- The 10 Best Practices for Outlook to Boost Your Workflow

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For attachments you want to keep, consider saving them to a team site, to OneDrive, or to folders on your computer. Do any of the following: View the total size of your mailbox and of individual folders within it. Find items older than a certain date or larger than a certain size.

Archive items by using AutoArchive. View the size of your Deleted Items folder and empty your Deleted Items folder. View the size of your Conflicts folder and delete this folder. Best practices to keep your mailbox lean If your email is stored on an email server such as Exchange, when your mailbox reaches its upper limit your administrator might start limiting functionality.

Here are some ways to keep your mailbox size under control: Archive older items — Move old items you want to keep to an archive. Read more. Top 5 Mozilla Thunderbird Alternatives in Mozilla Thunderbird is one of the most popular desktop email clients. How useful was this post? Click on a star to rate it! As you found this post useful Follow us on social media! We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post! Tell us how we can improve this post? Submit Feedback. Outlook Calendar Tips and Tricks.

New features in Outlook for Windows. September 7, at pm. Click here to cancel reply. Recent articles. June 6, How to transfer mail from Incredimail to Outlook? June 5, E-mail Forensics and Advanced Outlook Analysis. June 4, Any messages that you must read should go directly into your Inbox. The To-Do Bar is the panel on the right side of Outlook. It shows you a calendar, your upcoming appointments, and your unified task list, which contains:.

Show favorite contacts. The default arrangement for tasks is by Due Date, but you might consider changing the arrangement to Start Date, depending upon how you use flags. If you want to see the tasks that you have pushed out for next week on Monday, arrange by Start Date. If you want to see tasks on the day that they are due, arrange by Due Date. If you receive a lot of messages or are easily distracted by the notification sound that plays for incoming messages, we recommend turning off the following options:.

The new mail pop-up alerts. To change these settings, select the File button, select Options , and then select Mail. Categories in Outlook allow you to manage items in many different ways. There are three main types of categories that we recommend creating:. For example, they can help you more easily identify what you can do now and help you group similar tasks so that you can do them all at once. Each of your direct reports and your manager for items that you want to review the next time you meet for example, a category named Manager.

Each of the major locations or types of activities that you do, so that you can perform bulk actions a useful part of managing your tasks , for example:. Commute for tasks that you can do on the way home from work. Email for tasks that involve email messages, meetings, or any other aspect of Outlook.

Meeting for items that you need in order to prepare for a meeting. Offline for tasks that take you away from the computer, such as making a copy of a document. Online for tasks that you can accomplish only online or through a Web browser.

Read for tasks that involve just reading — not responding. Waiting for messages or tasks for which you are awaiting a response, but there is no explicit next action for you. Note: Using the symbol makes the categories stand out in your category list. Marking before certain categories helps to keep these categories at the top of your category list and reminds you of where you should be when you are performing this task for example, Phone is "at the phone".

Each important topic or project so that you can easily find messages on a given topic — especially if there is no word in the body or subject of the message that would make it appear in a search. You can apply multiple categories to a single item — as opposed to filing, where items can live in only one folder at a time. For example, an important message that you want to discuss with your manager before you respond might be categorized with both the Email category and the Manager category.

As you will see, categories help messages and tasks stand out in your To-Do Bar, make searching more efficient, and help you get ready for meetings. Note: Be very careful about categorizing your outgoing messages — your recipients might be able to see your categories. Quick Steps give you the ability to perform multiple actions in one click.

They are a useful tool to help you keep a clean inbox and to generally be more efficient at using Outlook. Any time you find yourself repeatedly doing the same steps in Outlook, try creating a Quick Step. For more information, see Automate common or repetitive tasks with Quick Steps :. In addition to Quick Steps listed above, depending upon your job and your general day to day activities, you might want to create the following types of Quick Steps:.

You categorize many of your messages before you file them to help you find them later. Create one per category you use often. You are flagging things for different dates, such as Tomorrow, This Week, etc. Create one per flag you use often.

