OL98: Task Time Conversions Seem to be Incorrect

ID: Q234590

The information in this article applies to:
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

Time duration values entered into the Total work, or Actual work fields of an Outlook Task record are not converted correctly.


CAUSE

Outlook defines time units for tasks as 480 minutes per day (8 working hours) and 2400 minutes per week (5 working days), rather than 24 hours per day and 7 days per week.


RESOLUTION

To change the time unit for tasks to be 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, modify the Windows registry entries, UnitsPerDay to be 1440 minutes, and UnitsPerWeek to be 10080 minutes.


MORE INFORMATION

When you enter a time duration into either the Total work, or the Actual work fields on the Details tab of a task, the duration entered may be converted to what seems to be an incorrect value.

For example, a value of either 1440 minutes, or 24 hours will be changed to 3 days, even though you might expect a conversion to 1 day. This is because Outlook assumes the day value for tasks to be 8 working hours (480 minutes). If you enter a value of 7 days it will remain 7 days, however, if you enter 5 days it will be converted to 1 week because Outlook assumes a week value for tasks to be 5 working days (2400 minutes).

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To Modify the Registry Entries

  1. Click Start, and click Run.


  2. In the Open box, type regedit.


  3. Select the following key in the registry:


    4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Options\Tasks
  4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and click DWORD Value.


  5. Type UnitsPerDay as the name for the new entry.


  6. Double-click the new entry, click Decimal and type 1440 for the Value data, and then click OK.


  7. Repeat these steps to create an entry for UnitsPerWeek, assign it a value of 10080, and then click OK.


  8. Quit the Registry Editor.


  9. Restart Outlook.


Additional query words: 98 wrong convert conversion three five seven 


Keywords          : kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: August 3, 1999