As it is definitely a useful feature, I wish they made a clearer solution in the UI itself as I doubt anyone will ever use this even when they are aware of it. However, I find the Start Date trick a bit overly complex and counter intuitive. I wonder if this hidden trick was added by the same person who added the ability to hold the CTRL key when clicking on the “Signatures…” and “Stationery and Fonts…” button in the Options dialog to quickly open the Signatures and Stationery folders in File Explorer. Hold SHIFT in the Date Picker of the Due Date field to change the Start Date field without affecting the Due Date itself.
Open the Task in its own window by double clicking on it. Get free Outlook email and calendar, plus Office Online apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I want to assign a task to myself and another Individual.To override this “relative link” and to change the Start Date without affecting the Due Date is to hold down the SHIFT button on your keyboard when selecting a new Start Date from the Due Date Date Picker.Ĭonfusing? Here are the instructions step-by-step
SHIFT + Due Date click to change the Start Date For instance, when the Due Date should be seen as a deadline. Of course there are valid reason to make changes to the Start Date without affecting the Due Date. This makes it easier to shift the entire Task when you start a day later. The Start Date field is indeed linked to the Due Date in a relative way and this also includes the Reminder date. How can I tell Outlook to maintain the Due Date when modifying the Start Date? In this example I am having a member of my team research the Facebook IPO in detail. Then below the calendars, type in a task and press Enter. Here is where things go wrong When I assign a Start Date, it also modifies the Due Date which I absolutely do not want. To assign a task, expand the To Do pane in Outlook. Then at a later stage I go back to review all open tasks and assign Start Dates to the Tasks. I'm an avid Tasks user in Outlook and I usually initially build my Task List by only assigning a Due Date.