We're going to capture some tasks to add to our list.
First we need to decide which list the task is for.
If it doesn't belong in any of the personal lists then add it to the general task list.
Select the list in the left hand panel
and then come down here to where it says 'add a task'.
This field might be way down here or up the top depending on your version.
I'm going to add the task 'schedule a project meeting' and press return
and now this task is added to my list
and if I click on it,
this panel opens up on the right showing all the details.
If we want to break our task into multiple steps then we can add them here
and each step can be completed individually
and the task they belong to will stay active.
Steps have a set of options in the Ellipsis menu
where you can complete the step,
promote it to be a separate task or you can delete it.
We can choose if we want to add the task to the My Day list.
This is a really important part of To Do.
We'll look at that list later in the series,
but for now it's the list of the current day's tasks.
The next section is all about reminders and scheduling.
First, I can set a reminder to notify me when I need to do something,
and there are different choices here or you can pick the exact date and time.
The reminder will pop up as a banner in To Do
and you'll also see it when you're in Outlook or Outlook on the Web.
You can set a due date
and if you do, the task will be added to the 'Planned' smart list.
Again, we'll look at that list later in this series.
When the due date comes around,
the date will turn red and it will be marked overdue so it will stand out as a late task.
You can always come back and change the due date to give yourself some more time.
There's a repeat option, again with choices or a custom setting.
If you set a repeat then whenever you complete the task with this toggle,
the original task will be closed
and a new one is automatically created with the same name
and the next scheduled due date.
You can attach files here so if there's a document or an image you need to help you complete your task
you can attach it here
and you can add any notes.
This could be a more detailed description
or you can even paste in hyperlinks if there's any useful info on the web that you can use.
If you accidentally add a task to the wrong list
you can just drag it into the right one, like this.
Let's have a quick look at the phone app now.
I usually have my phone with me all the time
so it's really handy for capturing tasks when I'm not at my desk
and I can use the dictation feature so I can just use my voice.
This works on Android and iOS.
All you need to do is open up To Do,
go to the list you want to add the task to
and I'm going to add mine to the 'tasks' list,
then I press a dictation button,
speak the task into the phone and press return.
You can also capture text with your phone camera and turn it into editable text.
Now, this isn't perfect because there's not a lot of control over how the text is organised
but let me show you how I quickly capture the ingredients for this recipe on my iPhone.
I choose my list,
I hit 'add a task',
press and hold in the text field until it says 'scan text',
then I hover over my text until the camera focuses on the right section,
then I hit 'insert' and return.
Then I do it again to grab the next section
and now I have my ingredients captured in my tasks.