I like to change certain Outlook emails to Outlook task objects and
have them in my outlook task list

I use Outlook 2003 with an exchange 2003 server

------------------------------------------------------
HOW I CURRENTLY DO THIS CONVERSION

Outlook has 2 methods to change emails into task objects.  Both will
open up a new Task object and copy/paste and/or attach the email to
it.   Just highlight an email in your inbox and do one of the
following.

Method #1: Use the button called ?Move to folder ?, it will bring up a
pull-down menu in which you need to pick your task folder.  If your
task folder isn?t there use the option at the bottom of the pull down
menu to add it.

The nice part about Method 1 is that it does all this in one easy
step: 1) creates a new task, 2) copy/pastes the e-mail?s text into a
new task 3) attaches the email to the task 4) removes the email from
the Inbox, it just moved it into the tasks folder as an email (not as
a task).

Method #2: Drag the email onto the Tasks button in the lower right
hand corner of Outlook, or into the Tasks folder if you are in the
folder list.  You can right-drag it for more features.

------------------------------------------------------

Method #1 is the best way to do it and the way I always do it.  This
method is best since it both copy/paste the e-mail?s text into the
task and then attaches the email to the task as an attachment, and
then deletes the email from your inbox.

The problem I want help solving is this:

A) Method #1 is not a single click.  I want to make it a simple single
click button.

I want to make a custom button in OL to do this to an email in 1 click
(When you use Method #1 as described above it is a click and then a
drag into a pull down menu) .
I tried a simple VBS script to move it to the Tasks folder, but it did
not work.  All it did was to move the email into the Tasks folder, but
as an email, not as a task object.  We need it to work like method A
above, and actually 1) creates a new task, 2) copy/pastes the e-mail?s
text into a new task 3) attaches the email to the task 4) removes the
email from the Inbox, it just moved it into the tasks folder as an
email (not as a task). i.e.  We need it to act exactly like Outlook?s
?Move to folder? button acts.

B) It would be good to have a separate solution to do this
automatically, like a Rule or something.

I want to be able to be able to define a rule to automatically do this
(change email to a task ? where the task has the email attached as
well as the text copy/pasted) to any email that has the word ?task? in
the subject. It would need to operate w/o user intervention and thus
needs to save the task by itself.  Maybe B can be accomplished by
combining some code and a third party Outlook add-in?

In addition, it would be super cool to have the option to have Outlook
auto assign a category for this task.  The script could specify the
category (e.g. Business), and would always enter just that category.

Can you send me a link to a script, VB code, or maybe a 3rd party
Outlook tool that would do this..

thanx in advnce

---

Clarification of Question by sherpaj-ga on 01 Mar 2005 15:46 PST

Robharbin,

Can you clarify your question a bit? I'm not sure what you mean when
you ask what kind of data I would like to use for the task.

Nathanlon,

After some hesitation about just downloading an add-in, I finally
decided to try it. However, I do not get a new button in Outlook after
installing the software.

Here is a little sample that calls a function each time a new e-mail is 
coming in (there may be expectings). The method "CreateTaskFromMail" is 
almost still empty. What kind of data do you like to use for the task? 


' Beginning of script
Private WithEvents m_oItems As Outlook.Items


Private Sub Application_Startup() 
  Set m_oItems = 
Application.Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Items 
End Sub 


Private Sub m_oItems_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object) 
  If TypeOf Item Is Outlook.MailItem Then 
    CreateTaskFromMail Item 
  End If 
End Sub 


Public Sub CreateTaskFromMail(oMail As Outlook.MailItem) 
  Dim oTask As Outlook.TaskItem 


  Set oTask = Application.CreateItem(olTaskItem) 
  With oTask 
    .Subject = oMail.Subject 
    .Save 
  End With 
End Sub

I have uploaded an outlook add-in that I have made that should solve
this. It is a button in the standard buttons area named "Move to
Tasks", it has one click moves to the task area, adding the text and
attachment to the email, removing the email from the inbox. All you do
is select an email and click the button. Clicking the button again
immediately will make the next email a task.

It took me a while but was a good add-in learning experience, to
remove the nag message on startup you can pay $40 to register it. If
you need anything else done on it let me know and I'll give you an
hourly chargeout rate.

The URL to it is: http://www.flashwedding.com/downloads/TaskCreator.zip

Run setup.exe to install. Any problems with installing it, let me know.

Regards,
Nathan.