Automatic Flags

[JimboDimbo]

Hi,

I trundled through a search for this topic, but could not find any discussion.

I am setting Flags (on my Tasks) more often these days, and thought about setting Flags using the rather wonderful 'Automatic Formatting Rules' (AFR) feature.

But Flags is not in there as a field/icon which can be set. Shame. Seems to me it would suit the functionality nicely (e.g. choosing an Flag icon based on the MLO AFR rule set).

Is there any way to set a Flag automatically based on conditions/settings in the Task?

In my case, I have some Tasks (scattered about) with a reference in the Notes to a particular priority task list I share with others. I want MLO to pick up this text string in the Note field and set a particular Flag on the Task automatically. It would be OK if there were only one or two shared tasks, but I have over 100 that I need to track, so having it set or unset automatically would reduce my MLO overhead.

I can put the request in the Feature Request bucket, but that seems to be a sometime/never task list.

Has anyone any experiences/thoughts of using Flags a bit more dynamically that clicking them on and off?

I know Flags don't make it on to the phone, but they are easier to toggle than Contexts and show up nice and clearly on the desktop Outline/Views.

How do you use Flags?

Cheers,

Peter.

[JimboDimbo]

Yeah. Fair enough, setting the Flag seems like it's a purely manual thing. Although, you can add you own icons (and set these as a flag), so flagging tasks can be a useful additional way to categorise them and see this (flag) in the views Outline/ToDo/Workspaces.

I posted a feature enhancement suggestion here: http://mlo.uservoice.com/forums/9235-general/suggestions/6299700-add-task-flag-to-mlo-automatic-formatting-and-opti

Asking to add the Flag as an option in Automatic Formatting. Also, I suggested associating a Flag with a Context, since you cannot easily see what main Context is set on a Task without selecting it.

Obviously if you use several contexts at the same time then a single icon is maybe not so useful, but I tend to use Context's fairly simply, mainly when I'm waiting on someoone, or for someday tasks. 

If you think this is a good idea, you could even vote for it :-)

OK, maybe that's a bit of an ask....

Any comments on your use of flags welcome. How do you keep track of what the latest is on any task when the MLO view (e.g.ToDo)  has many tasks? I find myself hovering over the note icon with the mouse to see the latest note. I flag some of my tasks if they belong to some category (e.g. I need to report regularly to a regional function, so I flag those, or keep track of a set of items involving a particular group of people, or customer).

Cheers,

JD/Peter.

[G German]

Hi Peter

flags are a core component of my system, I use them all the time (I follow the Michael Linenberg Total Wrokday Control).
I use always the parsing feature when entering new tasks, for example

buy a new car today 9:30am rmd -fl1

In that way I allocate the flag in one go. I dont use contexts in this system, just flags.
Regards
Gerard