Outlook4Business Blog has moved + New Outlook Articles (on New Blog)

Our Blog has moved! We have been writing this blog for more than 2 years now and decided that it was time to move it away from Blogger to our OWN website.

You can see the new Blog at:

http://www.standss.com/blog

(You will need to subscribe to the RSS feed on the new blog to get future blog posts)

The blog has already been active for a little over two weeks. We are aiming to post 3 articles every week. The articles we have posted already include:

MARKETING WITH OUTLOOK

• Why Personalized Emails from Outlook Get Better Responses Than Bulk Emails?

• NEVER Email Merge All Your Bulk Emails From Outlook in One Big Lot!

OUTLOOK TIPS

• Outlook Calendar Problem: Reminders Showing Twice

• Get Notified When Emails You Send From Outlook Are Read Or Delivered

• Office 2010: Choosing Between 32-Bit and 64-Bit

• Outlook Calendar Tip: Marking Appointments as Complete

ADDIN TIPS

• Outlook Can Automatically File Reply Emails with the Original (as the reply is sent)

SUBSCRIBING TO THE BLOG, FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

You can subscribe to our Blog, Follow us on Twitter and become a fan of our Facebook Page by using the following links:

BLOG: Subscribe to Blog

FACEBOOK: Become a Fan

TWITTER: Follow on Twitter

I hope you find the articles on the new blog, our Twitter feeds and our Facebook Page useful.

Till next time... Have a Better Outlook.

Regards

Sanjay Singh

Showing the number of Unread Emails in an Outlook folder AND it’s subfolders

In Outlook, if a folder has any unread emails, then the folder is bold and the number of unread emails is written in brackets BUT… this only reflects the folder itself… what about emails in its subfolders?

This can be a problem if you have (for instance) a folder called Clients and subfolders under it for each client. The Clients folder will not go bold or reflect the number of unread emails in the individual client folders.

The solution to this is to use Search Folders.

If you are not sure what Search Folders are then I recommend that you scroll down and read the section titled What are Search Folders first.

How to create a Search folder to show folder and subfolder contents

• Go to your Inbox.
• Click File-New-Search Folder

If you are using more than one Outlook data file (PST or Exchange), make sure the relevant data file is selected for “Search mail in”.

• Scroll down the list and select Create a Custom Search Folder.
• Click Choose... to display the Custom Search Folder Screen.

• Enter a suitable name (e.g. All Client Folders)
• Click the Browse Button.
• Untick the main data folder from the top and just select the folder that you are interested in. Make sure that Search subfolders is ticked.
• Click Ok, click OK and click OK again to return to your Inbox.

The new Search Folder will be added to your Outlook.

This will show you all emails in your selected folders and its subfolders. You can treat it like any “real folder” in Outlook now e.g. you can change the view to show only unread email if you want.

What are Search Folders?

Search folders are NOT “real” Outlook folders. Instead they allow you to define a search on your Outlook data and then display the results back in what looks like a normal Outlook folder.

The folder will be displayed under a folder called Search Folders (as shown above).

Cool Thing #1: Once you create a Search Folder, the search is saved for you. To do the same Search in the future, you simply click on the folder representing the search which brings us to Cool Thing #2.

Cool Thing #2: You can actually treat the Search Folder like any real folder in Outlook e.g. you can apply views, change displayed columns etc.

Do you use Search Folders to solve other problems? Let us know by leaving a comment on the blog.

Regards,

Sanjay Singh

Standss/Addins4Outlook is now a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

It has taken a lot of work by the team and help from many of you. We are very excited to announce that …. We are now a Microsoft GOLD Certified Partner!

Why did we bother with all the extra work and what does it mean to our customers?

We have an excellent relationship with most of our readers. You trust our team and our products… I believe that the entire team at Standss has worked hard to earn that trust… and we will never take it for granted… we will do our best to ALWAYS provide the kind of products and support that you need.

But.. our website also gets visited by thousands of new Outlook users every month… users who are not familiar with us yet.

These new visitors result in both sales and requests for more information. Often these requests for information are from large companies and although they like our products, they sometimes have difficulty in convincing management to invest in our software.

