If you are adding lots of tasks in Outlook, you may reach a point where Outlook refuses to allow you to add more tasks with the following error message.

Error Messages leading up to this condition
There are warning signs leading up to this that you may get for months before you are locked out of creating new tasks. This is what you might see when you add or rearrange tasks in the TaskPad:

What is going on?
First of all, the error message displayed on failure (the first one shown above) is pretty useless, and essentially erroneous. I spent an hour trying to change different parameter values in my task before I gave up. The real problem is related to an Outlook feature that is rarely used: the ability to save task order and then drag tasks into any order you wish. But instead of going into extensive detail on the source of the problem, let's show you how to fix it.

Fixing the Outlook Task Creation Bug

Step One
To fix this, you first need to go to the Tasks folder. Once there, you need to open an unsorted view of tasks. The best way to do this is to go to your Simple List view in the Tasks folder. Choose this from the Advanced Toolbar view selector as shown at right.

Step Two
Next you need to choose Save Task Order from the actions menu as shown at right.

If this choice is dimmed out...
If this choice is dimmed out, then you have sorted your Simple List view in the past, and you now need to remove the sorting. Do this as follows:

1. Right-click anywhere on the Simple List view heading bar (the bar with the column heading titles on it).

2. Choose Customize Current View... from the shortcut menu.

3. Click Sort... and on the right side of the dialog box that opens click Clear All. Then click Ok, and OK again.

Now try the Save Task Order menu again.

You'll see the following message while the task order is being saved.

The Fix is Complete
Once the above message completes, you can go back to the TaskPad and start adding tasks. Your fix is complete. Note that you may need to repeat this once every few months.