You use a few categories to help you understand what context your tasks are. Example: Read: Flags for tomorrow, categorizes with Read category. You receive some messages from Contact Groups in your Inbox due to rules, inadvertently. Example: You have a rule to file all messages from Contact Group foo into a folder, unless it has the word bar anywhere in the body. After you start creating Quick Steps, you will find that there might be other ways that you can optimize the number of clicks required to get something done.

Whenever you find yourself doing the same thing repeatedly, try creating a Quick Step. And as projects change, update your Quick Steps so that they are only the things you really do. Once you set up your system, you are ready to begin managing incoming messages. By making your Inbox the central place for receiving important messages, you can go through it with the confidence that each item is something you need to deal with.

If you need to do it, but it takes longer than two minutes including reading , defer hold off on it. If you need it as reference even if you have decided to defer it , move it into your reference folder. The goal is to reduce the number of times you touch each message. If you never want to receive another message as part of this conversation, ignore it. For example, many messages can be responded to in two minutes or less. But if a message takes longer than two minutes to deal with, defer it.

To get a sense of what two minutes feels like, try timing yourself. File it in one of your reference folders for example, 1-Reference using a Quick Step. To keep a record of the things that you have done, especially for the purposes of reflection around the time of annual reviews or for preparing reports, use the Done Quick Step, which also marks messages as completed.

Sometimes you receive a message that is really meant for someone else to deal with. In these cases, reply and include the person you're delegating the message to on the To line. If you find you're doing this often, consider creating a Quick Step that replies and adds the delegated person to the To line. If you want to follow up later, flag it for yourself before sending. In your To-Do Bar, mark the task with the Waiting category.

If you will need to refer to the message more than once and you want easy access to it, drag it to the Later group in the To-Do Bar. If you find that you are repeatedly applying the same categories and flags, create a new Quick Step that flags, categorizes, and files. Once an item has been flagged, it will appear in the To-Do Bar.

By flagging it and filing it into your reference folder, you have processed it, and now you can move it out of your view. Change the name of the task by selecting it in the To-Do Bar or right clicking on it and selecting Rename Task. You can also add a category to help you see at a glance where your next action is.

A quick glance at your To-Do Bar with categorized tasks lets you know what is immediately actionable Office , which tasks you are waiting on other people for Waiting , and what you will be meeting about Meeting. After you process your messages, you can tackle your task list. This is when you respond to those messages that you have deferred. A good example is a message with instructions. File these messages in your reference folder 1-Reference by selecting your Reference Quick Step.

Adding a category will make the message easier to find later if you need it for example, Project. Do this before filing with your Quick Step. After you finish processing your messages, you should have a clean Inbox and can switch your focus to your calendar and tasks. This includes:. As you review your calendar and your task list, be realistic about what you can accomplish. Sometimes that means saying no. Here are some ways to gain back time by saying no:.

Send messages to let people know that you are working on a response and make sure to flag it for yourself on send. The reality is that if you have a day filled with meetings, you have less time to complete tasks and write messages, so move tasks to other days. As you go through your calendar and tasks, inevitably you will start thinking of more things you need to do.

Here are some ways to create tasks in Outlook:. If you are in a meeting, take notes in OneNote. If you don't see it, make sure the Ribbon is expanded by tapping the small arrow to the far right. This will open a current list of active categories.

Now you can edit the colors, names, and keyboard shortcuts for that category. If you have a POP3 account, but cannot use color categories, you may need to turn them on. Locate the email address in the sidebar. Right-click the account name, and select Data File Properties. At the bottom of the properties panel should be an option to Upgrade to Color Categories.

Depending on the size of your existing inbox, this could take some time. But, once completed, you'll have access to the full range of color categories. Outlook has its own spam filter, thank goodness. But it doesn't always catch all the obvious trash coming to your inboxes. Dealing with this rubbish literally takes away minutes of your life.

By default, the Junk Email Filter is turned on, but set to low. You can increase the effectiveness by turning it up. To change the level of junk email protection, look in the Home tab, where you'll find the Delete options. Select Junk , followed by Junk Email Options. You can now select the level of filtering for your inbox. You can set this on an account-by-account basis, if required.

