Email Management

Hey welcome back! I've got plenty more organising hints and tips to share with you...

Who’s in charge?  Here is how you can manage your inbox if you use Outlook 2007.  The menu items in more recent versions would be similar – this information tells you what to look for!

Manage You

• Block out a set amount of time to check and respond to emails and STICK to it – eg 10 mins every 2 hours.
• Prioritise what you need to reply to on the spot.  Knock off as many instant replies as you can eg meeting availability requests etc.
• Block out time in your diary to comeback and respond to more detailed emails/issues.
• Turn off notifications/popups that show new messages – you choose when to check, not the email.

Manage the software

You can make emails received from certain people a different colour to assist you with prioritising.  Visit ‘Organise’ on the ‘Tools’ menu.  Select ‘using colours’/’colour messages from xxxxxx’ and choose the colour.

To put emails that you are only cc’d on into their own folder.  Set up new rule, select ‘move messages from someone to a folder’/’where my name is in the cc box’/’move it to specified folder’/select specified folder (maybe create a ‘cc’ folder).

To see the first couple of lines of an email in your inbox.  Select ‘Using views’/’messages with auto preview’.

Making a quick appointment.  Drag an email across to the ‘Calendar’ bar and it will open up an appointment and put the email text into the meeting notes.  This can help you be prepared for meetings by having all the information in one place.  You can also attach emails to the meeting – Choose insert from the appointment menu/select ‘attach item’ for an email or ‘attach file’ for a document.

Set up a quick task.  You can also drag an email across to the task bar and set up a task so the email text is already in there.  You can set a start date/due date/reminder and track the status.

Set up a quick contact.  Again drag the email across to the contacts bar and it will open a ‘contact card’ with the senders details inserted and the body of the email in the notes.

These are just a few features of using Outlook that will save you time and make the most of a software product that can support you to be organised! If you have any other tips to share please feel free to post them onto my blog at www.clarefountain.com.  This article will also be posted there so you can easily share it with others!

Top Tip

Make sure you manage your email before it mangles you!!!

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