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 Microsoft Outlook Email Repair Tool Online 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?

In these cases, reply and include the person you're delegating the message to on the To line. If you find you're doing this often, consider creating a Quick Step that replies and adds the delegated person to the To line. If you need it as reference (even if you have decided to defer it), move it into your reference folder.

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

• This becomes even more complicated if there is more than one appropriate folder per message.
• Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
• But if a message takes longer than two minutes to deal with, defer it.
• We also used CiraSync to sync and update Outlook contacts to iPhone and Android devices.
• They are a useful tool to help you keep a clean inbox and to generally be more efficient at using Outlook.
• Make sure to respond to the Contact Group after the issue is resolved with the resolution.
• As time goes on, you will likely receive more and more messages.

After you process your messages, you can tackle your task list. This is when you respond to those messages that you have deferred. Sometimes you receive a message that is really meant for someone else to deal with.

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 Outlook sync help from FixTechGuide 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?

I don't manage his inbox but I did help Office 365 Sync Errors Fix him get the Stack method set up and he's blown away by how awesome it is, so now thinks I'm an Outlook wizard. I'm decent but certainly not an expert - so I figure before I actually lead a training I should brush up. It’s liberating to depend on Outlook instead of your overtaxed brain to keep track of your tasks.

Recommended Reads

Some people try to use the read and unread states to indicate whether a message is new or a reference item. Inevitably, messages will be reread, and the mental tax of figuring out what you need to do will be paid again. A far more efficient Inbox plan is to go through your messages and decide what to do with each one.

Set Up Quick Steps

When you switch between working online and offline, all email accounts within your Outlook profile are changed. You can schedule this time for yourself with regular appointments and meetings on your calendar. Your calendar should be treated as your real plan for your time— if you have scheduled it, then that is what you are committed to doing at that time.