Microsoft Outlook is a free e-mail and calendar service to simplify your daily life. With its clear, uniform structure comprising mail, calendar, contacts and folders, Microsoft Outlook can help every user work more productively and with a more networked approach. Often, however, people don’t make sufficient use of all of its functions designed to simplify daily office life or mobile working using the Outlook app. These tips and tricks will help you organise your work more efficiently.
#TIP 1. Save time with the right keyboard shortcuts
You don’t always have to use the mouse to perform a required step. Simple keyboard shortcuts make working with Microsoft Outlook much easier.
Ctrl + 1: E-mail view
Ctrl + 2: Calendar view
Ctrl + 3: Contacts view
Ctrl + 4: Tasks view
Ctrl + S: Send an e-mail
Ctrl + F: Forward current e-mail
Ctrl + R: Reply to current e-mail
Ctrl + N: Open a new e-mail window
#TIP 2. Automatically check spelling in every e-mail
Who isn’t tired of checking every e-mail for spelling mistakes? Microsoft Outlook’s automatic spell check simplifies this important step. To activate, click “File”, Options”, “Mail”. Then check “Always check spelling before sending”. Click OK to activate the time-saving feature and Outlook will check the spelling in every e-mail before sending.
#TIP 3. Simply convert an e-mail into an appointment
Have you received information about a meeting in an e-mail that wasn’t sent as an appointment? No problem! To quickly add all information to the Outlook appointments calendar, simply drag the e-mail from your inbox to the Outlook calendar icon. You can then create an appointment with the information from the e-mail in the form of a memo. As Outlook doesn’t automatically incorporate the information about time and date, this must be manually input. The subject line can also be revised.
#TIP 4. Easily convert an e-mail contact into an Outlook contact
On joining a company, a new employee will generally send an e-mail with his contact details. Anyone receiving such an e-mail in his inbox no longer has to switch to the contacts list to create a new entry and incorporate the new information by copying and pasting. Just one mouse click will simplify this step. In the e-mail, right-click on the sender’s name and select “Add to Outlook contacts”. A new contact window then opens which already contains the name and e-mail address, so you just have to add the telephone number.
#TIP 5. Delay e-mail with a time buffer
Just one click and your e-mail has been sent, possibly with an error. A useful feature of Microsoft Outlook is the ability to schedule in a buffer, allowing you time to change or add something to your mail. You can create a new rule to apply this time buffer to all e-mails you send. To do this, select “Home”, Rules”, then “Rules and Alerts”. The previous rules appear in a new window and can be supplemented by clicking “New rule” in the top left of the screen. Then select “Apply rule on messages I send”. Additional functions can be used in the next window, but in this case you can skip them by clicking “Next” and then confirm in the subsequent dialog window. Under the different stipulations, check “Defer delivery by a number of minutes”. Then specify the number of minutes for the delay in the lower portion of the window. Finally, give the rule a name and from now on, every e-mail will be sent with the selected time buffer.
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