A Better Outlook on your Email

Cluttered mailboxes mean your email setup is working against you rather than for you. Outlook 2010 offers users some new email management features to better organise your messages.

Microsoft Outlook has long since been the de facto standard in email client software. When used in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server, it enables your staff to collaborate effectively, sharing contacts and to-do lists, as well as scheduling meetings in one another’s diary.

With the latest release, Outlook 2010, come some new and improved email management features to better organise your messages. So with the best of the new and some of the golden oldies we bring you our 5 top Outlook tips to help keep your Inbox working for you.

1. Arrange your messages to suit you

Outlook 2010 has a fantastic new tool that allows you to arrange your emails by Conversation. Whenever a new message in a Conversation is received, the entire Conversation moves to the top of your inbox, with the newest message on the top. Conversations can be expanded by clicking on the symbol next to the subject line.

To use this feature, you will need to turn on Conversations. To do this, click on the View tab and check the box next to Show as Conversations.

The Clean Up feature allows you to reduce the size of a Conversation, deleting any duplicate messages.

Go to the home tab and, in the Delete group, click Clean Up, then Clean Up Conversation.

All versions of Outlook allow you to quickly sort your messages by date, sender, level of importance or subject, etc. Outlook automatically orders your emails by date received, but you can change how they are displayed to find your emails more easily by changing the arrangement to order them by sender, file size or level of importance.

Click on the Arrange By bar which will bring up a sub menu listing options. Click on the option you wish to view your messages by.

2. Create folders for similar messages

Creating folders for your emails is a simple way to get organised and group similar messages together. You can choose what folders to create and how to arrange your emails, for example by project, contact or subject.

Click on the Folder tab and, in the New group, click on New Folder.

3. Find messages fast with Search Folders

A quick and easy way to find your messages is through the use of Search Folders. These are virtual folders, so don’t actually store any messages, and they work by looking for messages based on a set of predefined attributes you supply. There is already a set of default Search Folders within Outlook such as Unread Mail, but you can also create your own to refer to again and again.

To create a Search Folder within Outlook 2010, click on the Folder tab, then click on New Search Folder and follow the instructions.

4. Add flags to follow up

Flags are a great visual reminder to jog your memory to act upon a task related to an email. You can set a due date that will automatically flag that email so you don’t forget to deal with it.

In an open message, click on the Follow Up icon and select from the options presented.

In a list of emails, e.g. in your inbox, click on the flag icon to the right of the message you wish to flag for action. This will set your default flag. For more options, right-click on the flag and choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

5. Add a colour category

You can easily identify and organise any related email messages and other Outlook items by assigning them with a colour category. For instance, you may wish all emails relating to the End of Year Project to be categorised as green.

To colour categorise an email in a messages list view, e.g. when viewing your inbox, right-click on the small transparent box to the left of the flag icon. Select a colour from the list this action brings up.

To categorise a message you have open, in the Message tab, click on Categorize and select from the colours on the list that drops down.