April Griffith 1

Microsoft® Outlook® 2010 Time-Saving and Efficiency Tips & Hints

for Administrative roles

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April Griffith 2

Key Microsoft® Outlook® ToolsCalendarContactsMailTasksExtras

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April Griffith 3

Outlook Calendar®Launching Calendar first

Good for: seeing your appointments and weekly plan first.

Scheduling a meeting/trainingGood for: getting the meeting on your and invitee

Calendars; converting meeting time zone differences automatically; having related meeting notes, phone numbers, links convenient and readily handy.

New Appointment, New All Day Event, and Recurring Appointments or EventsGood for: scheduling meetings, project time slots,

vacations, breaks/lunches, and recurring of the same.

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April Griffith 4

Outlook® Contacts Creating new contact

Good for: having someone’s contact information available in case you need it in the future – vendors, service providers, customer key contacts, etc. Also makes easier to create group distribution lists.

Creating group distribution listsGood for: preparing to send messages to

customer groups, contact roles (sales, recruiters, technicians, accounting, etc.) without having to send the same message individually to each person.

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April Griffith 5

Outlook® MailSending email to group distribution list

Good for: sending message to customer groups, contact roles without having to send the same message individually to each person.

Creating One-Click buttons Good for: frequently used tasks with individuals, such as sending new

email to your manager, CC’ing work group, forwarding to backup person, assigning task, etc.

Reply vs. Reply All Reply is good for: getting response or info back to the sender only;

keeps email traffic down by not Replying All. Reply All is good for: getting response or info back to the sender(s),

the CC list group or individuals, and any BCC recipients; for getting information that everyone involved in original messages needs to know. Be aware that some distribution lists are blind or are entire departments, so everyone in these groups or distribution list will see your message.

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Outlook® Mail (continued)Using Auto Correct for auto-completion of long words,

phrases, addresses, etc.Good for: saving time; using the Auto Correct to

complete frequently-used messages, text, driving directions, numbers, and so on.

Setting your Out-of-Office Auto-ReplyGood for: letting people know you’re out and

unavailable; you aren’t in to immediately respond to requests; let others know when you will be back, and whom to check with for things that can’t wait.

Creating Inbox foldersGood for: sorting, organizing in a way that makes

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Outlook® Mail (continued)Creating Rules to manage and sort incoming emails

Good for: routing regularly received emails, notifications to pre-determined folders; helping to cut down on number of inbound emails that need to be individually reviewed and sorted; easily working on like-item email tasks for ease and efficiency.

Using colors, fonts to prioritize senders in InboxGood for: making emails from particular senders

stand out from all the others; allows you to focus on specific messages, tasks from these senders. Helpful for people who get a high volume of inbound email messages every day.

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Outlook® Mail (continued)Delaying Send by 2 minutes

Good for: re-do situations, such as forgetting to attach files to emails, rethinking email text.

Dragging email message to Contacts, Calendar or TasksGood for: quickly creating a contact record,

appointment, or task without having to toggle back and forth between email and function to create.

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April Griffith 9

Outlook® TasksAssigning tasks to an individual

Good for: reminding yourself or others about an event, appointment or task; for following-up; tickling with reminder.

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April Griffith 10

Outlook® ExtrasUsing Quick Access Toolbar, customizing –

can be accessed from any Outlook® function.Good for: quick one-click access to various

Outlook® functions without being in that particular function area.

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Questions?There are many more Outlook® functions

and features available; they are all excellent and valuable tools.

If you have questions or would like to review specific steps, please see my function-specific presentations, or contact me.

I hope you find this information helpful; good luck and best wishes!

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