How to Manage Your Outlook Email Effectively

Last Updated: May 7, 2020

An untidy mailbox might make it difficult for users to find their needed email. Microsoft Outlook has provided quite useful tools that help you to filter your emails and organize your messages in a more manageable way. Outlook can even help increase efficiency and performance for you. Whether you are using Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003, you can easily manage your emails, using the following tools to clean up your Inbox, as well as making it easier to find the information you need.

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Filtering

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Filter the messages quickly. Outlook 2010 has a new feature that helps sort the messages by dates and arrange them in Conversation.
- When using this feature, the messages which have the same theme will appear as Conversation and the users can view, expand or shrink them by clicking on the icon to the left of the Subject line. The messages inside each Conversation are classified with the newest message placed on top. When a new message is received, all Conversation will move to the top of the email list that helps you track easily the flow of the emails.
- To activate the Conversation, in the View tab of the Conversation group, tick the box Show As Conversation. You can reduce the size of a Conversation with the Clean Up feature. This feature will help to remove the duplicate messages in the Conversation.
- On the Home tab in the Delete group, click Clean Up then click on Clean Up Conversation. In all versions of Outlook, the users can find the messages in the mailbox folder faster by changing the way they are classified in the email folder. For example you can sort out your emails by date, sender and file size or importance level.
2
Use standardized subject headings. The mental energy required to shift focus between ever-changing topics drains you, not the volume. You tend to read in sequential order either chronologically or by "most important person." This is a brain burnout. Use this rule instead; it applies to email from direct reports and works better than conversation chains.
- Identify the top 2-5 projects you are most concerned with; create subject headings to reflect these.
- Let the team know you will pay initial attention to all those emails with these standard subject headings. These subjects are your top priority projects at the moment––your email will be sorted by subject line and top priority are read/responded to first.
- Make it clear that inappropriately titled emails will blacklist the offending sender for 1-x days.

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Grouping

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Group the same messages in the folders. By creating a new email folder, the users can group related messages together in the folders. For example, you can group the messages by subject, project, communication or other categories that are appropriate to your works or your hobbies. The users can also create a folder for all the messages sent from your boss or someone important including the principle information that need saving. To create a new folder in Outlook 2010, on the Folder tab, in the New, click New Folder. To create a new folder in Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003, on the Menu bar, click on File, choose New then Folder.

Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Search Folder

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Create a search folder to find the messages. Search Folder is a quick and convenient way to find a collection of email messages. It doesn't save any messages but provide the virtual folders that display all the messages in your Inbox based on the attributes you are looking for. Outlook Search Folders provide default features such as Unread Mail but you can also create your own rule. For example, you can use Search Folder to help find all the information related to a certain project, an important client or an upcoming meeting.
- To create a Search Folder in Outlook 2010, in the Mail on the Folder tab, in the New, click New Search Folder.
- To create a Search Folder in Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003, in the mail on the File Menu, move the mouse to the New then click on the Search Folder.

Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Email Filter

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Reduce junk emails with the email filter. Keep unnecessary email messages from the Inbox by using Outlook Junk Email Filter. This filter will send the emails that are flagged as junk emails into a separate folder in the mailbox. The users can view the content of this folder to make sure that there are not any valid emails mistakenly sent to it. If so, you should adjust the filter to avoid the wrong mark on the messages in the future.

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Colour category

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Assign a colour category. Assign a colour to an unrelated email message group and other categories in the Outlook such as notes, contacts and appointments. From there, the users can easily identify and sort them. For example, you can easily track all messages, appointments and contacts for computer sales project by creating a category called “Computer Sales” and assigning the messages to it.

Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

Flagging

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Flag for follow up. The users can use the Flag for Follow Up feature in order to flag the email messages and tasks to help sort them or mark them. The flags will prompt you to track an issue, point out someone's request or order for a prompted message and contact. They can also arrange your email folder easily because you know exactly what to do and when to do it. Note that when you create a task and set an expired date for the task, it will automatically be flagged so you do not forget the expired date for the action and fulfill it.

Community Q&A

Question

Can I send folders containing emails to another email account?

Community Answer

Yes. You can transfer and send all of those emails to the new account. You cannot send the 'complete folder contents' as an attachment with Gmail, but you could zip the files together (provided there are no prohibited types included) and send the zip file.
Question

Can I delete sent messages?

P code

Community Answer

You can delete them from your "Sent Items" folder, but once you send an email, you can't delete it from the receiver's inbox.
Question

How can I filter all of the same emails in order to delete them all at once?

Community Answer

Use ctrl + "a" to highlight all of these, then click the delete button.