Manage tasks with To Do in Outlook

Open To Do to display all of your tasks in Outlook on the web and Outlook.com

To view and manage your tasks, select To Do.

The To Do page includes any task lists that you create, default tasks lists, and smart lists. Smart lists include My Day, Important, Planned, All, Completed, Assigned to me, and Flagged Email, and Due Today. 

Select a task in any list to see all of the available options for that task. You can do things like add additional steps, add a task to My Day, make tasks repeating, add a due date or reminder, and add a note or file. 

Turn off smart lists and change your settings by selecting Settings when To Do is open within Outlook.

Add a task to a list  

You can add new tasks by selecting a tasks list, then choosing the plus sign next to Add a task and entering a description of your task. If you add a task to a smart list, the task will be saved in Tasks and linked to the smart list you were in when you created it.

Add due dates and reminders to your tasks

You can select a task in any list to see its details, where you can add additional steps, add it to My Day, add a due date or reminder, make it repeating, pick a category, add a file, or add a note. Scheduled tasks will automatically appear in the Planned smart list, where you can see your tasks due today, tomorrow, and beyond. 

Start by selecting To Do from the left navigation pane in Outlook.
 

Add a reminder    

1. Select a task.

2. Select Remind me and choose when you'll be reminded: later today, tomorrow, next week, or a date and time you pick.

Add a due date    

1. Select a task to see its detail view.

2. Select Add due date and choose when the task will be due: today, tomorrow, next week, or a date you pick.

Set a due date to repeat   

1. Select a task.

2. Select Repeat and choose when your task will repeat: daily, on weekdays, weekly, monthly, yearly, or a custom repetition.

Add steps, importance, notes, and tags to your tasks

Add steps to your task   

Use steps to break your larger tasks down in to smaller, more actionable pieces.

To add a step:

1. Select the task to open detail view, select + Add step, and begin typing your next step.

2. When you've finished, select Enter on your keyboard to save and close.

To help keep you on track, a counter beneath each task's name displays the total number of steps the task contains and how many have been completed so far. 

Add importance   

Add priority to your tasks by starring your important tasks in each list. Once starred, you can view all of your prioritized tasks in the important smart list. You can also sort each list by importance to have your starred tasks automatically move to the top of the list.

Add notes   

If you have any extra information you’d like to add to your task, you can add a note. Select the task to open detail view, and then tap or select within Add a note. 

Add tags   

Keep your tasks organized across different lists by adding hashtags (like #work or #school) to your tasks' names. You can add tags when creating tasks or when editing them. 

You can quickly see all the tasks, notes, and steps that share a tag by selecting that tag or searching for it in the search bar. For example, search for #work.

Add categories to your tasks

Categorizing your tasks helps you view and group them in To Do using the same categories you use in Outlook. There are two ways to add a category to a task depending on how you prefer to assign categories: either add a category to a task in To Do, or add a category to a flagged email in Mail so the flagged email shows up in To Do's Flagged email list.

Add files to your tasks 

Add more context by uploading an image, document or other file to your task. Microsoft To Do supports all file types, though file uploads are limited to 25 MB per task. 

1. Select To Do from the left navigation pane.

2. Select the task you want to add a file to.

3. Choose + Add a file from the task details pane and follow the prompts to upload a file from your device.