Don't let your email inbox drag you down.
Outlook has a host of great features that let you manage your inbox, giving you more control and saving you time. You can automatically filter emails using conditional rules and formatting, quickly find what you need using shortcuts and search, and get rid of all that spam with spam filters. We'll show you how to best use Outlook's productivity tools.
If you have your own tips to share when it comes to managing your Outlook inbox, be sure to let us know in the comments.
Rules in Outlook are very powerful and can save you a ton of time managing your inbox. Any message that arrives in your inbox will obey the rules you describe. For example, you can flag any message from your manager to flag it and play a sound. Alternatively, you can move any message that contains the keyword "newsletter" to the trash.
To get started, select the House top ribbon tab and select Rules> Create a rule . If you selected an email, you will notice that some fields are pre-populated, but you can change them as you wish.
To really customize your rules you'll want to click Advanced Options… Here you can set any number of conditions that must be met, along with what happens to messages that match.
For a complete guide on creating and managing rules, read our guide to Let Outlook Rules Manage Your Inbox Let Outlook Rules Manage Your Email Inbox Let Outlook Rules Manage Your Email Inbox email inbox Smart alerts and filters can help you stay up to date on your email inbox. Outlook desktop and Outlook.com offer a feature called "rules" and we'll show you how to set it up. Read more.
If you want to manage your inbox efficiently, you'll need to master all the keyboard shortcuts available at your fingertips.
One of the best is pressure. Alt + H , which then highlights the ribbon with the corresponding key for you to press. Other examples include Ctrl + E to jump to the search box, Ctrl + 1-6 to move between different views (such as Mail, Calendar, and Contacts), and Insert to flag a message.
Of course, these only scratch the surface. For a more comprehensive list, be sure to check out our guide to Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts 25+ Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts to Boost Your Productivity 25+ Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts to Boost Your Productivity Outlook is one of the best email clients most popular desktops in use today. If you are one of those many Outlook users, the following keyboard shortcuts will surely save you a lot of time. Read more.
Spam is the nightmare of the inbox. Don't waste time trying to find emails you want to read; instead, let Outlook take care of it using the spam filter and clutter feature.
The spam filter has different levels of protection, depending on how strict you want it to be. To change your settings, go to Home tab on the ribbon and select Spam> Junk Email Options...
Here you can select Low to filter out obvious garbage, High to catch the most junk, but with the possibility that some normal emails may also be caught, or Only safe lists to receive only from senders you've approved.
From the same window, use the Safe Senders and Blocked Senders tab to list the email addresses or domains you do and don't want to receive, respectively.
Office 365 for business users can also use a new feature called Clutter. By analyzing the sender, message content, and your reading habits, Outlook will move certain emails from your Inbox folder to Clutter. You can manually move an email to Clutter and help the system learn right click the message and selecting Move> Move to clutter .
Clutter is enabled by default, but you can turn it off through the web version of Outlook. Click the cog icon and navigate to Options> Mail> Automatic processing> Clutter and uncheck Separate items identified as clutter , then click Save .
If you're looking for more tips on filtering spam, read our guide on how to prevent spam from Outlook. How to avoid junk mail and spam email from Outlook. How to avoid spam and junk email from Outlook. I love these features of Outlook. They can help you filter and prioritize all incoming emails. Read more.
You could probably get away with not tidying up your inbox, if you wanted to, and just use the powerful search within Outlook. Using the instant search box at the top of your email lists, you can search all your folders and mailboxes by selecting Current mailbox dropdown.
Inside the search box, you just need to start typing something, and Outlook will try to find it in any field, such as the sender's name, the subject, or the body of the message. You can get more specific by using logical operators like AND , OR , and NO . You can also use parameters like from , theme , and received , followed by a colon and its term. A full list of these can be viewed on the corresponding Outlook support page.
Clicking on the search box will bring up the Search tab on the ribbon, where you can select many of these parameters from the interface.
Conditional formatting allows you to apply a particular style to messages that match a set of rules. For example, you could change the font color of emails received more than a week ago, or put emails containing a keyword into a category.
To configure conditional formatting, navigate to the View tab on the ribbon and click View Settings> Conditional formation... Click Add to create a new rule, give it a Name , and set a Font If you wish. When you're ready, click Condition…
From this window you can fine-tune the finer details of the ruler. For example, use Since… to specify the senders to which the rule will apply or Time To apply based on date. Be sure to check out the other tabs like More Choices and Advanced , the first of which allows you to set color categories.
When you're done, click OK and I AGREE again. To learn more about all of this, read our guide on how to mark email with conditional formatting How to Mark Your Outlook Inbox with Conditional Formatting How to Mark Your Outlook Inbox with Conditional Formatting Every email is a potential distraction. We'll show you how to use conditional inbox formatting (rules, priority marks, and color categories) in Outlook to keep your inbox clear and clutter-free. Read more.
Have you ever sent an email that you want to reverse? That could be possible. You must use an Exchange account and the recipient must be on the same server. Also, if the original email has been read or moved to another folder, the recovery will fail.
To try and retrieve it, go to your Sent Items and open the message you want to recover. Select the Message tab on the ribbon at the top, then on the Motion group, click Behavior and then Let's remember this message...
From the new window that opens, decide the action you want to perform. Either Delete unread copies of this message to delete the email from the recipient's inbox, or Delete unread copies and replace them with a new message. Send a new email instead of the original.
Ticktock Tell me if recovery succeeds or fails for each recipient will send you an email to inform you of the outcome of each withdrawal attempt, a summary of which you can view by clicking the Track button icon on the ribbon.
Click OK when you are ready to try to retrieve the message. To learn more about this process, along with all the recovery factors and a few other alternatives, check out our email recovery guide How to Recover an Email in Outlook After You've Sent How to Recover an Email in Outlook After You've Sent hit send and regret moments later? We've all been there, wishing we could undo the shipment. Here's how to retrieve an email in Outlook or delay sending from Gmail. Read more.
It is estimated that 205 billion emails are sent every day. Fortunately, only a small portion of these will land in your inbox, but it's often a hassle to get past them. Be sure to use all of our tips to become a pro at inbox management.
Still want to know more awesome Outlook tips? If so, deepen your knowledge with our 10 Quick Tips to Master Outlook 10 Quick Tips to Improve Outlook 10 Quick Tips to Improve Outlook Are you using Outlook to its full potential? Become an Outlook master with our selection of lesser-known tips and tricks and watch your productivity take off. Learn more and 6 ways to boost your Outlook workflow. 6 Best Practices for Outlook to Boost Your Workflow. 6 Best Practices for Outlook to Boost Your Workflow. If you spend a lot of time using Outlook, you should investigate your workflow. Make your email work for you and save time for more important tasks. Read more . You'll be an email wizard in no time.
What methods do you use to maintain control over your inbox? Are there any features you'd like to see added to Outlook?
