Millions worldwide use MS Outlook to send and receive email messages, store contact names, numbers, and email addresses, manage colanders, and track tasks. The all-round capability of Outlook makes it the email client of choice for business and organizational users. Even though you may be familiar with many of the features of Outlook, it is more than probable you will have missed out on some cool ones that can make your life easier and reduce stress.

No Forgetting to Attach Files

If you do not enter the details of an appointment or task, you cannot expect Outlook to remind you about them, however, there is no way you can forget to send an attachment with your email because Outlook will remind you every time it spots the words “attachment” or “attached” in the body of the email if you have forgotten to attach a file before sending the email. The automatic alert will help you to review your email and attach the file before sending it to avoid the embarrassment of having to apologize and resend the mail with the attachment.

Reminders about Flights and Reservations 

Outlook automatically adds details of flights, hotel, and car reservations to the calendar, together with all relevant information in your emails, like confirmation and tracking information and even links. The nifty feature will help you not to forget scheduled travel and cause a mess; however, you still need to make sure you can catch the flight by arriving at the airport well on time.

Ignore Email Conversations to Remain Focused 

Someone can add you to an email distribution list even if you have no use for it. These unnecessary emails can disturb you, and you can waste your time you could have focused on other vital work. While you can delete each email message when it arrives, a better way of getting on top of the situation is to ignore the conversation. All the existing messages in the conversation will move to the Deleted Items folder, and all future messages will go right there without arriving in your Inbox, helping you keep it clutter-free and leaving you distraction-free.

Declutter Your Inbox with a Click

It is quite likely that over time you have accumulated thousands of messages in your Inbox, with many of them duplicates or near duplicates. Deleting the emails one by one can be tedious, which makes the Outlook Clean Up feature very attractive. Clicking the button deletes all emails with identical information, leaving only those not read or with unique content. Your Inbox will automatically become far more manageable. Another advantage is that the PST file will be smaller and less prone to corruption Outlook is known for. You can also quickly recover the contents of your Inbox if you encounter corruption.

Get Alerts When Important Messages Arrive

When you anticipate an important email message like the confirmation of an order, a job offer, or some news, you can find yourself staring endlessly at your computer screen, waiting for the all-important email to land in your Inbox. There is no point in wasting the time, you could have put it to better use because you can use the new item alerts feature provided by Outlook. It will generate an alert when any message meeting the specified criteria arrives in your Inbox. According to TechTarget, the alert displays over any application you may be working on at that time; so there is no way you can miss out on it.

Access Multiple Outlook Windows at a Glance

Since Outlook is not only about email, you may need to go back and forth between the various modules like Calendar, People, Notes, Tasks, Folders, Add-Ins, etc. You can switch between email and these functions simply by selecting the relevant button on the navigation screen. You can also right-click the button to open up a new Outlook window instead of clicking to select them with the “Open in New Window” function.

Solicit Responses from Select Recipients with @Mentions

While you may need to keep several coworkers in the loop by including them in the list of email recipients, you may seek responses only from a select few. While most people use text effects like bright colors, bold, underlining, etc., to highlight the name of these people, it can be useful to use the @Mentions feature. You can add the person automatically to the ‘To” address bar of the email and highlight their name in the body of the message if you type @name of the recipient. Recipients see their names with the @ symbol, indicating they have been mentioned.

Conclusion 

Of the main reasons for Outlook’s popularity worldwide is its rich list of features. Outlook can do whatever one wants. This ranges from sending and receiving emails, to managing contacts, scheduling, taking notes, and even printing mailing labels. Taking the effort to understand the capabilities of Outlook can make you more productive.