Manageg email using g Outlook’s Quick Steps
YOU’LL NEED THIS
MICROSOFT 365 SUBSCRIPTION, OR OUTLOOK 2013
OR LATER Copy style of what’s needed.
MANAGING YOUR EMAIL CAN BE A FULL-TIME JOB. It can take hours to sort, especially if you get a lot of messages that need forwarding, dealing with another time, or deleting.
This is something that email developers are trying to fix. They realise that streamlining the process is likely to win a host of new users. Outlook’s approach is a tool called Quick Steps, which lets you join a series of tasks that can be executed in sequence with a keyboard shortcut.
The process works like macros, which you may have heard talked about in relation to documents, spreadsheets, and attachments. That’s because, like a sequence in Quick Steps, macros are series of commands that execute automatically in a given order. However, because macros are built by hand using a programming language, they can perform a wider range of tasks than Quick Steps, which are restricted to functions that are already part of Outlook.
This is both a benefit and a challenge. Since macros are more flexible, they’re also more powerful, so hackers could use them to steal data from your PC, or even delete it in bulk. Quick Steps can’t do this, although they can be used to delete messages if you set them up that way.
Here, we’ll show you how to set up three Quick Steps sequences to keep your inbox in order. Before you get started, make sure Quick Steps is visible on the ribbon toolbar. If Outlook is set to show the simplified toolbar, right-click it select Use Classic Ribbon to reveal the panel. Then, click the square icon below the panel to pop out the full Manage Quick Steps box. –NIK RAWLINSON
1
PUT OFF REPLYING TO AN EMAIL UNTIL LATER
If you can’t deal with a message right away, you could mark it as unread and come back to it later. However, doing that means you risk forgetting it as it gets pushed further down your inbox by other incoming messages. This Quick Steps sequence adds it to your tasks list so you’ll be reminded to deal with it before it’s due.
» Click ‘New’ in the Manage Quick Steps box [ Image A], then click Custom on the menu. Select the placeholder text in the Name box and change it to Put off until later, or whatever makes the most sense to you. It doesn’t matter what you add here: it’s just used to distinguish this Quick Steps sequence from any other you create.
» Click the ‘Choose an Action’ menu and select ‘Create a task with text of message’ [ Image B]. Note that above this there’s a similar option to ‘ Create a task with attachment’, which adds your email and all of its content to the appointment you’re going to make. If the message includes attached documents or images, this may be a more appropriate option in certain circumstances.
» Click the menu beside ‘Shortcut key’ and select ‘CTRL+SHIFT+1’ [ Image C] from the options. Using this combination will trigger the Quick Step, even if you switch back
© to the simplified Ribbon menu, from which you won’t be able to click the Quick Step directly. You have the option to write a short description in the ‘Tooltip text’ box, then click Save.
» Click OK to close the Manage Quick Steps box, then select a message and press Ctrl+Shift+1 on your keyboard. This creates a new task in Outlook with your message and, crucially, the ‘from’ address that you’ll be able to click to reply to when the task pops up. Tick the box beside Reminder and select the date on which you want to be reminded to deal with the email [ Image D], then click ‘Save & Close’.
2
OPT OUT OF A LONG EMAIL THREAD
When email threads start getting out of hand, the healthiest course of action can be to send a quick reply, then opt out.
» This Quick Step sequence does just that, allowing you to explain why you’ll be disappearing from the discussion, then ignore any further contributions to the ongoing thread.
» Click ‘New’ at the bottom of the Manage Quick Steps box, then click Custom on the menu. Give your sequence
a name, then select Reply from the Actions menu [ Image E] and click Show Options. Write the body of your email in the Text box, remembering to keep it generic so it can be applied in any situation, whatever the ongoing email thread is about.
» Next, click the Add Action button, followed by the ‘Choose an Action’ menu, and select ‘Ignore messages in this conversation’ [ Image F]. What you’re doing here is joining two actions so they can be triggered with a click of this Quick Step in the Quick Steps panel, or using a keyboard shortcut.
» Click the ‘ Shortcut key’ menu, and this time select ‘Ctrl+Shift+2’, then optionally add some tooltip text, and click Finish.
» Test your sequence by selecting an email and pressing Ctrl+Shift+2. This creates a new email with the email address (or addresses) of the senders and your pre-written text [ Image G]. Click ‘Send’ to dispatch it.
DELEGATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR AN EMAIL
If you’re keeping watch on the inbox for a small business or club, you won’t necessarily be the best person to deal with all the emails you receive. With Quick Steps, you can easily delegate tasks to other club members and change their importance to make them stand out.
» Click ‘New’ at the bottom of the Manage Quick Steps box, then click Custom on the menu. Give your sequence a name, then choose ‘Set importance’ from the Actions menu. Leave the menu that appears below this set to ‘Importance: High’ [ Image H] above), which is the default option. Click ‘Add Action’, and select ‘Forward’ from the list of options. This adds an extra layer of options to the box where you can enter the recipient’s email address.
» If you’ll always be sending the message to the same person, enter their address in the To box, then click Show Options and tick the box beside ‘Automatically send after 1 minute delay’. If not, leave the To box empty and don’t click the box.
» If you want to assign a keyboard shortcut to your sequence, click the ‘ Shortcut key’ menu and select CTRL+SHIFT+3, then click Finish. To test your new sequence, select an email and press Ctrl+Shift+3 on your keyboard.
» If you didn’t enter an email address when defining the sequence, type one on the To line, then click Send [10] to delegate responsibility for the email to someone else.