Become an Outlook Expert by Just Following These 10 Tips

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The New Year is around the corner and you are all geared up to make a New year resolution. Most of you are looking forward to putting a full stop on procrastination and increase productivity on the work front. This post will help you achieve exactly that as it is being aimed at providing handy tips on managing your Outlook account.

In today’s world time is the most valuable asset and completing projects within the set deadline is mandatory. Here’s a small step towards achieving this goal. Read along…

Tip#1: Filter And Sort: How fuss-free our life would be if we could just get the right things at the right time. Half of our precious time is spent on finding things that require your immediate attention. Outlook gives you the option to filter your emails. At the far right of the home tab, just below the Address book icon, you can find ‘Filter email’. When you drop down the filter email icon, you will find several categories, according to which you can sort and manage your contacts and emails. This is an instant way to sort your mailbox according to your preference. You could sort your emails concerning a specific contact or a date etc. The ‘More filters’ options make the Search Tools tab visible. You can also find recent searches with its help.

Tip#2: Common Searches Just a Click Away: If there certain searches you carry out frequently, you can create a search folder. A ‘New Search Folder’ can be created by going to the Folder Tab. There you shall be provided with several templates, you can choose as per your wish or you can just simply “Create a custom Search Folder” option. This folder will appear on the left-hand side of the Outlook Window. You can access it anytime and rename it as per your preference. This is one effective of saving time.

Tip#3: Quick Parts to Avoid Repeated Typing: This is another interesting way of saving your energy and time. If you are typing the same text, again and again, you can save that text as part of Quick Parts for inserting in different emails. All one has to do is highlight the text in the window where you have written it, move it to the insert tab; Click on the drop-down bar of Quick Parts and finally opt for ‘Save Selection’. You will see the advantage when the next time you begin to start writing the text, you will see it as a pop-up suggestion. Another way to select the text, go to the drop-down menu of Quick Parts and right click on the text for placing it on the desired location.

Note: If you're interested in learning how to make boring chores in Outlook more enjoyable. Then, we advise reading this comprehensive article on using Quick Parts in Outlook to streamline routine activities.

Tip#4: Future Play: Sounds fancy right? It is! This feature by Outlook allows sending messages at a future date and time. If there an important message or news which cannot be told or shared at the very moment but will be appropriate if shared some time in near future, this is it. The feature allows you to deliver messages at a specific time. Once you are done writing your email content, go to the Options Tab and choose ‘Delay Delivery’. Just after that, a dialogue box will appear with the ‘Do not deliver before’ option; where you are supposed to fill up the time and date. Close the box thereafter. Even after you have hit the Send button, the mail will be held until the time specified by you for sending.

Tip#5: Good Riddance of Junk: If your inbox is flooded with emails by someone unwanted or simply if it is clogged with unwanted or irrelevant emails, you can easily get rid of it. This can be done by clicking on the ‘Junk E-mail Options’ by going to the drop-down menu of the Home Tab. You get to choose what is actually junk and what is actually important for you. If you wish, you have the power to blacklist some domains and even some countries. Sometimes, the sender is not a problem but the emails sent by that sender could be irrelevant stuff. You can choose to ‘Ignore’ these emails and by this, you are not permanently blocking anyone.

Tip#6: Outlook SMSing: Yep! You read it right! Outlook gives you the facility of sending SMSes directly to your contacts. But utilizing this facility one has to register with a third party messaging service. Go to the Home Tab, click on the drop-down bar and choose ‘New items’. Select the text message you wish to send and a dialog box will appear. Finally, click to find a messaging service for your mobile operator.

Tip#7: Appointments On the Run:  Making new appointments or sending emails, creating new contacts, tracking Outlook emails, etc. can be achieved by using the ‘New Items options’ by visiting the Home tab.

Tip#8: Group Messaging: Assuming that you are a vital being for your organization, you are bound to receive a high volume of email. Hence, tracking down relevant or essential messages can be quite a headache. Outlook is capable of grouping emails into conversations such that a single click displays all related messages together. This can be set on a global or per-mailbox basis by visiting the View tab and ticking on “Show as Conversations”. 

Tip#9: Encryption: This is indeed a high-end feature by Outlook that allows you to encrypt the attachments and the email content, such that only recipients having the key to decrypt the message can read them. For this set-up, open the ‘Trust Center’ which you will find if you go to the ‘File’ followed by ‘Options’. Then click on E-mail Security and tick the boxes according to the need and relevance.

Note: If you accidentally send an email, users can recall Outlook emails.

Tip#10: Automate Recurring Tasks: You could be performing a particular task or certain tasks regularly such as forwarding an incoming email to a colleague/client, or inviting a certain sect of people to a meeting etc. This task can be achieved by making use of Quick Steps which you will find if you go to the Home Tab. This feature allows you to create a set of predefined steps in a particular sequence which you can use again and again by just a click, saving a hell lot of time and energy. Visit the drop-down bar, choose ‘New Quick Step’ to create a custom sequence of actions that will categorize, move, flag and delete messages with a single tap of your mouse. On clicking “Manage Quick Steps…” you will see a dialog with the help of which you can duplicate and edit shortcuts.

Also, read: Your Outlook emails are susceptible to lose, here’s a read on how to restore lost Outlook emails.

About the Author: Tony Landry

Tony Landry is a Web Content Editor at Remo Software. He loves to write, edit, and manage content for users trying to troubleshoot and fix problems on Windows, Outlook, storage drives, and Cloud storage networks. With an aptitude that transcends writing, Tony is recognized as a Microsoft Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint expert. His comprehensive solutions…