OUTLOOK COMMAND CENTER

Transcription

1 NEIL MALEK, MCT There is so much you can do automatically in Outlook with just a few clicks. In this session, we ll be focused on tools like the Favorites Panel, To-Do Bar, Quick Steps, Color Coding, and Microsoft OneNote to put rich, easy-to-use information and powerful, easy-to-build buttons at your fingertips. Reduce the number of clicks for most of your operations by 50% or more.

2 Building custom views in Outlook Open a second instance of Outlook One of the easiest view changes for immediate returns is to open both the Inbox and the Calendar simultaneously. In Windows 7, 8, and 10, hold the [SHIFT] key on the keyboard, and click the Outlook icon on the bottom of the screen. This opens Outlook a second time, letting you put the second instance on your second monitor. Organizing outside of the alphabet In Outlook 2013 and 2016, folders are no longer required to be organized in alphabetical order. If you have multiple subfolders on your Inbox, simply click-and-drag the folders around to reorganize. Besides the ability to rearrange the subfolders within a folder, you can also use the Favorites pane to arrange subfolders from various areas amongst themselves. Why? Because if your folder system goes three, four, five, or more levels deep, it is almost impossible to navigate the various areas. Instead, take your most frequently accessed folders, right-click and choose Add to Favorites.

3 Creating a new custom view When you re looking at , you regularly use the standard view in your Inbox - arrange by date, filter by nothing, and conditionally format unread s. This is just one of infinite combinations that could be valuable to you. To build a new view, click View > Change View > Manage Views... This opens the Manage All Views dialog, which allows you to Modify existing views, create New views from scratch, or Copy an existing view to make a new, custom view. Choose Compact and click Copy.

4 Name the view Follow-up, to be used on All Mail and Post folders, and click OK. Click Filter... Click the More Choices tab, and click the checkbox for Only items which are flagged by me. Click OK, then OK, then OK. Now you have a filtered view you can switch to that cuts it down to only flagged s.

5 Conditionally format your calendar Using the same technique from the previous exercise, you can color-code your calendar. Open the calendar and click View > Change View > Manage Views... Select the Calendar entry and click Copy... Name the new view Color-coded, to be used on All Calendar folders, and click OK.

6 Click the Conditional Formatting... button. Click the Add button, then name the rule Boss. Add the color of your choice (I picked red).

7 Now, click the Condition... button, and in the Attendees... area, put your boss s address. Click OK, then OK, then OK. Now you have a view you can switch to that highlights your boss s meetings in red.

8 Customizing your interface Adding to the Quick Access Toolbar Some of the buttons we need (the View changer, for example) are too many clicks away. By adding them to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar), you ll get two benefits. First, right-click the button you want (like the Change View button), and choose Add to the Quick Access Toolbar. You ll see that you can now click the drop-down menu in an easy-to-access spot, BUT, in addition, you can use the keyboard shortcut [ALT], then [<number item on the QAT>].

9 Leveraging Quick Steps A Quick Step is a magic button that can do a multi-step process with a single click or keyboard shortcut. Click Home > Quick Steps > Create New... Give the Quick Step a relevant name (Client Complaint, for example).

10 Add any relevant steps (Flag for Follow-up, Forward to <the boss>, and Reply). Choose a keyboard shortcut ([CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [1]).