Integrating Project 2010 with Outlook

Adding Outlook Tasks to Your Project Plan
Suppose you started brainstorming tasks for a new project in your Outlook Tasks list, and you’re now ready to import those tasks into Project 2010.

To import Outlook tasks into your project plan, follow these steps:
1. In Project 2010, open the project plan into which you want to import the Outlook tasks.
2. On the Task tab, in the Insert group, click the down arrow below the Task button, and then click Import Outlook Tasks.
3. If a security alert appears, click Allow.
As long as at least one incomplete task is present in your Outlook Tasks list, the Import
Outlook Tasks dialog box appears, even if Outlook is not already running any tasks marked complete in Outlook are not listed in the dialog box.


4. Select the check box for each task you want to import. Click the Select All button to import all listed tasks.
Items displayed with a darker background are folders or summary tasks, and you might not want to import them. If the same tasks are saved in multiple folders, be careful to select just one instance of the task for import. Clear the check box for any Outlook tasks not relevant to your project plan.
5. After selecting the tasks you want, click OK.
The tasks you selected are appended after the last task in your project plan.

The imported Outlook tasks have the following characteristics:
● If the task mode for new tasks is set to Manually Scheduled, the tasks are created as manually scheduled tasks, and durations from the Outlook tasks are copied to the Project 2010 Duration field. The Start field for these tasks remains empty.
● If the task mode for new tasks is set to Auto Scheduled, the tasks are created as automatically scheduled tasks, and durations entered in Outlook are not copied to Project
2010. The imported Outlook tasks revert to the default estimated duration of 1 day.
The start dates of the imported tasks are set to the project start date with the ASAP constraint.
● There are no links, predecessors, or assigned resources.
● Any notes entered in Outlook become task notes. Double-click the Note indicator in the Indicators column to review the note.

Adding Project 2010 Tasks to Outlook Tasks
Adding Outlook tasks to your project plan can help you quickly create tasks necessary to your project. Going the other direction—that is, adding key project tasks from your project plan to your Outlook Tasks list—is helpful when you want to keep a closer eye on critical tasks or milestone tasks, for example. Adding project tasks to your Outlook Tasks list is also helpful when you want to monitor tasks that you’re assigned to.
In Project 2010, you can send several tasks and some of their associated information to your Outlook Tasks list by using the Set Reminder command. However, this command is not on the ribbon by default.
If you plan to frequently add Project 2010 tasks to your Outlook Tasks list, add the Set Reminder command to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click the arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar, and then click More Commands.
2. In the Choose Commands From box, click Commands Not In the Ribbon.
3. Click Set Reminder, and then click the Add button.
4. Click OK.
The Set Reminder button is added to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Now that the Set Reminder button is on the Quick Access Toolbar, you can send Project 2010 tasks to your Outlook Tasks list by following these steps:
1. Open the project plan that contains the tasks you want to track in Outlook.
2. Select the tasks you want to send to Outlook.
Drag to select multiple adjacent tasks, or hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple nonadjacent tasks.
3. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Set Reminder.
4. Specify when you want the reminder to alert you. You can set the reminder for a number of minutes, hours, days, or another period of time before the start or finish date of the selected tasks.
5. Click OK.
The selected tasks are added to your Tasks list in Outlook. The start date, reminder time, and due date (finish date) are included.


Another way to add project tasks to Outlook is to use the Copy and Paste commands. However, you can copy only the task name, and you have to copy the tasks one at a time.
To copy and paste a task name to your Outlook task list, follow these steps:
1. In your project plan, display a task view such as the Gantt Chart.
2. Select the name of the task you want to copy to Outlook.
You can copy and paste only one task at a time from your project plan to Outlook.
Be sure to select only the task name. If you select multiple fields, all the information is pasted together in the task’s Subject field in Outlook.
3. On the Task tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.
4. Switch to Outlook and display the Tasks view or the To-Do list.
5. Right-click in the Subject entry box labeled Click Here to add A New Task, and then click Paste.
The task you copied from your project plan appears in the box.
6. Press Enter.
The task is added to the Tasks list.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for any additional tasks you want to copy to Outlook.

Copy Tasks To and From Outlook E-mail Messages Suppose you ask team leads to identify tasks for their portions of your project. They send you e-mail messages with the tasks they identified listed in the body of the message.
When you use Project 2010 and Outlook 2010, you can copy these tasks to your Project 2010 file simply by copying the text of the message and pasting it into the Task Name column of a Project 2010 table.
In the opposite direction, you can paste Project 2010 task information into an Outlook e-mail message. The information that you copy is automatically pasted as a table with the headings from the Project 2010 table in the first row. The Project 2010 table data that you paste into an Outlook e-mail message also retains the formatting you applied in Project 2010.