I suppose the thinking is Tasks are usually a personal undertaking. You are talking about assigning a Task which is not inviting someone to attend an event or meeting etc. I would do the following in your situation: Create the Task, so you have a log - you could set a Category which is relevant, save and close. Note - whatever you type in 'Title' gets used as 'Subject' and whatever you type in 'Description' becomes the message content. So you could enter the name of person assigned task followed by the info on what you want done etc. Then right click on Task in list and select 'convert to' > 'Message' Edit the email as required eg: choose recipient in TO field and send. Now, you also have a log of sending the email as well. This means the recipient is made aware of the Task and you have the Task listed. They could be asked to update you on progress etc. The recipient can then: Right click on received email and select 'Organise' > 'Convert to' > 'Task' Then both you and the person assigned the Task have a copy of the Task.