Outlook 365 / 2019 / 2016 Essential Quick-start

You'll discover how to work efficiently by using the View tab to customize, sort and filter your emails

You will understand how to use the sorting, filtering and different views available for the message pane

Different type of email accounts will affect the way the Outlook View tab will look to you.  In the PDF below, we show how it looks for an account connected to an Exchange Server vs a POP Server

You'll learn an effective, proven process to handle emails.

This section includes a cheat sheet to printout that shows the workflow for handling emails

Download

4Ds Cheat Sheet.pdf (1 pg)

• Delete Delegate Defer Do cheat sheet - print and display to remind you of the process to follow and options to use.

The Delete section on the Home tab has powerful options that are frequently ignored by new and experienced users.

Be proactive and use Ignore and Junk to keep emails from appearing in your inbox - IT SAVES YOU TIME!

Clean Up will remove emails that are part of an email chain by deleting all but the latest email.  [Note: Outlook won't delete an earlier email if it has information that doesn't appear in a later email - so don't be afraid to use this feature!]

By customizing the Junk Email Options, you can have Outlook automatically handle junk emails and reduce the emails making it into your inbox.

You'll learn how to:

• adjust the junk mail protection level
• backup the sender, recipients and blocked sender lists
• block emails by country

Note: When making changes between levels of protection, make sure you check your Junk folder in case Outlook misidentified an email as junk.  Either adjust the level to a lower setting or add the sender to your Safe Sender list.

Recommendation: Don't ever set Outlook to permanently delete emails it thinks is junk - you could miss a valid email and never know it.

Confused by Archive and AutoArchive? Microsoft has added and changed the functionality in Outlook and the slightly different archiving processes have similar names.

The downloadable file explains the difference between these two functions. Expect Archiving to change more in the future as support for PSTs (local mailbox files) will most likely be removed.

You'll know how to create rules to:

• automate the handling of select emails to minimize the emails you need to touch
• create alerts for only the emails you deem important

You'll discover these powerful features to save you time:

• Automate Outlook to handle emails for you - get those newsletters and low-priority emails out of your Inbox!
• Save your rules to a special file in case you need to restore your rules or share with a friend or coworker

Do you really need to be interrupted for every spam / low-priority email?

Turn OFF the notifications for every email and then...

create specific email notifications - only get alerts for emails YOU deem important. YOU get to choose the emails that Outlook should tell you about!

A BIG timesaver here!

You'll learn how to use Search Folders and ad hoc searches to save time

Create virtual folders and make Outlook do the work of 'filing' emails.

Eliminate the decision fatigue that comes with deciding where to file each email.

Discover the powerful search capabilities within Outlook to search your Inbox and Sent Items folders - stop wasting time filing into separate folders and use ad hoc searches when you need to find something.

The time spent manually filing emails will always exceed the time spent occasionally looking for an email. Find emails quickly and efficiently using the information in this video.

Want to be more productive? You'll learn how to view your schedule and to do list (and not your distracting emails) to get more done.

Discover alternative uses for Automatic Replies (also known as Out-of-Office), schedule time for emails and set expectations for when you'll respond to someone's email. Yes, you can use it even when you are in the office!

Download, print and use TODAY 1-2-3 Priorities Schedule and Notes.pdf

Create a signature for your emails that contain your name and contact info. You can have a number of signatures, so get creative!

You'll see how to set Outlook to automatically add it to your emails AND how to back them up.

If there is a disclaimer or other standard content you need in your emails, include it here.

You'll learn an easy way to save Quick Steps in case something happens to them, you move to a new role, or you want to share them with someone.

You'll learn how to Export Contacts, Notes and Tasks from Outlook. You can share these exported files with coworkers or import onto another computer that isn't setup with the same email account.

Print and use the Post-course Success Checklist to ensure you are using all the tools covered in this course to keep your Inbox under control, minimize your effort and maximize your productivity.

Contact me first with any comments or questions you may have!