10 Minute Guide to Schedule+ for Windows 95 - Lesson 11 - Working with Tasks and Projects In this lesson, you will learn how to group tasks into projects and keep track of the projects in your schedule. Turning Tasks into Projects With Schedule+, you can group your tasks under a particular project name to help you organize the things you need to do. Letís say your boss put you in charge of creating a company brochure highlighting products and services. To accomplish a project like this, you have to complete many individual tasks, such as writing the copy to include inside the brochure, designing the layout, creating artwork, proofreading the material, and arranging to have the brochure printed by a professional printer. Schedule+ can help you keep track of these various tasks with the To Do list. By organizing the tasks under one project name as shown in Figure 11.1, you make it easier to locate, track, and see the tasks as you work on the project. Figure 11.1 Schedule+ makes it easy to keep track of related tasks by listing them under project headings. To create a project, follow this procedure: 1. Click the To Do tab to bring it to the front. Open the Insert menu and select Project, or right-click to open the shortcut menu and select New Project. 2. The Project dialog box opens (see Figure 11.2). Type a name for your project in the Name text box. Figure 11.2 The Project dialog box. 3. You can prioritize your project with the Priority text box. Simply type in a priority assignment, or use the up and down arrows to set a different number. 4. If you want, you can turn the project into a private project using the Private check box. Click on the Private check box (a check mark indicates the feature is on) to hide the project. 5. Click OK to exit the dialog box. The project heading appears in the To Do list. Once you have a project heading in place, youíre ready to start adding tasks to it. To add tasks under the project heading, follow these steps: 1. To add new tasks to the project heading, open the Insert menu and select Task. 2. In the Task dialog box, type information pertaining to the task, such as an end date and a description. 3. To place the task under a project, click on the Project drop-down list, shown in Figure 11.3. Choose a project heading from the list. Figure 11.3 Use the Task dialog box to assign new tasks to your project heading. 4. To exit the dialog box and add the task under the project heading, click OK. If you have tasks in your To Do list, you can easily list them under project headings, too. There are a couple of ways to do this: Select the task by clicking on the Row Selection button (at the left of each task) and drag it under the appropriate project heading. Open the Task dialog box (by double-clicking on the task) and assign a project heading to the task from the Project drop-down list. Displaying Projects and Related Tasks When you have several projects on your To Do list, you can choose to list all the tasks under them, or hide the tasks. The tiny boxes in front of the project heading enable you to turn your project task list on or off. A minus sign means all your tasks are visible (or expanded) under the project; a plus sign means the tasks are hidden (or collapsed) in the list. Take a look at Figure 11.4 to see what the boxes look like. Figure 11.4 You can control how Schedule+ displays tasks under the project headings. To hide the tasks under a project heading, click on the project heading box. This changes the minus sign to a plus sign. To display the tasks, click on the tiny box again. Grouping Tasks Not only can you control how projects and tasks appear on the To Do list (hidden or displayed), but also you can control how Schedule+ groups and lists the projects and tasks. For example, you can choose to list tasks by completion dates or by priority. You can determine the order in which Schedule+ lists your tasks under a project heading. You can list tasks in ascending or descending order, and you can list the tasks based on information in your To Do listís categories. The Group by dialog box enables you to group tasks in up to three levels or criteria. To group your tasks, follow these steps: 1. Double-click on the project heading, or open the View menu and select Group by. The Group by dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 11.5. Figure 11.5 The Group by dialog box. 2. Select the first Group tasks by drop-down list. Choose a category by which you want to group the tasks in your list. For example, if you want to view your list by the end dates that you finish each task, select End date as the category you want to group by. 3. Next, select how you want to display the categories, either in ascending or descending order. Click on the appropriate option button to make this selection. 