Most employees use Microsoft Outlook as their primary form of business communication and scheduling. Below are a few tips and tricks to help you master Microsoft Outlook.
Email templates
If you find yourself composing the same kind of message over and over again, save one of the emails as a template so you can quickly reference it in the future.
To do this:
- Go to File > Save As… > Outlook template
- Click on Items > Choose Form… > User Templates when you’re ready to put that pre-saved form to use.
Use shortcuts
Here are some useful shortcuts to reduce the number of clicks while working in Outlook.
- Reply to an email: Ctrl + R
- Create a new email: Ctrl + Shift + M
- Open your email: Ctrl + 1
- Open your calendar: Ctrl + 2
- Open your contacts: Ctrl + 3
- Open your tasks: Ctrl + 4
Automatically file an email
Staying organized is a critical part of working as efficiently as possible.
Creating folders that certain emails are automatically moved to can help when switching between different types of work.
To do this:
- Create a Folder: Press “Ctrl + Shift + E”
- Name the folder and select the correct drop-down in the “folder contains” category
- Right-click the Email, click “Rules”
- Choose “Always move messages from”
- Select your new folder
Use a follow-up folder with flags
Often we find emails that need to be responded to but may not need immediate attention. It’s a good idea to create a folder labeled “Follow Up” and then a rule that puts all flagged emails into that folder.
To do this:
-
1. On the Folder tab, in the New group, click New Search Folder.
2. In the New Search Folder dialog box, under Reading Mail, select Mail flagged for follow up and then click OK.
3. To flag an email and add it to that specific folder, right-click on the email and select the flag
Use the drag-and-drop method
A quick way to add a new contact or a meeting to your calendar is to use the drag-and-drop method.
This is a quick way to add new things to your Outlook while avoiding those pesky typos.
To do this:
-
1. Click and drag the email and drop it over the shortcut options.
2. If the email contains a calendar invite, drag it to the calendar icon to add it to your schedule
3. If the email does not contain an invite, drag the email to the calendar icon and you will be prompted to set up a new meeting with that contact
4. If you would like to add the contacts contained in the email, drag it to the contacts icon
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