Do you use Microsoft Outlook to send and receive emails for your work or personal life? Then you’ll want to incorporate the following tips and tricks into your daily routine, as they can help you get the most out of this popular email client.
You probably have the basics down on what Microsoft Outlook does and how to use it. Use these tips and tricks when signing in to your account and you will be able to make your Microsoft Outlook experience that much more enjoyable and productive. It is worth noting that the following operations were performed on a Mac device using the Outlook web version, so you may find slight variations when you try them for yourself in a different format on another device.
How to clean up your Outlook inbox
If you’re like most people, your Outlook inbox is messier than you’d ideally like it to be. Instead of taking a day off work to go through your inbox and manually delete unnecessary messages, you can use the ingenious
Clean Up feature to do the dirty work for you.
Clean Up removes redundant messages so you can enjoy a clutter-free inbox while still retaining the information that you need for future reference. Click on
Clean Up at the top of the Outlook window in the
Delete section and you will get the option to
clean up conversations, folders or folders and subfolders. Any redundant messages will be moved to the
Deleted Items folder, in case you are worried about losing something essential during the process.
How to send automatic replies in Outlook
The next time you find yourself on vacation or too swamped to reply to emails, use automatic replies so you don’t leave anyone hanging and make others aware of your status. With an automatic reply, Outlook will send out personalized responses, so you don’t have to. You can select a start and end time for automatic replies that fits your busy schedule perfectly and is the ideal feature for workaholics who simply can’t stay away from their inbox.
You can access this feature by clicking on
File,
Info
and
Automatic Replies.
Simplify multitasking with multiple tabs
Want to view your Outlook calendar to get a look at upcoming meetings, your inbox for urgent messages coming in, and your attachments for quick access? Instead of clicking back and forth between each of these Outlook features, you can enjoy easier access by opening them up in multiple tabs. Here’s how to create multiple tabs in Outlook:
- On the left-hand side of the Outlook window, right-click on the feature you want (mail, calendar, people, files, etc.)
- Click on
Open in new tab
From there, you can easily switch between tabs without having to start over or wait for each feature to load.
Keep track of time zone differences in Outlook
Remote work is more popular than ever, and many teams have workers who live in different time zones. This can lead to confusion when scheduling meetings, sending out emails, or waiting for replies, which is why you need to utilize the
Scheduling Assistant in Outlook to view multiple time zones at once.
To use the  Scheduling Assistant in Microsoft Outlook, follow these steps:
- Open the  Calendar pane in Outlook
- Click  New Event , and a new window will pop up
- Click  Scheduling Assistant
- Click the small globe icon (when you hover over it, it will say  Time Zones )
- Use your current time zone for one field
- In the other field, look for the desired city that is in the second time zone
- Click  Done
Even though multiple time zones will be used for this event, do not worry, as they will not apply to your entire calendar.
How to Make Scheduling Easier in Outlook
The  Scheduling Assistant in Outlook is useful when your colleagues are in different time zones, but it also makes it easier to organize meetings when everyone has a busy schedule.
Instead of sending emails, calling, or texting your colleagues to try and find a free slot to organize a meeting, use the  Scheduling Assistant to find an opening.  After you have created a calendar invite and selected the colleagues you want to attend, the  Scheduling Assistant will show you everyone’s calendar.  Times when everyone is free will be shown in green so that you can easily pick the day and time that suits you best.
Ignore Conversations That Don’t Concern You
Have you ever been part of an email thread where some participants kept hitting the  Reply All? If so, those constant incoming messages that didn’t concern you probably served to distract/annoy you and made it impossible for you to focus on your work.
Instead of taking the impolite route and asking others to stop using the “Reply All” option, you can instead mute the conversation like so:
- With the exchange email open, click the three dots (… ) in the toolbar
- From those settings, click Ignore
- Outlook will ask if you wish to ignore the conversation. To ignore it and stop that endless stream of annoying notifications, click OK
When you ignore a conversation, Outlook will delete all of its messages from all folders except for Sent Items. All new messages from that ignored conversation will also be deleted.
Another option is to Snooze a conversation. You can access this less permanent feature by clicking the three dots (… ) in the email toolbar. After clicking Snooze, you will be given the option to mute the conversation until a specified date and time, so you can take a break from those distractions but still access the information if needed.
How to schedule emails in Outlook
Some believe that you should only send an email when you expect the recipient to be available to respond. In other words, you should refrain from sending a message to a colleague at midnight since they are likely asleep, won’t reply, and may even be offended or annoyed that you’re messaging them when they’re off the clock. This is where scheduling emails in Outlook comes in handy, as you can set the exact time you want an email to be sent.
To avoid disturbing a colleague’s sleep or vacation, follow these steps to schedule an email in Outlook:
- Compose the email
- Next to the “Send” button, click the downward-pointing arrow
- Click Send later
- Select the date and time you want the email to be sent
By default, Outlook will offer scheduled send times in 30-minute intervals, but you can also manually input an exact time. If you need to find a scheduled email, check the “Drafts.
How to use conditional formatting in Outlook
Do you receive so many emails every day that you’re worried essential emails might slip through the cracks? If so, you can keep an eye on important emails by using Outlook’s conditional formatting feature, as it will enable you to customize specific messages so they stand out from the crowd in your inbox.
For example, if you know you’ll be receiving messages from a new client that you can’t afford to miss, you can change their font so they don’t get lost in a sea of “junk” from other senders. You can also create a rule so that any message with a specific word in the subject line, such as “Invoice,” is displayed in a different color or format. To view all the conditional formatting settings available to you in Outlook, click on the View at the top of the window, followed by the View settings.
Pubblicato in Guides & Tutorials
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