These still apply to today’s world but have been lost in the flurry of digital organizing. "Working less" means you touch each piece of correspondence one time only. Whether it’s an actual paper envelope with a letter or whether it’s an email. "Correspondence" means Incoming Information, not necessarily "follow-up tasks". In this article, we’ll give you some of the best Outlook hacks for digital office management, along with some awesome Outlook tips and tricks featured in the how to fix Outlook not opening today program. I told my boss I'd like to give a (voluntary) company-wide training in something someday as a self-development goal and he suggested Outlook/inbox management.

How can I manage complicated tasks?

For example, many messages can be responded to in two minutes or less. But if a message takes longer than two minutes to deal with, defer it. To get a sense of what two minutes feels like, try timing yourself. If you never want to receive another message as part of this conversation, ignore it. Categories aren’t a required aspect of this system, but they will make your life easier if you are diligent about using them. For example, they can help you more easily identify what you can do now and help you group similar tasks so that you can do them all at once.

I have 10 minutes: What should I read first in my Inbox?

• Each additional person you invite to a meeting adds to the complexity of the meeting, making it harder to control.
• If your corporate policy dictates that you have multiple folders for each type of item, follow that policy.
• These statistics show the importance of efficiently managing your inbox.
• Search folders are useful for gathering information from across different mail and RSS folders.
• You can’t read every message you receive — nor should you try to.
• The tool that you use to collaborate during a meeting depends on the location and access of your participants.
• The Room Finder pane contains suggested times for the best time for your meeting (when most attendees are available).

Any time you find yourself repeatedly doing the same steps in Outlook, try creating a Quick Step. Collapse the top-level Contact Group folder so that you aren’t distracted by the unread messages in the folders beneath it. For example, we saw how to use Quick Steps, keyboard shortcuts, and calendar reminders.

Fix Tech Issues Fast

But because it’s in your task list, you can move on to your next message, knowing that you will return Microsoft Outlook Email Repair Tool Online to your flagged items later. If you receive a large volume of messages (more than 200 messages a day), search folders might be a good way for you to parse mail from different senders. If you are short on time, for example, between meetings, you can read the messages in blue – messages sent directly to you. Often these messages are waiting on you for the next step and are the most important.

Advanced: How do I create a Search Folder for email messages?

Outlook and Office 365 sync issues can be frustrating but are almost always fixable. Start with basic network checks, enable Cached Exchange Mode, and repair your data files if needed. For persistent problems, rebuild your Outlook profile or use FixTechGuide’s free diagnostic tools to automate detection of authentication and rebuild Outlook data file quickly IMAP errors in seconds.



These groups can also include rooms, which can make it easier to find an available room to meet in. The Room Finder pane contains suggested times for the best time for your meeting (when most attendees are available). To select a meeting time, select a time suggestion in the Room Finder pane in the Suggested times section, or pick a time on the free/busy grid. Each additional person you invite to a meeting adds to the complexity of the meeting, making it harder to control. On the other hand, if a decision needs to be made, make sure all of the key stakeholders are present, or the meeting will be a waste of time and resources.

Set Up Quick Steps

Rules help this process by moving messages into folders based on criteria that you set. Rules filter the messages coming into your Inbox for must-read items only. Favorites, a subset of your mail folders, appear at the top of the navigation pane. Outlook’s Calendar Reminders feature helps users keep their calendars in order so they don’t miss any crucial appointments or meetings.