Contacts, tasks, and good daily habits

People is Microsoft’s name for the contacts you keep in Outlook — persons and companies you write to. Microsoft’s basic page (opened 10 November 2026) says who you add is up to you, except for limits you or your organization set. A workplace may have rules about writing to certain outside addresses. Follow those rules. This lesson stays with one practice contact.

You will find Contacts under People on the shortcuts or navigation bar, often in the lower-left corner of the Outlook window, beside Mail, Calendar, and Tasks. In People, choose New Contact. The keyboard shortcut Microsoft lists is Ctrl+Shift+C, which works from any folder in Outlook.

A contact can be as simple as a name and an email address. You can also store street addresses, more than one phone number, a picture, and birthdays. For this course, a name and a practice email are enough. Use a sample such as Jordan Lee and jordan.lee@sampletown-centre.example. Do not store real personal details about coworkers in a shared-library file, and do not type a password or a Social Insurance Number into a contact card.

Save the contact with the save control on your screen. The next time you write a message, you can type the name on the To line instead of the whole address. That is the everyday payoff: fewer spelling mistakes on addresses you use often.

This course will not walk through exporting a contact list to a spreadsheet. Microsoft documents extra export steps that matter on someone else’s computer; skip those unless staff are helping you move a real address book. Contacts are a helpful extra here, not the heart of the course. Mail, tone, filing, safety, and the calendar still matter more.

Many people keep to-do lists on paper, in a notebook, or in a mix of both. Microsoft says that in Outlook you can combine lists, get reminders, and track progress. Microsoft also invites you to try the To Do app to manage tasks. This lesson stays with a basic Outlook task so you are not learning a second program in the last chapter.

To create a task, Microsoft’s steps are: open Outlook and, on the Home tab, in the New group, choose New Items, then choose Task. Fill in the form as you need to, then choose Save & Close. The shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+K. You can also open Tasks on the navigation bar and start a task from there.

Give the task a clear subject, the way you title an email or an appointment: “Bring two extra chairs on Saturday” is better than “Chairs.” Add a due date if your form offers one. You can set a reminder on a task as well. Then save it. To view a task later, choose Tasks (or the To-Do List) on the navigation bar and double-click the item.

Outlook can also assign a task to another person; that request arrives in their Inbox. This course does not ask you to assign work to a classmate or a real coworker. Creating and finishing a task for yourself is enough. If your workplace uses assigned tasks or the To Do app every day, ask staff to show you their version after you finish this lesson.

A flag on an email (Lesson 5) and a task you create yourself can cover the same kind of follow-up. Use whichever you will actually look at tomorrow. Two overlapping lists that you never open are not more organized than one list you trust.

The course comes together as a short set of daily habits, not as a pile of extra buttons.

Start in Mail. Read new messages in the Inbox before you react. Choose Reply when only the sender needs your words, and Reply All only when the group needs them. Put people who must act on To and people who only need to know on Cc. Read once more before Send. Attach a file with a sentence that names it, and keep your signature simple.

File what you want to find again, and flag what still needs a next step. Use search — including from: plus an address — when you remember a sender but not a folder. Look at Calendar so today’s appointments and meetings are not a surprise. Create an appointment for your own time and a meeting when someone else must be there. Watch the Inbox for meeting replies.

If a message looks like junk or phishing, pause. Do not click. Do not send a password. Tell staff, use official contact details you find yourself, and report fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre if you need to. More scam practice lives in *Email & Online Safety Basics in Canada*. On a shared computer, sign out the way Everyday Computers teaches.

None of this is MOS training, legal advice, or a promise that a tutor watched you work. The next step in this course is an ungraded capstone — one good workday checklist — and then a knowledge exam. Use a tutor-approved practice account until you are ready to apply the same habits in a real mailbox your organization gave you.

1. Open People and create one practice contact (name and sample email only).
2. Create one task for yourself with New Items > Task or Ctrl+Shift+K, then Save & Close.
3. Open Tasks (or the To-Do List) and find the item again.
4. Write a four-line daily checklist: check Mail, reply with care, file or flag, look at Calendar.
5. If you are on a shared computer, sign out when you finish.
6. Use a practice account. Never type a real workplace password into this course.

If you are in a study group: do you prefer a flagged email, a written task, or a paper list for follow-ups? There is no single right tool — the one you will actually open tomorrow is the useful one.

This capstone sits after Lesson 8. It pulls the course together: you send one clear practice message, reply with care, file a message, and add one practice appointment.

This is not MOS training, not legal advice, and not a real workplace mailbox. Use the sample messages and the calendar planning sheet we wrote. Do not type a Social Insurance Number, a password, a real bank number, or anyone else’s private details. Use a tutor-approved practice account.

### What to build

1. Open a tutor-approved practice account. Never type a real workplace password into this course.
2. Choose New Email. Address a practice note to Jordan Lee (sample address). Write a descriptive subject and a short body. Read it once. Choose Send. Look in Sent Items if that folder appears.
3. Open Message 1 or Message 2 from the sample file. Choose Reply or Reply All for the right reason, not by habit.
4. Create a folder such as Saturday market if you do not already have one. Move at least one message into it (drag or Move). Flag a follow-up if something still needs a next step.
5. Open Calendar and create Plan 1 from the calendar planning sheet as an appointment (no guests, no room). Set a reminder and save it.
6. Optional extras: attach a harmless practice file and name it in the body; add a simple signature; save Jordan as a practice contact.
7. Do not click Message 4. Do not invite real coworkers unless your tutor says the account is safe to use that way.
8. Sign out if you are on a shared computer.

### Self-check / model answer

<details> <summary>Show the model answer</summary>

• One new practice message was sent, with a clear subject and a short body.
• One reply used Reply or Reply All for a good reason.
• At least one message was filed in a named folder, or flagged for follow-up.
• One appointment exists on the practice calendar with no extra people.
• No real password, SIN, or other private number appears.
• The phishing sample was not clicked.
• The work is clearly sample practice, not a real workplace mailbox.

</details>