15 Responses to “New GTD Setup Guide for Outlook 2010”

1. Chris // Jun 28, 2011 at 6:40 pm

   I purchased this guide last night and jumped in this morning. I’m relatively new to GTD. I’m almost done w/ the book.

   I’m having difficulty understanding where exactly this guide and Outlook fits with the entire GTD process.

   Where does this fall into- collecting, processing, organizing, reviewing or doing?

2. John // Jun 28, 2011 at 9:54 pm

   Hi Chris,

   I think Outlook and the guide fit into all those GTD workflow phases — capturing, defining, organizing, reviewing, and doing. Check out the Introduction for a quick review of the phases. Lots of people deal with a large volume of email, so chapter 4 is designed to help you convert emails into projects and actions. Email is a place to capture, and the guide will help you process the emails, organizing them onto task lists or calendar. Once you have those lists set up, it’s easier to review and decide what to do.

   – John

3. Kelly Forrister (Senior Coach @ DAC) // Jun 29, 2011 at 9:18 am

   Hi Chris,

   The Guide is mostly about the Collect, Process, and Organize phases of GTD as they apply to Outlook.

   You’d then use the Review phase to review what is in Outlook (among other places you likely need to review) and then make the best choices about what to Do (again, looking at Outlook for choices.)

   But as far as what the Guide is intended to do, it’s to walk you through the best practices of Collect, Process, and Organize.

   Kelly

4. Duane E. Brown // Sep 8, 2011 at 6:29 am

   Hi, I’m interested in the GTD Outlook for Mac 2011 set-up guide. Will you be publishing one?

5. Kathy // Sep 26, 2011 at 6:29 am

   I’m with Duane and would love to see a Mac version too. Hope it will be coming soon. Thanks!

6. Alan // Sep 28, 2011 at 12:18 am

   Do the methods described in this book recommend any plugins for Outlook 2010?

   My employer will not allow plugins so I am looking for a validated approach using a clean Outlook 2010 installation.

7. John Forrister // Sep 28, 2011 at 7:54 am

   Hi Alan,

   The Setup Guide is for plain vanilla Outlook, with no plugins.

   — John

8. Mark // Nov 1, 2011 at 11:04 am

   Hi David & Kelly–

   I use Omnifocus on my iMac and iPod, but here at work I can only use Outlook on my employer’s Windows computer. Can I integrate the two systems somehow? Or is there some other system I could work with that can be easily integrated between Mac and Windows so I don’t have to duplicate my efforts?

   Thanks.

9. Mark // Nov 1, 2011 at 11:08 am

   I’ve found this (http://rainer.4950.net/wordpress/blog/2011/10/14/outlook-to-omnifocus-take-6/) and this (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=17557) but wondering if there’s anything easier without having to write scripts and such.

   Thanks again.

10. Lisa // Nov 1, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    I am confused why I need to create tasks from emails instead of just creating emails for tasks. Why save my email as a task, why not put the email into my email folder and rename the subject as the task name. Might seem obvious to everyone else, just not putting the dots together.

11. Kelly Forrister // Nov 1, 2011 at 2:55 pm

    Hi Mark–So sorry, but I don’t have a recommendation of an Outlook to OmniFocus sync.I bet that OmniGroup forum is a good place to dig further on that from people who have tried it.

    Lisa–The Guide describes both methods. If you are using the email as the reminder, then changing the subject line is recommended for capturing your next action and you don’t need to create a Task as well.

12. SolarKitty // Jan 25, 2012 at 9:27 am

    What is the difference between what is in this guide compares to the NetCentrics Outlook Add-IN

13. John // Jan 25, 2012 at 10:48 am

    Hi SolarKitty,

    The Outlook setup guide describes how to optimize the standard, vanilla Outlook, and turn Outlook into a GTD sytem. The NetCentrics Add-In is software that is installed on top of Outlook. In many ways the Add-In software does what the setup guide describes.

    — John

14. Dave // Feb 4, 2012 at 8:50 am

    How are attachments handled within projects? My projects involve data-heavy engineered systems and I need ready access to a large number of documents.

15. John // Feb 4, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Dave, I include in my notes for the project the links or paths to where I have the files stored. I might even include a link or path in the note field of a next action for the project. And I name the folders where the files are stored the same or similar to what I’ve named the project in my projects list.
    – John