A task is a piece of work, which is scheduled to handle, later, Microsoft Outlook is one of the most innovative platforms to list out all your task and reminds you accordingly.
There are tons of tasks, momentous events, or appointments that really need your attention.
Isn’t!
You can easily create your tasks or even turn emails into tasks in Outlook.
How about have you ever wondered to import a list of tasks available in your Excel Sheet, instead of creating task one by one?
In this article, you will learn step by step method “How to Import Tasks into Outlook from Excel?”
How to Import Outlook Tasks?
The process of importing Outlook Tasks consists of multiple steps, first, you must create the Excel sheet which consists of all the data (Task description, all related dates, reminders, etc).
The sheet will be imported in Outlook, Let’s understand step by step method:
If you are tired of creating task one by one in Outlook, open a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, create your data, and the basic information required to add the task in Outlook, and then save the file to CSV format.
| Sr. No. | Subject | Start Date | Due Date | Reminder Time | Reminders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Task 1 | 01-04-2023 | 01-05-2023 | 17-04-2023 | 1 |
| 2 | Task 2 | 03-05-2023 | 05-06-2023 | 30-05-2023 | 1 |
| 3 | Task 3 | 01-01-2023 | 17-01-2023 | 05-01-2023 | 1 |
| 4 | Task 4 | 05-04-2024 | 09-05-2024 | 07-05-2024 | 1 |
| 5 | Task 5 | 20-11-2022 | 01-01-2023 | 25-12-2022 | 1 |
Use Date formats using slashed and dashes, The Reminder Time would be in 12 Hours or 24 Hours Format, Now, let’s save this sheet to .csv format:
Note: – The Reminder Column indicates whether you like to keep the reminder option ON or Off, if you put 1 (one), that indicates the reminder is On, and If you put O (zero) that indicates the reminder is Off.
You can’t import the file directly from the excel file, you must import using CSV File, and save the workbook in CSV format.
This is the easiest way for most users to import an Excel worksheet trouble-free and we recommend using CSV format when possible.
- Click File >> Save as
- Give your File Name >> From the File Type dropdown select [CSV UTF-8 (Comma delighted) (*.CSV)].
- Click Save. You can ignore the possible data loss error if shown. Be sure to note the file’s location if there’s any chance you won’t remember where it is.
That’s the end of the first segment of this article, you have created the CSV file and the next step is to import the file into Microsoft Outlook, which maps all the data available in the excel sheet with Task descriptions.
Steps to Import Data into Outlook Task from Excel File
Now you have your (.csv) file ready to import. [Why to save excel in CSV for import contact – The reason is Microsoft Outlook allows the user to import the database in Comma Separated Values only.]
- Step 1: – Open Microsoft Outlook, Go to File Tab
- Step 2: – Click open and Export from the left navigation section >> Click Import and Export.
- Step 3: – After selecting import or export, now click on import from another program or file and click on next
- Step 4: – If you want to import Outlook Tasks from an Excel or Spreadsheet click on Comma Separated value and click on next.
- Step 5: – Next step is to import the file, first select the location by clicking the browse button, that way you can select your saved (.csv) file from your computer/laptop.
You need to select one option out of three:
- Replace duplicates with items imported
- Allow duplicates to be created
- Do not import duplicate items
- Step 6: – Next Import Task folder dialog box pops up, here you need to select the task folder, I have multiple email addresses added in Outlook, select your specific email address, scroll down slowly and you will find the Task folder, select it then click next.
- Step 7: – Next Dialog box is the final gateway to map your CSV sheet data with Outlook Task descriptions. Click Map Custom Field.
- Step 8: – Under Map Custom Filed “Drag the Values from the source file on the left and drop them on the appropriate destination field on the right. Drag the item from the right to the left to remove it from the field mapping.”
In this step, you need to fetch your CSV data (Comma Separated Values task import .CSV) to Microsoft Office Outlook Task manually by dragging values one by one to the related field.
- Step 9: – Once all your Value aligns with the Field, you can compare both the Field and Mapped from options, if you inappropriately fetch the wrong data with the wrong field, not to worry you can easily correct it by again dragging (manual mapping) the same data to the correct field, that way your last drag is detected by itself. Finally, Click Ok and Finish to move forward.
- Step 10: – Finally it will take a few seconds to import Tasks depending on the size of the CSV file.
All set known you can cross-check and click on the Task icon from the top left section, all the tasks under the CSV file are already available in your TO-DO list.
I usually add every small thing which required a reminder to act, that way Outlook work as an alarm that works until you complete the Task or start a reminder manually.
Wrap Up
To summarize, if a colleague sent you the Excel file with a .ics extension, open Outlook, navigate to the file, and import it into your Tasks folder.
The Excel file will be imported into a new task for each task row. You can edit each task row in the imported file before importing it into Outlook.
I personally use this technic to make out a list of Birthdays and special upcoming events in an Excel sheet and import the sheet directly into Outlook, Now I don’t need to worry rest of the work will be managed by Outlook.
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