Why? We think it may be our location. We love living and working in Fiji… but we do understand that prospective customers, at least who are not familiar with us, may have concerns about the quality of support that we will be able to provide… from Fiji.

We have worked hard to gain our Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status… as one more way of reassuring our existing and future customers that we provide WORLD-CLASS software and support to thousands of customers around the world.

We look forward to serving you with even better products and service in the future.

We’d love to hear any comments from readers of the blog…

(To celebrate, existing customers have been sent a special 10% discount coupon to use before 3rd March 2010. Discount is only for the purchase of new or additional licenses)

Regards,

Sanjay Singh

Holiday Tips, Thank You & Children’s Project

The team has had some lively debate over this email… and I’ve revised its contents twice. We wanted to make sure that we were able to convey both our enthusiasm and appreciation without sounding exploitive. So here goes…

Seasons Greetings to all our readers. This week I'd like to share some tips on using Outlook (or Word) to send out invitations, greetings and news (which we all need to do at this time of the year).

I'd also like to THANK YOU and share how this year YOUR purchases have enabled us to help many children here in Fiji.

If you'd like to go straight to the tips section, you can scroll to the end of the email… but I hope you'll take few minutes to read the following.

HELPING CHILDREN

For those of you who do not know it, our team is based in Fiji. Fiji is still a developing country and although we are blessed in many ways, there are still a lot of people who need help.

Throughout the year the whole team at Standss tries to give time and a portion of our income to community projects here in Fiji.

The charity that we work closest with is Save the Children Fiji.

This year we worked with them on several projects including a sizeable donation to their relief efforts for children affected by severe flooding in the early part of the year. This project helped provide bus fares, school lunches, uniforms and books to THOUSANDS of children in Fiji… children who otherwise may have had to drop out of the school system.

We will continue to work with Save the Children in 2010 and have already started work on a new project…

BOOKS FOR THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL

Early this year my 4 year old son (Nirav) had to be hospitalized due to flu-related dehydration (he lost 5% of his body weight within a few hours between visits to the doctor). We were told that he needed to be put on drips and the only hospital that could do that (because of his young age) was the Children's Ward at the public hospital.

As I mentioned previously… Fiji is still a developing country. With the limited resources available, the very-hard working doctors and nurses ensured that my son (and many other children) recovered quickly.

I am very happy to say that my son was home in 2 days.

During his 2-day stay my wife and I kept Nirav entertained by reading books to him that we had got from home. I observed that a few other parents did the same. But…

Many other parents were unable to do so. Some had come from far away and others may not have had the resources to purchase books.

After my son was discharged I hoped that I would get the chance to do something for the hospital. (I am a little ashamed that I did not act sooner.. when the sense of gratitude was strongest)

Several months ago I was fortunate to meet a senior Doctor at the Ministry of Health and we discussed the possibility of setting up reading stations in the children's ward… from which parents could pick books (at no cost) to keep their children occupied and entertained as they get better.

I'm very excited to report that the project has been approved and I am meeting with senior hospital staff later today to work out how many books, shelves etc are needed.

At the minimum we plan to…

• Get several nicely colored bookshelves

• Stock the book-shelves with the appropriate number of books for children from 6 months to 10 years old

• Restock the books on a monthly basis (damaged books and books that have been taken away by children)

We will request parents to look after books and leave them for the enjoyment of other children… but if a few books find happy homes outside the hospital… that is still OK.

It is the holiday season… and we are aiming to get stage one of the project implemented BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

At this stage this project will be 100% financed by our company. This has only been made possible through the support of our customers and we'd like to say…

THANK YOU… IT IS ONLY WITH YOUR SUPPORT THAT WE ARE ABLE TO BRING JOY TO THE CHILDREN OF OUR COUNTRY.

I will keep you informed of progress on this project with more details in our Outlook Tips newsletters next year.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT OUR CHARITY EFFORTS

This year….as a special Christmas Project, we will set aside $10 from each and every sale in December for our 2009-2010 Charity efforts.

READ the Tips section below… if our software can help you with your Christmas emails or faxes… please ACT NOW!

You don't need to do anything more… just continue to support our company by using our products. And if you don't like something… please let us know.

