TOO MANY EMAILS? Use THESE Proven Techniques | Outlook tips included
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- Опубліковано 15 тра 2024
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Manage your inbox so you can be more productive and less stressed! Explore practical tips and strategies for managing your email efficiently in this comprehensive tutorial. Ideal for professionals overwhelmed by a constant influx of emails, learn how to regain control of your inbox and enhance productivity.
I'll share email management techniques that help you get organized. You'll also learn time management techniques to instantly put more time in your day and easily manage your Outlook Inbox.
In This Video, You'll Discover:
▪️ Developing an Email Routine: Understand the importance of setting aside dedicated time for emails to enhance focus and productivity.
▪️ Turning Off Notifications: Learn how to minimize distractions by managing Windows and Outlook notifications.
▪️ Using Folders and Quick Steps: Simplify your inbox with an effective folder system and Outlook's Quick Steps for easy email categorization.
▪️ Handling Action-Required Emails: Strategies for managing emails that require more time or specific actions.
▪️ Decluttering Your Inbox: Tips for reducing incoming email volume, including unsubscribing from unnecessary lists and using rules in Outlook.
▪️ Color-Coding CC Messages: Utilize Outlook's conditional formatting to easily identify emails where you're CC'd.
Does inbox zero work? The inbox zero method gave me anxiety so I had to find other ways to manage my emails. The method I share in the video is the best of all approaches I've tried.
00:00 Email Management Strategies
02:07 Develop Email Routine
03:03 How to Turn Off Windows Notifications
03:36 How to Work Offline in Outlook
04:00 Use Action-Based Folder System | Limited Number of Folders
06:58 How to Create a Folder in Outlook
07:21 How to Use Quick Steps in Outlook
08:32 How to Turn Email into Appointments in Outlook
09:07 How to Change Startup Folder in Outlook
09:44 Clean Your Inbox
10:13 How to Setup Rules in Outlook
11:09 How to Color-Code CC Messages with Conditional Formatting in Outlook
12:26 Wrap-Up
Read the complete article: www.xelplus.com/email-strateg...
LINKS to more Outlook tutorials: • Outlook & Email Tips
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#emailstrategy #outlook
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Some tips that I personally developed after more than a decade of working in insanely big corporate environments:
- Use smart folder called "To me" where i'm in the "To" list. Similar to what Leila has for "CC" emails, but without conditional formatting.
- Extensive use of "todo" flags: today, tomorrow, this week.
- Similar to what Leila suggested, I have 'blockers' in my schedule for desk work: writing reports, doing research, compiling financials. I mark these appointments as "Personal" and do not respond to any mails during them.
- Archiving emails is great, but I went even further: I'm archiving all mails that have attachments and are more than 1 month old.
- With the introduction of Teams, I enforced the etiquette of not attaching bulky files to emails, but putting them into specific Teams (or Sharepoint) folders and sharing only links.
Really great tips! Thanks for sharing!
In my experience, people only use 10% of what software can do. Thank you for showing us the hidden gems that make these tools outstanding!
I’m literally emotional watching this video. You are giving people their life/time back. Thank you!!
Oh my days! Thank you so much. I wish someone had shown me this 20 years ago! *sigh* better late than never. Now......to tackle my inbox!!
This is great. I've got used to inbox-zero. I also use defined search folders of key people/companies, instead of proper folders/sub folders, which I agree can get out of hand. I've got into the same practice of; if it can be done in minutes, do it and send to archive. If it can wait a bit or might be interesting to read later, I flag it as follow up and move it to archive. It still shows up in the To Do list when it's due. Some feel happy seeing thousands of unread emails. I can't work like that.
Oh my goodness I love this. I thought I had some pretty spiffy Rules. I don’t even know if I am getting more CC or direct emails. What a great way to find out where time is being spent.
I've struggled mightily for YEARS to organize my Inbox more effectively. I've already adopted several of your suggestions since watching this video yesterday -- and just managed to clear out/organize my past two weeks of messages, and now feel quite set up for continued progress. Thank you!
