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 credential loop in Microsoft 365 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?

This guide represents our advice on how to get the most out of Outlook. A few core scenarios are covered to help you leverage Outlook into your information management needs. Go to File → Office Account → Update Options → Update Now.

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

• If you find that you are repeatedly applying the same categories and flags, create a new Quick Step that flags, categorizes, and files.
• 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.

Regardless of your server setup or organization size, this document will be useful to you.

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Create Contact Groups (formerly known as personal distribution lists) in Outlook when you want to make it easier to send messages to a group of people outside your corporation. For all groups inside your corporation, create a public Contact Group (ask your IT administrator about how to do this). Send your calendar in a message when you set up meetings with people who can’t see your free/busy mailbox not updating on IMAP information, such as people outside of your company.

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

To apply the "Work Less" theory, have Outlook automatically file an email. Then you can read them all at one time without distraction. If you just want to remember a few related tasks, list them in guide to Office 365 sign-in errors the body of the task. If you have more than 20 items in your Inbox, process the last week of messages and then select the remaining messages and move them to your 1-Reference folder.

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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

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.