Outlook mail folders management

Outlook mail folders managements - Hướng dẫn quản lý các folder mail trong microsoft outlook

Reducing E-Mail Overload:

Improving Folder Structure and Mail Management

Purpose/Focus of the Session

Reducing E-mail Overload is intended to introduce staff to key concepts related

to the reduction of e-mail related work through the use of proper e-mail

management techniques and features using Microsoft Outlook

• Consider the factors that contribute to e-mail related issues

• Learn to apply effective strategies to better manage messages and items in Microsoft Outlook

Session Outcomes

Participants will enhance their experience using Microsoft Outlook by;

• Recognizing when Outlook files are becoming unmanageable

• Creating effective folder structure to better manage their files

• Using Outlook tools, such as categories, flagging, search folders, personal folders and creating rules to aid in managing messages

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Defining Challenges 3

The “4 D’s for Decision Making” Model 4

Improving Folder and Reference Structure 4

Section 1: Active Folders 5

Creating Folders 6

Moving File and/or Folders 6

Categories 7

Flagging a Message 8

Finding Outlook 2003 Items and Files 8

Search Folders 10

Using the Rules Wizard 11

Section 2: Review Folders 15

Creating a Personal Folder (.pst) File 15

Transfer Files from the Mailbox to a Personal Folder File 17

AutoArchive 17

Introduction

Overall conclusions were that email typically introduces a 10%-25% productivity improvement, but that the biggest benefits of the technology are often not readily amenable to quantification The biggest threat to productivity is seen as email overload, where managers receive 100 messages or more daily and lose control

of the tasks involved

The average corporate email user now spends almost two hours daily processing their email (Ferris Research survey, December, 1999)

Q: What have been the greatest threats to productivity in your work

environment through using e-mail?

Q: What are the results of these issues?

Q: What would make managing e-mail in Microsoft Outlook easier?

The "Four D's for Decision Making" model

DO IT – (In two minutes or less)

There is no point in filing an e-mail or

closing an e-mail if you can complete it in

less than 2 minutes File it, respond to it,

or return a phone call within 2 minutes, and

you can expect to alleviate 1/3 of your

traffic

E-Mail’s Received

When information is received, you can save time and frustration by using the “Four D’s model” The "Four D's for Decision Making" model is a valuable tool for processing e-mail, helping you to quickly decide what action to take with each item and how to remove it from the Inbox

Statistics show that of the e-mail you receive:

• 50 percent can be deleted or filed

• 30 percent can be delegated or completed in less than 2

minutes

• 20 percent can be deferred to your Task List or Calendar to

complete later

DELETE IT

Does the message contain;

• Meaningful Information?

• Information you can’t find elsewhere?

• Information you need within six months?

If not, delete it Generally you can delete about half of all the e-mail you get

DELEGATE IT

If you can delegate it, do it right away You

should be able to compose and send the

delegating message in about two minutes

DEFER IT

There are two things you can do to defer a message: turn it into an actionable task or turn it into an appointment

Improving folder and reference structure

To most effectively recognize the difference between the content that is currently being worked with, and content that you simply use for future reference, it is suggested that we divide Outlook Inbox folders into two sections;

• Active Folders (Working through the 4 D’s Model)

• Review Folder

Section 1: Active Folders

Messages that you are currently working with, or you will be working with in the future, are to be stored within folders that exist within your mailbox All content that exists in the mailbox is backed up to the company’s exchange server, which means that all active operations will always be available within your mailbox, even if your computer is to crash

Learning Points for working with Active Folders;

• Creating Folders

• Moving Messages and Folders

• Creating and Assigning Categories

• Flagging Messages for Follow-up

• Find Bar

• Search Folders

• Creating Rules

Creating Folders

Complete the following steps to create a Folder in the Folders List:

1 In the File menu, point to New ► and then click Folder

2 In the Name box, enter a name for the folder

3 In the Folder contains box, click the type of item you want the folder to contain

4 In the Select where to place the folder menu, click the folder you want

your new folder to appear in

Moving Files and/or Folders

To move files:

1 Select the folder containing the files that you wish to move

2 Select the files from within the information viewer (Hold your Ctrl button to

select multiple files simultaneously)

3 Once selected, click and drag the selected file(s) to the desired folder

location

To move folders:

1 Select the folder from the folder list

2 Click and drag the selected folder to the desired location

By Default, MS Outlook will arrange folders numerically, then alphabetically in ascending order (as displayed)

