Using Phone Messages and Tasks

The most common type of mail message is the memo, but you can send other types of mail, as well. For example, you can send invitations for meetings, phone messages, and even task assignments. The difference between the types of mail messages sent is the form used to create the message.

Sending a Phone Message

The phone message memo offers an easy, timesaving method of sending someone his or her phone messages. If, for example, you take a colleague's messages while she's out of the office or in a meeting, you can enter them in Notes as you take them and then send them to her via mail. To send a phone message, follow these steps:

  1. In your mailbox, choose Create, Special, Phone Message. The phone message memo appears (see Figure 8.2).

  2. Enter the heading information as usual. Type the phone message information in the text boxes.

  3. Send the phone message as you would any mail message.

    Figure 8.2. Take a phone message in Notes and send the person a mail message memo.

Working with Tasks

Tasks are similar to items you place on a To Do list. You can create a task list to display in your To Do view (shown in Figure 8.3). To help you keep track of your task list, Notes enables you to choose a task and then update it, delete it, or mark it as completed by using the tool bar buttons in the To Do view.

You also can choose to assign tasks to others in your organization. To assign a task, follow these steps:

  1. In your mailbox, choose Create, Task. The Task memo appears (see Figure 8.4).

  2. Enter a subject in the Task text box, and enter a date and priority, if you want.

    Figure 8.3. Use Notes Task List to organize your duties.

    Figure 8.4. Assign a task to yourself or to others.

Note

No Date? If you enter a date but forget to deselect the No Date check box, no date appears in the Task list.


  1. (Optional) Enter a description of the task in the brackets below Additional information.

  2. To assign the task to your own task list, click the Assign Now tool button. Notes adds the task to your list and returns to your mailbox in the To Do view. The first time you assign a task to your own task list, a message appears, telling you the task was saved in your To Do view.

  3. To assign the task to someone else, click the Assign To Others tool button. The Assign To and cc fields appear below the Task Request graphic, and the tool bar buttons change to Address, Assign Now, and Delivery Options.

    To have the task appear in your calendar, click the Display Task On My Calendar button.

Note

Fields in a Memo or Other Mail Message The areas with brackets that you fill in are called "fields." Some fields, such as the To field, contain certain instructions from Notes that help you fill the field. For more information about fields, see Lesson 14, "Editing Text Fields."


  1. Complete the message, and then send it by clicking the Assign Now tool button.

Viewing Task Status

The To Do view of your Mail database provides a list of tasks you assign to yourself, tasks assigned to you by others, and tasks you assign to others.

The To Do view divides the tasks into Completed, Current, Future, Overdue, and Today categories. It also displays messages that ask you to respond by a particular date.

To remove a message from the To Do view, select it and click the Remove from To Do View button on the Action bar. Although this removes the message from the To Do view, it doesn't delete it from the Mail database (the All Documents view). If you really want to get rid of the message completely, then delete it instead.

After a task is created, Notes does not read the task and check the dates constantly. For a task to move from the Current category to the Overdue category, for example, you must update the status manually or set it to be done automatically.

To use the manual method, in the To Do view, click the Update Tasks button on the Action bar. Notes reads the dates of the tasks and recategorizes them if necessary.

The automatic method, which follows, is our recommended method; however, you should not do this without first consulting your Notes administrator. He needs to know that you have a requirement to update tasks so that he can give you proper rights and access to do so on the server.

  1. Open the Agents view of your Mail database.

  2. Check the box in front of Update Tasks.

  3. Notes will schedule the Update Task agent to run each night a 1:00 A.M., and from that point will update your task categories each day.

When you complete a task, you should mark it so the task does not remain in the current category or move to the overdue category. To mark a task completed, do the following:

  1. From the To Do view, select or open the task.

  2. Click the Mark Completed button on the Action bar. The task moves under the Completed are in the To Do view.

Converting Mail to Tasks

You can convert mail messages to tasks so that they appear in your To Do list. For example, if you receive a mail message from your manager asking you to prepare your department budget for next year and have it finished by the end of the month, you can add that message to your To Do view so you won't forget to work on it.

To convert a mail message, do the following:

  1. Select the document in the View pane or open the message.

  2. Choose Actions, Convert to Task.

  3. The mail message appears as a Task document, and you can make any changes or additions you want to the document.

  4. To assign the tasks to yourself, click the Close button on the Action bar, or press the Esc key.

  5. To assign the task to anyone else, click the Assign to Others button on the Action bar, fill in the Assign To and cc fields and click the Send button on the Action bar.

In this lesson, you learned to set delivery options and to create a phone message and a task. In the next lesson, you will learn about using the address books.

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