OUTLOOK TIP: HOW TO SEND OUT INVITATIONS, GREETINGS ETC

The holiday season is the time of the year when we often need to send out "mass mail" i.e. copies of the same letter, fax or email to many people… things like invitations to parties, holiday greetings or marketing/sales news.

We have put together a collection of tips on our website that lets you automate most of this using Outlook and/or Word.

Some of the tips use our own products (EmailMerge for Outlook and Fax for Word) and others need nothing more than plain old Outlook or Word.

Take a look now:

http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2009/12/sending-out-invites-greetings.html

(If you decide on the easy way i.e. using our software, we will use $10 from every sale to help with our charity efforts for children in Fiji)

Thank you again for your continued support and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Sending out Invites, Greetings & Newsletters via Email, Fax or Post

It’s almost Christmas… it’s the time of the year when we need to send out invitations, greetings and newsletters to friends and clients.

Depending on your contact list, the best way to contact your friends this year maybe using email, fax or post/hand delivery.

Most of these mailing can be considered “mass mailing” i.e. we want to send copies of the same mail to everyone… possibly customized with their name and address at most.

Microsoft Outlook and Word have some built-in features that automate this process for you. In addition we have built our own tools to further speed up and simplify the process for you.

In this post I’ll discuss both the built in free ways as well as our own addins.

How to Email out Invites, Greetings and Newsletters.

I am going to start with what I consider to be the easiest, fastest and most powerful way of doing this… our own EmailMerge PRO for Outlook.

View EmailMerge PRO on our website

We recently wrote an article in Outlook Power which takes you through EmailMerge step-by-step.

View Step-by-Step instructions for EmailMerge PRO on Outlook Power

$10 from each purchase in December will go towards our 2010 Children’s Hospital Project.

Can you do this without using our addin? Outlook can use Word to do this but it’s time consuming and not as powerful. Here’s a link to a tutorial.

How to Fax out Invites, Greetings and Newsletters.

Despite what many people will have you believe, Faxing is not dead.

In fact in terms of deliverability, it can beat email - there is almost no chance that your fax won't get delivered because of an over-zealous spam filter.

You can use Microsoft Word and the free fax printer that comes with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 to send out personalized faxes to your customers this year.

The Bad News: Windows Fax and MS Word don't talk easily to each other out of the box.

The Good News: Fax4Word allows you to fax merge straight from Word to the Windows Fax printer.

View more information on Fax for Word.

$10 from each purchase in December will go towards our 2010 Children’s Hospital Project.

How to Print Letters and Envelopes for Posting and Hand Delivery

Even if you will be sending paper based mail this year, technology can help you.

Here are step-by-step instructions to:

Use mail-merge in Word with Outlook data to create and print personalized letters

Use mail-merge in Word with Outlook data to print mailing labels and envelopes.

I hope you find the above information helpful in staying in touch with friends and family this year.

Thank you again for supporting our 2010 Charity Project.

Big Update to QuickFile

We are very excited to announce the release of QuickFile Version 4.1.52. This update includes both NEW FEATURES and BUG FIXES.

This is a FREE UPDATE for registered users of QuickFile 4.x.

Click here to DOWNLOAD the latest version of QuickFile

The full list of changes is listed later in this post but I'd like to highlight two new features that many users would appreciate.

File Emails sent using BlackBerries, Iphones, Outlook Web Access (OWA) etc

The number of QuickFile users in large companies are growing rapidly. Users in these companies often send out emails from outside Outlook using BlackBerries, OWA etc. These emails are automatically synchronized to the users Sent Items folder inside Outlook.

QuickFile 4.1.52 (PRO Version) lets you display these "unfiled Sent Item emails" at the click of a button and then file them quickly using QuickFile recommended folders.

We have prepared a whitepaper that lets you get started with this feature that you can download using the link below.

Whitepaper: Use QuickFile to file emails sent using OWA, BlackBerry, IPhones etc

You can also see other Whitepapers that we have created at:

Outlook Addin Whitepapers

File Emails sent using SalesForce.com, Sent on Behalf Of others etc

If you subscribe to any mailing lists or newsletters on the web, chances are that you are receiving emails that are sent using third party services such as SalesForce.Com. The sender of these emails is usually someone like bounce@infusionmail.com on behalf of a@b.com (where a@b.com is the email of the actual person).

