applied tips : february 2008
microsoft outlook : organize that inbox!
Who among us has not desperately searched our Inbox, looking for the e-mail the boss sent three weeks ago with a list of documents to bring to the big meeting?
Worse yet, the big meeting is in 15 minutes and you haven’t even started gathering the materials. You do not have time to waste scrolling through your buddy’s e-mails about this weekend and your mother’s message about your cousin’s bridal shower.
So how do you organize your mountains of e-mail?
Find and Advanced Find
To get you out of the current jam you’ll want to use Outlook’s search function. Click the Find button on the Inbox toolbar and make sure the “Search All Text in the Message” box is checked. Be sure you're in your Inbox -- the Find feature will only search the current folder by default. If you think it's in a different folder, pull down the "Search In" menu and choose from the list or specify something else with the "Choose Folders..." option.
If Find doesn’t get you the right results you can always use Outlook’s Advanced Find feature. Get to Advanced Find from the Find window under Options, or press Control-Shift-F. Advanced Find allows you to search by the following categories: who a message was sent to or from; text in any part of the message; whether you were the only recipient; and more.
The Advanced Find feature will also allow you to search for other types of Outlook items such as Contacts or Appointments.
Prepare for next time
Whew! You made
it to the meeting just in time with everything the boss needed. Now
you’re determined never to let that happen again. You’re going to get
organized!
A good first step towards getting organized with Outlook is to figure out what kinds of e-mail messages you receive. To make sure all the e-mails from your boss are kept in one place, you will want to create a separate folder and name it something easy to remember. Like “Boss.” You can create as many folders as you’d like. For example, you could create another one that contains messages from the HR department about benefits, vacation days, Applied Tips, and so on.
Creating folders is fairly simple. All you have to do is make sure you’re in the Inbox, select the File menu, and select New and Folder.
The Create New Folder dialog box appears and you see a hierarchical menu of the current folders in Outlook. The dialog box asks what you want to call this new folder and where you want to put it. Usually, the best place to put new folders is as subfolders of the Inbox.
Answer these questions, click OK and you’re all set! To move emails to the new folder just drag-and-drop them in.
getting too much junk mail?
One of my clients is MX Resources, a reseller of the award-winning Postini junk mail filtering service. If your current spam filter isn't working, visit the MX Resources website and give Matthew a call.
schedule a class on outlook and exchange
Request an on-site Outlook class from Applied Office. Sessions are just $125/hr and your employees will be able to use all of the features of Outlook like calendar sharing, assigning tasks, forwarding contacts, and managing their inbox! Learn more here.
quick reference card
Get the Quick Reference Card on Microsoft Outlook! Download it for free and print it on your own printer. You might even want to laminate it.