Categories

A category is a keyword or phrase that helps you keep track of items so you can easily find, sort, filter, or group them Using categories, you will be able to keep track of different types of items that are related but stored in different folders Categories can be assigned to messages, contacts, appointments, and tasks

To create new categories

1 Select the Edit menu, and click

Categories…

2 Click Master Category List…

3 In the New category box, type a

name for the category

4 Click Add

5 To create more categories, repeat

steps 3 and 4

6 Click OK, and then click OK again

To assign items to a category

1 Select the item you want to assign to the category

2 On the Edit menu, click Categories…

3 In the Available categories box, select the check boxes next to the

categories you want, and select OK

4 If the category you want isn't available, you can quickly add a new

category to the Master Category List Type the category name in the

Item(s) belonging to these categories box and then click Add to List

To find items that have been categorized;

1 Open the View menu

2 Point to Arrange By ►, and then click

Categories

Or

Use the Advanced Find feature

(listed below)

Flagging a Message

If you are required to further work with a message, or complete

a follow up action, you can Flag a message for follow-up When

messages are flagged for follow-up, you can set a date and

time for reminder

4 n is completed, select the Actions menu, and select

5 Select Completed

Or

1 Select the message you wish to flag for follow-up

2 Select the Actions menu, and select Follow Up ►

3 Apply a flag, and select Add Reminder… if you wish for

this flagged message to appear in the Reminders

window

Once the actio

Follow Up ►

1 k on the flag of the message that you wish to

ged message to appear in the

check mark will appear

inding Outlook 2003 Items and Files

ems based on almost any criteria you ant There are two ways to search:

ind menu bar You can also choose the folder(s) that you want to search

Right-clic

follow up

A pop-up menu will appear Fr

flag to assign to this message

From this menu, you can also select Add Reminde

you wish for this flag

Reminders window

Once the action is comp

F

Outlook 2003 can search your folder it

w

To quickly search for items in the current folder and its subfolders, click Fin

on the Standard toolbar and enter a keyword into the F

2 If you wish to search for items in multiple folders or to search for items by

more than one criterion, click Find on the Standard toolbar and then click

Advanced Find… under the Options▼ menu and specify the search

criteria

From the Messages tab, you can define the type of object you are search for, perform a keyword search, or define the senders and/or recipients

From the More Choices tab, you can choose objects defined by categories, items with attachments, importance, or flagged items

Search Folders

A search folder combines the power of using the Find feature with the

convenience of using folders Think of a search folder as a virtual folder It will display messages once a search has been completed within the folder, but the messages still exist within their original location The search folder serves only

as a report of search results

By default, there are three default search folders; For

Follow Up, Large Mail, and Unread Mail

To create a new Search Folder

3 Select the File menu

4 Hover your cursor over the menu option

New ►

5 Select Search Folder…, and select the type

of search folder you wish to create, or create

a custom search folder by selecting Create a

custom Search Folder

Or

1 Once a search has been executed using the Find bar, select the

Options▼ menu

2 Choose Save Search as Search Folder…, and designate a name for the

Search Folder

Using the Rules Wizard

A rule is a set of conditions and actions for processing and organizing your e-mail messages Conditions identify messages for processing, and actions determine what kind of processing is performed Once conditions have been defined, the Outlook Rules Wizard will manage your messages automatically

Here are some examples of rules you can create:

• Assign categories to messages based on their contents

• Set up a notification, such as a message or a sound, when important messages arrive

• Move messages to a particular folder based on who sent them

• Delete messages in a conversation

• Flag messages from a particular person

• Assign categories to your sent messages based on their contents

• Delay delivery of messages by a specified amount of time

• Redirect an e-mail message to a person or distribution list

• Automatically reply to a certain type of message with a specific message you create

To create a rule

1 Open Outlook and click the Inbox

folder to display its contents

2 On the Tools menu, click Rules

and Alerts… The Rules and

Alerts dialog box opens

3 Click New Rule… The Rules Wizard

displays a list of the different types of

rules you can create along with a

description of the rule in the Rule

description box

4 Select the type of rule you want to

create and click Next

5 Select the conditions for the rule as directed by the Rules Wizard and then

click Next

6 Specify the action for the rule as directed by the Rules Wizard and then

click Next

7 Specify any exceptions to the rule as directed by the Rules Wizard and

then click Next

8 Specify a name for the rule and then select the Turn on this rule check

box to activate it

9 Click Finish The rule is added to the Rules Wizard list

To delete a rule

1 On the Tools menu, click Rules and Alerts… The Rules and Alerts

dialog box opens

2 Select the rule you wish to remove, and click Delete

There are three ways to control how rules are applied in the Rules Wizard:

