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Want to be an Outlook Pro? Here’s How

Want to be an Outlook Pro? Here’s How

If there has been anything that you’ve mastered during this pandemic, that’s your e-mails. I’m sure that with almost a year since initial lockdowns were implemented, you’ve gotten to have a quite intimate relationship with your office email server, which most likely is Outlook. If your Outlook page still looks like a mess even though you’ve had a lot of time fixing it one year into working from home, here are some suggestions to make you (or at least, your Outlook) look like an e-mail pro.

Get into OC Territory With Folders

One of the key factors in enjoying your Outlook experience is by seeing all your emails organized instead of being greeted by a wall of email subject lines every time you open your Outlook app. Putting your emails in folders is the first step to using Outlook like a pro. Yes, it can be a herculean task at first, especially in the beginning when you are faced with an overflowing inbox. But instead of getting intimidated, try to accomplish this task as the rewards are really worth all the effort. A folder system will make your inbox more sensible, so if you continue with the folder system, you really won’t spend too much time searching for old emails lost in a heap of hundreds, if not thousands of other emails. ou want to streamline your email use, this is the obvious first step. But it can also be the most daunting, as well, especially if you have an overflowing inbox. Moreover, a clean, organized inbox with folders will motivate you to deal with your emails, instead of constantly putting off answering them because just one look at your inbox gives you a headache.

This is where folders come in handy. Categories can help here too, but folders will really help you sort your inbox and group them into similar email collections.

(Via: https://www.wisestamp.com/blog/how-to-organize-emails-in-outlook/)

Outlook has templates!

In case you haven’t known yet, Outlook actually allows you to have templates for emails that you find yourself sending over and over. So, instead of composing from scratch when sending a similar email for the 32nd time, you can save one of the emails as a template and use it the next time you need to send a similarly messaged email. Once you have the template ready, just go to File, then Save As, then Outlook Template. The next time, you will need to use that template, click Items, go to Choose Form, then User Templates, and voila! No need to waste time starting similar emails from scratch every single time.

Then, instead of creating the email from scratch, start with a template and customize it to fit your email recipient. You’ll save time and become more efficient at your email tasks.

(Via: https://www.lifewire.com/create-use-email-templates-outlook-1173793)

Get Important Stuff to Your Desktop

Saving calendar invites, important emails, and other similar items allow you to streamline your inbox, as well as give you easier access to those messages and events. You may drag a note, email, calendar entry, and similar items from your Outlook to your desktop. If you’d like to save the item in a different format, click on File and Save As and specify the format. Double-clicking the item on your desktop or wherever you saved it will open the item in Outlook.

Outlook lets you save emails as MSG and HTML files. Saving MSG files is very simple, but saving an email as HTML format file is not that straightforward. Also, while saving an email as HTML, there may be some elements missing.

(Via: https://www.complianceprime.com/blog/2019/01/24/how-to-save-calendar-events-notes-as-file-in-ms-outlook-emails/)

Schedule Your Email Deliveries.

Feel the need to compose a message now although you don’t have to send it until hours later? You may use the Delay Delivery option under Options. Choose Do not deliver before, after which you should type the date and time when you want the email sent.

But then, not a lot of people see the sense of scheduling the delivery of an email. They feel that this is a shortcut that exposes the arrogance of the email sender, as he or she has to schedule the delivery of his/her email and would not be bothered with taking the time or making the effort of sending it at the time it is actually intended to be sent. This article may not be directly related to Outlook, but it provides several reasons that side with scheduling emails:

Scheduling emails is essential when dealing with clients in different time zones. A message sent at 7PM could be delivered to people in the middle of the night. Instead of setting your clock to an ungodly hour, it’s way more favorable to schedule your emails for different time zones. If you want to reach your clients, you should be on top of their inbox.

(Via: https://scheduledapp.com/here-are-4-reasons-why-you-should-schedule-your-emails/)

Now that you’re getting into an email champ, you may also want that with your laptop. If you feel like your laptop is not in its best shape, get in touch with us to get it back in top performance.