Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 24: Using StarSchedule |
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The StarSchedule task list is really just a computerized to-do list. But if you have a lot of things to do, StarSchedule provides some features that you'll find helpful.
You can view the task list by double-clicking on the Tasks item under StarSchedule in the Explorer. A simple default Task List is shown (see Figure 24.2).
Figure
24.2
The
default Task List shows two items that StarDivision wants you to complete.
The following sections describe how to create new tasks, modify the details of those tasks, and filter the task list.
To create a new task in the Task List, just click under the Title field on the New Task line above the currently displayed tasks. A cursor appears in the Title field, where you can enter a brief description of the task that you're defining. When you've typed in the description, press Enter.
Now you can set the start and due dates for this task. Click in the Start date field, and then click on the drop-down arrow to see a calendar where you can click on a start date (see Figure 24.3).
Figure
24.3
A
pop-up calendar enables you to choose start and due dates for a task.
Set the priority for the task in the priority field (numbers 1-5 are available).
Click outside of the new task line to indicate that you've finished entering information in it. Enter a few more tasks in the list if you have some in mind.
Starting with a basic task list, you can review other details about each task. To view task details, click on the Details icon in the Object toolbar (see Figure 24.4). You can also select Details from the View menu.
Figure
24.4
Click
on the Details icon to open the Details section of the Task list screen.
The Details section of the task list screen shows more information for the currently selected task in the task list. Where many StarOffice dialog boxes use tabs to show sets of information, the Details section of the task list has buttons on the left side of the screen. You can choose different buttons to show different details for the selected task.
You can view the first part of the Details section by choosing the Contents button (see Figure 24.5).
Figure
24.5
The
Contents button shows further descriptive information about the selected task.
With the contents button selected, you can enter more information about the selected task by typing in the Description field. This field can contain many lines of text to further define the task.
Choose the Details button next (see Figure 24.6).
Figure
24.6
The
Details button shows fields for many task details.
Some of the information in the Details area is already shown in the single-line task summary above the Details area. You already entered a start and due date, for example. Each of the drop-down boxes in this area defines something about the selected task. Each of these items is described here:
Start date --The date the task is to be started.
Due date --The date the task is to be completed.
Completion date --The date the task was completed (not always the same as Due date for most of us).
Close date --When the task was closed. This can be used separately from the completion task because of other actions taken on this task. Also, the closed field can be used to filter tasks, as described later in this hour.
Status--Enables you to define how the task is progressing or if it's been deferred or put on hold. Five options are given in this field.
% complete --Enables you to define in 10 percent increments how the task is progressing.
Access Level --Can be public, private, or confidential. The access level is used when you work with others on a network who can view your task and calendar. Only tasks marked public are available for others to view.
Priority--As described previously, this enables you to assign a priority level from one to five to each task.
Categories--Enables you to group tasks by things such as family, work, and hobbies, or by project or group name as you choose. You'll learn how to add or change the categories list in the next section.
Finally, the Participants list can be viewed by choosing the participants button (see Figure 24.7).
Figure
24.7
The
Participants button shows which users are marked as participants for the
selected task.
You can select which users on your system are involved in the selected task by choosing them from the drop-down list. Each selected user appears in the Participants field below the drop-down list.
At first, only Default User is listed as an available user. You must add other users to your StarSchedule system to be able to add them as participants. Adding users is described later in this hour.
The default task categories of Personal, Ideas, Vacation, and Job are a good start, but you'll probably want to define others. Categories are assigned to each user individually, so you must edit the Default User properties (or those of another user that you establish) to change the categories.
Follow these steps to add or change task categories:
1. In the Explorer, open the StarSchedule item, the Servers item, and then the My Computer item. The Default User icon is shown.
2. Right-click on the Default User icon and choose Properties from the pop-up menu that appears. The Properties of User dialog box appears (see Figure 24.8).
Figure
24.8
The Properties of User dialog box defines how a user works with StarSchedule.
3. Choose the Settings tab in the Properties of User dialog box. The category list is shown.
4. To delete a category, select it from the list and choose Delete.
5. To add a new category, choose New and enter the category name in the New Category dialog box that appears (see Figure 24.9).
