Recurring and Regenerated Tasks in Outlook

by

Microsoft Outlook provides several ways to create tasks and due dates. Most users are comfortable with entering a single task or even one that repeats on a regular schedule. Another task option is useful and flexible when creating a task based on completing the previous task. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a regenerating task in Outlook.

Outlook Recurring Tasks

If you’re familiar with Microsoft Outlook, you’ve probably seen the option to create a recurring task. Generally, the task repeats based on specific time triggers. Many of these triggers are predictable:

  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Monthly
  • Yearly

Most of these triggers are self-explanatory. For example, I created a task to occur each Tuesday and Friday to water a friend’s plants while she was away. This worked fine until I didn’t make it a couple of times. I now show some overdue tasks, along with the current task.

List of Outlook recurring tasks with red overdue ones.
Overdue Recurring Tasks

Outlook Regenerated Tasks

There is another type of recurring task where the next task occurs only when you mark the previous task as completed. Initially, you may not think many tasks fall into this category. Here are some examples:

  • Changing your oil every 90 days
  • Donating blood every 2 months
  • Getting a haircut every 6 weeks

These regenerated tasks are also good for goal reviews or building habits. Another difference between these types of tasks is that you generally don’t need to make up for missed occurrences. If you’re overdue in giving a pint of blood, you don’t give 2 pints the next time you donate. They also won’t show as duplicate entries in your custom task views.

In hindsight, I could’ve regenerated the task every 3 days. As I completed one watering, the next task would be queued for three days out. I wouldn’t see multiple entries. If I missed Tuesday, I still have the task, but only for one occurrence.

How to Create a Regenerated Task

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Type the Outlook keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+K to start a new task.
  3. Type your task name in the Subject textbox.
  4. Click the Recurrence toolbar button.
  5. In the Task Recurrence dialog box, set the radio button for your Recurrence pattern. (Think of this as the duration between tasks.)
  6. Click the Regenerate new task radio button.
  7. Enter a number in the day(s) after each task is completed box.
Task recurrence dialog with Regenerate option selected.
Recurring Task with Regenerate option.
  1. Set your Start: date for the task.
  2. Select a radio button for the recurrence. You can either choose No end date or specify the number of occurrences.
  3. Click OK.
  4. On the Task dialog, add additional text, priorities, or reminders if needed.
  5. Click OK.

You should see the new regenerated task. If you double-click the task, you can also see the reminder about the next task.

Outlook regenerated task with recurrence info.
Regenerated task with a reminder

While I don’t use regenerated tasks with the same frequency, I appreciate the flexibility they offer. They provide another way to remind me of tasks that aren’t day or date-specific. I’ve seen people get creative using these tasks to establish good habits such as exercising and practicing a new skill. I tend to use these types of tasks for many reviews or checkup processes. Your options are endless.