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 As you might have read (or discovered for yourself) from the numerous sites giving Gmail wide coverage on their online real estate, Google has apparently decided to make the Labs Tasks feature that was a spin off from some remember the milk thingy a permanent fixture on the left Gmail panel.
Yucks!
When the Labs feature for Tasks first came out, I tried it but I didn't like it. To start with, it looks ugly. To me, it is not utilitarian - it's just ugly. And I don't find it useful personally. Yet right now, I am forced to endure this Tasks sitting there permanently, it being a real eyesore.
To check what tasks you have, you have to deliberately go and click on that link to bring up the Tasks pane. The chance is high that if you have just those few tasks, you will likely remember them at the same time you bring up the Tasks Pane - so fat load of crap Tasks is useful for. On the flip side, if you have simply too many tasks, I strongly urge that you polish your task management skills.
If you are talking about tasks with long time frames, you need e.g a calendar (such as Google Calendar), and not that weeny Tasks pane. That is really useful for the original remember the milk kinda tasks... you know, (1) Buy ABC brand milk on the way back (2) Wash my hands after using the toilet (oh plzzz....) (3) Pay credit card bills... the point is, you can try to exercise your memory by remembering such small things. You don't need Tasks unless you keep having small things to remember - and in that case, those are probably repeated tasks that are harder to forget than remember.
Yes yes don't yell at me just yet. I know there are MANY people who swear by using Tasks or related tools. To each his own, I guess! :P
I came across this fabulous post by MAMBOLERO here. He really sings the beats of my heart. I will post his words below verbatim for your "enjoyment".
On a final note, I hope Google will allow us to disable this Tasks feature. This toggling on-off can perhaps be included under Settings >> Labels. If it's already done, perhaps the feature has not been rolled out to me yet.
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I wish I knew!
Please, Google, will you STOP already with shoving more immovable "options" into the left-hand side of my Gmail page? Don't misunderstand, I like the Labs -- I like them a lot -- and I've enabled all but 4 or 5 of them. However, I also like the ability to choose WHERE/WHEN/& WHAT goes in that left-hand column.
After all, wasn't that the whole point of making the chatbox, etc., movable?
At the rate you're "helping" me, Google, last week by splaying all 30 of my labels at the top of the left column, now by tucking Tasks under Contacts, my Chatbox will end up buried in a flutter of clutter "below the fold". Now, just stop that!
Yes, I finally figured out how to knock the labels down to my five most essential; I prefer the neat and tidy drop-down labels list, thank you very much.
"Tasks?" Hard as this may be to take in, my Google-y hosts, NOT all of us want to put our grocery list alongside our inbox or our To-do list anywhere but on Post-It Notes, the kitchen calendar, or maybe, just maybe, in our heads. Thousands and thousands of us DON'T work that way; we're mobile, we travel light, we organize to the beat of a different drummer.
Options? We love 'em. Orders? No, thanks! Put an Off/On switch to "Tasks".
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