The problem is that bounce@infusionmail.com may be sending out emails on behalf of many unrelated people thereby making filing difficult based on the Sender's address.

To get around this problem, QuickFile 4.1.52 now defaults to using the on-behalf-of-email address if one exists.

Full list of Updates in QuickFile 4.1.52

• NEW! (PRO Version) Process Sent Items for unfiled emails sent using Blackberry Phones, Outlook Web Access, etc.
• Emails that are sent from outside Outlook using Outlook Web Access or BlackBerry (synchronized with Outlook) does not get filed using Send&File. This new feature now allows you to process your Sent Items to highlight these unfiled emails and also provides with an easy step to file it at the same time.
• NEW! NetDocuments icons for the folder
  QuickFile now displays the NetDocuments folder with the NetDocuments icon on it to make it easy for users to distinguish it from normal folders.
• NEW! Supports SendTo Mail recipient
  Right-Click on a file and SendTo -> Mail Receipient. Now QuickFile Send&File is supported when emailing using this option.
• NEW! QuickFile also supports filing on the On behalf Email Address
  When an email is sent on behalf of someone then QuickFile will file that email with respect to the person it was sent on behalf of. Previously QuickFile did filing with respect to the person who sent the email.
• Bug Fix: Settings screen: In Data files tab, if selected Stores is selected, open settings screen click OK, all the selected stores becomes un-ticked.
• Bug Fix: Received Date changed for emails when filing to a public folder
• Bug Fix: Go to Tasks -> View by Categories then sort by subject. A selection change error occurred
• Bug Fix: QuickFile ->search for something that does not exist in choose another folder -> click new folder button -> now click cancel on the new folder form -> Runtime error 5 occurs and QuickFile crashes
• Bug Fix: Use QuickFile to file a PostItem. the recent folder is updated but the shortcut does not get updated.
• Bug Fix: When you do QuickFile on an email, then change the email address from the drop-down on the QuickFile form and file the email. The one-click shortcut is updated on the default email address but not on the changed email address that the user picked.

Click here to DOWNLOAD the latest version of QuickFile

URGENT Email Virus Alert

I have recently been getting a lot of emails with titles similar to:

A new setting file for the ***@*** mailbox has been released.
Or
Microsoft Outlook Notification for the ******.******@*****.be

If you received the above email or anything similar DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK IN IT!

Turns out that the email contains a link to a file which is a Trojan that disables firewalls, steals sensitive financial data (credit card numbers, online banking login details), makes screen snapshots, downloads additional components, and provides a hacker with the remote access to the compromised system.

I did some quick research on this on the web and found the following links:
http://tinyurl.com/yk64mw3
http://tinyurl.com/yjupkfa

Short Solution… Check with your IT Administrator before downloading any file that claims to change your email settings!

Hope this post helps your computer stay safe.

QuickFile for Outlook Tip: Viewing Inbox emails only when you need them

The Inbox works as a To-Do list for most of us. Having too many emails in the Inbox can be overwhelming and distracting. You can use QuickFile PRO's Defer function to make Outlook only show emails when you actually need them.

I can show you how this works with my morning email routine. I don't want emails to take over my day so I have scheduled 10.30 am as my email processing time. BUT some emails need my immediate attention... as soon as I get into the office.

Here's what I do...

I download my emails when I get into the office. I then step through the emails one by one.

If an email needs urgent attention (sales emails), I respond. If it is something that someone else in my team can respond to, I forward it on.

Otherwise I click the Defer button (which QuickFile PRO adds to Outlook) and defer the email to 10.30 am.

The deferred emails are moved out of my Inbox... so they no longer distract me.

At my preset time of 10.30 am, my deferred emails reappear in my Inbox and I go through them in more detail.

This process (and the Defer button) ensures that urgent matters get attended to... without letting emails completely take over my morning.

How to use the Defer Button

The Defer button is added inside Outlook for you if you install QuickFile PRO for Outlook.

1. Select the email that you want to Defer.

2. Click the Defer button on the QuickFile toolbar (which is displayed inside Outlook)

3. Use the screen to enter when you want to see the email again. You can either enter an exact time (e.g. 10 am) or you can choose to look at the email after a set duration (after 30 minutes)

4. Click OK.

The email will be moved out of your Inbox (and will reappear at your set time).