I 100% agree. This is a good happy medium. Once you develop an email routine it's easier to manage it all instead of having the email inbox open in the background and checking whenever a notification appears.
Thank you Leila ... all very helpful tips, some of which I've not known of before! I manage 3 mailboxes and can't wait until Monday morning to set them all up with these time saving processes. 😊
I've been following Leila for a year and I can't stress enough how grateful I am of her contents. Helps me a lot as a professional. Thanks Leila :)
Awesome tips and I love there are multiple options for some actions. Colouring the text of incoming emails based on conditions is absolute gold! Thank you Leila!
You're so welcome!
@@LeilaGharani would've been nice to see categories thrown into the mix.
Loved this video. Came with the goal of finding ideas on how to control my inbox better, but also left with a new idea on managing my calendar. Thanks a lot Leila! Long time follower here :)
Hi Leila. Thanks for the Video. The conditional formatting for "cc" emails tip is really helpful. I would even say it's a life saver (for me) 😀 Thanks again
Custom color tip such a lifesaver! I receive 300+ email every day now I can easily seek emails marked to me individually / To me with other & CC!! Cannot thank you enough Leila!
You're so welcome!
Worth watching just for the "create rule" portion! I used to be a zero email type, but the pandemic ruined me. Thanks for the tips that should help me dig out of the pile! haha
I’ve recently graduated and started a new job and emails once brought me joy and satisfaction but now they bring anxiety and stress. Thank you so much for these tips, this is amazing and is sure to help me filter through and feel on top of it all
I loved the breathing in a bag moment 🤣 I'm currently binge watching all your videos to avoid exactly this feeling of Anxiety. And your tips help a lot!
Thank you Leila! I just started a new job and I wanted to start off with good habits regarding emails. I've already implemented several of your suggestions!💐
40 years I've worked in IT, and here I am still learning something new; well done.
There are some incredible suggestions in this video. I love that you’ve taken ideas from two
methodologies and synthesized them into your own. Inbox zero stresses me out too!
too mail emails? easy solution! its called DELTE
Excellent tips Leila! This will improve productivity and lower irritation levels. Many thanks for this great video; Outlook will return to being less scary than horror movies!
This is great! I basically do the same thing except the Action Folder. I am going to try this. I would love to see some more on outlook (conversation settings, more advanced features) :)
More to come, Michael!
Leila why are you so awesome? 😂 It’s almost sickening how much I learn from you and how much I enjoy your content!
As an IT Professional she is definitely right, i spend the majority of my day filtering through emails.
Excellent tips! Thank you, Leila! You drew attention to often ignored simple but important aspects. Notifications, be them for emails, Twitter or anything else, are sometimes a real nuisance!
Turning off the notifications is something we should carry FOR LIFE. It up to WE to decide when we are going to check e-mails, messages app and social media. Everytime we leave up for notifications, we lose autonomy. Notifications should be set only for important reminders, not routine new mentions
Thanks for the tips,
I do not use an action folder (only follow up folder)
I also add a category/colour to focus on a few emails for action in my inbox.
yellow = to do, red - urgent, green = waiting for input from someone else.
when i put both colours, for example: 1st green, 2nd yellow, that means:1st waiting for reply, 2nd then I need to take some action after that.
I use to do this in my earlier organisation, and it really helps! Thanks for this video.
I love MS Outlook. It's so handy managing all different emails..
Nice! A GTD implementation using Outlook features! I had set up something similar in the past, but after a few organizational changes, I have slowly regressed back to the chaotic inbox mess.... also, I lack a self-discipline quality... But, Your video motivates me again to "Get Things Done!" Thank you, Leila!
I like using the conversation view for my inbox. Having the entire email chain in one drop down box is so much better than hunting through outlook looking for a specific email in a chain, usually just to find an attachment.
km
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Absolutely true! I cannot work without this feature turned on. It helps build a continuity.
I just learnt about this feature. It's a life saver
Fantastic advice! I’m a business financial consultant who receives a lot of informational and action oriented messages. After 20 years I have developed many of those same techniques, but like your experience, I have ended up with a vast number of folders for overly detailed organization. Your advice will help me reconsider my rules and organization to simplify things more and make things more manageable.