As noted within Outlook, setting the junk mail filter to High poses a risk. The filter could move some regular mail to junk, so make sure to regularly check your Junk Mail! If moving them to Junk isn't enough, there is another option. You can tick the check box to Permanently delete suspected junk email instead of moving to the junk email folder. Please note that when you enable this option with a High filter level, any legitimate mail flagged as junk will be irretrievable.

It's easy to fall behind with answering emails. But there are overlooked features and techniques that can help you stay afloat. Doing so allows the resolution to be referenced by other people on the distribution list. If someone sends a message to a distribution list that you are a member of, and the message would be better answered by someone else or another distribution list, do the following:.

Have replies sent to the correct distribution list or person. Do not put the original distribution list on the Bcc line because your message will not be filtered by other people's rules.

Rather, leave the distribution list on the To or Cc line. If you receive mail from a distribution list that you do not want to be on, send a message to your network administrator or to the owner of the distribution list and ask to be removed. Do not reply to the whole distribution list.

Adding inline comments to e-mail you receive is a convenient way to answer questions and respond directly to issues. It is considered a best practice to do the following:. In your message, mention that you are commenting inline. For example, include "See additional comments below.

Use the Bcc feature to remove people from an email conversation when you deem that they no longer need the extra email or if the conversation topic has changed. For example, if you are one of five people who receive a question and you want to answer it, move the other four people to the Bcc line and state something like "Bcc'ing Joe, Jeff, James, and Jennifer. Here's the answer…" Future messages will then be between only you and the original sender. Do not use Bcc to let a third party such as your manager know about a sensitive message.

The Bcc recipient may not realize that he or she has received a Bcc and may respond to everyone, exposing that he or she received a Bcc. This may come across as sneaky behavior on your part. Rather than using Bcc to inform a third party of an issue, forward the message after you send it. If you're using Outlook with Microsoft , an Outlook.

 

- Microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free

 

This article was written by the product team that created Microsoft Outlook for the best possible reason — our customers asked. Outlook is designed to be used by a wide audience with many work needs and styles. Although there's no one "right way," there are a few ways of working in the program that we know to be easier than others. We hope that by being aware of the best practices, you will have the best experience possible using /4255.txt. This guide represents our advice on how to get the most out of Outlook.

A few core scenarios are covered to help you leverage Outlook into your information management needs. Spend lots of time every day using Outlook to send and receive messages and to set up or attend meetings. Basic principles of good time management. Setting up Outlook The layout.

To-Do Bar. Quick Steps. Tame your Inbox with the four Ds. Daily review: Managing your time and tasks. Tasks: Doing your work. Find that message: Searching effectively. How to find a message from a particular person. Write great email messages. Calendar and meetings. Frequently asked questions. About the author. Outlook is a tool to help you manage your email messages, calendar, contacts, and tasks.

To get the most out of Outlook, we suggest a few basic principles:. Reduce the number of places where you read messages. If you're using a new version of Microsoftyou can use Focused Inbox for Outlook to automatically separate the types of messages you're most likely to read right away from other messages. Let some messages pass by. Use rules to send the messages that you don't need to read right away into their own folders. Such as folders for projects or Contact Group folders.

Reduce the number of places where you manually file messages. Reduce the mental tax of filing by relying on search to locate messages. Reduce your to-do list to one list. Use a single to-do list and a single calendar to manage what you need to do.

Even if you don't use all of the best practices described here, following only a few will improve your experience with Outlook. The first step in following these best practices is to set up a system to optimize how you use Outlook. The Navigation Pane open on the left. Your messages in Conversations viewwith messages sent directly to you automatically formatted in blue.

The Reading Pane on the right. The To-Do Bar open on the far microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free. If your screen microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free is less than by pixels, the To-Do Bar can be minimized.

Cached Exchange Mode turned on. For details on how to set up the recommended layout, see the FAQ microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free. An Inbox for messages that you need to process deal with. Your Inbox is for messages sent directly to you or that could be important for you to read. If you receive many messages that go back and forth among facebook program pc free different people, change to Conversations view.