Looking at Deferred Emails (before they come back to the Inbox)

If you need to look at a deferred email before it comes back to the Inbox (maybe you finished your other work or a meeting got changed):

Click the Defer button on the toolbar.

Click the Goto Deferred Emails folder link.

The Defer function has proven to be useful to many QuickFile users. Try it out today.

If you're not a QuickFile user, you can learn more about QuickFile PRO for Outlook here.

How to Write Emails that Get FASTER Responses to ALL your concerns/questions

Do you find that when you send out emails, people only send partial responses? Here is a easy tip that makes it easier for the respondent to address all your concerns AND gets them to address at least some of your issues faster AND also makes it easy for you to follow up.

The Secret… make one email about one topic/project only.

Why does it make it easier to get a response to all your questions?

Most people use their emails like a To-Do list. It feels great to knock a few things off that ever-growing list. So if you send an email with too many things in it, the respondent will reply and deal with either the most important or (more likely) the easiest questions. The email is then considered dealt with… they know you’ll email him again if you really need answers to the other questions.

Why does it get them to respond to at least some of your questions faster?

Other people will look at your email and think… It will take time to answer all those questions… I’ll respond later. They may procrastinate for a long time before getting back to you.

On the other hand, if you had separate emails for each topic… you probably would have received a response to things that could have been answered immediately. (We all want to knock things off that To-Do list)

Benefit for the person you are writing to: It gives them a much better way of managing To-Do items that relate to you.

Why is it easier to follow up?

If you have a separate email for each topic and use Outlook flags, Tasks or some other method of knowing what still needs to be followed up on… it’s easier to mark topics as completed as you get responses… and you know exactly what you still need to follow up on.

It’s also easier to resend an email that has not been responded to at all (than to forward and modify a partially responded-to email)

Try out this simple tip… you’ll find a big change in responses. I have.

Do you have your own ways of getting faster and complete responses? Tell me what you think by leaving a comment on the blog.

Before I forget… we have a great productivity booster announcement next week… if you’re not part of our email newsletter (which is different from the blog newsletter), sign up at www.standss.com

Why and how you may want to turn off Auto-Complete?

I like the Auto-Complete feature in Outlook. I like typing a few characters of an email address and then having Outlook give me a quick list to pick from based on the characters that I typed in. It saves me a lot of time… but it can also create problems too.

For example… a few days ago I needed to send an email to Anand Kumar… I was in a rush and accidentally picked and sent the email to Anand Singh instead… luckily for me the email did not contain any confidential information.

On the other hand, this lady wasn't so lucky...

The emailer higlighted in Lilly’s $1 Billion E-Mailstrom accidentally sent a confidential memo to a New York Times reporter (whose name was very similar to that of the intended recipient)… and they published a story on it.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/05/Eli-Lilly-E-Mail-to-New-York-Times

I have to admit… this lady had the absolute WORST luck… it's bad enough to send an email to the wrong person but what are the chances that the one email you mis-send has highly confidential information… and it ends up in the Inbox of a New York Times news reporter.

How to avoid this mistake… IF it is important enough to you.

I like Auto-Complete and I don't think the contents of most of my emails need me to take any drastic steps. However if you deal with a lot of confidential information then you may want to turn off Auto-Complete in Outlook.

On the Outlook menu, click Tools-Options.
Click the Email Options button.
Click the Advanced Email Options button.
Clear the tick next to Suggest names while completing To, CC, and BCC fields.
If you're really paranoid you may also want to clear the tick next to Automatic Name Checking.
Click OK. Click OK. Click OK.

Like I said earlier… my emails don't contain any highly confidential information and I'm happy to leave these settings on. Your situation may be different…

If you want an additional level of protection, you may also want to check out Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the wrong people.

Do you have your own horror stories of mis-sent emails that you can share. Leave a comment on the blog.

Related Posts:
Outlook Auto-Complete Tips
Use SendGuard for Outlook to avoid sending emails to the Wrong People

QuickFile for Outlook Hidden Feature: Favourites

This tip is for you if you are one of the thousands of users of the latest version of our email filing tool (QuickFile for Outlook). QuickFile has a hidden feature called Favourites that users love… once they discover it.