4. You can group your tasks by yet another level of information. To do this, select a second category in the Then by drop-down list and follow the same procedure as in step 2. Continue selecting the categories for grouping the tasks in your list. 5. When you finish selecting the category or categories by which to group your tasks, click OK to exit the dialog box. Schedule+ rearranges the tasks according to your selections. Editing Tasks There are all kinds of ways you can make changes to the tasks in your To Do list. Here are some methods you can use to edit tasks: You can double-click on the Row Selection button next to the task you want to edit and make your changes in the Task dialog box. You can select a specific task field and make your changes directly into the individual parts of your task in the list. Edit the Daily To Do List, Too! You can apply the editing techniques listed here to your To Do list on the Daily view tab. You donít have to open the To Do tab every time you need to make changes. Depending on the column, additional controls appear when you click on a field. You can use the controls to set different percentages, dates, and so on. These controls are helpful in tracking the status of the tasks. You can right-click on your selected task to open a shortcut menu with more commands you can use to edit your task. To delete a task, select it and press the Delete key. Donít forget about those handy Cut, Copy, and Paste commands. You can select them from your toolbar or the Edit menu. (See Lesson 7 for more information.) To change your column headings (fields) open the View menu and select Column; then select Custom. This opens the Columns dialog box where you can edit which columns appear in your list. (See Lesson 10.) To display more or fewer columns, open the View menu, select Column, and select the number of columns you want to display on your grid. To insert a new row onto your grid, select the row before which you want the new row to appear, open the Insert menu, and choose Row. Turning Tasks into Appointments You can quickly turn a task into an appointment on your schedule. Select the task, right-click to display the shortcut menu, and select Appt. from Task. This opens the Appointment dialog box that you use to turn the task into an appointment. Setting Task Reminders You learned about setting reminders in your schedule in Lesson 6. You can also assign reminders to your tasks. If you add a reminder option to a task, you see a Daily Reminder box on your screen the day you need to work on a task. Task reminders work like the reminder message boxes you use with your daily appointments. However, task reminders appear at the beginning of the day, not at a specific time; Schedule+ associates task reminders with dates, not times. For example, if you assign a specific date to a task and set up a task reminder option for that date, you can expect to see a task reminder box on that date as soon as you start your Schedule+ program. To add a reminder to any task, follow these steps: 1. Double-click on the task for which you want to set a reminder from the To Do list. This opens the Task dialog box (refer to Figure 11.3). 2. Click on the Set Reminder check box (the one with the bell icon) and set how many days before or after the task date that you want to receive a reminder about the task. For example, if you want to receive a reminder about a task three days before its end date, set your reminder for three days and select End date from the drop-down list. 3. Click OK to exit the dialog box. A reminder icon now appears beside the task description in the To Do list. On the day you set for the reminder to alert you of the task, the task reminder message box appears with an audible beep when you first start your Schedule+ program for the day. To close the message box, click OK. You can also choose to make changes, such as resetting the days, to the task reminder message box by clicking on the Edit button. Tracking Tasks Tracking tasks on your To Do list is fairly straightforward. When you complete a task, click on the Completed column (the column with a check mark at the top). Schedule+ places a check mark in front of your task and strikes through the task with a line, and the % Complete column shows 100% (if you use a % Complete category). Take a look at Figure 11.6 to see what a completed task looks like. Figure 11.6 Use the To Do listís tracking features to help you monitor a taskís status. There are lots of ways for you to use the To Do listís task categories to track a taskís status. Here are a few things to remember when tracking your tasks: If a project or task is related to a specific date on your schedule, it shows up in the Daily view tab on the To Do list. Any tasks that are left over from the day before appear in red with an overdue symbol next to them on the To Do list. The % Complete column enables you to log in a percentage that indicates how much of the task is complete. The Priority column enables you to prioritize the tasks based on a number scale. The Ends column specifies when you are to complete the task. Thereís a great deal of flexibility in the To Do listís tracking features that enables to you maintain a system that works best for you. Although Schedule+ helps you by providing reminders and overdue icons, itís still up to you to manage your To Do list and keep yourself on schedule. In this lesson, you learned how to list tasks under project headings, to group the tasks in the To Do list, and to track tasks. In the next lesson, youíll learn how to build a database of contacts.

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