Changing the Due Date on Multiple Tasks in Microsoft Outlook 2007

Elmer Thomas — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:48:33 +0000

I know it is not good practice to assign due dates to tasks when using the GTD methodology. However, when serving multiple clients where there are many items attached to a specific due date, I find it better to assign the due dates in the task rather than put it on my calendar (which clutters my calendar far too much, especially on my Smart Phone). Also, when you assign due dates to Tasks in Outlook you can have them show up on your desktop client calendar at the bottom.

The negative to this method is that you may have many items that are past due that you wish to move to another date. My Google-Fu must have been busted, because I could not find out how to do this, so I resorted to manually changing each one.

Today, I finally figured it out! And being the nice guy I am, the fruits of my labor are now available to all.

Step 1: Choose “Due Date” as the current view

When you do this all of your tasks will now be grouped by due date.

Step 2: Make sure the target date exists

If there are no tasks with the due date where you want to move your tasks, then you will need to create a dummy task with the due date you need.

Step 3: Select

Using Ctrl or Shift to select all of the tasks that you wish to update the due date.

Step 4: Drag and Drop

Drag and drop those tasks into the group with the due date you need.

Magically, Outlook will change all of the due dates to be the due date of the group you dropped the tasks into.

Is there an easier way? Please let me know in the comments.

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Changing the Due Date on Multiple Tasks in Microsoft Outlook 2007