Same here! I have way too many folders. It needs to be re-organised.
These tips have blown my mind. I had no idea there was so much I could do in Outlook!!
Was just organizing my emails this Friday. These tips are helpful! Thanks Leila :)
Hope your inbox is now all clean and sparkly :)
@@LeilaGharani thank you Leila :)
Great great tips! Now my tip, when is watch any of Leila's video I'll play them at x2.0 or x1.5. Awesome videos!
Picked up a couple of great new ways to flag my mail. I really hadn't played with the flagging feature in outlook.. Thanks again for your simple well directed info. To many don't keep on topic and jump around to much.. each feature you talked about you were careful to fully explain that feature before moving on. I can't follow those who try to talk flagging an email while showing how to sort it to a new sub folder and marking it to alert you later. It's the difference in demonstrating what you can do and teaching some else the features so they can figure out how to use them;
We are pleased with your presence and the services
you provide through this program. Because you are distinguished in communication
through the service
I've been watching you for a while. Really seen an improvement in the production quality over the last year +. Keep it up!
Most of this was a summary of my current outlook process, but you also included a few new tips for me to try! Awesome video, thank you. I'm looking forward to trying these out.
Glad you enjoyed it, Sarah!
Excellent tips! I’m a power user who’s been using outlook for 20 years and still learnt something new
Hi, I just recently found your channel.
As a very basic user of office programs I'm amazed by your skills and all the functionality I had no idéa existed.
For managing emails I use flags and a queue-folder with sub-folders. Very similar to your action folders. Some, less important e-mails I just let stay in the inbox. I will try rules.
Thank for sharing your expertise.
/Chris
I would have loved learn all those things when I just started my career. took me a lot of years to learn them!
Thanks for sharing - those were some really great tips. I already have used color coding in my calendar to get a better overview (working on multiple projects color coding on meeting organizer (=project manager) would accomplish that), but i never thought of using this for CC mails. Great stuff!
Wonderful!
You have the best tips for MS programs. Also, your presentation is clear, precise, and easily understood. Thank you for your help.
With every video I'm blown away by all the functions in these programs. Thank you so much for explaining them in an easy and practical manner!
You're very welcome!
we have a rule - if it is low priority, we can email, else talk to the person you were going to email. This really works. We really need think differently and consider how best to communicate. Tools like MS Teams are much more effective as well. Great video as per usual.
Totally agree with finding other ways than emails. Been more productive doing Teams chat (and only emailing the key agreements). Than doing 7 emails just doing some back and forth on project details, clarifications, etc.
my job wants everything emailed…. even if i am sitting right next to the person! very time consuming especially when i could get an answer before i could type out the email
Bad ideia.
Cover your ass and Have everything documented.
Email the person then give him a call if it requires urgent action.
@@OsukaMbalali Hi, we have a lot of trust in our business, and that trust extends to our customers (but regarded as partners). Working this way builds common goals and support to achieve those goals. I have worked in organisations that document everything in emails - we find that most people become keyboard warriors and loose track of what is important - working with your customers and delivering what they want, when they want, to the right cost and quality. Good luck in your working approach. Fortunatly, we all work in different ways and reap the benefits of those ways.
What an interesting idea! I sometimes feel that people will still feel invaded if I just send them a chat. But I think your approach will be helpful!
I just spent $60 on an email system that reduces my inbox. If only this video came out one week earlier.
Found this very useful. I consider myself pretty organized in Outlook but found a few tips that I could implement right away. Thank you!
Hello Leila, first of all, thank you so much for these great tips (as always), I learn a lot whith this channel and I really appreaciate the way you show it, this is both very pleasant and easy to understand. 😊
Just to add my personal contribution (sorry if it had already mentionned, I did not read all the comments) : on my side I like to use flags, I find them very handy to use as you can define categories that you can apply simultaneously for emails, meetings and tasks :
- 1st, you can keep a certain logic to organize and view your data
- 2nd, you can use the flags to create search folders afterwards, so when you put a flag on a email, this one is automatically assigned o the related search folder
- 3rd : you can use flags to narrow researches (mails, meetings, tasks)
PS : sorry for my bad English 😕
The best thing I have done is to enable VBA in outlook.
