Outlook Taskboard

Outlook Taskboard is a Kanban board style view for Outlook Tasks.

The following README is adapted from the original version from evrenvarol, so some modifications have been made to adapt it to the current version of the taskboard. There might still be some changes that went unnoticed.

The Fork sections at the end of this README list the changes made by the respective forks.

There are 2 ways to use the taskboard:

1. As an Outlook folder Home Page
2. Directly from Internet Explorer

Features

Move tasks between task lanes

Filter tasks

Show task categories

View task status

Display task information

Print status reports

Supported platforms

Only tested with Outlook 2013 and 2016 running on Windows 8.1/10.

It may also work with earlier Outlook versions, and possibly with Windows 7.

The taskboard can also be opened in Internet Explorer. Due to limitations with ActiveX controls, only Internet Explorer 9/10 and 11 are supported.

Basic Setup

First, download the latest release zip file and extract it to a folder in your local hard drive or clone this repository.

The further setup depends on how you want to use the taskboard. While the solution based on Outlook Folder Home Page is conveniently integrated with Outlook, new Outlook versions only support Home Pages for the root folder of each account, if at all. Additionally, performance and compatibility e.g. with high-resolution displays are suboptimal. The Internet Explorer solution handles these better. Both solutions can also be used in parallel.

For Outlook Home page:

• Create another folder (of any type) and name it something like "Taskboard" or "Kanban", etc. (Alternatively you can use the main account folder as a home page as well.)

  The feature to define home pages on any folder, which the next steps are based on, was removed from Outlook at some point. Depending on your Outlook version, and potentially your Exchange Server and Group Policy settings, this might still be enabled for all folders, or only for the main account folder, though. The latter should be named like your email account (e.g. your email address) and be visible in Outlook's Email view or Folder view (not in the Tasks view). Continue with the following steps on this folder, or if nothing else works, use the Internet Explorer approach described below.

• Right-click the folder, and then click Properties. Select the Home Page tab in the Properties dialog box.

• In the Address box, browse to the folder you have just extracted the Taskboard files and select the kanban.html file.

• Click to select the Show home page by default for this folder check box and then click OK.

  

  If you receive above warning, simply close it and close the Properties window using the 'X' icon.

• Now the taskboard should open in the main window when clicking on the folder.

For Internet Explorer:

• Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools > Internet Options > Security tab. Select the Local Intranet Zone and click on the Custom Level button. Ensure the "Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting" option is set to Enabled

• Open the page kanban.html in Internet Explorer.

  Pro tip: Set kanban.html as your Internet Explorer homepage. (What else are you going to use IE for anyway...)

  Note that any other browsers than Internet Explorer are not supported (not even Edge), as IE's ActiveX features are required for access to Outlook data.

Advanced Setup

To access the configuration file, open the taskboard and click on the settings symbol in the top right next to the text box.

This is an example for the configuration of the "Next" lane:

...
  "NEXT_FOLDER": {
    "ACTIVE": true, 
    "NAME": "",
    "TITLE": "NEXT",
    "LIMIT": 20,
    "SORT": "-priority,duedate,startdate,categoryNames",
    "RESTRICT": "",
    "DISPLAY_PROPERTIES": {
      "OWNER": false,
      "PERCENT": true, 
      "TOTALWORK": true
    },
...

Task Lane Folder Names and Titles

• Folder names for each lane can be customised by changing the Name value. This is the folder that the tasks for the respective lane are stored in. It is recommended to set the same folder for all lanes and let the taskboard sort the tasks by status. An empty string stands for the default Outlook task folder.

  (Do not change the folder identifier - i.e. NEXT_FOLDER)

• The Title value represents the title showing on the task lane.

Task Lane Limits

• The Limit value can be adapted to set limits for each task lane.

• Only InProgress, Next, and Waiting lanes accept limit settings. BackLog and Completed lanes do not support limits.

• Setting the Limit to 0 removes the limit.

Task Lane Sort Order

• The Sort value can be updated to change the sorting criteria and their order.

• It is also possible to add multiple order criteria such as: "SORT": "-priority,duedate,startdate,categoryNames",

Task Template

When a task created using the Add button on task lanes, a new task created with a default template.

    // Default task template
    "TASK_TEMPLATE": '\r\n\r\n### TODO:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n### STATUS:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n### ISSUES:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n### REFERENCE:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n'

This template can be customised by changing the TASK_TEMPLATE setting.

Task Note Excerpt

If there are some notes entered in the task, only first 200 chars are visible by default configuration.

"TASKNOTE_EXCERPT": 200,

The TASKNOTE_EXCERPT value can be updated to change the number of characters shown in the task board view.

Note: If the default task template used to create the task, only the first part of the task notes are visible. (until first the '###'' section).

More options

Open the help text by clicking on the '?' button in the taskboard to get a description of available configuration parameters.

Version/fork history

Fork 1: BillyMcSkintos

Credit for this fork goes entirely to @evrenvarol. I have made a few simple changes to suit my needs:

1. Removed Focus Column
2. Added CSS to color columns
3. Added Owner
4. Added Task %
5. Columns are no-longer drag and drop. Tasks move from column to column with the Outlook task status. 5.a. Must add and use a category of !Next to move a task to the appropriate column.

Fork 2: janvv - Outlook Taskboard aka JanBan

I found the original Kanban board implemented by Evren Varol. I looked at the forks and liked the changes by BillyMcSkintos, using the task status instead of folders. But he lost the drag&drop feature.

So I decided to take my own fork and added a bunch of features, and added some options to the configuration file.

My changes:

1. Added colours to task categories
2. Tasks folder is now the Backlog folder
3. Use new folder 'Kanban' for all the current work: Next, InProgress, Waiting and Done
4. Removed Add button at InProgress and Waiting lanes. Tasks can only be added to Backlog and Next
5. Drag and drop now sets the new status
6. Introduced date format in config file
7. Drag & Drop now also works properly when filter is active
8. Use another icon for archiving of completed icons, for better difference from the edit icon
9. Removed editing option for completed tasks
10. Display Completion Date for completed tasks instead of Due Date
11. Implemented filter on private / non-private tasks (button top right)
12. If one of the task folders in the config does not exist, then it is created
13. Optional saving of filter state via CONFIG file
14. Optional use of privacy filter via CONFIG file
15. Added configuration for what to do with completed tasks (Nothing, Archive, Hide, Delete)
16. Added "Filter on start date" configuration option to Backlog folder/column to hide tasks with start date in the future
17. Added configuration options to show/hide 'Owner' and '% complete' per column
18. Added configuration option to enable/disable auto refresh of the taskboard
19. Added configuration option to show/hide sections in the report
20. Added configuration option to make task lanes active or inactive
21. Added help screen
22. Added configuration screen (journal item)
23. Tested with recurring tasks. Works perfectly :-)
24. Added new config option: AUTO_TASK_START. When true, then tasks that have start date today or earlier will be moved to the NEXT lane automatically.
25. Added new config option: Display Total Work hours for task item

Fork 3: maltehi

1. Removed lane coloring.
2. Activated category-based footer coloring by default (see image below).
3. Apply display filters on status reports, too (optional).
4. Tasks are sorted into lanes by their status (as in BillyMcSkintos' fork). Drag & Drop between lanes is enabled and alters the task status.
5. Having the tasks for all lanes in a common folder, e.g. the main Tasks folder, is possible (and recommended). Archive folder is still separate.