Integrating Project and Outlook
Outlook is Microsoft’s email workhorse, but email is only one of the
ways that Outlook and Project work as a team. When you’re in Project,
you can email Project files without jumping over to Outlook to do so.
But because both programs can store lists of tasks and names, you can
export Project
tasks to Outlook and vice versa. You can even use your Outlook address
book to build your resource list in Project. This section explains how
to use these features.
Adding Project Tasks to Outlook
If the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is all too true in
your case, you can keep important Project tasks in sight by adding them
(one at a time) to your Outlook Task List. By adding a reminder to
these Outlook tasks, you can really stay on top of things. All you need
is copy and paste. Here are the steps:
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In a task-oriented view like the
Gantt Chart, select the Task Name cell for the task you want to copy to
Outlook and press Ctrl+C. (Or right-click the cell and choose Copy
Cell.)
You can select only one task at a time. Project copies the task name to the Clipboard.
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In Outlook, display the Tasks list.
In the navigation bar, click Tasks.
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Right-click the Tasks list and choose New. (Or choose Home→New Task.)
The Task entry window appears with the heading Untitled–Task.
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Click the Subject box, and then press Ctrl+V.
In the Subject box, the name of the task appears. If you want Outlook
to remind you about the task due date, turn on the Reminder checkbox
and then choose the date and time when you want to be reminded.
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On the ribbon, click Save & Close.
Repeat steps 1 through 4 for other tasks you want to add to Outlook.
Importing Tasks from Outlook
Every once in a while, you quickly create tasks in Outlook that you later realize belong in one of your projects.
You can import these tasks into a Project file as a head start. When
you import tasks from Outlook, you just create tasks with the task
names from Outlook and any notes that you added. Although these
imported tasks come in with the standard duration of 1 day? (the
question mark indicates estimated duration), they have no task
dependencies, resources, or dates. To import Outlook tasks, follow
these steps:
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Open the Project file, display a task-oriented view like the Gantt Chart, and then choose Task→Insert→Task→Import Outlook Tasks.
The Import Outlook Tasks dialog box opens. Outlook doesn’t have to
be running, but you must have at least one incomplete task in your
Outlook Task list. If you have no tasks in Outlook or they’re all
complete, a message appears telling you there are no tasks to import.
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Select the checkbox for each task you want to import, as shown in Figure 3.
Any notes you typed in the Notes box in Outlook appear in the Notes cell in the table.
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Click OK.
The tasks appear at the end of the list of tasks in your Project file.
Copying Tasks from an Email
When it comes to copying
and pasting, Project 2010 has gotten a lot chummier with its Office
2010 counterparts. If you copy an indented list of tasks from an Outlook
email or a Word document, Project 2010 is smart enough to turn them
into summary tasks and subtasks in your Project Task list. Figure 4 shows the tasks in Outlook and the same tasks after pasting them into Project.
