Microsoft Outlook Tips

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager that can help you increase efficiency and organize your busy life. Whether you use it to help prioritize your time at work, or to manage personal tasks, knowing how too effectively use Microsoft Outlook will make collaboration a breeze and save time. Here are some useful Outlook tips that will assist you in maximizing productivity:

• Did you know you could set a reminder to reply to a message? Simply right-click the message you want to set the reminder for, point to Follow Up, and then click Add Reminder. In the Due By list, click the date when you have to complete the reply. In the second list, click a time. In the Flag colour list, click the flag colour you want, and then click OK

• Would you like to send a message to multiple people without revealing other recipients' identities? In order to do this, you will need to use the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) line in the message. If you add an email address in the Bcc line, a copy of the message is sent to that person, but his or her name is not visible to other recipients. Using this method increases email address privacy, and reduces the risk of the recipients’ address being harvested by senders of bulk email (spammers)

• You can automatically add a signature or logo to each message you send -- On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab. If you have more than one account, select the account you want to create the signature for, and then click Signatures

• Have you ever hit the Send button too soon? You can recall that message -- To recall or replace a sent message, simply open the message in the Sent Items folder, and on the Actions menu, click Recall This Message. You’ll have to be on an exchange server network for this to work, however

• You can add holidays to your Outlook Calendar On the Tools menu, click Options, click Calendar Options, and then click Add Holidays. Outlook will then install the holidays for the current year

• You can access any Outlook folder from your Windows desktop -- Create a shortcut to an Outlook folder on the Windows desktop by dragging the folder from Outlook to your Windows desktop. Be sure to press CTRL before you release the mouse button. When you double-click the new shortcut, Outlook will open to that folder

• If you want to quickly attach a file to a message, task, appointment, meeting request, journal entry, or contact -- Open the item, then on the Insert menu, click File. Locate the file you want to attach. You can also click and drag a file into the body of the email message

• To add a new contact from an e-mail message – Open the message. In the From field, right-click the name you want to make into a contact. On the shortcut menu, click Add to Outlook Contacts.

• Like using the keyboard instead of the mouse? Try these shortcuts:

• To reply to your current e-mail message, press CTRL+R.
• To forward your current e-mail message, press CTRL+F.
• To delete your current e-mail message, press CTRL+D.
• To quickly remove formatting from selected text, press CTRL+SPACEBAR.
• To reply to everyone who received the selected message, press CTRL+SHIFT+R.

Susan Brennan

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