How to create a task with text of a message in Outlook?

There are times when you receive an email or several emails that contain a task for you to complete. To have these emails go to your to-do list, you can just flag the messages. However, if you delete the messages in your inbox, they will be removed from the to-do list, since the messages are not actually a task item. To turn the message into a task, you can manually create a task reminder each time when you receive such emails, yet it can be tiresome and time-consuming. In this article, we will talk about how to get the job done easily with few clicks.

Create a task with text of messages with drag-and-drop method

Create a task with text of a message with Quick Steps

Create a task with text of messages with drag-and-drop method

When you receive a message asking you to do something, instead of creating a new task and copying the message to it, you can use a quick drag-and-drop method within the email itself:

1. In your inbox, click on the email and then drag it to the Tasks button in the bottom-left corner of your screen.

2. A Task window that contains the information of the email then pops up, you can name the task and set associated information such as start date, due date, etc.

3. After creating the task, click Save & Close. You can then find it in the To-Do List in your Tasks.

Tips: If you have two or more messages that have the same topic, and you want to create a task with the information included in these messages, you can hold the Ctrl key to select all these messages, and then drag them to the Tasks button. In this way, a task with information of these messages will be created.

Create a task with text of a message with Quick Steps

Outlook has a Quick Steps feature that allows you apply multiple actions to a message with one click. To create a task with text of a message with Quick Steps, please do as follow:

1. In the Mail view, on the Home tab, click Create New in the Quick Steps box.

2. Click Choose an Action to open the drop-down list of multiple actions. Then select Create an appointment with text of message.

3. The name of the action will be filled in the Name box automatically, you can change it if you want. Also, you can set a shortcut key for this action (here I set CTRL+SHIFT+9 as the shortcut key), or edit the tooltip text. Then click Finish.

4. Click on any email that you want to create a task with, then click on the newly created action; Or press the shortcut key you set. A Task window that contains the information of the email then pops up, you can name the task and set associated information such as start date, due date, etc.

5. After creating the task, click Save & Close. You can then find it in the To-Do List in your Tasks.