After you finish processing your messages, you should have a clean Inbox and can switch your focus to your calendar and tasks. If you find that you are repeatedly applying the same categories and flags, create a new Quick Step that flags, categorizes, and files. Quick Steps give you the ability to perform multiple actions in one click. They are a useful tool to help you keep a clean inbox Microsoft Outlook Email Repair Tool Online and to generally be more efficient at using Outlook.

How can I manage complicated tasks?

For example, many messages can be responded to in two minutes or less. But if a message takes longer than two minutes to deal with, defer it. To get a sense of what two minutes feels like, try timing yourself. If you never want to receive another message as part of this conversation, ignore it. Categories aren’t a required aspect of this system, but they will make your life easier if you are diligent about using them. For example, they can help you more easily identify what you can do now and help you group similar tasks so that you can do them all at once.

I have 10 minutes: What should I read first in my Inbox?

• These would be your Archive Folders at the bottom of the Navigation (Folder) Pane.
• To view the Scheduling Assistant when composing a meeting request, on the Meeting tab, in the Show group, select Scheduling Assistant.
• Let me share a few Outlook tips that will improve your email management.
• To select a meeting time, select a time suggestion in the Room Finder pane in the Suggested times section, or pick a time on the free/busy grid.
• In these cases, reply and include the person you're delegating the message to on the To line.
• Go to File → Office Account → Update Options → Update Now.
• The same category set applies to all items, so if you use a category for contacts, keep it.
• 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.

Any time you find yourself repeatedly doing the same steps in Outlook, try creating a Quick Step. Collapse the top-level Contact Group folder so that you aren’t distracted by the unread messages in the folders beneath it. For example, we saw how to use Quick Steps, keyboard shortcuts, and calendar reminders.

Fix Tech Issues Fast

Messages to a Contact Group that only occasionally contain useful or interesting content, regardless of frequency, should have a rule and a folder. It’s a best practice to have a central repository for your messages, so that you can refer to them after modern authentication troubleshooting you've "dealt" with them. The Navigation Pane folder list should be reserved for folders you use often. If it's filled with folders you don't even recognize, move all mail into the reference folder and delete your existing folders.

Advanced: How do I create a Search Folder for email messages?

To quickly mark a message as read, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Q. If you are taking notes or minutes for the meeting, you can also use OneNote to insert meeting details from Outlook into your notes. After the meeting, you can send your notes to the attendees as a message. If you want to collaborate in rebuild Outlook data file quickly a more ad hoc fashion, you can use OneNote to take notes together in a single notebook.

Recommended Reads

Some people try to use the read and unread states to indicate whether a message is new or a reference item. Inevitably, messages will be reread, and the mental tax of figuring out what you need to do will be paid again. A far more efficient Inbox plan is to go through your messages and decide what to do with each one.



Rules help this process by moving messages into folders based on criteria that you set. Rules filter the messages coming into your Inbox for must-read items only. Favorites, a subset of your mail folders, appear at the top of the navigation pane. Outlook’s Calendar Reminders feature helps users keep their calendars in order so they don’t miss any crucial appointments or meetings.