Dates and Times in Outlook

Let's talk about setting start and finish dates and times in an Outlook task or appointment.

When you start a new task or appointment Outlook defaults to the current date and time.

However, you need a different date than the one placed there by default. And while many people probably just type in the date they need, what if you're not sure of the date?

Often we think on things in terms of this week, next week, next month, etc…

When we're in that bind what do we do?

Most people I've observed click the down arrow and start scrolling through the calendar looking for the correct date.

And the time?

Well… we often type the time into the field but we're typing the entire time or using the drop down list to pick a time.

What if we could find a more efficient way to get the job done?

I'm all for it as I'm sure that many of you are too so let's take a look at how we can speed this process up.

Let's address the dates first.

Unknown to many people, you can actually type things like "this wed", "next tues" or "next month" and Outlook will fill in the actual date… meaning that you don't have to look it up!

Here's an fyi about using the generic terms of week, month or year (as opposed to an actual date). Outlook will pick the day exactly one week, month, year from the current date.

Now, as for the time:

You can enter a very abbreviated version of what you want - for example, Outlook will interpret 4p as 4:00 PM saving you from typing all of the extra characters.

Need something like 5:15 PM?

No problem, just enter 515p and let Outlook do all the formatting work for you.

I just love that Outlook can take the abbreviations and know exactly what I mean then do the rest of the work without a hassle.

~ April

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