Figure
24.9
The New Category dialog box enables you to define task and event categories.
6. Choose the OK button in the Properties of User dialog box to finish defining categories.
All the categories that you defined appear as options in the Categories drop-down list of the details area for tasks or for events (described later in this hour).
Tip - You can also set working hours from this dialog box. Working hours define which hours on the event calendar are available for job-related tasks assigned by others. |
To add a new user to your StarSchedule system so that multiple users can participate in tasks or work in the event calendar, follow these steps:
1. In the Explorer, open the StarSchedule item, and then the Servers. The My Computer icon is shown.
2. Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose New User from the pop-up menu that appears. The New User dialog box appears (see Figure 24.10).
Figure
24.10.
The New User dialog box defines another user who can participate in StarSchedule
tasks and events.
3. Enter a name for this user in the General tab.
4. In the User tab (see Figure 24.11), enter the login name (system username) and password for the Linux user to which this StarSchedule user is to be tied.
Figure
24.11
The User tab of the New User dialog box defines which system user is tied to
this StarSchedule user.
5. If you want to, choose the Settings tab and define categories and other options for this user, as described in the previous section.
The look of the task list can be altered to fit your needs. The easiest way do this is by right-clicking on the column names in the task list. From the pop-up menu that appears, you can select items in the Displayed Columns submenu to define which task details are shown on the one-line task list.
Caution - The task list screen won't scroll right and left. If you add several columns to the single line display of tasks, each column is very narrow. You can adjust column width by dragging on the column title, but you can't see them all at once unless you have a very large display. |
From the pop-up menu, you can also open dialog boxes for Sorting, Grouping, Layout, and Filtering. The same dialog boxes are available from the View menu.
From the View menu, choose Define Task Layout. The Task Layout: Define Layout dialog box appears (see Figure 24.12).
Figure
24.12
The Task Layout: Define Layout dialog box enables you to define which task information
is displayed and how tasks are grouped.
In the Columns tab, you can define which columns of detail information are included in the single-line task line screen. This has the same effect as selecting items from the pop-up menu that was just described.
In the Selection tab, you define how to group, or arrange, the tasks on the list. You can use any of these four options:
Default Layout --List tasks as they are entered (still applying sorting and filtering).
Group by Category --Group tasks by the categories defined for each user (such as Job, Personal, Vacation).
Group by Participants --Arrange tasks so that all of one user's tasks are listed together.
Tasks Due --Arrange tasks by their due date.
You can further refine how tasks are grouped together using the Group tab (see Figure 24.13). Select a task detail from the Group by drop-down list, and then choose sub-groupings from the next drop-down list as needed.
Figure
24.13
The Group tab of the Task Layout: Define Layout dialog box enables you to define
how tasks are grouped together.
In a similar way, you can sort all the tasks within each group that you define (or all tasks, if no groupings are defined). The Sort tab enables you to choose from the same list of task details.
Sorting and grouping work together, with grouping occurring first. For example, you can have tasks grouped by category, and then sorted by due date within those categories.
You can also filter the task list so that only certain tasks are shown in the list for your review. Default filters such as Only tasks due today are already defined. You can define other filters with any criteria you choose.
You can turn any filter on or off by using the right-click pop-up menu on the main task list screen. To start defining a filter, choose Define Task Filter from the View menu. The Task Filters dialog box appears (see Figure 24.14).
Figure
24.14
The Task Filters dialog box enables you to define a filter for which tasks are
shown onscreen.
From the Selection tab, you can start defining a new filter. Default filters are shown in the Current Filter drop-down list. Choose the New button and enter a filter name to start a new filter.
The Settings tab enables you to define the criteria used to select which tasks to display when this filter is chosen. Specific categories, priorities, or status settings can be selected.
The Additional Settings tab also enables you to define other features of a task filter. You can select any field in the task details and define the value that it must have to be included in this filter.
Tip - You can select by name any filter that you create by right-clicking on the task list screen and selecting from the Current Filter submenu. |
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 24: Using StarSchedule |
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