That meant a few reports are created automatically by reading the email and adding information in Excel files.
Off course it depends on your work, but that has saved me probably about 1-2 hours a day.
Great video. Thanks so much -- I really needed a concise and effective set of strategies to increase my efficacy at work and handling my personal email! Thank you!!
Glad it was helpful, Juliet!
Thanks for the tips. Already had a lot of them in place. Like the CC map and rules for invoices.
I tried the action folder before, but that never worked for me for the reason that I default to inbox instead of the actions and then I got stuck in the “do everyday things”.
Legit tips! Also the coloring is awesome. I’m going to give certain Management colleagues a color so they are better to find!
The first email video that actually makes sense! Thanks for this!!
This is such a great video. I’ll be sharing this with my team and feel it’s a must watch for anyone looking to tame the inbox monster. Subscribed!
Very helpful, thank you! I didn't know about the conditional formatting for color coding! I think it'd be good to use it in a similar way to how I use "VIP" contacts on the phone email app so the emails from certain contacts (like management) are highly visible for me. Thank you Leila!
Really great video. I am already doing app. 70% of presented tips and I must confirm that it works. I do not have any problems with email any more. The most important came to realize that it is not necessary to be on-line and it is good not reply immediatelly. Just by following this one rule the number of emails decreased about 300%. If people know that you will not reply, they will stop sending tens of emails.
The best idea I liked was categorization by actionable items. I had tried the rest of the tips already. Thank you for this brilliant idea.
Great content as always. I would add that when you flag an email to follow up in outlook it gets synchronised with the To Do app so you can get through your tasks without being distracted by more incoming mail.
Which todo app?
It's an awesome feature but that works only for your outlook, hotmail emails but not for Gmail!
@@puranyashkapoor7468 Microsoft acquired Wunderlist and the dev team rewrote it calling it Microsoft to do. Wunderlist was amazing and I am very happy with the new to do. I use it for groceries and other quick item lists. I also use everdo for task management with a more GTD approach with the extra fields like time to complete and effort. Really hope Microsoft adds some more GTD based items.
Great tips, I am a new subscriber. I actually use a rule and a separate folder for emails where I am in CC and only look at there occasionally. This alone largely reduces the number of emails in my inbox. I use colour coding to mark emails coming from Managers I report to, so I know that is something I need to look at with more importance than others. I work in a large corporate environment, a global IT company with 100K+ people. I have been using the newsletter folder and rule for many-many years now. I will start to promote your videos for my team, we can learn a lot from them.
Hello! I prob work at your same company and am struggling to stay on top of everything! I love the CC rule and setting that up tomorrow!
I just started working in an office life environment and in just 3 weeks i see so many emails where i'm not particularly sure i'm a part of. Thanks to your video, I manage to see how i can manage my outlook in a very VERY organized way. thank you so much.
My pleasure!
This is a easy thing that I have ignored before. Your tutorial changed mindset of me. Thank you for your suggestion.
My biggest problem is how long it takes me to write an email. I want everything to sound perfect and end up rewriting them 20 times and an email that should take 5 minutes takes 2 hours. Such a drain sigh
Try bullet points. Use these headings for direction: Purpose. Context. Facts . Request. It saved me lots my time. Best of luck!
@@steca101 great idea. I'll give it a go
perfectionism
@@supersmart671 Yup. Hate it.
My issue too.
😫
Leila, I love the new intro and visual quality of your videos. It was good before, but gat damn! Very helpful tips for Outlook. Thank you :)
These are fantastic tips! Thank you so much! Particularly love the "Action Folder" and also that I can choose which folder opens up first when I start MS Outlook 😊 Conditional formatting is also very useful.
Glad it was helpful, Caecilia!
Thank you years and years using M outlook and I didn't know about the sweep option!!!!! it was exactly what I needed
The BIGGEST Issues that I have: "Email etiquette:"
- Getting emails that require an action from you when you are CC'd.