What are QuickFile Favourites?

Whenever you need to file an email, QuickFile displays a list of recommended folders related to the sender/recipient of that particular email.

QuickFile can also display FAVOURITE folders on the same screen. Favourite folders are displayed for all emails irrespective of the sender or recipient of the email. I use Favourites for folders that I have created for Receipts, Jokes, Read later etc.

To add folders to Favourites in QuickFile.

1. Select any email in your Inbox and click the QuickFile button.
2. Right-Click over empty white space on the list as shown below and then click Add Shortcut.

3. Tick the folders you wish to add as favourites.

4. Select Favourites under “Who are the shortcuts for” as shown in the screen above and click OK.

Feedback from users regarding the Favourites feature has been very positive. Tell us what you think by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Articles
Hidden Features in QuickFile
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2009/04/hidden-features-in-quickfile.html

QuickFile: How to file your emails without interrupting your work
http://outlook4business.blogspot.com/2009/04/quickfile-how-to-file-your-emails.html

Hidden Features in QuickFile

We have literally had hundreds of emails from QuickFile users telling us how great they find the new release… and we’ve also had quite a few emails from users wanting new features added on.

Before we go any further… If you haven’t had a look at QuickFile yet, take a look at this video now. Even if you have tried QuickFile in the past, you owe it to yourself to at least see how the new version of QuickFile makes it possible to file your emails without stopping your work.

View QuickFile for Outlook Video

Back to the hidden features of QuickFile…

THE GOOD NEWS… MOST of the features requested by users are already in the current version. They’re just turned off by default… we wanted to keep the program as clean as possible for new users.

HERE’S A LIST OF SOME HIDDEN FEATURES

File Original with Reply: Chances are that when you reply to an email, you would like both the reply and the original filed in the same folder. When you reply to an email QuickFile can automatically file your original to the same folder as your reply.

Reply to an existing email and click Send so that QuickFile’s Send&File screen is displayed.

Click the Show Option hyperlink (bottom right corner of screen)


Tick the box labelled File original Received Email with Sent Email.
Click Send & File.

You can also have this box ticked by default using the Settings screen

Go to your Inbox and from the QuickFile toolbar, click More -> Settings (to display the Settings screen).


Create Tasks or Appointments from Emails: This feature is available in the trial and PRO versions of QuickFile. Extra buttons (Quick-Task and Quick-Appointment) have been added to your toolbar to allow this.

To display the buttons…

Go to your Inbox from the QuickFile toolbar and click More -> Settings (to display the Settings screen)
Click on the View tab.
Tick the boxes labelled Quick-Task and Quick-Appointment.
Click OK

Use the One-Click button to Copy (instead of move) and to go to a folder: The One-Click button has got a lot of praise from users. Here’s a few extra things you can do with it.

Click on the One Click button: Moves selected email to one-click folder
Press SHIFT and Click on the One Click button: Copies selected email to one-click folder
Press CTRL and Click on the One Click button: Opens up the one-click folder

Send&File the actual email (instead of filing a copy): We’ve setup QuickFile so that when you send and file, a copy of the email is filed and another copy remains in the Sent Items folder. This was a feature DEMANDED by many users… many users like to have a copy of all Sent emails in the Sent Items folder so they can quickly refer to it to fill in timesheets etc. BUT…

You can change the default so that your actual email gets filed out of the Sent Items folder.

Go to your Inbox and from the QuickFile toolbar, click More -> Settings (to display the Settings screen)
Select File/Move Original email to folder under When Using Send&File Button.


QuickFile has many more hidden features you can turn on and off. I hope this small list helps you get started.

Related Posts
QuickFile: How to file your emails without interrupting your work.

Don't let others shift their email overload to you!

"Don't allow people to believe they have solved a problem by
emailing you. It is still their problem" (Dirk)

Last week we released a new report and I asked for comments from
readers. Dirk was one of the many readers who wrote back.

Thank you all for your time and support.

It is really great to know that you found the report useful.

