Seven Microsoft Outlook Features You Should Know About

Have you ever fully explored Microsoft Outlook? The platform isn’t simply designed to send and receive emails. There are many other interesting tasks you can perform through Microsoft Outlook. After all, the platform is designed to make it easier to plan your day.

In this post, we’ve explored seven unique features of Microsoft Outlook that you’re missing out on. You’ll learn more about how to type up an email quicker and how to set up hotkeys. With these tips and tricks, you’ll spend less time typing long emails, and more time on important tasks in your position.

Email Attachment Reminders

One of the most common mistakes made when sending emails is forgetting to attach files. If this is a common mistake of yours, you can either learn how to unsend an email in Outlook or get a reminder. To set up an email attachment reminder, follow these easy steps:

1. Go to file and click on options.
2. Click on Mail and then scroll down to messages on the right.
3. Check the box next to “Warn me when I send a message that may be missing an attachment.”
4. Click OK and then save your changes.

From now on, when you want to send out a message that requires attachments, you’ll be prompted before the message is sent.

Listen to Your Emails While Working

For some people, going through all their emails in the morning could take up to an hour. But there is a feature in Outlook that allows you to listen to your emails while you continue working on other tasks.

The Read-Aloud Feature on Outlook is handy when you have many tasks to complete in a short space of time. To listen to your email, simply open the message in a new tab. On your home tab under Inbox View, you’ll find the Read Aloud button. When you click on the button a robot voice will start reading your email out loud.

Furthermore, you’ll have access to a small toolbar once you’ve clicked on the button. On the toolbar, you can pause, play, fast forward or rewind. You can also adjust the speed of the reading and the voice.

Send Similar Emails with Quick Parts

Microsoft Outlook has a feature called Quick Parts that allows you to save part of your text for similar emails. You can then use the saved text to type up a similar email quicker. If you save the part you want as auto text then the next time you start writing a similar email, Outlook will suggest the rest of the content for you.

To save the text you want, type out your email and then highlight part of the content. On the menu bar, go to the Insert tab. Click on Quick Parts then select “Save the selection to Quick Part gallery.” Give it a name so you can find the text easily. You can then save the text as a Quick Part or auto text.

Outlook Hotkeys

Hotkeys allow you to quickly start up programs or features on a computer so you don’t waste time looking for them. Microsoft Outlook also has hotkey features that you can use to quickly start new tasks.

Here is a table of convenient hotkeys you can use in Microsoft Outlook:

Email Templates

Microsoft Outlook allows you to create email templates for similar emails that you send. This way, you can type up emails faster when sending out similar messages to multiple people. To create your template follow these steps:

1. Open a new message.
2. Select File and then Save As.
3. In the dialogue box, enter a file name.
4. In the drop-down list under Save As select Outlook Template.

To use your template, on your home tab click on the New Items drop-down menu. Click on More Items and then select Choose Form. Select the Look-In drop-down menu and then click on user templates. Choose your template and then click Open.

Drag and Drop Functions

If you receive an email that you want to save as an event or task then use Outlook’s drag and drop feature. Simply drag your email either to the task icon or calendar navigation panel and then release it. Once you’ve released the email you’ll see a new event or task with the email in the body of the notes.

Conversation Cleanup

If you don’t maintain your inbox it can get full and you’ll start running out of space. This is when you’ll need to use the Conversation Cleanup feature in Outlook. The feature allows you to reduce the number of redundant messages in your inbox. Use this feature to clean up one conversation or an entire folder or even subfolders.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for new ways to speed up sending emails or setting up tasks in Microsoft Outlook then use the seven tips in this article!