Knowing your way around the new and changed features of the Outlook 2007 interface is a key to getting the most benefit out of this powerful program. This article covers the To-Do Bar, a tool for organizing your day and managing your priorities. Master this new element of Outlook and you will definitely be more productive.

The To-Do Bar pulls together information from Outlook's Calendar and Tasks view to show you what you need to do next. You used to have to check the different views to find this information, now it is right there where you can work with it almost instantly.

Everything you see in the To-Do Bar is live. That is, you can use the Date Navigator to control the Calendar, open and modify the appointments without leaving the current view, manage the list of tasks, even create new ones, again without leaving the current view. Having the To-Do Bar available really reduces the number of times a day you have to jump between views.

By default, the To-Do Bar appears to the right of every view. When minimized, it looks like a strip down the edge of the window; when expanded, it typically shows the Date Navigator (a small calendar) at the top, your next three appointments in the middle, and a list of your tasks at the bottom. Click the right or left arrows at the top of the bar to expand or minimize it.

Actually working with the items in the To-Do Bar couldn't be simpler:

* Click a date in the Date Navigator to open the Calendar to that day.

* Double-click an appointment or task to open it.

* Type into the Type a new task box at the top of the task list to add one.

* Click the header of the task list to change the order the tasks are displayed in.

It doesn't get much easier than that!

Having the things you need to do next easily visible wherever you are in Outlook is a significant benefit. I think you will quickly find the To-Do Bar to be one of the most useful new Outlook 2007 interface features.