If you use Microsoft Outlook on a regular basis, chances are that you probably take it for granted. Outlook has been around for a long time, helping us organize our email and our daily schedules. It may seem simple, but it is in fact a very powerful and robust program. In order to make the most of your experience with Outlook, let’s take a look at a few of its unknown features. Below we’ve discussed only 3 of the often-overlooked functions that help you work more efficiently.
Eliminate the Clutter
You probably have “Conversation View” turned on in Outlook already. This view helps keep conversations neatly arranged into one thread. You can find the desired email without having to search through days of backlogged emails. There is a potential downside to this view however. More recent conversations can become very cluttered with repetitive quoted text. Turning off this quoted text is very simply with Outlook. Right-click the conversation thread and select “Clean Up Conversation.” All the unnecessary duplicate copies will now be eradicated from the individual emails in the conversation thread.
Say it in a Picture
If a picture is worth a thousand words, consider how much time you’ll save by including screenshots in your emails. Including screenshots can be very valuable particularly when sending a support ticket. Outlook makes including a screenshot incredibly simple. Click the “Insert” tab and then select “Screenshot.” A sequence of images of all open windows on your desktop will be displayed. Select the window that is suitable and Outlook will place the screenshot directly into your email – easy as that!
Take Out the Trash
Did you know that all of those old emails in your trash folder are using up lots of precious space? It can be easy to forget to empty our email trash. Outlook has made that straightforward too! Choose the “File” tab and then select “Options.” Go to the “Advanced” section and look for the “Start” and “Exit” options. By checking the box after “Empty Deleted Items” when exiting Outlook, this will enable Outlook to automatically clean out your trash folder each and every time you quit the program.
Take IT Away 