- Getting emails that don't follow a thread - like answering an email that doesn't follow the subject line
- TIP - I use conversation view - So I can see the first email in the thread and the responses to that thread
- Getting emails with vague subject lines that are big tasks
- The screen clip emails that have important information that require research and you are stuck sifting through the whole email looking for the task in screen clips.
- I work in an ERP/MRP centric company - That is very task oriented and I can get upwards of 350 emails a day (BTW the record is at 634 emails in one day) where 50% of them are actionable(either by me or my team), 25% are important information to retain for something that will be needed 1-2 months from now and the remaining 25% is other stuff (HR communications, IT Comms. other things that are important but not immediately actionable). So the hardest part of dealing with that is reading to determine what category they fall in when the simple rules are not followed.
-TIP use CATEGORIES - This is a great feature but requires a good time setting up but once I had it - timesaver.
- I also get emails for tasks from my Boss, their boss, Managers, Directors, VP's and the President of the Company. Requiring Action and they don't always act responsibly with etiquette either.
- Also - the dreaded instant messaging software. Nice for quick ask questions but infuriating for asks that are multistep and WHAT A DISTRACTION.
So teaching people how to email is big in my book. I enforce the behavior of my team to act responsibly with sending emails.
- First thing I always say to them if you want me to action something and you CC me you may not see a response right away.
- I teach them to move the names around in the email from To: to CC: based on the person that has to action. No vague requests and above all else - Read and re-read what you are sending. Have some structure to your email.
- Don't answer OK to a task oriented email without completing the task (I know you got the email/meeting request I do not need affirmation of that outside of the normal means).
Wow, all great tips! Thank you! Upwards of 350 emails a day is crazy. Hats off to you for staying organized in such an environment.
I think one way to keep it organized is to use the other microsoft apps. For example, Yammer for internal communications only (this would take a lot of comm. emails from your inbox). Planner for specific tasks instead of delegating them via email. Teams for faster communication, etc. A tip that works for me is to categorize the emails as Follow up and Urgent and then have a search folder on my favorites section to concentrate all the categorized emails. I hope any of these can help you with the big load you get daily!
Excellent Tips!! Very much relevant in corporate environment!!!
I love your videos! I, too, try to immediately process things that take two minutes or less, and I also delegate right away. If however I need to save something as a next action or deferral, I press Insert to flag it and then Delete to archive it. Later on, when I have set time aside to handle tasks I go to Microsoft To Do and handle the flagged emails there along with other tasks. Outlook combined with Insert and Delete keys and Microsoft To Do work well together!
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Thanks Leila. These are great steps and I have implemented a few of your suggestions which I'm sure will help with my email issue for work and private to improve productivity and junk email.
You are my new favorite. You have no idea how much I need these things!
You are such a phenomenal teacher! Thanks for your Udemy tutorials on Outlook. Can you please create a tutorial on how to extract emails and their attachments from Outlook to Excel using VBA?
Outlook 2016 attachment boxes do not show full names of the attachments, creating viewing difficulties.
I am looking for something similar, or a way to make the attachment boxes longer. Let me know if you found a solution.
Thank you.
Real help especially the colour code and adding emails to calender to work on later. Thanks😊
Great to hear, Michael!
Very informative video. I might add that "Categorize" is a great feature in outlook. I immediately categorize my high important emails as red. Then pressing "Categorized Mail" will list them beautifully
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Leila!
Similar to you, I think "zero inbox" would become just another task for me, rather than freeing up time.
Amazing, I wish I watched this 10 years ago :)
Watching her excel videos helped me increase my income about 40k in a couple years. My excel skill got so good I could basically negotiate with the government jobs I had higher amount for the increased skill.
Thanks so much!!!
A new world. But just with your tips it can get better.
I have watched this twice now over the last year and it is still relevant. I need to implement and stop trying to send all email to task manager or notes and dealing with them.
Email management is fundamental yet far to overlooked.
We receive hundreds upon hundreds of emails.
I find it vital to combine Categories, Rules & Alerts, Quicksteps and Conversation View to manage my emails.
Alas, so many people don't really do this...
