Outlook Best Practices & How-To’s

1. Follow the four "Ds" when reading each message:

a. Delete immediately

b. Do it immediately
 If it can be done in 2 minutes or less - otherwise defer it
 Once you have done it, delete it or file it in a reference folder
 To keep a record of what you have done use the "Done" Quick-Step

c. Delegate it (forward it)

d. Defer it by flagging it to deal with later

Reasons to defer a message:
 It cannot be dealt with in less than two minutes.
 It will take a while to read.
 It will require a carefully crafted response.
 It requires additional action in another program (for example, "Need to add to <name>
document").

2. Schedule times during your day to deal with flagged messages - After you process all your email,
tackle your task list. This is when you respond to those messages you just deferred… since you have
prioritized them, you will tackle it in in the order of urgency.

It is considered best practice to set aside time every morning to manage your task list and your calendar.
This includes:
o Reviewing your appointments and meetings for the day and week ahead.
o Reviewing your tasks and making adjustments - If a task is going to take a long time or if it is
something you must do (as opposed to tasks you decide you don’t need to do), drag it from the
Daily Task List onto the calendar to block off time.
o Adding appointments to your calendar to make time to get your work done. Your calendar should
be treated as your real plan for your time — if you have scheduled it, then that is what you are
committed to doing at that time.
o Set aside time to deal with your messages. Setting aside time to deal with messages is especially
important if you receive a lot of messages. Even if you have rules set up so that only the important
messages appear in your Inbox, you still need time to deal with those messages.
 3. Manage attachments
a. Save all attachments to a specific location in your My Docs folder or into a OneNote Notebook, then
delete or archive the email.

4. Archiving
a. Set up auto-archiving so that your emails are periodically moved into an archive on your U drive.
This will keep your inbox from getting too full.

6. Use "reply all" wisely

Too many people use “reply all” to send a thank you or information that isn’t necessary for everyone.
Please be aware that you take up the work time of your colleagues when you send an email they didn’t
need to read.

7. Use the To: line for people that need to respond to your email and the CC: line for keeping people
informed.

8. Let some messages pass you by. Use rules to help you organize your email or to create "search"
folders

9. Use categories to help you stay organized

More best practices: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/best-practices-for-outlook-2010-

HA102459562.aspx?CTT=1
Setting up your email to match your style
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Previewing messages
1. View Tab

2. Reading Pane

3. Right/Bottom Off

Marking messages as read or

unread
1. Right Click email message
2. Mark as Read/Unread

Set messages to appear read

after a certain amount of time or
if you move off the item:

1. View Tab
2. Reading Pane
3. Options
 4. Make your choices and
click "OK"

Switching views

Try out the different views and

see what they do.

Customizing the Navigation

pane

1. View Tab
2. Navigation Pane
3. Options

4. Set what you want to

appear and the order here:
Q: Where are these choices
reflected?

Grouping and ungrouping

messages (sorting messages in
different ways)
1. View Tab

2. Expand the Arrangement

Group

3. Select how to arrange your

email

Q: What happens when you

check (or uncheck) "Show in
Groups"?

Viewing with Advanced options

1. View Tab
2. View Settings

Play with the different options to

see what they do
Adding, moving, or removing
columns
1. View
2. View Settings
3. Columns…

Tasks
Tasks help you stay organized and on top of things you need to do. When used well, they can also keep your
inbox organized.
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Tasks should be used when you are deferring an email. When you decide that you don't have time to deal
with a message right away, you can flag it:
o If you need to do it today, flag it for Today (just left-click the flag).
 o If you can put it off for longer, right-click it and flag it for a later date.
o If you will need to refer to the message more than once and you want easy access to it, drag it to
the Later group in the To-Do Bar. If you don’t have a Later group, set the flag Start Date on the
task to 100 years in the future. (Use this flag rarely so that it does not become an overpopulated
catch-all.)
o If it is something you will need in the short term, flag it No Date so that it appears at the top of the
To-Do Bar. Use this group sparingly and clear it out regularly, because it is at the top of your task
list.

After you have processed your messages, the best place to do work in Outlook (reply to messages and so on) is
in Tasks. By switching to Tasks, you won’t be distracted by messages arriving in your Inbox.

Bulk process your tasks

As you go through your task list and your calendar, do similar tasks together. For example, if you have only a
few minutes, make all of your phone calls (if you have just a few). Tackle energy-intensive tasks (for some, that
might be responding to messages) when you have more energy. Deal with your low-energy tasks, such as
reading status messages, later in the day or whenever your energy is lower. By "bulk processing" your tasks,
you will make progress on all of your projects simultaneously.

