The 4 Microsoft TO features presented at the Ignite 2022 conference

True to its habits, Microsoft wanted to integrate everything. Thus, the transition from one application to another is perfectly fluid, despite the grouping within the same management tool. You can easily open and treat marked emails from to do or consult the planner tasks directly from your task lists.

Microsoft to do 4+

Too bad the application does not open directly in Outlook and that we must open a web window.
Ditto why the dead lines are not added to the calendar directly? This unnecessarily creates several tools to manage..

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The 4 Microsoft TO features presented at the Ignite 2022 conference

In its various applications and on its collaboration platform, Microsoft offers many options to manage its tasks. And compared to some of these functions, Microsoft to do may seem basic. However, as we learned during the Microsoft session at the Ignite conference, this task monitoring application has many advantages and may well be the response to the problems of balance between work and life, overwork, of overwork Productivity, etc.

Find out more:

• How to organize and collaborate safely in Microsoft Teams (case study)
• 5 unknown features of Microsoft Lists to improve performance
• 4 ways of optimizing your employees’ commitment thanks to Viva engages
• Microsoft Loop and the future of collaboration

Read the suite to discover the 4 functionalities of Microsoft To Do presented at the Microsoft Ignite 2022 conference !

Read our free e-book Tracking Tasks in Microsoft 365 [Monitoring of tasks in Microsoft 365] (in English) to see a comparison of to do and other tools for managing Microsoft tasks, such as planner and lists.

The 4 key features of Microsoft To Do

1. Grouping of tasks in a single application

To do extract tasks from different Microsoft sources, which allows you to access your personal tasks, planner tasks and e-mails marked in Outlook from one and the same application. Use personal lists to manage your own tasks and plans while keeping an eye on tasks related to projects or departments shared via shared lists. This will help you prioritize what you have to do (personal tasks included) by eliminating the additional stress of juggling between several lists of tasks.

True to its habits, Microsoft wanted to integrate everything. Thus, the transition from one application to another is perfectly fluid, despite the grouping within the same management tool. You can easily open and treat marked emails from to do or consult the planner tasks directly from your task lists.

This allows you to keep an eye on your work in progress but also to treat and finalize tasks as soon as you have a free moment. These features make to do a very versatile tool on a daily basis, especially if we compare it to third -party solutions or, even worse, manuscript lists.

2. Task planning in your calendar

The best way to carry out a task is to plan it. And to do allow you to enter your tasks in your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars. From the to do application or from the calendar itself, you can access your tasks and decide the time that these tasks will require and the most indicated moment to perform them. You can plan them in your calendar and make them appear in the form of an appointment.

This allows you not only to plan your days in advance but also to prevent people from adding last minute meetings to your calendar. So you can do your tasks as you had planned. This is a considerable advantage for all those who permanently receive from their colleagues from tasks “who will only take five minutes” but who end up turning very time.

3. Creation of tasks since publications in Teams

This functionality perfectly illustrates the synergetic character of Microsoft applications. If you are already using Microsoft Teams, using TO Do will not pose any problem, because the two tools are perfectly integrated. As you see on the screenshot above, you can create a to do task from any Teams publication, which allows you to act as soon as you identify a task to perform.

You have certainly happened to read a publication in Teams, to think “I will do it later” … and to completely forget to do it. With to do, it is possible to very easily create a task with pre-filled information on the basis of the content of the Teams publication. You can then add it in a few seconds to your task list. You thus reduce stress and prevent tasks to be forgotten.

Another advantage: once the task has been created, you also have the possibility of sending it in the form of comments in the Teams publication in order to show the other participants that you have understood what to do and inform them of the time limit for execution that you have planned. This limits superfluous exchanges with your colleagues and dissipates any uncertainty in the context of collaboration.

4. “Virtual Commute” to end the day well

This is my favorite function among those that were presented during the session. If you find it hard to log out of work at the end of the day, you may also find your account. Virtual Commute is actually a function of Vivre Insights (for more information on the functionalities of Livre presented at the Ignite conference, read our article The most interesting Microsoft Viva News announced at the Ignite 2022 conference) but it can be planned in your calendar and integrated into your to do tasks.

The goal of Virtual Commute is to reduce the cognitive load, which allows you to “unplug your brain” and relax your work day once. When you believe you have finished your day, you can start your return home virtual. Guided by the system, you will go through three short steps that will help you log out. First, you can review your upcoming meetings, update your response and plan preparation time. Then you can consult your task list, block the ones you have made, plan time for others and add all the additional details necessary. Finally, you will be able to relax by engaging in a breathing exercise for one to ten minutes. After these three steps, your mind will be released and you will have no problem forgetting the work to recharge your batteries.

Microsoft has published an excellent guide concerning this functionality and its configuration on the Microsoft Learn page.

Conclusion

This session has proven to be extremely interesting. Indeed, the speaker did not just explain how the monitoring of tasks could bring a gain in productivity: he also demonstrated the psychological advantages. If you want to know more about it, I encourage you to look at the entire session. But to summarize, I would say that using a task monitoring system could be very beneficial for your mental health.

It has been scientifically proven that our brain remembers incomplete tasks, which then dominate our thoughts and are a source of anxiety. However, if we write them, the brain no longer endeavors to remember them at all costs, which reduces pressure. If we add to that the peak of dopamine generated when we block a task performed on our list, the task tracking application value such as Microsoft to do is undeniable.

If you always use post-notes and paper calendars, it may be time to consider a more modern solution like Microsoft to do. Whether you want to keep an overview of your small tasks or manage more complex projects, an effective task tracking tool can change your life. To do professional and personal, individual and collective, teams and emails, to create a centralized space allowing to organize and manage tasks. Thanks to this tool, it is easier than ever to find a balance between work, privacy and everything else.

Avepoint products

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