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Silas Notes

Outlook Wrangling 3 - Rules

Posted by Jacob on October 20, 2006

So how have I kept my Inbox empty for three years? I’ve cheated. Outlook has a feature that allows you to create rules to run on messages as they arrive.

I have about fifty (and no I’m not exaggerating for effect) rules that move messages when they arrive, that means they don’t even hit the inbox. But besides being able to tout a clean inbox it allows me to group messages with no effort.

I have a mailbox for each person at Silas Partners and one for each Partner I email with regularly. I use that in conjunction with a buried option in Outlook to create a conversations inside of folders. That option is under Tools > Options, then the Preferences Tab > Email Options > Advanced Email Options > In Folders, other than the Inbox, save replies with original message. So when I get an email from Jenn Fraher here at Silas the message is moved to her folder so my reply is put into that folder.

No more sorting through Sent Mail by date and Inbox by sender, I just click on a folder.

So there are my three ways of keeping myself sane while using Outlook. No one has chimed in with comments, and I know we all have our own little Outlook tricks - come on people share!

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