Managing Emails using MS Outlook 2007

By: Jaiveer Singh Chandwww.singhjaiveer.blogspot.com

Emails – When it all started

• Computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson invented internet based email in late 1971. Under ARPAnet several major innovations occurred: email (or electronic mail), the ability to send simple messages to another person across the network (1971). Ray Tomlinson worked as a computer engineer for Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), the company hired by the United States Defense Department to build the first Internet in 1968.

• Ray Tomlinson chose the @ symbol to tell which user was "at" what computer. The @ goes in between the user's login name and the name of his/her host computer.

Which software is being used to read emails

Mails Processing See & Classify/ Group • By Person• By Place• BY Topic

Read/ Mark action• Forward• Delegate• Flag for later

action• Reply• Ignore/ Delete• Spam/ Junk

Goal: To keep inbox clear/ No urgent response pending

Few relevant terms while managing emails

Efficient emails management will allow you to better utilize your time and energy.

Urgent:

Urgent tasks are deadline based. This is usually independent of yourself and is often driven by others. The sooner the task needs completion the more urgent it is. This has no relation to importance. It is a simple matter to rank any jobs that you have in terms of their deadlines.

Important:

Important tasks are jobs that provide significant value. Even if they will yield long-term benefits, without an immediate deadline your approach to completing them may be somewhat relaxed.

Overview - MS Outlook software

MS Outlook 2007 software was released by Microsoft in Jan 2007. It is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite.

It is often used mainly as an e-mail application, it also includes a Calendar, Task Manager, Contact Manager, note taking, a journal and web browsing.

Outlook Mails

Mail Box Default Structure

All Incoming Message

arrive in Inbox

WIP Messages are kept in Draft

Box

Messages ready to be

sent are kept in Outbox

MS Outlook 2007 Interface

Drafting a new email

Email copy (cc- Carbon Copy) to

others

Click on New Button for

drafting a new message

Click send to send message to

Outbox

Managing Mails Views– sorting, grouping

Group By Date

Managing Mails Scanning- Categorization

Auto Preview Sample

Classifying Mails by Topics

•One can change names of color category e.g. Team, Client, Vendors, 3rd parties etc

•Search Folders are dynamic in nature and will show new mails matching their definition

Marking different follow up actions

Add Reminder to incoming mails

Searching for related emails

Open Message for which you want to find related messages

Click on Related

Managing Inbox space

Setting up Folders at serverSetting up folders on local disk

Applying auto filtering rules

Tools-> Rules & Alerts

How to forward multiple emails in one go

Sample View once Forward button pressed after selecting multiple mails

How to follow actions for outgoing mails

Reminder for yourself or for recipient

Tracking Delivery of your emails

New Message Window - > Click Options

Request Delivery or read receipt

Scheduling Delivery of your emails

New Message Window - > Click Options

Delays Delivery time of email

Seeking group opinion by voting

New Message Window - > Click Options

Seek Opinion/ Voting

Managing mails text size of your email

New Message Window - > Click Spelling Button

How to secure email contents

Click Options button from new message window

Securer Message Content Delivery

Options

Setting Auto Reply – when out of office

Tools-> Out of Office Assistant

Set applicable duration

MS Outlook 2007 Software Configuration

Click Tools -> Options

Set mail accounts

Click New to add new mails accounts

Accessing internet email accounts from MS Outlook

If automatic setup doesn’t work for you, pl. try manual configure option as shown here ->

Tools-> Account Settings - > Emails Tab || Press New Button

MS Outlook 2007 Software Configuration

Click Tools -> Options

Set email signature, select email stationary

MS Outlook 2007 Software Configuration

Click Tools -> Options

Delay Emails delivery from outbox

Set time interval to send/ receive

mails

Contacts

Managing Contacts

Add a new contact

Send a contact detail to others

Go to contact

Right Click on contact which you want to send to others

Add a new group/ distribution list

Click on New -> Distribution List

Calendars

Working with Calendars

Using multiple calendars of different mail boxes attached to MS Outlook mail

Working with Calendars- Meeting Requests

Add Attendees

Used for sending

meeting room booking request

Using Meeting Scheduling Assistant

One can view attendees calendar appointments to send meeting requests accordingly

Working with Calendars- Meeting Time zone

Sharing your calendars with others

Click this

Request others to share their calendars

Click this

To access others calendar information, you need to send a request to them to share their calendars with you or accept your sharing request.

Notes

Managing Notes using Outlook

Click Go-> Notes

Managing Notes using Outlook

Click Go-> Tasks

Tasks

Tasks

Click New to create a new

task

Tasks

Assign Task to others

Adding RSS Feeds

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a way for content publishers to make news, blogs, and other content available to subscribers. You can add your favorite RSS Feeds as subscriptions in Microsoft Outlook.

Most important email etiquette tips:

Make it personal – Avoid passive statements Write Perfect Subject Lines Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation- Keep spelling option ON Take Another Look Before You Send a Message – or Delay outbox sending by 10 mins Think twice before hitting "reply to all."

Before forwarding emails- Say Why You Think What You Forward Will Interest the Recipient

Mailings > use the bcc: field specially when adding people having internet mail IDs When in Doubt, Send Plain Text Email, Not HTML

Use Current Antivirus Software, Keep it Up to Date, Scan for Free Do not attach unnecessary files Add disclaimers to your emails

Reference/ Books

www.businessemailetiquette.com

www.101emailetiquettetips.com

http://www.time-management-basics.com

www.singhjaiveer.blogspot.com