I’ve been using Outlook since forever and I remember that I used to be able to create Desktop shortcuts to Outlook folders simply by dragging a folder out of Outlook and onto my Desktop (or any other folder in Explorer). This allowed me to quickly go to or open Outlook in a specific folder.

When I try do this now, my mouse pointer turns into a blocked shield.

Is it still possible to create Desktop shortcuts to specific Outlook folders in another way?

These type of shortcuts are xnk-files and support for creating these shortcuts was officially dropped in Outlook 2007 but existing xnk-shortcuts could then be still revived via a Registry key. Outlook 2010 and later no longer provide support for xnk-files at all.

However, you can still create a Desktop shortcut to a specific folder in Outlook by using the /select command line switch.

Creating a shortcut with the /select command line switch

Just like the Outlook web app, there’s no native way of converting a mail into a task from the Outlook mobile app, although there is a Microsoft To-Do app available for both iOS and Android. It tracks emails you’ve flagged in any of the Outlook apps, but that’s not really the same as task integration. The To Do list in Outlook and the To Do folder in TODO. Those flagged items come into Outlook as to do's and will populate in the TODO program. That now covers all items whether they are messages or to do items.

The example below shows you how to create a Desktop shortcut to the Calendar folder in Outlook.

Create tasks and to-do list items in Outlook for Mac to help you stay organized. Select the Tasks icon, and then select New Task. Add a subject, date, and priority. Select the Reminder checkbox if you'd like to set a.

1. Create a new Outlook shortcut:
   • Windows 7
     Type outlook in the Search field of the Start Menu. Right click on it and choose; Send To-> Desktop (create shortcut)
   • Windows 8 and Windows 10
     Type outlook.exe in the Search field or Start Menu. Right click on it and choose: Open file location. In the File Explorer window that opens, right click on OUTLOOK.EXE and choose; Send To-> Desktop (create shortcut).
     For full instructions and alternative methods see: Creating an Outlook Desktop shortcut in Windows 8 or Windows 10
2. Right-click the shortcut you just created, and from the shortcut menu click Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, locate the Target box. It contains the path for Outlook.exe.
4. Press the SPACEBAR once to type a space after the path, and then type;
   /select outlook:calendar
   • For Outlook 2016 (MSI) 32-bit on a 64-bit version of Windows, the full command should now look like this;
     'C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice16Outlook.exe' /select outlook:calendar
   • For an Outlook 2016 (C2R), Outlook 2019 and Microsoft 365 installation of Outlook 64-bit, the full command should now look like this;
     'C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficerootOffice16Outlook.exe' /select outlook:calendar
5. Click OK.
6. On the desktop, double-click the Outlook shortcut you created and it should now open the Calendar folder in Outlook.

Creating a custom shortcut with the command line to start
Outlook in the Calendar folder.

How to specify a folder

Specifying a folder quite easy, but there are a couple of things to note:

• If the folder is in the main mailbox, simply type the name.
  Example: /select outlook:calendar
• If the folder contains spaces, contain it in quotes.
  Example: /select 'outlook:Sent Items'
• If the folder is a subfolder, separate by a forward slash (/).
  Example: /select outlook:Inbox/Newsletters
• If the folder is in a different mailbox, you’ll need to precede the folder name with 2 forward slashes and specify the name of that mailbox as shown in the Navigation Pane.
  Example: /select outlook://Archive/Inbox

If you want to create a Desktop shortcut to your corporate Public Folders, you can combine the above set of rules in the following way;

• /select 'outlook://Public Folders - youraddress@company.com/All Public Folders'

Extra tip:
If you do not want to open the folder in a new Outlook window, you can add the /recycle switch as well. The Microsoft 365 example would then become;
'C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficerootOffice16Outlook.exe' /select outlook:calendar /recycle

Changing the shortcut icon

When you create the Desktop shortcut, it will have the default Outlook icon. You can change the icon to match it with the folder type it points to in the following way;

1. Right click on the Desktop shortcut and choose Properties.
2. Select the Shortcut tab.
3. Press the button: Change Icon…
4. Select the icon of choice.
5. Press OK.

Select a different icon for your custom Outlook shortcut.

Note:
For more command line switches to use with Outlook see the guide: Command line switches for Outlook 365, 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 and previous

I’ve configured multiple email accounts in Outlook and several of them have a Calendar of their own. I’ve also created a few additional Calendars of my own to separate between the type of appointments I have (work, private, sport club, my kid’s school schedule, etc…).

Within the Calendar Navigation, I can easily get an overview of all my appointments by using the Calendar Overlay feature.

However, the To-Do Bar only lists the appointments of the Calendar from one of my accounts.

Is there any way that I can add additional Calendars to the To-Do Bar or switch between them somehow?

Unfortunately, the To-Do Bar doesn’t offer this level of flexibility. It will only show you upcoming appointments which reside in the default Calendar.

However, for some additional Calendars, you can still get regular Reminders.

A better approach might be to consolidate your appointments into a single Calendar as much as possible. With Categories, you can still easily distinguish between the “type” of appointment.

Default Calendar

A quick way to determine which Calendar that is, is by double-clicking on a date in the Date Navigator of the To-Do Bar.

This doesn’t have to be the Calendar of your default account as it is controlled by which Data File is set as the default in your Account Settings. For more info about this see: Change the default Calendar folder.

Consolidate your Calendars

Rather than splitting your appointments over multiple Calendar folders, it would be better to use a single Calendar folder and then Categorize your appointments instead.

To quickly assign a Category to all your appointments within a single Calendar and then move them to your Default Calendar is to select the List view.

You can create Filtered Views to achieve the same visual result as having separate Calendars with only one type of appointment item in them. Step by step instructions are given in the section below.

Outlook To Do List Vs Tasks

For accounts with their own Calendar, you might still receive Meeting Requests which are then added to the Calendar of that account. To get them into your default Calendar, you can create a rule to forward all the Meeting Requests to your other account. The rule condition you need for this is: Which is a meeting invitation or update.

Internet Calendars, Public Folder Calendars and delegate Calendars are of course a bit harder to consolidate into your own Calendar but you can still use one of the workarounds described in the “Reminder for additional Calendars” section below.

If you have an iCloud Calendar, you can sync it with your default Calendar via the Code Two Sync for iCloud add-in.

Filtered Views based on one or more Categories

By using Filtered Views, you can still easily switch between your “appointments types” if you don’t want to always see them. Instead of switching between folders, you’d then simply switch between views.

Outlook To Do App

1. To define a view use:
   • View-> Change View-> Manage Views…
2. Choose the Day/Week/Month layout and name the View.
3. Press the Filter… button.
4. Select the More Choices tab.
5. Click on the Categories… button to select which Categories you want to see.
6. Repeat the above for each selection of Categories.
7. You can switch between your Filtered Views via:
   • View-> Change View

Of course, you can also filter based on other properties besides the Category of an appointment or meeting.

Reminders for additional Calendars

Even if you can’t consolidate all your Calendars, you’d still get Reminders for additional Calendars within all your mailboxes.

Unfortunately, Delegate Calendars and Public Folder Calendars are again the exception to this.

Outlook To Do Tips

You can also enable reminders for Calendar items stored in archives and additional pst-files.