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How to automatically update the status of Lotus Notes To Do’s

Mat Newman  June 25 2012 08:58:31
By default Lotus Notes does not update the status of the To Do's in your own Mail Database, for example a To Do that you create with a start date of next Monday will not automatically change to "In Progress" by itself on Monday morning, unless you enable the "Update Tasks" agent by turning on the feature through your Mail preferences.

Last week I was demonstrating how to enable this feature for a user, and noticed that IBM have moved the location and wording of the setting to enable automatic To Do updating so that it's not as obvious as it was in previous versions of Lotus Notes.  For example, here is where the option was in older versions:

Open Mail, Choose Tools (More) -> Preferences -> Calendar & To Do -> To Do:
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's


Notice that the option was previously called "Allow Notes to update To Do status and dates for incomplete entries".

In the current version of Lotus Notes, there is no separate To Do tab within mail preferences.  To enable automatic To Do updating:

1. Open Mail, Choose More -> Preferences -> Calendar & To Do ->Display -> Views:
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 1


Notice the "Display To Do Entries" check-box option, which if checked will show your To Do's on your Calendar, along with your Calendar entries.

If you don't want your To Do's to show on your calendar, but you still require Lotus Notes to automatically update their status:

2. Enable the "Display To Do Entries" check box option in your mail preferences, the "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" check box option will now be editable. Enable the "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" check box option
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 2


3. If you DON'T want your To Do's showing on your Calendar, de-select the "Display To Do Entries", notice that "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" remains selected.
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 3


This will enable the Lotus Notes Update Tasks agent, and your To Do's will now automatically have their status' updated based on the Start and Due by dates.


For Administrators to enable the same option via a policy:


1. In the "Mail Settings" document for the policy you are applying, Notice that "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" is not visible.
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 1


2. Enable the "Display To Do Entries" check box option, which will make the "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" check box option visible, and can now be selected,
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 2


3. The  "Display To Do Entries" check box option can now be de-selected, which will leave the "Display Overdue To Do items on the current day" option enabled (notice the value of the TaskFollow field in the Settings Document properties is still set to "1")
Enable Automatic update of Lotus Notes To Do's Step 3


Your To Do's will now follow you from day to day on your Calendar (if you left the "Display To Do Entries" check box enabled) and have their status updated automatically. Enjoy :-)
Comments

1Michael Ruhnau  06/25/2012 19:32:41  
How to automatically update the status of Lotus Notes To Do’s

One important thing I would like to add:

To Dos are updated using an agent. By Design of the mail file, this agent is scheduled to run on "Any Server" at 01:00 AM.

If your mail file is replicated to more than one domino server the agent will be executed on any server. This results in replication conflicts for any updated To Do item.

It is a good idea to change the design of the agent to run this agent on one server only.

2Michael Janz  11/05/2013 8:14:07  
How to automatically update the status of Lotus Notes To Do’s

Hi Matt In recent week's we've noticed a number of clients who have the box ticked to update overdue ToDos but in spite of this the ToDos have stopped updating.

Any clues?

Cheers Michael

3Sateesh  11/06/2014 22:56:51  
How to automatically update the status of Lotus Notes To Do’s

Hello Mat,

We are trying to set ''Auto Acceptance" for ToDo items.

The meeting invitations are automatically accepted but the same setting is not working for 'ToDo' items.

Is there any way to enable auto acceptance for ToDo Invitations.

Thank You.

4indu  04/13/2015 21:03:47  
how to save mail id in database via lotus notes

Hello michael,

i need to save mail id in database via lotus notes. Is it possible to save?

5Peter Robinson  05/05/2015 14:30:45  
How to automatically update the status of Lotus Notes To Do’s

Thankyou, I have been wondering why, after a template change, my tasks replicate every day when I haven't touched them. It was driving me nuts but now I know how to turn it off.

The agent was enabled and I don't want it because it makes the traveler todo app have to update everything every day which is awful when you have lots of 'someday' items in the task lists.

Finally it's back to normal, woohoo!

Mat Newman

THE Notes (formerly IBM/Lotus Notes) Guy. Productivity Guru. Evangelist. IBM Champion for IBM Collaboration Solutions, 2011/2012/2013. Former IBMer. HCLite. Views are my own.

#GetProductive #GetHCLNotes

Mat Newman




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