's a really great way of keeping on top of all the different types of to do
  • 06:31 lists and the projects that they relate to.
  • 06:34 Another thing we can do with tasks if we go back to our main task list is mark our
  • 06:38 tasks as complete.
  • 06:39 So once we finish those tasks we don't want to have them active in our list as
  • 06:43 still to do, we want to make sure that we mark them as completed.
  • 06:47 Now the simplest way to do this is simply to click in the little circle next to
  • 06:52 the item.
  • 06:53 So if I click in this it's going to mark it as complete and
  • 06:56 move it down to the completed section.
  • 06:58 So everything underneath here are all the completed tasks, and
  • 07:01 everything above are the ones that are still outstanding.
  • 07:04 Notice that if a task goes past its due date,
  • 07:07 you're going to see the date there showing in red.
  • 07:10 Now the final thing really to mention when it comes to using To Do is we can change
  • 07:15 the theme.
  • 07:16 So all the way over in the top right hand corner we have three dots,
  • 07:20 which is going to open up our list options.
  • 07:22 So we can choose a background color for our list, and this is specific to each
  • 07:26 list so it doesn't change it universally across them all.
  • 07:30 You could have a different color for every part of Microsoft To Do and
  • 07:33 every list that you create.
  • 07:35 Also notice at the bottom we can print this list out, we can email the list,
  • 07:40 or we can pin the list to Start.
  • 07:42 We also have some sort by options at the top, so this allows us to sort and
  • 07:47 organize our tasks.
  • 07:48 I can sort by importance, or maybe due date, or the ones that I've
  • 07:53 added to My Day, I can go for alphabetically, or even creation date.
  • 07:57 So I'm going to choose alphabetically, and it's going to reorganize my list.
  • 08:02 So that is pretty much all there is to Microsoft To Do, it's a great
  • 08:07 application that I use all the time in order to stay on top of my work

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