Time-saving e-mail tricks with Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook has some time-saving e-mail functions to track and manage your e-mail in-box. Ideally, consolidation of your e-mails in the right location helps you manage your e-mail in-box more efficiently. The following are some of the more useful features to use in Microsoft Outlook to manage action items and tag important e-mail.

Convert an e-mail into a calendar/ task item. You can convert an e-mail into a calendar or task item by simply left clicking and drag and drop to the calendar or tasks folder. This is extremely useful if you have an e-mail that was not sent as a meeting invitation and needs to be on your calendar.

Or if you have an e-mail that will be an on-going task or action item that should be started in the future, you can convert the e-mail into the tasks folder. When you convert an e-mail to the calendar or task folders, it will copy the body of the e-mail into the text/note space of the calendar and task window. This notes section will sync will handheld and Smartphone devises so that you have that information will you when you are not in your office. This is an extremely useful feature to manage your e-mails that are task or calendar type items.

Save an e-mail to the hard drive. Outlook e-mails can be converted or saved into the hard drive. This is useful if you would like e-mail itself as a permanent document or because of space issues need to move e-mail from the Outlook profile.

You can convert an Outlook e-mail into an electronic print ready format by converting it to a PDF or a Microsoft Document Image Format. Either format will convert the e-mail into an electronic image, just like you printed it off your printer. To convert an e-mail into either format, go to File/Print and choose either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Document Image Writer printer drivers from your printer name drop down. This will open a Save As window to save the document on your hard drive. Or you can save an e-mail as an Outlook Message Format by going to File/ Save As. When the Save As dialog box opens, choose “Outlook Message Format” from the Save as Type field drop down.

Insert an e-mail to a task or calendar item. Often we need e-mails connected to a meeting and/or task that have already been created. This is useful so that you don’t have to search and find a past e-mail with details before going to a meeting or to start an action item. To attach an e-mail to the calendar to task window, use the ‘attach item’ function found under the Insert menu. An ‘Insert Item’ dialog window will open that displays the e-mail file folders, find the e-mail and click OK. This will make a copy of the e-mail and attach it to that calendar or task item.

Use the text field to insert notes or updates. Both the calendar and task windows have text/ notes field in the bottom of the window. This is an extremely useful field and very under-utilized by most users. In the task window, capture historical information such as status and updates to a task. In today’s world, tasks are on-going and it can be difficult to remember what has happened and where you need to pick up. With meetings and appointments you can use the notes field to capture discussion and agenda items. Again, these notes will sync with handheld and Smartphone devises so that the information will be mobile with you.

Use the flag function for e-mail. Outlook has a Follow-up function that will flag e-mail in your in-box. Right click on an e-mail and choose “Follow-up” from the list and then choose “Add Reminder.” This will open up the Follow-up dialog box where you can insert a date when you want to follow-up with that particular e-mail action item. Once flagged, you will see the flag in the in-box screen. Under the Search or Favorite folders you will also see a ‘For Follow-Up’ view folder. This will show you one view of all your flagged e-mail. This makes it easy to quickly see the e-mail you need to respond or provide further action. In Outlook 2007 if you activate the ‘To Do’ bar you will also see all your flagged e-mail in this quick view.

These e-mail functions help users manage e-mail more effectively and provide options to put e-mail in other locations that have more access and use, rather than staying in the in-box.

K.J. McCorry is chief executive of Officiency Enterprises, consulting services that help offices become more productive, efficient, and sustainable with resources and time. She is the author of “Organize Your Work Day In No Time,” released by Que Publishing. She can be reached at www.officiencyenterprises.com.

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