New Microsoft Outlook: 12 Useful Tips for Using It

1. Manage your emails efficiently by disabling automatic reading

By default, Outlook marks emails as read as soon as you click on them. This can cause you to miss important emails. To avoid this, Disable this feature in Settings > Mail > Message management.

You can find the settings in the new Outlook via the gear icon at the top right. Select the option Do not automatically mark items as “Read”. This allows you keep control and decide when a message is considered read, which is useful for keeping track of a large amount of emails. 😉

IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo

2. Customize your inbox by disabling conversation grouping

By default, Outlook groups emails with the same subject together as if they were one conversation. However, this can become confusing, especially in complex threads with multiple participants.

Go to Settings > Layout and disable the option Display emails grouped by conversation or activate Show emails as individual messages. With this setting, emails are displayed individually, allowing you to review each message separately. This makes it easier easy to track responses and avoid confusion with similar subject lines. 📨

Additionally, further settings can be implemented at this point to customize the view of emails to your needs.

IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo

3. Highlight important emails by setting up conditional formatting

To make sure you don't miss any important messages, you can highlight emails from certain senders or with specific keywords in color. To do this, go to Mail > Conditional Formatting and create rules.

Visual distinction makes it easy to identify urgent emails immediately and prioritize them. When creating the rule, define the condition and select the color you like best. 🎨

4. Set up the management cockpit and combine calendar and tasks

A clear management cockpit in Outlook helps you combine emails, tasks and appointments in one view. To do so, activate the calendar or tasks via the icon at the top right.

This allows you to see all relevant information at a glance without having to switch between different views. This setup not only improves visibility, but also saves time by having all crucial information available in one place. 🗓️

5. Optimize notifications and focus on what's important

Notifications can be a huge distraction and affect the productivity. To work in a more focused manner, it is recommended to disable email notifications. You can easily customize this from Settings > General > Notifications.

Sin embargo, las notificaciones del calendario y menciones para documentos que guardás o que otros guardan en bibliotecas de OneDrive o SharePoint en Microsoft 365 deben permanecer activas. Ayudan a no perder citas y mensajes importantes. Esta personalización facilita enfocarse en tareas relevantes sin estar constantemente interrumpido por nuevos correos. 🔕

6. Turn emails into tasks or appointments

No todos los correos necesitan ser procesados de inmediato. Para trabajar con mensajes importantes más tarde, podés convertirlos en tareas o citas. Simplemente arrastrá y soltá el correo sobre la taskbar or the calendar. This allows you to directly create a task or appointment with all the relevant content.

You can Adjust the date by right clicking. This feature helps you not to forget anything important and to keep your inbox organized. The mail is retained, but all items and information are also transferred to the appointment or task. 🔄

7. Activate calendar weeks for efficient scheduling

For better overview and scheduling, you can enable calendar week display. You can find this setting in Settings > Calendar. Calendar weeks make it easier to coordinate appointments, especially for long-term planning or projects with multiple participants. 📆

IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo

If you use Outlook to schedule your appointments, you should also review other settings in this area and adjust them to suit your needs. 🛠️

8. Set emails or remind later

Outlook offers two useful features to make sure important emails don't get lost along the way. You can pin emails to the top of your inbox using the “Pin” feature. To do this, right-click on the message and select Set. Alternatively, you can use the function Remind me later to automatically move an email back to the inbox at a later time.

IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo

You can also find this feature by right-clicking, where you can set the date and time for the reminder individually.

9. Attach files faster

Attaching files in Outlook is made quicker with smart features. When attaching a file, simply enter a forward slash (/) to display documents you've recently used.

Alternatively, you can search for the file name by typing the first few letters. However, this feature only works for files stored in SharePoint or OneDrive. This saves you time, especially if you regularly work with the same files. ⏳

10. Send emails with a delay

You can use the function Schedule shipping to specify when an email is sent. Instead of hitting “Send” directly, select the small arrow next to that button and set the date and time. This is particularly useful if you want to prepare messages outside of work hours or send them at the start of the day. ⏰

11. Recover emails

If an email was sent in error, you can recover it within a set period of time. To do so, go to Settings > Mail > Compose & reply and activate the function of Undo when sending, specifying the time allowed.

Alternatively, you can delete sent emails later via the Recover Message option, as long as the sender and recipient use the same Exchange mailbox or Microsoft 365. 🔄

12. Process emails productively

An inbox ordered comienza con el procesamiento constante de los correos. Decidí lo siguiente para cada mensaje: Eliminar, responder, delegar o convertir en una tarea. Esto evitará que tu bandeja de entrada se llene y siempre estarás al tanto de tu comunicación. Con herramientas como tareas y recordatorios, Outlook te ayuda a implementar este principio de forma eficiente. ✅