Using email clients for formal communication is a a standard practice for most companies. One of the most popular email clients that organizations use is Microsoft Outlook. Outlook is one of the best email and personal information management software. Using Outlook has its own perks. It has a simple and elegant user interface and it helps in managing the emails, calendar, and other tasks.
Let’s talk about how you can get the most out of Outlook.
- Keyboard Shortcuts
Knowing shortcuts always comes in handy when you regularly use Outlook as it speeds up your work. Here we have listed the common and most useful shortcuts.
| Shortcuts | Output |
| Ctrl+R | Reply to Email |
| Alt+R | Reply to all in email or switch to the work week calendar view |
| Alt+W | forward email or switch to the weekly calendar view |
| Ctrl+Shift+K | New Task |
| Ctrl + 2 | Go to Calendar |
| Alt+S | Send e-mail |
| Ctrl+Shift+M | New Message |
| Escape or Enter | Close |
| Ctrl+M | F9 to Send/Receive all |
| Ctrl+G | Open the “Go to date” dialog to jump to any date in the calendar |
| Ctrl + E | Find a message or an item |
| Ctrl+Alt+A | Expand the search to include All Mail Items, All Calendar Items, or All Contact Items, depending on the module you are in |
| Ctrl+Shift+A | Create an appointment |
| Ctrl+Shift+C | Create a contact |
So, these are shortcuts that you need to keep in mind while using Outlook.If you want to switch between Mails, calendars and other options, then –
| Ctrt+1 | |
| Calendar | Ctrt+2 |
| Contacts | Ctrt+3 |
| Tasks | Ctrt+4 |
| Notes | Ctrt+5 |
- Flag Messages On A Click –
Select a message or two, and then hit the Insert key to toggle the flag on or mark it done.
- Spare Yourself From Repeated Typing –
You send emails back and forth throughout a day, and you must be typing some of the same content in many emails, to avoid that and to save your time, you can save the content in Quick Part.To add, highlight the text in the composer window, then switch to the Insert tab, click the Quick Parts’ dropdown and select “Save Selection to Quick Parts Gallery”.Now whenever you type the phrase mentioned, you would see the suggestion notification, hit enter to insert the phrase.
- Save Emails As Files-
If you wish to save an email as a file, all you need to do is -Go to File menu -> Click Save as (here, you will get options – text, HTML, Outlook message format, .msg, .mht and more)This is the quickest method to save your important email in a desirable format.
- Save Outlook Notes, Events And More To Desktop For Quick Access-
Apart from emails, you can also save your notes, events, contacts and more to your computer for easy and quick access. To do so, you need to drag and drop any item to the desktop. You can access these items even if Outlook is not open.
- Schedule Your Emails –
ou can schedule your emails just like your appointments. Say, you need to send an email at 4 pm but you know that you would be busy as you have a meeting scheduled. So, don’t worry, Outlook will cover it for you. All you need to do is type the email, then go to Options tab and click Delay Delivery. It will open a small window, which will let you set the date and time at which you want the email to get delivered and click Close.When you hit Send, it will hold the message until the specified time.
Note: If you are on an Exchange Server, you can close the app. But, if you are using POP or IMAP, you need to leave the app open, till the message gets delivered.
- Filter Emails To Find Relevant Messages –
To find the relevant emails, you can use the Filter Email dropdown located at the right of Home tab. All you need to do is select a menu option which filters your mailbox display to show only certain types of emails according to the filter. Within your filtered view, you can type into the regular search box to drill down further.
Must Read: Protect Your Inbox From Phishing And Other Email Attacks
- Junk or Ignore Unwanted Email –
You receive endless unwanted emails every now and then, which chugs up space and clutter your mailbox. Well, no worries, you can block the future emails from the sender. All you need to do is – Click on Junk Dropdown, located on Home tab. Select “Junk Email Options” to set the preferences.
- Remove Unwanted Messages
In Outlook 2010 and 2013, there is a tool, Cleanup tool, which helps you to save space and declutter the emails. It scrutinizes a complete email conversation and deletes any messages that have been quoted in their entirety inside a subsequent message.To access Cleanup tool, click its dropdown on Home tab and select a conversation or a folder that you need to declutter. You can further customize by clicking on the Settings button in the alert to choose what sort of messages should be deleted.
- Send text messages from within Outlook
Not every time, you want to send an email to convey your messages, with Outlook, you can send text messages to your contacts. To set up SMS, go to Home tab and select New Items, then select Text Message (SMS) and, you will see a dialog, click “Find a text messaging service for your mobile operator”.
Note: Register with a third-party messaging service to use this feature.These are a few Outlook tips and tricks that could you help you work faster on Outlook. Stay tuned for more.