O365 – 3 Tips for Outlook

I remember using Word 25 years ago.  Things have certainly changed!  When I started working with the programs in Office 365 (O365), I was both confused and amazed.  There are quite a few new features that increase efficiency, but it can be a challenge to discover them.

Here are three tips that can help you take better advantage of available options in Outlook.

#1 – Clean Up

If you’re one of those people who already manages to keep your inbox organized – kudos to you!  With messages pouring in at all hours of the day, it’s hard to stay on top of them.  How many times do you receive an email, reply to it, receive a response to your response, respond to that response, etc.?  All those redundant messages stay in your inbox and add to the clutter.  Using the “Clean Up” feature in Outlook, you can remove the previous messages, leaving only the most recent in an ongoing thread.  Don’t worry – any unread messages won’t be deleted.

From any folder select Home > Clean Up.  You can choose to clean up only the highlighted email conversation, a particular folder, or your inbox and all the subfolders.

#2 – Save Time with Shortcuts

Most of us are familiar with basic Office shortcuts like Ctrl + C to copy and Ctrl + V to paste.  There are so many more shortcuts that will simplify creating, sending, and managing emails.  Here are a few that will help with the most common tasks in Outlook:

Create a new message – Ctrl + N

Send – Ctrl + Enter

Print – Ctrl + P

Forward – Ctrl + F

Forward as attachment – Ctrl + Alt + F

Mark as read – Ctrl + Q

Mark as unread – Ctrl + U

Find – F4

Find next – Shift + F4

#3 – Collaborate for Efficiency

As O365 takes the place of earlier versions of Microsoft Office programs, there are added features that allow you and your colleagues to work together more easily.  OneDrive is a great resource for storing files that multiple people need to edit.  When you’ve saved a file to OneDrive, you can email a link rather than an attached copy of a file stored on your network.  When you send that link, recipients can collaborate on the same file at the same time.  Gone are the days of searching for attachments in your inbox and figuring out which is the most up-to-date version of a document.

Select Attach File > Browse web locations > OneDrive.  The small cloud on the attachment icon indicates you’re sending a link to a file in the cloud – OneDrive.

These three tips just skim the surface of the tips and tricks that lead to saved time and improved quality.  Keep an eye on our blog for future posts that offer more insight into how to become an O365 pro!