I will be releasing a follow-up report early next week based on all
your fantastic feedback but I felt Dirk's comment needed to be
shared immediately :)

If you still haven't read the first report, you can download it from:

8 Simple Tips for E-Mail Management in Microsoft Outlook

The follow-up report discussing your comments and ideas will be out
in a few days.

Till then... have a Happy Easter Weekend

Regards
Sanjay

Special Report: 8 Simple Tips for E-Mail Management in Microsoft Outlook

We have just completed our report titled:
8 SIMPLE TIPS FOR E-MAIL MANAGEMENT IN MICROSOFT OUTLOOK

My Inbox has been FLOODED with emails from readers who wanted to get their hands on the report... which ironically is one of the "problems" discussed in it.

This report is the result of many hours of my own research as well as a major contribution from many of you. Thank You!

Download your copy of our special report now:
http://www.standss.com/t/0904/report.asp

Regards
Sanjay

PS: Download and read the report TODAY. We’re planning a Part 2 in the next few days.
http://www.standss.com/t/0904/report.asp

QUICK & EASY EMAIL SORTING

Do you have folders with huge lists of emails in them? Here is a quick easy way to find particular emails by sorting your emails anyway you want.

This tip is particularly useful if (like my mum) you keep all your emails in your Inbox and Sent Items folders and you suddenly find that your emails are not being displayed in the order you are used to.

This tip is super easy… all you need to know how to do is click with the mouse.
Go to your Inbox (or any other email folder that you wish to sort). Do you see a list of column titles at the top (with labels like From, Subject, Received)

To sort by the Received date, click on the Received column title (as shown above).

You will notice a little arrow next to the Received column title in the screen above. This indicates that the email list is sorted by the Received column.

The arrow pointing downward means that the list is sort in descending order i.e. the newest emails are at the top of the list and the oldest are at the bottom (for other fields it means that it will sort from Z to A).

The arrow pointing upward means that the list is sort in ascending order i.e. the oldest emails are at the top of the list and the newest are at the bottom (for other fields it means that it will sort from A to Z).

To make a list sort by a different column, simply click on the title of the column you wish to sort by.

To change the way a list is sorted (i.e. change from ascending to descending), click on the title of the column again.

In summary… to sort, click on the column title!

If you find this post useful, please leave a comment on the blog.

Other Articles of Interest:

Color Coded Emails In Your Inbox

Speed Reading with the Outlook Reading Pane

Do you use the Reading Pane in Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 to go through your emails. Here is a quick setting change that will let you both scroll through a long email and then move between emails using the space bar.

Firstly what is the Reading Pane…The Reading Pane lets you read emails directly from your Inbox (or any other folder without opening the email). You can turn the Reading Pane on or off by clicking View>Reading Pane>Off/Bottom/Right.

Here's how to turn on Single key reading using space bar.

Go to your Inbox.

On the menu… click Tools> Options.

Click the Other Tab.

Click the Reading Pane button to display extra settings for the Reading Pane.

Tick the check box labelled Single key reading using space bar.Click OK and then OK again to go back to your Inbox.

Now when you are reading emails in Outlook via the Reading Pane, clicking the Space Bar will shift you from one email to the next.

If you are in an email that is longer than can be displayed on the screen, clicking Space Bar will scroll down. Clicking the Space Bar once you have reached the end of the email will simply take you to the next email.

Other Articles of Interest:
See More of Your Email when using the Reading Pane

Email Horror Stories (CNN)

CNN today ran the story Experts reveal e-mail nightmares, safety tips. They have some funny (because they happened to someone else) horror stories of how emails sent to the wrong person have caused embarrassment and even big financial loss.

In a recent online survey conducted by AOL, 32 percent of the 4,000 respondents have at one time or another mistakenly forwarded an e-mail to an unintended recipient. And often, it's something NOT so nice.

In the CNN article, Roger Matus, keeper of the blog Death By Email, has some good MANUAL TIPS to avoid this mistake including:

1. Forget that the Reply-to-All button exists (or see our automated solution later)
2. Type out the person's full name when addressing your e-mail. If you type just the first few letters and let your e-mail program fill out the rest based on your address book, it could easily misroute your message without you realizing it.

The reality unfortunately is that we often need to use the Reply-to-All button and it is so much easier to pick a name from the list that Outlook drops down (than to type the whole thing in).