1 When you create a rule, you specify whether the rule is applied when the message arrives in the Inbox or when you send a message You set these options for each rule

2 After you create multiple rules, you can move the rules up or down in the list in the Rules Wizard to change the order in which they are applied Rules are applied in the order they appear in the list Rules that are

marked “client only” are applied after all other rules

3 You can specify whether the rule runs automatically or manually This is useful when you want to apply rules manually to messages already

delivered to the Inbox

Personal Notes and Application

Section 2: Review Folders

Messages and content that you have worked with and completed previously, but may use for reviewing purposes Review Folders can be stored as Personal Folder files (.pst files) Storing content as Personal Folder files will store review data locally, therefore not taking space in the company’s exchange server

Learning Points for working with Review Folders;

• Creating Personal Folder files (.pst files)

• Moving Messages and Folders to Personal Folder files

• AutoArchive

Create a Folder location in your computer to create and save a new

Personal Outlook Folder file (*.pst file)

It is suggested that all work you now perform be saved within the My Documents folder The My Documents folder is the suggested location for the folder in which you will store the Personal Outlook Folder file as well

1 Open the My Documents icon on the desktop (Double-Left Click)

2 Deselect any files or folders that may currently be selected They will appear in blue (Left Click in an open area of the My Document window)

3 Select your File menu

4 Select New ►, Folder…

5 Title this new folder with a name which you will be able to easily reference

as the storage location of your Personal Outlook Folder files (e.g My

PSTs as an example if you wish to create a location in which you will store

all of your Personal Folder file)

6 Press Enter once the name is keyed in

7 Close the My Documents window

Create a new Outlook Personal Folder file in Microsoft Outlook

Complete the following steps to create a Personal Folder file, which will be saved within you’re folder location, which has been

previously created;

1 Open Microsoft Outlook

2 Click File menu

3 Select New ►, and then Outlook Data

File…

4 From the New Outlook Data File

dialogue box, select from the Types of

storage: field, and select OK

5 In the Create or Open Outlook Data File dialogue box, locate the folder

that has been created within the

My Documents folder and select

it as your Save in: location

6 Type a name in the File name:

text box (e.g Outlook Mail 2004

as an example if you wish to

create a file in which you will

store all of your mail messages

from 2004)

7 Select OK

8 In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialogue box, you can create a

name you wish to have displayed in the All Mail Folders Navigation Pane

(e.g Mail 2004 will be displayed as the folder name in the All Mail Folders

Navigation Pane)

9 Select OK

Transfer files from your mailbox to your Outlook Personal Folder file

The process of transferring messages into a Personal Folder file is very simple to execute, you will simply click and drag to change the messages file location Complete the following steps to transfer messages;

1 Select the location of the messages that you wish to transfer (e.g Inbox)

2 Select the message(s) that you wish to move (Hold down Ctrl button to select multiple messages)

3 Left-click and hold the mouse button, drag the messages to the Personal

Folder file location in the All Mail Folders Navigation Pane

4 Release left mouse button

If you wish to create subfolders within the Personal Folders file (e.g you may wish to create 12 subfolders, one for each month), complete the following steps;

1 Right-click on the Personal Folders file in which you want to create

subfolders

2 Select New Folder…

3 In the Create New Folder dialogue box, key in a name into the Name: text

location (e.g January 2004)

4 Select OK

AutoArchive

Microsoft Outlook automatically contains a Personal Folder (.pst) file called

Archive The Archive Personal Folder file is no different from any other Personal Folder file you can create, except that it is the default storage location for Outlook when the AutoArchive feature runs

By Default, the AutoArchive function will run every 14 days, and will purge items that are older than 6 months All archive items will be sent to a Personal Folder file called archive.pst You can easily make changes to the AutoArchive setting

by completing the following steps;

1 Select the Tools menu

2 Select Options…

3 From the Options dialogue box, select the

Other tab

4 From the Other tab, select the

AutoArchive… button to display the

AutoArchive dialogue box

5 From the AutoArchive dialogue box, you

can change the recurrence of the

archiving, the process, and the location of

archived items