One way to bulk process tasks is

to change the arrangement from
Arranged By: Start Date to
Arranged By: Categories. To do
this, click the Arranged By
heading, and then click
Categories.

Note: If you have tasks that are blocking other people from getting their work done, do those tasks first.

Creating a task from the menu

1. Home Tab
2. New Items
3. Task

Set up the task

1. Subject
2. Start and Due Date
3. Status (optional)
 4. Priority
5. Set a Reminder
6. Type details about the task
7. Assign the task to someone
else
8. Categorize your task
9. Set when you want to follow up
the task (you can use this
instead of #2-Due Date).

Click Save & Close

Creating a task or to-do item from Option 1

an e-mail message

Option 1:
 Click the flag next to the email

Option 2:
 Right click the flag next to an
email and set the due date Option 2: Option 3:

Option 3:
 Click the email
 Home Tab
 Move > Tasks
If you don't have tasks as an
option, select "other folder and
then select "Tasks"
 A new Task will open up with
the name of the email as the
subject, a copy of the email in
the details and then you can
alter the rest of the details.
 Click "Save & Close"

Option 3 cont…
Viewing tasks

1. Click Tasks on the navigation

pane
2. Double click the task you want
to see to open it up.
3. You can alter any details you
like.
4. Click Save & Close when
finished.

Renaming a task

If the Subject line of a message does

not provide you enough context, you
can do one of two things, depending
upon the amount of information you
need to add:
 Rename the task
a. Click Tasks on the
navigation pane
b. Right click on a task
c. Select Rename Task

Rename the task

Click anywhere else or
press ENTER when
finished.

 Create a task with the message

as an attachment.

You can also add a category to help

you see at a glance where your next
action is. A quick glance at your To-
Do Bar with categorized tasks lets
you know what is immediately
actionable (@Office), which tasks you
are waiting on other people for
(@Waiting), and what you will be
meeting about (@Meeting).

Completing a task

Option 1:
1. From your To-Do Bar, find the
task.

2. You can Right Click for

different options (such as
changing the due date, adding
a reminder, or clearing the flag)

3. Click the Red Flag to complete

the task

Option 2:
1. Click Tasks on the Navigation
Pane

2. Click on the task

3. Home Tab

4. Mark Complete
Rules and Alerts
A rule in Outlook is simply an action taken automatically on an arriving or sent message that meets the
conditions that you specify in the rule. You can choose many conditions and actions by using the Rules Wizard.
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It is considered best practice to have the following rules:

 Automatic Replies - Move all responses to meetings that don’t have content to Deleted Items. You can
see who has accepted by checking the tracking tab inside the meeting window.

 To: Me - Any message sent directly to you or with you on the Cc line is sent to the Inbox and is not
processed by other rules, even if it is also sent to a Distribution List.

 Meeting Requests Sent to Inbox - All meeting requests, even if sent to a Distribution List, should be
sent to the Inbox.

 Defer Sent Items - This rule delays sending messages by one minute or longer. When using this rule,
make sure that your messages have been sent before you shut down your computer.
Note: This is a client-side-only rule; it will not work on Outlook Web App (OWA).

 Distribution Lists - Any email message sent to a Distribution List (i.e. DL-Redmond Jr) is sent to a DL
folder — unless its keywords suggest that it's important to you, in which case it is sent to your Inbox.
Multiple . If you are a member of a Distribution List for which you need to read every message, don’t
create a rule for it. Any messages that you must read should go directly into your Inbox.

Pasted from <http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/best-practices-for-outlook-2010-HA102459562.aspx?CTT=1>

Turning a rule on or off

Turning desktop alerts on or off

Changing the appearance of desktop

alerts

Moving desktop alerts

Creating a rule from a template

Creating a rule from scratch

Deleting a rule

If you receive a lot of messages or are

easily distracted by the notification
sound that plays for incoming
messages, we recommend turning off
the following options:
 The mail Desktop Alerts

 The envelope icon that appears

 on the Outlook icon in the
Windows task bar

 The cursor briefly changing to

an envelope

 The sound that accompanies all

of the above settings

To change these settings:

1. click the File button
2. click Options
3. click Mail.
4. Under Message arrival, clear all
of the check boxes.

More about rules:

http://blogs.office.com/b/crabby_office_lady/archive/2010/06/17/outlook-2010-can-save-your-hide-creating-
custom-rules-crabby-s-daily-tip.aspx