Organize Your Inbox - Part 2
There are several tools in Outlook that assist users in better organizing their Inbox. The focus of today's Tip is to provide examples of two more organization tools in Outlook and how they can be used. Links to and information about two other tools are also provided.
Using Colors:
This first tool is one of three available in the "Ways to Organize Inbox. To access Using Colors click on Tools>Organize. This will bring up the "Ways to Organize Inbox" pane.
To manage your mail using colors, click on the Using Colors link in the Organize Pane. There are two separate options that can be used. The first is to color messages from a specific sender. The second option is to show messages sent only to the user in a selected color. The second option is useful if the user tends to receive many messages from list-serves and groups. It helps to highlight the personal messages sent to the user. Here is an example of what the Using Colors pane looks like:
For option 1, first click on a message from the sender whose messages the color will be applied to. Next pick the color from the drop down list. Finally, click on apply to apply the color to all items in the Inbox. This feature can also be used in the sent items folder. In that case, change "from" to "sent to".
Option 2 is set by selecting the color the user wants applied to all messages sent only to the user. Then click on Turn on. The color will be applied to all of those messages in the Inbox.
On bug I have noticed is that when red was applied to one individual, all messages from another individual with the same last name are also red. To date, I have not seen a fix for this.
When finished using the Organize Pane, click on the X in the upper right corner of the box to close the box.
Sorting and Grouping Messages:
By default, messages in the Inbox and any sub-folders of the Inbox are "Sorted" by Date. Messages in the Inbox and folders are also "Grouped by" date. For example messages received today are in a group called "Today", messages received yesterday are in a group called "Yesterday", and so on. Users can modify how messages are sorted and grouped. Finally, groups can be collapsed or expanded.
The image to the right shows an inbox that is sorted and grouped by date with the top image showing all groups collapsed and the lower image showing all groups expanded. Users can view a group simply by clicking on the "+" next to the group the user wants to view.
In order to change this default setting, the Reading Pane needs to be temporarily turned off or moved from the right to the bottom. This allows the user to manage both the sorting and grouping options.
Messages can be sorted by clicking on the "Arranged by" button. The example below shows the menu with the sorting options. Notice there is also the option of turning the "Grouping" feature at the bottom of the menu.
By double clicking in the area above the "Arranged by" button, a dialog box appears which allows users to group by multiple criteria.
In this example, the "Automatically group according to arrangement" box is uncheck. Then "Received" is the first criteria for sorting, and "From" is the second criteria. Note users have the option of selecting up to four hierarchical criteria for grouping. The image below shows the effect of using the criteria to the left.
The image below shows a custom sort done by "conversation" and then by "from."
This type of grouping allows users to view a conversation and read what each contributor had to say about the topic. There are many other possibilities for grouping in this way, users just need to experiment to see what works best for them. To undo the grouping, click on the "Arranged By: Custom" button and select "Date" and that will return the folder to its default configuration.
Rules:
Rules also help the user better organize their Inbox. The Computing Tip of the Week from February 17, 2006 covers how to use Rules in Outlook. One example of how Rules help with organization is an incoming message from a specific sender can be automatically moved to a specified folder. Users often are concerned that they won't know the message is there. Remember the Unread Mail folder in the Favorite Folders list will show there are messages that are unread. By clicking on that folder the user can read that message that was routed by the rule to a sub folder.
Favorite and Search Folders:
Another previous Computing Tip covered the use of Favorite Folders. Check out the February 4, 2005 tip on Favorite Folders and Search Folders in Outlook 2003 tip. This tip explains how to add folders to the Favorite Folders list, and how to utilize the power of Search Folders.
Next week's tip will cover how to create a meeting request in Outlook.