Thursday, November 11, 2004

 

Files Where You Need 'em


category : office XP and office 2003 : Outlook

I may be the last person in the world to figure this out, but it occurred to me this morning as I was organizing several article revisions I need to do that I can attach the files I need to edit directly to the tasks in Outlook that prompt me to do the work. One of my biggest reasons for procrastinating is that I get in a hurry and keep multiple copies of articles, presentations, and what-have-you in folders (usually the right folders, but sometimes not) on my hard drive or USB flash card. Knowing that I can put my hands on the exact copy I need at a moment's notice makes it more likely that I'll get to work on the file when I have a few spare moments, rather than thinking, "Oh, I'll get around to that when I have time to go looking for the right version."

This morning I opened the task I created (by double-clicking it in Personal Folders in Outlook 2003) and clicked the Insert File button in the task toolbar. In the Insert File dialog box, I navigated to the folder containing the file I want to use, clicked it, and clicked Insert to add it to the task. The little file icon appears in the message area of the task, and when I look at it in Outlook's Task view, the small file clip appears to show me the file is right there. When I'm ready to tackle that task, I can open it, double-click the file icon, and click Open. It's that simple. No more excuses.

Ah, organization is a beautiful thing. :)

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