Chapter 4: Staying on Top of Emails and Calendars with Microsoft Outlook

Since the advent of email in 1971, the way we communicate has changed a lot, for both good and bad. Although emails are an essential part of modern-world communications, you simply cannot be productive if you do not control your emails and calendars.

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular tools that is used every day. Paradoxically, very few people have taken a course or read a book on how to take full advantage of the productivity features available in Microsoft Outlook. Consequently, people are overwhelmed by emails and messy calendars, not only because of poor habits but also because they are not proficient in using the technology.

For you, this is about to change. In this chapter, you will learn how to organize folders and use a Focused inbox, share calendars, take advantage of the Scheduling Assistant, and use other exciting and useful Microsoft Outlook features.

This chapter demonstrates how...

Why use keyboard shortcuts?

Before we dive into the Microsoft Outlook shortcuts, let's look at why you would be interested in them. Since we spend much of our time on emails, saving a couple of minutes using keyboard shortcuts can add up to hours at the end of the month.

The research mentioned in the book The Hamster Revolution (Song, Halsey, and Burress, 2008) says that people spend, on average, 2 hours per day on emails. Therefore, I suggest you memorize the following suggested shortcuts to become more productive in using Microsoft Outlook from now on.

For the sake of simplicity and space, we will not add an image for every shortcut. But I strongly encourage you to try out these shortcuts and check the results for yourself, choosing the best ones for you, according to your needs.

Now, let's look at specific shortcuts to navigate, create new items, and manage emails.

Shortcuts for navigating in Microsoft Outlook

One of the most common tasks in Microsoft Outlook...

Sharing your calendars

As you learned, you can switch to the Calendar view using the Ctrl + 2 shortcut. You can also create appointments and invite your colleagues or external personnel, as needed, by using the Ctrl + Shift + A shortcut. What if you wanted your secretary or someone else to manage your calendar? Or maybe you just want specific people to see when you are busy without sharing details about your meetings. You can do that by sharing your calendars.

Click with the right button of your mouse on the calendar you want to share, and then click on Sharing Permissions…, as shown in Figure 4.3:

Figure 4.3 – Sharing a calendar

The next step is to add people or groups who you want to have access to your calendar, as shown in Figure 4.4:

Figure 4.4 – Adding people and defining permissions

You can define different permissions, as you can see in Figure 4.5. In the following screenshot, you can see I shared my...

Getting help from the Scheduling Assistant

The Scheduling Assistant is very useful. You can access it by creating an appointment, as shown in Figure 4.6. At the top of the ribbon, click on the tab for Scheduling Assistant:

Figure 4.6 – Creating an appointment

You just must add optional and required attendees, and the Scheduling Assistant will show when they are available! As you can see in Figure 4.7, this feature saves you from sending multiple emails to schedule a meeting with a large group:

Figure 4.7 – Scheduling Assistant

Important Note

Scheduling Assistant does not work for people outside your organization because you will not have permission to view their calendars. To solve this problem, Microsoft acquired an add-on called FindTime (https://findtime.microsoft.com). It is similar to the native feature but allows all attendees to vote on proposed times, even if they are from other companies.

By using these...

Using the Focused inbox

You probably receive a lot of emails. Microsoft Outlook has a feature that will help you in prioritizing emails, applying rules, and more. By activating the Focused inbox, you will be able to organize important messages, as shown in Figure 4.8:

Figure 4.8 – Focused inbox

With emails categorized by their proper importance, let's start interacting with our team.

Mentioning someone in an email

To mention someone in an email, you just must use the @ symbol and the name or email ID. This person will automatically be added to the recipients list (To), as you can see in Figure 4.9:

Figure 4.9 – Mentioning someone in an email

Mentioning someone in an email is helpful because for the recipient, the @ sign applies rules or assigns higher priority to emails that mention them (Figure 4.10):

Figure 4.10 – Receiving an email that mentioned you

If you are like me, you may respond to emails after regular working hours. In my case, I prefer to answer emails at the end of Friday so that I can act on any pending items and clean my inbox as a productivity ritual to start the next week fresh.

Although I send emails at the end of Friday, I do not expect people to answer those messages over the weekend. In fact, working on weekends is bad behavior that may harm the productivity and morale of your...

Sending an email later

Send later is one of my favorite features on Microsoft Outlook. Before we had this feature, there were plugins and third-party tools to do the trick. Microsoft 365 helps organizations and individuals to be more productive, and that includes having a work-life balance, as we learned in Chapter 3, Workplace and Personal Productivity with Microsoft MyAnalytics.

Figure 4.11 – Send later

After you create your email message, instead of hitting Send, you have the Send later option, as you can see in Figure 4.11. Then, you just must pick a date and time, as shown in Figure 4.12, and the email will be sent then:

Figure 4.12 – Setting a date and time to send later

By now, you have learned about valuable features that will make you more productive using the Microsoft Outlook desktop and web versions. You probably already know that you can set up Microsoft Outlook on your mobile device using iOS or Android...

Setting up and using Outlook mobile

You can download the Microsoft Outlook mobile app from your phone's app store or you can use the link provided when you access Microsoft Outlook on the web (see Figure 4.13):

Figure 4.13 – Download Microsoft Outlook mobile

Setting up Microsoft Outlook for mobile is incredibly easy. You just must choose your account type (see Figure 4.14), add your email and password, and then you are all set!

Figure 4.14 – Setting up your account on Microsoft Outlook mobile

Microsoft Outlook for mobile is easy to use and navigate. You can read and answer your emails, create appointments, and more. There's also a feature that you have on mobile only: listening to emails on the go.

Listening to your emails on the go

This feature saves a ton of time if you want to listen to your messages during a commute or while jogging, for example. Using the Microsoft Outlook mobile app, you can tap on your emails and listen to them on the go (see Figure 4.15):

Figure 4.15 – Listen to emails on the go

I hope that you try this feature and the other tips described in this chapter as soon as possible.

Summary

There is more to Microsoft Outlook than you learned about in this chapter. You will become more proficient and productive as you practice using shortcuts and other features daily. Also, you can share this information with your colleagues so that they are also more productive.

Combined with other applications from Microsoft 365, Microsoft Outlook is even more powerful. In the next chapter we will talk about a great ally of Outlook to save attachments, meeting minutes, and even comments about your workday. That ally is OneNote.