10 Minute Guide to Schedule+ for Windows 95 - Lesson 10 - Creating a To Do List  In this lesson, you will learn how to create a To Do list to help you manage the tasks you need to keep track of on your daily schedule. Using the To Do List The To Do list is a handy feature that helps you organize the things you need to accomplish. You can use it to enter, manage, and track tasks and projects that are important to the various dates and appointments on your schedule. With the To Do list, you can assemble lists of daily things you need to do, items you must work on to complete a project, and even groceries you need to pick up on the way home. You can use the To Do list in all kinds of ways, but its main purpose is to help you keep track of things you need to do. Task Any item you list in the To Do list is a task. A task is something you need to take care of on a particular date, or something you need to do to complete a project. Click on the To Do tab. This opens a To Do list on-screen, as shown in Figure 10.1. Youíve already seen the To Do list in smaller scale on the Daily view tab. (Flip back to Daily view to see the To Do list in the bottom-right corner.) That particular list relates to the date you display on your Appointment Book schedule. It lists the tasks you need to complete that day, and any held-over tasks that you didnít complete the previous day. The To Do list in your To Do tab is the entire list of all the tasks youíre tracking. Figure 10.1 The To Do tab. Working with Task Categories As you can see in Figure 10.1, your big To Do list appears as a grid, and the more tasks you add, the bigger your grid gets. Schedule+ organizes the tasks into columns that represent categories (also called fields) such as task priority, end date, duration, and more. With these categories and others you might assign, you can organize the tasks into group and projects. You can even filter and sort your tasks. Changing the Grid Display Schedule+ offers you several ways to control how it displays your To Do list grid. You can resize the columns to suit your needs. To change a column width, click on its border and drag it to a new location. You can also change how the gridlines appear with the Options dialog box. Use these steps to turn the gridlines on or off: 1. Open the Tools menu and choose Options. This opens the Options dialog box, shown in Figure 10.2. Figure 10.2 The Options dialog box. 2. Click on the Display tab to bring this tab to the front of the dialog box. 3. Deselect the Show gridlines check box. (You remove the check mark from the box by selecting it.) 4. Click OK to exit the dialog box. The gridlines no longer show up in your To Do list. 5. To turn the gridlines on again, follow the same steps, but select the Show gridlines check box in step 3. Changing Categories with the Columns Dialog Box By default, Schedule+ shows several categories, or fields, that relate to the tasks you want to list. However, you can change the categories at any time. In the Columns dialog box, you can add and remove the task categories that appear on your grid. If you donít like the task categories shown on the default grid, follow these steps to change the categories: 1. Open the View menu, select Columns, and select Custom. The Columns dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 10.3. 2. You can change the categories Schedule+ displays. The Available fields list shows the remaining categories you can use. The Show these columns list shows what categories Schedule+ currently displays in your grid. Figure 10.3 The Columns dialog box is where you can change the task catagories Schedula+ displays 3. To add a category to the Show these columns list, click on the category on the left and click on the Add button. To remove a category from the Show these columns list, select the category and click on the Remove button. 4. To change the order of the categories, select the category to move and click on the Move Up or Move Down buttons until the category is in the desired location. 5. To exit the dialog box and go back to your To Do list grid, click on the OK button. Schedule+ reflects any changes you made in the Columns dialog box on your To Do list grid. Changing Categories with the Columns Command For a faster change of your To Do list task categories, use the Columns submenu. Open theView menu and select Columns. In the submenu that appears you have several category options available: If you want to show all the possible task categories in your grid, select All from the submenu that appears. To show a limited number of task categories, choose Few from the submenu. To go back to the original task categories in the display, choose Typical from the submenu. If you donít want to see any additional categories at all, click on Description from the submenu. This option leaves you with just the Completed and Description task categories. Reading the To Do List Grid Take a look at Figure 10.4 to see what kinds of things the task grid tells you. Figure 10.4 You can indicate on your task list how close you are to completing each task. Completed tasks appear with a line through them and a check mark in the Completed column. Any tasks you have not completed by the specified end date appear with an overdue symbol next to them. Also, the dates for these tasks are marked in red so you canít miss them. If youíre viewing the To Do list in the Daily view tab, note that uncompleted tasks from the previous day or days are held over and appear in red in the next dayís To Do list. If you sort your tasks (which youíll learn to do in Lesson 11), you see an arrow next to the heading; it shows the direction in which you sorted the tasks. An up arrow means you sorted the tasks in ascending order, and a down arrow means you sorted the tasks in a descending order. You can group your tasks under project headings (see Lesson 11). The symbols (plus or minus signs) in front of the project heading enable you to hide or display the tasks related to the project. The project shown in Figure 10.4 has a minus sign next to its project heading, which means Schedule+ is displaying all the tasks. Some categories, when selected, open boxes for changing dates or percentages. These come in handy when you edit the progress and status information about your task. Use the Row Selection button to select an entire row. Cells, Fields, and Records Tables such as the one shown in the Schedule+ To Do list consist of intersecting columns and rows that form cells. Each row and column represents a heading/entry or field/record. In databases, which is what the To Do list is, each column is a field and each row is a record. Adding Tasks Itís time to start adding your own tasks to the list. A task can be any item you want to accomplish or track. To add a task to your own To Do list, follow these steps: 1. Click on the To Do tab to bring it to the front. Choose a row in which to start entering your task. 2. Click on the Description column and type in a description for your task. 3. Continue adding information in each category for the task until you fill in everything thatís relevant, such as a due date for completing the task or a time range for how long you can work the task. (You can press the Tab key to advance to each category in the row, or you can click on the cells using your mouse.) Using the Task Dialog Box A second way to add tasks to your To Do list is with the Task dialog box. This dialog box enables you to add more detailed information about your task to the To Do list. Use these steps to add a task with the Task dialog box: 1. There are two ways to open the Task dialog box: you can double-click on the Row Selection button in front of the task (see Figure 10.4), or you can click on the Insert New Task button on your toolbar. Either method opens the Task dialog box, shown in Figure 10.5. Task Shortcut Another way to open the Task dialog box is to right-click on the grid and select New Task. 2. In the General tab, enter an ending date in the Active range area associated with the task, or select a date with the arrows in the drop-down list. You can also specify a starting date, which helps you track the duration of the task. Figure 10.5 The Task Dialog box. It is very similar to the Appointment dialog box 3. Use the Mark as done after end date check box to automatically mark the task when you complete it. By the way, this feature marks the tasks as completed after a period of time regardless of whether you remember to or not. 4. Type a description of your task in the Description text box. 5. If you want to associate the task with a specific project, type the projectís name in the Project text box. (You learn more about projects in Lesson 11.) 6. If you want to prioritize the task, mark a priority rating in the Priority text box. By default, Schedule+ assigns a number 3, or normal, priority rating, but you can change this to another rating at any time. 7. If you need a reminder to alert you about a task, set one with the Set Reminder check box and specify when you want the reminder to appear. 8. If you donít want anyone else viewing your task, click on the Private option. 9. Click OK to exit the dialog box and return to the To Do list; your new task appears on the grid. You can use the Status tab and the Notes tab in the Task dialog box to add additional information about your task. You can also click on the Make Recurring button to turn a task into a recurring item. In this lesson, you learned how to use and insert tasks in the To Do list. In the next lesson, youíll learn how to group tasks into projects and track the progress of projects.

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