Solved: Updated data should export to Create Task in MS-Outlook

[Shanmugam]

Hi,

I have a list of activities/subjects to do task list in MS-Outlook. After i update the details in MS-Excel and click button it should update into my MS-Outlook task.

Attached is the template for that. The number of rows can be increased or decreased in MS-Excel.

Please help me in this.

Thanks,
Shanmugam

[Zack Barresse]

Hi there,

Why would you just not use Outlook? What is the purpose for keeping it in Excel? I've seen this come up often over the last few years, even coded some solutions for this. One person wanted a complete reconstruction of the Outlook feature in Excel. Not efficient, and it was eventually cast aside (by my recommendation) to go with the native program itself. One thing we can do is open up a new Outlook appointment item in Excel. Wouldn't that be better?

[Shanmugam]

Hi,

I think my question was wrongly understood.

I am not avoiding MS-Outlook. My purpose is to create task in MS-Outlook. But every time i need to navigate so many to create new task in MS-Outlook. To reduce this work, i need to update data in MS-Excel (with all the required info for task) and if i click one button, it should upload to MS-Outlook and create new task as in the MS-Excel I update.

Thanks,
Shanmugam

[Zack Barresse]

"But every time I need to navigate so many to create new task in MS-Outlook."
You're going to take up just as much time trying to type them into Excel, and IMHO longer. So you haven't convinced me that this is even remotely close to a good idea. Having Outlook open and going to tasks (keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 4) should be faster. Plus the keyboard shortcut for creating new tasks Ctrl + Shift + K would make it even faster. If you're going to type it all out, type it all out once. I certainly don't want to make a tool to double your workload. Unless of course there's something here we're missing or you're not telling us.

[Shanmugam]

Hi Zack,

I am having multiple works which i should do on day-to-day basis. It also includes weekly report, fortnight report, monthly report, etc. I need to remember all these reports which are mandatory for my work. This also includes some team meetings. If i do this in excel file for the month, then i can take a copy of all these activities (simple row and column copy) for next month so that i should not miss any of my activities for the consecutive months.

Please do the needful for me in this.

Thanks

[Zack Barresse]

Okay, well, here's my dilemma. What you're asking for you already have in Outlook. It's better tracked in Outlook because it has the native functionality built-in for this. You can change the view in the Tasks pane to show what you want. If you want more functionality than what is in the view, you can do a custom view. If you want more than that, you can export by your own criteria to Word or Excel. I don't want to reinvent the wheel because you don't want to use what you already have. Does that make sense?

Call it what you like, I am unsympathetic to people not wanting change or not learning the product which will work best for them. I'm not trying to be mean, only pragmatic. And I'm yet unconvinced that you shouldn't be doing this in Outlook, and just trying to reinvent the wheel in Excel. As I said, you can even call a [Outlook] Task form in Excel, which when saved, would save to Outlook, where you have the tools and native capability to do what you want with it.

[Shanmugam]

Zack,

Thanks for this.

i have tried this. i can able to do MS-Outlook>file>import and export>task and export the task details to excel file. but after i updated some rows in the excel and imported again to the MS-Outlook>file>import and export> task (with same header rows which i exported), the tasks which i updated is not showing for me in MS-Outlook.

Can you please advice me.

Thanks,
Shanmugam

[Zack Barresse]

What I'm suggesting is bypassing the import/export altogether. You can call an instance of Outlook via VBA and bring up an actual task form, that way when you save it, it's saved directly to Outlook. My question is why even use Excel??

[Shanmugam]

Zack,

Thanks for your patience and response. Can you please provide me VBA help which i am really requiring from Ms-Excel and this would avoid my Ms-Excel requirement?

[Zack Barresse]

...which i am really requiring from Ms-Excel and this would avoid my Ms-Excel requirement?

I guess this is my question. What exactly are your requirements? You've said you want to create tasks in Outlook. You gave an example of how you want to enter data into Excel in a list format and enter them all at once. I recommended you just have a button (or some other action) to launch an actual Outlook task item to enter your data and save, which would negate the need to create a new data structure and UI in Excel to do something Outlook does natively. What other requirements do you have?

[Shanmugam]

my requirement is as simple as i updated in attachment (create task.xls file). this entire tasks should copy to the next month and this avoid my duplication of my work for next month.

For e.g. if i do 20 tasks in Apr month and going to do the same 20 or 20+ or 20- tasks in May month, i should copy all my similar tasks from Apr month to May month, but according to days and dates of May month.

[Zack Barresse]

If that's all, why don't you just set them up once and set them as a reoccuring task?

[Shanmugam]

Zack -- Agree with you, but re-occuring task is not working for me (its working for some task and not for others). i guess, i am using wrong method to do re-occuring task.

[Zack Barresse]

What method are you using? Can you tell us the steps you've taken to apply a reoccurance?

[Shanmugam]

MS-Outlook > File Menu > New Task > Subject (****) > Reccurence > Weeklyl > End date > Dec2009 > save and close.

[Zack Barresse]

And some are working like that and some are not? You need to look for the differences in them. Open up each item and see if it has a reoccurance. If it does not prompt you when you open it whether you want to open just that item or the series, it does not have a reoccurance set to it.

[Shanmugam]

yes, the task which i tested before has a reoccurance. but my problem is, it reminds me one day and not for ahead of the days, even though i gave end date by two months later. (kindly bare with me for dragging this forum too much).

[Zack Barresse]

No worries.

The reoccurance will continue a task (copy it) as you specify. Each reminder will be the same based on whatever you set for the original (or whichever one you have opened, so long as you are editing the series).

Set the reminder for the first one when you set the reoccurance. Then go and open up another of the occurances (just open that one, not the series) and check the reminder. Should be the same. Is this not the case?

[Shanmugam]

Got it!!! i got a clue out of this and finally done. Thanks for thsi Zack.

[Zack Barresse]

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