Tag Archives: tasks

How to Sync Your Google Tasks with Outlook

Posted on by David Z
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Google Tasks can be great – they’re easy to use and tied to your existing Gmail or Google Apps account. It’s definitely convenient. Getting tasks out of Gmail or Google Apps, however, can be anything but convenient. Until now.

CompanionLink has supported syncing Google Tasks for some time, but it was limited to a single task list within Google. With our most recent update to CompanionLink 5, you are now able to sync multiple Google Task lists with Outlook and DejaOffice.

Here’s how it works.

If a task in Outlook has a category that matches a task list name in Google, then the Outlook task will sync to that list in Google. Similarly, if a task in Google has a task list name that matches a category in Outlook, then the Google task will sync to that category in Outlook.

Alternatively, if a task in Outlook does not have a category that matches a task list name in Google, then the Outlook task will sync to the default list in Google. If the opposite is true and a task in Google has a task list name that is not a category in Outlook, CompanionLink will create a matching category as part of the sync process.

Sync Google Tasks to Oulook

Google Tasks sync to Oulook with categories translated as Task Lists

Want to get started syncing your Google Tasks with Outlook today? Just download the latest build of CompanionLink 5: update | free trial

Google Task Sync: Coming Soon to CompanionLink

Posted on by David Z
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As some of you may already know, we currently handle the synchronization of tasks via Google by converting tasks to Google Calendar events. When moved to the Calendar, tasks are dated by the due date in Outlook or Palm Desktop. Past Due tasks are moved to a special entry on “Today” so they are on the date of the last sync. This will remain an option in CompanionLink, but soon we’ll be adding an alternative option.

Recently, Google released an API for Google Tasks. This means that we can more closely interact with Google Tasks data. Within the next month or so, we plan to add the ability to sync tasks from programs like Outlook and Palm Desktop to Google. For people looking to sync their CRM database to the Google cloud, this will be a great option. However, for those looking to sync tasks from their database to their mobile device, this is not yet an option. Google Tasks doesn’t sync natively to any phone (not even Android!).

If you’re looking to sync tasks to your phone, your best choice is to use CompanionLink to synchronize via Wi-Fi or USB, directly to your Android or iOS device. With these sync solutions we are able to provide Outlook-like tasks on your mobile device and are not limited by Google’s Task limitations. For example, Google Tasks don’t have Priority and Reminders.  DejaOffice, on the other hand, provides a full set of features including priority, recurring tasks, reminders, categories, status, and more.

To learn more about DejaOffice, head over to www.dejaoffice.com.

How To Do Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes on the BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted on by David Z
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BlackBerry PlayBook by RIM

To be fair, this is not a review of the PlayBook. We haven’t had the chance to get our hands on one yet (though we’ll be getting ours tomorrow). That said, we cannot help but wonder why the PlayBook is shipping without any sort of native email or Personal Information Manager (PIM) applications, such as contacts, calendars, etc.

Yes, it is possible to “tether” your PlayBook with your BlackBerry phone to get this PIM data on the tablet, but that’s not a complete solution. While many of those who buy the PlayBook will have BlackBerries, not all will! For those users, the only option is a browser-based solution, like Google.

Of course, in the long term, there will be other solutions. For one, RIM has stated that native applications will be coming. As to when exactly that is, we don’t know. For users who are getting their PlayBook tomorrow, though, this feature can’t come soon enough!

The other solution is Android. RIM has announced that the PlayBook will be able to run Android apps, like our own DejaOffice. This capability is expected to arrive via software update this summer. We’ll have more information for you on this as soon as we know more ourselves. That said, at this point we are expecting to support DejaOffice on the PlayBook via Android.

In the meantime, we’ll be getting our PlayBook tomorrow and exploring our immediate sync options. We’ll keep you posted!

Watch your productivity skyrocket with Tasks on Android

Posted on by Andy Sheragy
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Many business professional rely on the “tasks” or “to-do” functions found in popular desktop software such as Microsoft Outlook to help keep themselves organized. Tasks are useful for prioritizing your day, or just keeping track of the things you don’t want to forget. Anyone who has read David Allen’s Getting Things Done will tell you that the key to time management is to organize your priorities on an external to-do list. This way, the brain has can better focus on the task at hand than on keeping track of all your tasks.

CompanionLink’s software for Android phones allows you to carry your tasks with you, ready to access at a moments notice. Users are able to sync tasks/to-dos from Outlook, Lotus Notes, ACT! by Sage, Novell GroupWise, Goldmine and Palm Desktop to an Android phone via a secure USB connection.

CompanionLink works through the CL USB Sync app users download to their Android phone. This app has advanced Tasks functionality to group and sort by category, date or alphabetically. Power users who use categories to manage their Tasks on the desktop will be pleased to find that these categories sync across to the phone. With the powerful built-in search feature, managing hundreds of tasks is a breeze.

For more information and to download a free trial, visit www.companionlink.com.

Syncing tasks with Google, Gmail or Google Apps

Posted on by Rushang
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While Google still hasn’t given us access to their Tasks API (so we can sync Tasks), we’ve created a workaround for the time being.  CompanionLink will sync your Tasks in Outlook, Palm Desktop, and other desktop software to your Google calendar as untimed events.

If you have a phone that syncs with your Google account, you can complete the task on your phone by inserting (complete) at the end of the subject of the task.

Original Task:
Task: Send email updates on the new product line

Completed Task:
Task: Send email updates on the new product line (complete)

Syncing overdue tasks in Google

Posted on by Rushang
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When you sync overdue Outlook tasks to your Google account using CompanionLink, they now get summarized into a sorted list (by date) and entered as a calendar event for the current day.  The calendar event is called Overdue Tasks.

This is extremely useful for people who use Outlook tasks with Google, and tend to lag behind the due dates they set on those tasks.  Previously, you would loose sight of those tasks as they fail to show up on your calendar after a certain point in time.  The latest build of CompanionLink for Google fixes that by having all overdue tasks summarized for you in a single calendar event.

Here’s a screenshot of how Overdue Tasks look in your Google calendar.