Category: Outlook

Outlook Rules: Delay Delivery

Because who couldn’t benefit from a moment of pause?

If you’d like to delay your email delivery by 5 minutes, create this Outlook rule. The message will sit in your Outbox for the specified length of time, giving you the necessary time to re-open and, if so warranted, edit the item before re-sending.

Setting a Send Delay Rule in Outlook

  1. On the Home Tab click Rules and select Manage Rules & Alerts.
  2. Click New Rule. The Rules Wizard  Dialog appears.
  3. At the bottom of Step 1: Select a template area, click Apply rule on messages I send, then click Next. The dialog will advance to Step 1: Select conditions.
  4. Click Next. A message appears; “This rule will be applied to every message you send. Is this correct?” Click Yes to confirm.
  5. In the Step 1: Select action(s) area, check defer deliver by a number of minutes.
  6. In the Step 2: Edit the rule description area, click a number of, enter the delay (e.g., 5), then click OK.
  7. Click Next. The dialog will advance to Step 1: Select exceptions. Click Next.
  8. In the Step 1: Specify a name for this rule, enter a name  (e.g., “Send in 5 minutes”)
  9. Check Turn on this Rule, and click Finish.

Cheers!
quincy

Related reading:

Editing an Email Subject line in Outlook

WithEmail, a good subject line is essential for good filing, however not every sender considers that when composing their email. If you received an email that needs a more descriptive subject, follow these steps to edit the Subject line.

2-1-2018 3-52-15 PM

To Edit the Outlook Subject line

  1. Open the message.
  2. Click the chevron (▿) at the far right of the message header. The header will expand down.
  3. Click your insertion point on the subject line and edit the text.
  4. Close the message, selecting Yes, when prompted to save (alternatively, press CTRL+S to save edits prior to close).

Want to edit the subject lines a little quicker?  Change your Outlook View Settings to  edit subjects lines directly from the Message List.

edit subject

Modify your view settings to edit subject lines from the Message list.

  1. Click View and select View Settings. The Advanced View Settings dialog appears.
  2. Click Other Settings button. The Other Settings dialog appears.
  3. Check the Allow in-cell editing.
  4. OK. OK.

Click the subject line you want to change, and edit directly in the Message List.

Cheers!
 ʎɔuınb

Additional Reading:

apples to: Outlook 2016, Office 365

Arianna Huffington deletes her employees emails when on vacation (and you can too)

deletemail.gif

Enjoying your vacation? How can you, when you have that nagging urge to check your email, and the added anxiety of returning to a mountain of email upon your return?

Arianna Huffington’s wellness company, Thrive Global, adopted a simple solution: During the time an employee is on vacation, new emails are deleted and the sender is urged to callback later.  

“Thank you for your email. I am out of the office … please email me again when I return as this email will be deleted“

Their tool, Thrive Away, takes the pressure off employees to respond to the emails received during vacation. But you don’t need to work at Thrive to employ this strategy. Here are instructions on how to set up your own Delete-and-Reply Vacation AutoResponder using Outlook.

Thrive Delete AutoReply1

Creating a Delete-and-Reply Rule in Outlook

  1. Click File and select Automatic Replies.
  2. Check Send automatic replies.
  3. Check Only send during this time range and set vacation time.
  4. Leave Inside my organization field blank.
  5. Click Outside my organizatIon tab and enter a ‘.’
    (This field is required, but will be superseded by the rule template).
  6. Click Rules.
  7. Click Add Rules.
  8. Check Delete and Reply with, then click Template.
  9. Enter reply text (for example, “Sorry I’m not home right now, I’m walking on a spiderweb..in Ibizia. Your message has been shredded into less than nothingness. Please contact dmsnyder@moo.cow or re-email me when and if I return”).
  10. Close.
  11. Click OK, and click Yes to confirm ‘all senders’.
  12. OK. OK.

Cheers!

Related reading:

 

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RSS Feeds Made Simple in Outlook

RSS made simple

Use RSS Feeds and have news delivered right to your Outlook mailbox.

RSS Outlook

If you’re still getting your news in paper-based formats you probably prefer it delivered right to your doorstep. Electronically speaking, you can get that same at-home delivery service of your preferred e-News by using RSS Feeds. RSS (Real Simple Subscription) feeds are easy to create and afford you the luxury of not having to step out of your Outlook mailbox to scan the headlines of the day.

