10 tips for using Outlook efficiently

Outlook provides some very effective features that allow you to manage e-mail, meetings, and contacts. The problem is that it provides too much functionality and it will take a lot of time to learn to use these features efficiently. Some options, however, are deeply buried under multiple menus. Others, however, tend to be located in a different position than our intuition would have thought. The key to using Outlook efficiently is to customize many of its views, as well as many options to suit your work habits (if you are still using a version prior to 2003, you may need to adjust some additional steps).

Trick 1: Save keyboard knocks when entering dates

When you enter a start and end date for a task, you do not need to enter the full entire date. If a date is the current month, Outlook automatically fills in the remainder if you enter the day directly. For example, if the current month is March, then you just type in the 14,outlook will think you entered the March 14 of this year, and fill in the date.

If this date is not the current month, you can save keystrokes by entering the month and date. Outlook fills in the year according to the following rules:

* If the month and date have not been present this year, Outlook uses this year as the years.

* If the month and date have passed, Outlook uses next year as the year.

Trick 2: Control how to print notes

If you're accustomed to using the Notes feature to quickly jot down questions, ideas, or quick memos, you'll probably want to print them out occasionally. By default, Outlook prints one of these notes per page, but that's probably not what you want. You can force Outlook to fill each page so that when you save paper, you can also bring together all the relevant notes. Select the notes you intend to print and choose Print from the menu (File). In the Print dialog box for the prompt, remove the check in front of the "Start every item on a New page (per item)" option in the Print option, and then click OK.

If printing options are not available, you are using HTML formatting. You must switch to plain text or text format to enable this option. To do this, choose Options from the Tools menu. Then click the "Mail Format" tab and select the "Plain text" option in the Drop-down list in the "Letter type" option. Then, click on "Implement" and "OK". Repeat the print instructions we mentioned above, and you will see that the "Start each Item on A New Page" option is enabled. Once you have finished printing, you can cancel the above steps to set your formatting again.

Trick 3: Print emails when a letter arrives

For a variety of reasons, some of us have already stopped printing emails. If you want to print most of the letters, or if you want to print all the messages from a particular sender, then the process of one by one opening each letter and then printing it manually is trivial. You can set a rule to print out the letter you want, which is obviously more efficient. To do this, you need to:

1. From the Tools menu, select "Rules and Alerts (rule and reminders)"

2. Click on "New rule" on the "e-mail Rules" tab

3. Click "Start" on a blank rule at the top of the Rule Wizard's dialog box.

4. In the Step 1 (Steps 1) dialog box, highlight the option for check Messages when They Arrive (checked when message is reached) (this option should be the default), and then click Next.

5. In the Step 1 (Steps 1) dialog box, select the Where i Name is in the To box (if the recipient is me) check box (or choose another option if you do not want to print out all of your letters) and click Next.

4. In the Save Messages area, select Folders Other Than the Inbox (folders other than the Inbox) and select the save replies with the Original E (send back the letter with the original) check box, then click OK (OK) for three consecutive times, and return to Outlook.

Outlook will perform the above settings for all your personal folders. Keep in mind that Outlook only performs the same setting that will save the letter and the original if it is not stored in a inbox (in a different folder). In the case of Inbox (Inbox), Outlook will continue to keep all of your letters in the sent (Sent letter) folder.

Trick 5: Create a flag bar

Fast flags can help you classify letters, either at different levels of importance or according to different tasks. For example, you can use a red flag to mark letters that need to be answered quickly, and use a blue flag to mark letters that you have completed and are waiting to respond to.

But the problem with "quick flags" is that you have no way to customize their descriptions. Outlook only distinguishes them by color. You can't change the name of the red flag to "urgent". But it's too hard to remember what each color means.

To remember the meaning of each flag, there is a simple way to create a custom toolbar, so that each flag at the same time accompanied by text prompts its meaning. Fortunately, the process is simple:

1. From the Tools menu, select "Customize (Custom)"

2. On the Toolbar tab, click New, and then give the tool a proper name (for example, you can call it "Flag", and then click OK.).

3. In the Custom dialog box, click on the "Commands" tab.

6. In the Step 1 (Steps 1) dialog box, click the Print It (print) option, and then click Next.

7. Here, you can specify exceptions to the rule, but we do not do so now. Just click "Next" and click "Finish", "Apply", and "OK" to return to Outlook.

After you have set up a new print rule, Outlook prints every letter that satisfies your requirements. Now, the only thing you need to worry about is that you don't want to print every letter in your mailbox. So make sure you use the conditions provided in steps 5 and 7 to limit the messages that Outlook prints.