Three Ways to Make a Microsoft To Do task without Leaving your Inbox

Inbox zero is a must in my work life.

I try to archive 95% of my emails within the first few minutes of reading them. Why? Because almost all of them have an action item that I can either do right now or want to do later.

There are three ways to make a task in Microsoft To Do that is linked to the original email without leaving your inbox.

  1. Drag and drop into the My Day Pane
  2. Flag an Email
  3. Select Text and use To Do pop up mini menu

Here are some visuals to show you where these buttons are:

Drag and drop an email into the My Day Pane

Tip: Open Outlook on the Web > open the My Day pane> Select the email > Drag and drop into the “Add as a Task” area.

Flag an Email

Tip: If you flag a message in your Outlook inbox, it Open Microsoft To Do. Settings > Connected Apps > Turn on toggle for Flagged Emails.

Select Text and use To Do pop up mini menu

Tip: Select the text you want to use as the title of your task. Pause to let the mini menu appear. Click on the To Do icon to make a task in your To Do list.