The manual methods will not work for most of us.

We have created an AUTOMATED SOLUTION that provides protection from this mistake and more. SendGuard for Outlook will:

1. Warn you whenever you click Reply-to-All (to avoid those accidental clicks)
2. Allow you to delay emails or emails to selected addresses by a preset time (so that you have some time to change your mind)
3. Get confirmation before Outlook sends out emails to all or selected email addresses.
4. Protect you from numerous other mistakes such as missing attachments, blank subject lines, incorrect subject lines, incorrect sending accounts and more.

Click here to get more information on SendGuard.

We also have a $10 discount on SendGuard until the end of Wednesday 22nd October as part of another update promotion.

Click here to purchase SendGuard at the discounted price before 22nd October. The page is for an UPGRADE OFFER we made to our customers so the text is not directly related to this post... simply scroll down to the ORDER link which has the $10 discount applied to it.

Better Email Subject Lines in Outlook

A few days ago I asked for comments on Misleading Email Subject Lines. Firstly let me say I am truly grateful for the large number of responses I received both on the blog and via email.

I have collated your questions, answers and suggestions below in Question and Answer format.

Q: How can you change the subject line of emails that you have received?

The answer to this took me by surprise as well. Simply open any email that you have sent or received, go to the subject line and type in whatever you want. I know that the Subject is read-only but it’s not. Close the email to save the changes.

You can use this technique to change the Subjects of emails that you have received so that the Subject line makes sense when you refer to it in the future.

Q:How can you change the subject line of emails that have already been sent?

Same as you do for emails you have received. Just open the email, go to the Subject Line (which looks read-only but really isn’t), type in your changes and close the email. Easy!

Q: How about email messages that are entirely in the Subject line – what does mean?

You can write short emails that are entirely in the Subject line. The accepted practice if you do is to end the Subject with which stands for End of Message e.g.

Subject: Please call and confirm attendance to Q4 meeting

The reader than (maybe) knows that he doesn’t need to open the email.

Q: What do things such as RR:, AR, FYI, NH … in the Subject Line mean?

You may sometimes find that people add a few letters to the front of their Subject lines that don’t seem to make sense. For example:
Subject: RR: Can you confirm attendance to Q4 meeting.

The more common ones and what they mean...

RR: Response Requested
AR: Action Required
FYI: For Your Information
NH: Need Help

It helps the recipient know why they are receiving the email. Technically speaking you should get rid of the RR, FYI etc when you reply to the email

ANNOUNCEMENT (regarding an upcoming announcement)
Within the next two days I am hoping to announce a simple solution to stop you from making mistakes such as ones discussed here (e.g. Misleading Subjects). I’ll let you know when I am ready.

Till then, please leave a comment on the blog.

Misleading & Inaccurate Subjects on Emails

Most of us have the SAME PROBLEMS when it comes to email.

In August this year I asked for comments from you all before releasing a report on Email Overload. I was overwhelmed by your response and was not able to deal with all the issues covered. Over the next few months I hope to cover some of the problems you identified.

Today I want to look at the topic of MISLEADING or INACCURATE SUBJECTS. Does this sound familiar…

1. You send a message to someone with the subject "Updating your PC this Friday".
2. They reply to that and all is well and good.
3. Two weeks later you get an email with the subject "RE: Updating your PC this Friday".

When you open the email, you find out that the email has nothing to do with the subject. The sender had simply picked an email from you and typed in a new message… without bothering to change the subject.

Have you been guilty of the above? I know I have.

We are doing some research on this and I will write more about this later. In the meantime…

I'd love to hear your thoughts… leave a comment on the blog.

Fine-Tuning Spam Filtering in Outlook

How-to minimize the number of work emails that get caught by Outlook's spam folder?

Here are some tips to fine-tune spam filtering in Outlook … my focus is on keeping work emails out of the junk folder and … if they still end up there, how to get Outlook to highlight potential work emails amongst all that junk.



This video is a result of feedback I received from reader to the question … what are the one or two greatest obstacles to getting through your emails.

I am almost finished compiling the feedback and will release a FREE report on some solutions to overcoming email overload in the next few days. If you haven't done so already, register here to get notified when the report is released.