Outlook 200x best practices

 

 

Use e-mail to communicate effectively

E-mail is not an appropriate communications medium for lengthy, emotional, or confidential messages….. or messages that require iterative statement/response (two-way realtime conversations).  E-mail is very good for short, informative, non-confidential messages that do not require iterative statement/response interaction.

 

Set aside specific daily time(s) to handle e-mail

Studies show that a deterministic scheduling approach to handling e-mail is most effective

 

Turn off “new item notification” sound

Research shows that the “interruption recovery time” is significant for those who have a sound indicating that a new message has arrived. Here’s how to turn it off:

Tools, Options, E-mail options, Advanced E-mail Options, uncheck the “Play a sound” checkbox

 

Turn on “autopreview” for your inbox

Research shows that this is the most effective way to view your inbox. Give it a try:

View, Autopreview

 

Use your inbox as you would a physical inbox

As you would in the paper based document inbox world, try and handle each message only once.

Your choices are: File it, Leave it, or Delete it!

 

Use folders to organize yourself

Only keep messages that you will need later, and file those in folders named for the purpose of finding the messages.

 

Manage your mailbox size

Click Tools, Mailbox Cleanup, and click the button to see the size of your mailbox

Make notes of your largest folders, and delete or archive messages you don’t need. (see Managing your Exchange Mailbox Size for more info)

 

Regularly “preen” your mailbox

Take a look in all of your folders on a regular basis and remove, re-organize, and react to messages in them.

 

Use distribution lists to send to groups of people

File, New, Distribution list.