Subscribing to an RSS feed using Outlook

  1. Locate the RSS address of your favorite news site. This can often be found by typing ‘RSS’ in the search field of that site’s home or landing page.
  2. RIGHT + CLICK on the RSS Feed you wish to subscribe to and select appropriate copy command (e.g., Internet Explorer users select Copy Shortcut. Chrome users select Copy Hyperlink).
  3. In the Outlook Navigation pane, RIGHT + CLICK on the RSS Feeds folder, and select Add New RSS Feed. The New RSS Feed dialog will appear.

    rss-feed3v3
    Adding to the RSS Feed folder
  4. In the provided field press CTRL + V to paste the previously copied link, then press Add. A Microsoft Outlook: Add this RSS Feed to Outlook dialog will appear.
    Note: Optionally, you can modify options (i.e., rename feed, download full article, etc) by pressing the Advanced button.

    RSS4
    The RSS Feed Options dialog
  5. Press Yes to complete.
    RSS
Additional reading…

Cheers!

hɔuᴉnb

Autoformat Calendar Entries

Crowded calendar giving you the blues? Automatically color calendar items by using Conditional Formatting.

Crowded calendar giving you the blues?

Good! Next, toss in some reds and the greens!

You can automatically color calendar items by using Conditional Formatting. Like Categories, conditional formats provide you with a visual method of classifying your calendar items. Once setup these formats go to work automatically, on new and previously entered items. Just assign a color to the condition (aka, criteria) you set, and whammo!  Technicolor splendor!

Using Conditional Formatting to Automatically Color Calendar Entries

OutlookConditionalFormatting
Conditional Formatting (with Halloween/SF Giants colors)
  1. View your Outlook Calendar
  2. On the View tab, click View Settings. The Advanced View Settings: Calendar dialog appears.
  3. Click Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog appears.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name area enter a name for the view format.
  6. Click the Color drop-down and select a color.
  7. Click Condition. The Filter dialog appears.
  8. Edit the settings on the Appointments and Meetings, More Choices, and/or Advanced tabs, to create your criteria.
    For example, to create the FYI filter, enter FYI, INFO, NOTE in the Search for the word(s) area (using commas to separate search strings).
  9. Click OK, OK, and OK to exit dialogs and return to the Calendar screen.
Additional reading…

Cheers!

hɔuᴉnb

Column Select

Looking for an easy way to highlight a column that is not in a table? Use COLUMN SELECT

Note: This tip works equally well when editing an email in Outlook.

Looking for an easy way to highlight a column that is not in a table? Use COLUMN SELECT

ColumnSelect
Click to enlarge

Column Select

  1. Click insertion point at begining of text
  2. Press ALT as you CLICK + DRAG to end point.

Once selected the text can be formatted or deleted. The selection collapses after your executed command.

Be smooth:  ALT+CLICK instruction brings up the Thesaurus*, so be don’t click quickly. Column Select (ALT + CLICK + DRAG) works best to when you use a smooth, paint-like motion (more like Pollock than Seurat)

* (a deadly neolithic creature hellbent on correcting ingesting your text and regurgitating its own).

Watch this 1m video for more.

Cheers!
hɔuᴉnb

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Related:

Display Multiple Time Zones

Negotiating meeting schedules between time zones can be tricky. Here are two simple methods to help keep track of time in other regions:

Add Additional Time Zone to the Outlook Calendar

DualTimeZones

  1. In Outlook, click File, then select Options. The Outlook Options dialog appears.
  2. At left, select Calendar, then scroll down to the Time zones section.
  3. In the Label area type a brief description for the local time zone.
  4. Check Show a second time zone.
  5. In the second Label area, type a brief description for the second time zone.
  6. Select additional time zone from the second Time zone drop down.
  7. OK.
OutlookOptionsCalendar
Outlook Calendar Options

To Add Time zones to Windows Taskbar 

The windows taskbar has the ability to show two additional time zones.

TimeClocks
Windows 8 Time Display
  1. RIGHT + CLICK on time displayed in lower right corner of taskbar.
  2. Select Adjust date/time.
  3. Click Additional Clocks tab.
  4. Check Show this clock.
  5. For each additional time zone, check Show this clock, select time zone from the drop-down, then enter a name in the field below.
  6. OK.
Additional Clocks dialog
Additional Clocks dialog (CLICK to enlarge)

 

For additional multi-regional scheduling resources, visit the World Clock website. There you will find meeting calculators, daylight savings information and interactive maps.

Additional reading..

Cheers!

hɔuᴉnb

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