Microsoft Outlook Tricks We've Learned Providing Remote IT Support
As a Houston cloud computing and IT support provider, we frequently receive calls that have nothing to do with data security, computer downtime, or file backups. Clients that use popular software, such as those found in the Microsoft Office suite, just to want to know how to optimize the tools they already have. So we've dedicated a "Beyond The Cloud" Section with quick and easy computer tips and tricks.
Today's guest author, Ang Lloyd writes on behalf of Now Learning, which promotes online education opportunities such as IT and Microsoft courses in Australia.
It’s a universal workplace problem: too much to do and not enough time! No matter how much you plan, schedule or prioritize, you always seem to run out of time. You may not realize it, but the solution to effective time management is on your desktop. MS Outlook can literally save you hours. According to Office.Microsoft.com, most people spend 2-3 hours per day e-mailing, with one hour spent searching for or filing information. After doing an MS Outlook course, that average goes down to 1-2 hours spent e-mailing and 10 minutes looking for information! These are just some of the tools that will increase your efficiency and raise your productivity.
Shortcuts
To help you maximize your time and eliminate unnecessary tasks, MS Outlook has a number of useful shortcuts. Instead of spending 10 minutes combing through your inbox for a particular message, you can quickly search it by just clicking on the ‘related’ button (Slideshow.net). You can also set up specific sub-folders, so you’re not bogged down with unimportant e-mails. You can set reminders to reply to e-mails and create a ‘No Reply All’ template, which prevents those seemingly endless group replies.
Tracking productivity
MS Outlook has a surprisingly under-utilized feature called Journal. According to Brighthub.com, this feature allows you to track exactly how much time you spend on a particular application (or any number of MS Office software, including Word and Excel). This enables you to create a productivity report, which you can do daily, weekly or monthly. According to Brighthub.com, you can set productivity goals, and Journal conveniently allows you to monitor your progress. You can also use Journal to track changes by the hour or to see how long it takes you to create a spreadsheet. It’s an incredibly useful tool for time management and for measuring your efficiency.
Benefits of doing a course
MS Outlook has so many time saving benefits that a short training course is often necessary to fully utilize all of them. According to Office.Microsoft.com, those who take a training course usually increase their overall usage of features by 50%. That means half of the features are normally not even looked at. Office.Microsoft.com adds that after a course, most people reduce their (unnecessary) inbox messages by a whopping 81% and the volume they receive is 50% less! In e-mail alone, MS Outlook has the potential to save you a lot of time and eliminate clutter.
MS Outlook can free up your day, so that you’re able to focus on being more efficient and productive. Enroll in a training course and learn how to track your time, use shortcuts and how to create useful reference systems. You’ll still probably have too much to do, but at least you’ll have enough time.