Not gonna lie, but if feel anxious just seeing other people's Inboxes 😵💫
Another idea. Under options, reading pane set your inbox so emails only get marked as read if you open them. This way you can scan through your inbox in the reading pane and move or delete non action emails leaving the action emails as unread, letting you know you need to action the email.
Your tips are really useful and practical. I have been trying them for a while and it has really helped simplify things. Thanks a lot!
The CC color code is mighty helpful. I did not know that. This way, I don't feel the need to read every email that comes in.
Never thought about that custom color for CC, thanks for the tips
Happy to help!
me as well, thanks Leila
Same. Literally setting that up right now.
Best tip! shit, mails flying now! :D
Its a good tip. But people in my organization have no sense of To & CC. They start well, but the replies all get mixed.
Thanks Mme,
You are just too good....too good.
Thanks and blessings for your all efforts.
First comment and first like...:)
This is very wonderful lady...this is the job before we die ...just teach and coach wat is good and what you got ...thank you and wish you good days ahead...
Excellent informative Outlook techniques, using Outlook more than a decade but still many are new for me.
I LOVE the cc tagged with a color idea thank you. Unfortunately I've found there are limits to the number of Rules allowed and troubles syncing between client and server, and have abandoned relying on them. A hybrid mix seems to be the best option but I am looking forward to more ideas on this topic!
Thanks for the info!
So true. I had issues with rules too.
This video has some really great information in it. Thanks Leila
You're so welcome!
You are Amazing. Your tips actually helped me to fix several issues I have been having on a daily basis. Thank you so so much!
I Love this way of e-mail management. I have been worked in this way since I did a course based on the book Getting Things Done! Currently I’m working with 4 folders ( Action / Archive / Waiting Answer/ Read Review) Your tips help a lot to improve that and reduce this folders. Thanks a lot🎉
Glad it was helpful!
Stanford did a study showing multitasking doesn't exist. We're like working on a single core processor and we use pre-emptive multitasking. A little of this, then a little of that. Back and forth, back and forth which is why we don't do a good job on either task.
Managing a shared mailbox with multiple team members is challenging. Would love to see a video with tips on thay.
Leila, thank you for this awesome video. I will start to use the action required folder. Please, more videos like this one.
Thanks Leila, this topic never gets old😀
I’m the type of guy that keeps all in inbox. I actually color code CC emails in light gray, so that they do not catch me eye much. Also emails from bosses in red because you need to keep them happy. One tip I did not see and actually is great (for me) is the conversation view where all mails on the same subject are joint together.
All good work places advise that this is how to go about doing it. Better still use one note along side outlook
@@MsWatchdog can you elaborate? Are you able to take notes in Onenote from Outlook?
How to joint all mails w. same subjects ? Could you show step-by-step ?
@@lealudwig714 In Outlook 365, while in your inbox, go into the VIEW menu and then click on the "Show as Conversation" tick box.
Thank you so much ! That is incredible !!!!
Thanks Leila! I think that the one touch rule could be reworded as “Act or Schedule”, I think that step is really the key but I have to work on it.
👍
Loved ❤ the anxiety skit! 🤣 Thank you so much for your perfect tutoriales! Love them!!!
Glad you enjoyed it, Sonia!
Thank you for your working and sharing for free!
I applied some tips, it is really helpful.
Love your videos, please keep it up!
You can customize the headers of the task list and have that show on the right side view. You can then make task items and drag emails right into the item and save it along with any notes. This way you can have any files and attachments related to the task Right there and set reminders. I also heavily use the delay send function to send myself emails when I need to look at something again
how do you customize headers to show on the right side...
@@eonstar You can add and remove columns and then in one of the settings somewhere you can rename them. I did it years ago I can’t remember now but just mess around with the task function and right click in the task area. There is options there
Thanks for sharing this Outlook tips! I'm just wondering when should one use folders vs category in Outlook. Any thoughts or comments?
Something can be in multiple categories but only one folder, so think about the shape of what you're trying to do and choose accordingly
Thank you so much! I'm sure my life will never be the same after this organisation of my Outlook :)