Are you using Outlook to its fullest potential? If not, you\u2019re missing out on a valuable tool that will make your work so much easier. Not only will it incorporate everything you need to do with emails, like make appointments and set \u201cQuick Steps,\u201d it can save you a lot of time. We have 9 great timesavers we want to share with you here.<\/p>\n

1. Turn Off Notifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know those little pop-ups that appear when you\u2019re trying to concentrate on a project? They are there to let you know that you have new mail. This is great if you\u2019re waiting for an important email. Otherwise, they can be very distracting.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to turn these off:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
• Just go to the bottom right-hand side of your screen (in Windows) and click on the little triangle. A check box will come up.<\/li>\n
• You can see here where it says, \u201cShow New Mail Desktop Alert\u201d.<\/li>\n
• Uncheck this and no more annoying pop ups!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  <\/p>\n

  You can also do this right from Outlook:<\/strong><\/p>\n

  \n
  • Go to the left-hand side of your screen with Outlook open.<\/li>\n
  • Select \u201cFile\u201d and \u201cOptions.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Under \u201cMail\u201d you\u2019ll see a bunch of options. Here\u2019s where you can select all the notifications and sounds that simply distract you, and that you don\u2019t need. Ah, peace and quiet for a change!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    2. Drag Mail to the Calendar<\/strong><\/p>\n

    When you\u2019re in an email, and you want to add a meeting to your calendar, simply go up to the top Ribbon where it says \u201cMeeting\u201d and you can \u201cReply with Meeting\u201d to all the people on the email stream.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Set up the time and place, and then invite everyone.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    3. Block Off Time Slots<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s say someone emailed you a proposal and you need to block off some time to read it. Here\u2019s how to do this right from the email and attachment:<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s the email with the proposal marked in blue.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Drag the box down to the left where it says \u201cCALENDAR\u201d and it will create a prompt where you can enter the block of time in your calendar, on the day and time that works for you. It will appear as an appointment in your calendar.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    When you\u2019re entering time in your meeting time slot, Outlook does some of the work for you.<\/p>\n

    Say you want to start at 10:00 am. Simply key in 10 and hit TAB, and Outlook will enter the rest (10:00 AM). You can even enter military time. 15:15 TAB and Outlook will convert it to 3:15PM.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    You can do the same with the end time as well.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    4. The Ignore Button<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If there\u2019s an email that keeps appearing in your inbox, but you don\u2019t want to see it anymore, rather than deleting it you can simply go to the Ignore button on the top left, (or Control >Delete) and emails about this subject will automatically go into your Deleted Items.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    You\u2019ll get this prompt to ensure that you want to delete the message every time. Check \u201cDon\u2019t show this message again\u201d and click \u201cIgnore Conversation.\u201d You won\u2019t be bothered by the message anymore.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    5. The Quick Access Toolbar<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Microsoft provides this toolbar in all of their software solutions. You can put some of your most used commands in this toolbar. Simply check the ones that you want to appear. They will always appear at the top of your screen until you remove them.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    And you can easily add more commands, as you see below.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Simply highlight the commands to the left and click \u201cAdd\u201d and they will appear in your ribbon. To remove, do the opposite. Highlight the commands to the right and click \u201cRemove.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    5. Respond Fast with Instant Messaging<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Sometimes you need a fast way to get a message to someone, and email isn\u2019t doing this for you. Right from Outlook, go to the top ribbon to: \u201cReply All with IM\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Now, you can send everyone on your email stream an Instant Message instead of an email. This comes in handy if you need to get a quick message to your team. However, it only works if your team is connected to you with Microsoft Link. If not, you can do this with Skype as well.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    6. Quick Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n

    You may recognize this in the top Ribbon. It\u2019s been in Microsoft products since 2010.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Sometimes you do things manually. Or you may set up Rules. For example, \u201cIf the email is from Molly Dempsey save it to Project Falcon.\u201d Or something like this. You can also save commands like this in Quick Steps. Here\u2019s one we set to move the message, mark it as read, tag it, and put a follow-up flag on it.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Quick Steps moved the email, categorized it and marked it as read, just as we specified.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    There are multiple actions you can choose from in Quick Steps. Start with \u201cCreate New\u201d and your selections will pop up. Click \u201cNew Message.\u201d Then preset the email that you think you\u2019ll use over and over.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s a Quick Step to create an invoice right from Outlook.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Click the invoice you want (we have one called Tailspin already set up). Outlook will take you to your contact list where you can choose who to send it to.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Then we set the importance level as \u201cHigh.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    And we simply fill in the information in the preset template, send it and it\u2019s done!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    7. Out of Office in Advance<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Now you can set your \u201cOut of Office\u201d messages in advance. Remember when you had to do this right before you left town? No more.<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s how to set it up:<\/p>\n

    Go to the \u201cFile\u201d menu.<\/p>\n

    Click \u201d Automatic Replies (Out of Office)<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Then set up your parameters.<\/p>\n

    Click \u201cSend Automatic Replies\u201d and type in the start and end date, along with the message you want to send when you\u2019re away.<\/p>\n

    Check the box that says, \u201cOnly send during this time range\u201d. Outlook will remember to send the Out of Office message beginning on the date and time you set and stop on the end date and time.<\/p>\n

    You can also set Out of Office emails for those emailing you from inside or outside your organization. How easy is that?<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    8. Search Your Email <\/strong><\/p>\n

    The search box is right above your emails.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Say we want to find messages from Garret Vargas. All I have to do is type \u201cGarret\u201d and his messages came up.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    But as you can see, some other messages popped up here. They probably contain Garret\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

    Yes, you can see below that Garret\u2019s name was in Katie Jordan\u2019s message. Outlook search capabilities go that deep into your emails. Outlook will even look in attachments in your emails for what you\u2019re searching for.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    You can also search the Current Mailbox or All Mailboxes.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    And, notice that when you\u2019re in Search you have all kinds of options in the top Ribbon.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    9. Look for ? or press F1 for Help<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The ? is on the top right of your screen if you ever need help in Outlook or any Microsoft program.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Or, simply click F1 and the Help prompt will appear.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Microsoft Outlook has many other great features. Keep watching this space for more ways to get the most from Outlook and other Microsoft products.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Are you using Outlook to its fullest potential? If not, you\u2019re missing out on a valuable tool that will make your work so much easier. Not only will it incorporate everything you need to do with emails, like make appointments and set \u201cQuick Steps,\u201d it can save you a lot of time. We have 9…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":158810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-179384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-techbytes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n