Outlook How To's

Helpful Outlook Tips & Tricks (For Outlook 2013)

• Add a Send/Receive button to your HOME tab.
• Right-click on the ribbon and select Customize Ribbon.
• In the Main Tabs box (on the right) click Home (Mail), then right-click and select Add New Group
• Then click and drag the group to the top of the list (right underneath the Home (Mail) heading.
• Right-click on the new group and select Rename and called it Send/Rcv and then click OK.
• Now, with the new group highlighted, click on Send/Receive All Folders (on the left side) and then click the Add >> button.
• Click OK to exit.
• How to Change the Send/Receive Interval
• Click on the Send/Receive Tab
• Click on the Send/Receive Groups (drop down)
• Click Define Send/Receive Groups
• Click All Accounts
• Change the settings to suit your needs.
• View a SINGLE line in your inbox (rather than a 2 line view per email)
• Click on View > Message Preview > Off
• Make the fields in your inbox Editable (Allow In-Cell Editing):
• View > View Settings > Other Settings > check the 'Allow in-cell editing'
• Show 'New Item' row (so you will have an EXTRA line at the top of your inbox) so you can quickly/easily add a TO-DO right in your Inbox.
• View > View Settings > Other Settings > check the 'Show "new item" row' 
• Add 1 or more additional columns to your inbox (so you can add you own sorting and grouping features)
• With your Inbox visible, right-click on one of the column headings and select Field Chooser.  
• Then click New.
• Give the field a name such as Pri (short for Priority) or Est (short for Estimated Time To Complete), etc
• Be sure to select the correct 'Type' of field for the field you are creating.  For example, if you want to be able to sort your emails by the priority you give them make sure that new field has a Type = Number, with a Format = 2 Decimal (if you want to be able to subdivide the priorities you give the items, such as 1.1, 1.12, etc)
• When done, drag and drop the new fields up to the Column headings bar.
• Working with folders (on the left side)
• To add a new folder, click on your Profile (which is typically the very top item on the left side of your screen (unless you have Favorites showing).  Right-Click and select new Folder.  Give it a name and press Enter.
• To change the sort order of your folders..just drag and drop it wherever you'd like.
• To see how many items are a particular folder (or how many are unread) right-click on the folder and select Properties.  Click either of the Show options..
• Ideas for how to stay organized (and prevent constant email distractions..)
• One of the biggest problems with using Outlook as a Email / To-do / Time Management Tool is HOW DISTRACTING IT CAN BE to always have another new email arrive.  I like to avoid this by having a FOLDER for each 'Hat' I wear.  For instance, I have 5 primary Folders for the 5 Major Hats I wear: OneThing Projects, CS/Dev, Sales/Cash Flow/Acctg, KBAs/QA, and Personal/EVE.  Depending on how I have planned out my day (which hats I will try to wear at which times of day), then I have THAT folder open while I am doing those type of tasks.  (That way, when new emails arrive, since I am not working IN the Inbox, the new emails don't distract me).  Then every so often (which may be a given times of day) I will open my Inbox and quickly move them (using the Quick Steps buttons outline below) into one of 5 folders (or my Acknowledged/Completed folder, or the Deleted folder).
• Make use of Quick Steps - as a time saver.
• On the Home tab, click the down arrow on bottom right corner of the Quick Steps
• Click Manage Quick Steps.
• Add as many quick steps as desired (to quickly move emails to certain folders, delete them, etc...
• Tip: My brain is able to translate COLORS quicker than I can READ descriptions so I like to change the ICON for each Quick Step to different colored boxes.  (To do this, click on the Quick Step > Edit > Then click the Picture to the left of the Name > Select a colored box.  I try to pick colors that remind me of the type of task/email it is. For instance I have selected Red for Customer Service To-Do's, Green for Sales/Cash Flow To-Do's, Blue for things I will do at Night, etc).
• To Change the Sort Order just click on the Quick Step and then click the Up and Down arrows to position them where you'd like).  
• Be able to view your Email Inbox AND your Outlook Calendar on 2 screens at the same time..
• Right-Click on the Calendar button (word) and select Open in New Window.
• Problems / Solutions:
• Problem: Cant drag and drop emails into folders.  Solution: Click on any email in the inbox and then press ESC key several times. 

How to make a new ( additional ) Outlook .PST file to store older emails in ( to help get around Outlook Maximum Size limit )

• Outlook 2010
• File > Account Settings > Accounting Settings
• Click Data File tab
• Note 1: You will see a list of 1 or more .PST files in the list of .PST files.  Make note of where these files are located so you can be sure to save the new .PST file in the same location.  
• Note 2: The .PST file, by default, is saved in a special hidden folder, which makes it hard to back up unless you back up your whole computer every night--which is usually way overkill.  Our suggestion is to move ALL .PST files to a special folder that you make called something like OutlookData and that you make a special effort to make sure this folder gets backed up each night.
• Click Add, then type the name of the new .PST file (name it something descriptive like 2013_Archive - if you were planning to move all emails from 2013 out of your main .PST file to the new archive .PST file).  
• Browse to the location you made a note of above and then click OK and then click Close.
• The new file will now be added to your list of Outlook files on the left side.  (You may need to scroll down your list of folders/sub-folders to see it).
• Possible Error Messages
• The message store has reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in the message store, select some items that you no longer need, and permanently (SHIFT + DEL) delete them.

How to move Outlook Emails from 1 .PST file to another .PST file

• See 'How to make a new ( additional Outlook .PST file to store older email in (above) - to learn how to add an additional .PST file to move older emails to..
• Drag and drop any emails you want to move from 1 folder to any folder in the newly created and attached .PST file. 
• To move a large group of emails all at once, sort the emails in your preferred order, such as by date.
• It is usually a good idea to replicate your folder structure in the new file, such as adding a separate sub folder for Inbox, Sent, etc...so you can selectively move items from your main Outlook file (1 subfolder at a time) into the newly created archive .PST file.
• To select a large group of emails to move select the top most email, then press and hold your Shift key down, then click the bottom most email.  This will highlight all emails between the top and bottom emails clicked.  To select ALL emails in a particular folder, click any email in the folder then press Ctrl + A.

How to move an Outlook .PST File.

• Goto Folder Options (in Control Panel) and show hidden files.
• Browse      to:
• C:\Documents       and Settings\%User Name%\Local Settings\Application       Data\Microsoft\Outlook
• Find      and move the Outlook.pst file (assuming that the date is recent and it is      apparent that it is in fact the right/current file).
• If       necessary, In Outlook, browse to Tools, Options, Mail Setup, Data Files       (to view the exact file name).
• Click       Open Folder to open the correct directory.
• Open ….

How to make Inbox columns editable (Outlook 2007 / 2010)  (Aka: How to make Outlook your Single One Master Tasklist)

How to move the ‘auto complete’ email drop down list auto fill feature:

• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/copy-the-autocomplete-list-to-another-computer-HA010097887.aspx