These still apply to today’s world but have been lost in the flurry of digital organizing. "Working less" means you touch each piece of correspondence one time only. Whether it’s an actual paper envelope with a letter or whether it’s an email. "Correspondence" means Incoming Information, not necessarily "follow-up tasks". In this article, we’ll give you some of the best Outlook hacks for digital office management, along with some awesome Outlook tips and tricks featured in the FixTechGuide fix for stuck folders program. I told my boss I'd like to give a (voluntary) company-wide training in something someday as a self-development goal and he suggested Outlook/inbox management.

How can I manage complicated tasks?

This guide represents our advice on how to get the most out of Outlook. A few core scenarios are covered to help you leverage Outlook into your information management needs. Go to File → Office Account → Update Options → Update Now.

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

• In the days of "paper offices" (pre-computer age), we had 3 filing systems.
• For example, if you have only a few minutes, make all of your phone calls (if you have just a few).
• If you are taking notes or minutes for the meeting, you can also use OneNote to insert meeting details from Outlook into your notes.
• Categories aren’t a required aspect of this system, but they will make your life easier if you are diligent about using them.
• Use the Bcc feature to remove extra people from an email conversation when you deem that they no longer need the extra email or if the conversation topic has changed.

After you process your messages, you can tackle your task list. This is when you respond to those messages that you have deferred. Sometimes you receive a message that is really meant for someone else to deal with.

Fix Tech Issues Fast

Create Contact Groups (formerly known as personal distribution lists) in Outlook when you want to make it easier to send messages to a group of people outside your corporation. For all groups inside your corporation, create a public Contact Group (ask your IT administrator about how to do this). Send your calendar in a message when you set up meetings with people who can’t see your free/busy Outlook Login Issues Troubleshooting information, such as people outside of your company.

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

Outlook and Office 365 sync issues can be frustrating but are almost always fixable. Start with basic network checks, enable Cached Exchange Mode, and repair your data files if needed. For persistent problems, rebuild your Outlook profile or use FixTechGuide’s free diagnostic tools to automate detection of authentication and expert Outlook tips by FixTechGuide IMAP errors in seconds.

Recommended Reads

This is a simple feature that is perfect for any professional who is constantly in and out of meetings every day. If possible, keep your personal and business tasks in one place. Keeping one list reduces the number of places that you need to look for what needs to be done. Even if you already have only one list, use categories to sort your personal from business tasks and manage your list effectively. Your personal tasks will be stored on your company's Exchange Server and could be visible to your IT department, so only put appropriate personal tasks on your list.

Set Up Quick Steps

Let rules help you to read what is most interesting and pertinent to you. Read and unread states in Outlook help by showing you quickly which messages have been read at least once and which have not. However, the read and unread states of messages can be easily be triggered by clicking around your messages so they aren’t a perfect record — just a tool.