Otherwise, use the date arrangement the default arrangement. Use automatic formatting rules to make all messages sent only to you blue. A single reference folder, under the Inbox, for all reference material that you might want to refer back to later. Nothing is automatically filed that is, with a rule into this folder. Name this folder 1-Reference. Adding the 1- will cause it to be the first item under the Inbox. This folder is created under the Inbox so that you can collapse the Inbox and remove it from view.

Set this folder to auto archive annually. Note: If this folder becomes too large 10, items or moreOutlook might become slow when switching to this folder. A folder for career-related, private, and personal messages.

Having a separate folder for personal and career-related information gives you the freedom to search for a message while someone is standing over your shoulder without worrying that a personally sensitive message will appear.

Name this folder 2-Personal. Managers might microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free a single folder for feedback on their employees called 3-Management. Set these folders to auto archive annually. A set of folders for Contact Group messages. Create a single, microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free folder under your Inbox called Contact Groupsand then create a microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free for each topic of Contact Groups.

Usually, one folder per Contact Group microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free enough, but if you are on several related Contact Groups, consider having all of the messages delivered to the same folder. These messages should go directly to your Inbox.

Set your Contact Group folders to auto archive every six months or more frequently if they are time sensitive xero payroll end for example, a Contact Group for finding carpool rides should be archived daily.

A set of folders for RSS Feeds. Outlook creates these folders automatically. Search folders are useful for gathering information from across different mail and RSS folders. Search folders can be especially useful when you need to gather information that is saved in different folders — for example, when preparing for a quarterly meeting.

If you receive a large volume of messages more than messages a daysearch folders might be a good way for you to parse mail from different senders.

Favorites give visibility to folders that are otherwise buried in your mail folder list. Favoritesa subset of your mail folders, appear at the top of the navigation pane. The goal of organizing your Outlook is to reduce the amount of unnecessary "noise" in your Inbox and to make the most important items bubble to the top.

Rules help this process by moving messages into folders based on criteria that you set. Rules filter the messages coming into your Inbox for must-read items only. You can see who has accepted by checking the tracking tab inside the meeting window. Defer Microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free Items This rule delays sending messages by one minute or longer. When using this rule, make sure that your messages have been sent before you shut down your computer. Multiple Contact Groups that are similar should use посетить страницу same rule and be filed in the same folder.

Подробнее на этой странице messages that you must read should go directly into your Inbox. The To-Do Bar is the panel on microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free right side of Outlook. It acronis disk 12. a windows only disk free you a calendar, your upcoming appointments, and your unified task list, which contains:. Show favorite contacts. The default arrangement for tasks is by Due Date, but you might consider changing the arrangement to Start Date, depending upon how you use flags.

If you want to see the tasks that you have pushed out for next week on Monday, arrange by Start Date. If you want to see tasks on the day that they are due, arrange by Due Date. If you receive a lot of messages or are easily distracted by the notification sound that plays for incoming messages, we recommend turning off the following options:. The new mail pop-up alerts.

To change these settings, select the File button, select Optionsand then select Mail. Categories in Outlook allow you to manage items in many different ways. /47517.txt are three main types of categories that we recommend creating:. For example, they can help you more easily identify what you can do now and help you group similar tasks so that you can do them all at once.

Each of your direct reports and your manager for items that you want to review the microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free time you meet for example, a category named Manager. Each of the major locations or types of activities that you do, so that you can perform bulk actions microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free useful part of managing your tasksfor example:.

Commute for tasks that you can do on the microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free home from work. Email for tasks that involve email messages, meetings, or any other aspect of Outlook. Meeting for items that you need in order to prepare for a meeting.

Offline for tasks that take you away from the computer, such as making a copy of a document. Online for tasks that you can accomplish only online or through a Web browser. Read for tasks that involve just microsoft outlook 2013 best practices free — not responding. Waiting for messages or tasks for which you /20967.txt awaiting a response, but there is no explicit next action for you.

Note: Using the symbol makes the categories stand out in your category list.