Set preferences for the new Outlook for Mac. Administrators and other IT professionals can plan, implement, and maintain deployments of the new Outlook for Mac with a standard set of preferences described in the Office for Mac admin deployment guide. How to Enable or Disable Focused Inbox on Outlook.com. To toggle the Focused Inbox in the web version of Outlook: Log into your account and select the gear in the upper-right corner of the Outlook.com screen. Select the Focused Inbox toggle switch to turn the feature on or off. To do that, open Outlook and go to Outlook Preferences. Click “General” under Personal Settings on the Preferences dialog box. Under Folder list, uncheck the “Group similar folders, such as Inboxes, from different accounts” box. Then, click the “X” in the upper-left corner of the dialog box to close it. Now, all the folders for.
Search Folders often elicit an “aha!” moment for attendees in Outlook Advanced training. Many people discover these handy folders can take the place of their existing complicated folder rules. Let’s see how these special folders work.
Exercise File
Hey there is no exercise file for you today! Just open up your Outlook and follow along.
Oh, and if you are a Mac user and think this won’t apply to you, think again! I have a solution for you toward the end.
PC Users: Create a Search Folder
On the left side of your Outlook mail, you likely have all sorts of folders. Scroll all the way down to the bottom, and you will find Search Folders
1. Right click on top of Search Folder and select New Search Folder.
2. A popup screen will appear with a plethora of options. Lets start with one toward the top: Mail Flagged for Follow Up.Select this option and press OK.
3. A new folder appears on the left side of your screen under Search Folders. Click on it, and here is a shortcut to all the mail you have flagged for follow up.
Don’t have any messages flagged for follow up? No problem, we are going to create some more folders.
Create Another Search Folder
1. Follow step 1 above, and this time select Mail from and to specific people.
2. Toward the bottom of the popup, press Choose to search for a person.
3. You will be taken to the old familiar search screen (blurred out here for WSU employees’ privacy). In the upper left, type the last name of someone who emails you often.
4. When you find their name on the list, select it, and press OK.
5. Now you have a folder of all the emails in your inbox from this person.
More options
Turn Off Outlook Email
It is worth your time to look through all the Search Folder options. Popular Search Folders include:
- Unread mail
- Mail flagged for follow up
- Important mail
- Mail from specific people
- Categorized mail
- Mail with attachments
- Mail with specific words (think about form results that come to you with the same title)
- Custom Search Folder: if all else fails, you can completely design your own
Since most of us have a lot of activity on the left side of our Outlook screen, if you want to draw attention to your new Search Folder, you can add it to favorites by right clicking on it.
In this way, and a couple other ways, Search Folders are going to behave very much like other folders. But there are some important differences.
A Word About Search Folders
Since they behave similar to regular folders, it is easy to forget that Search Folders are a different type of animal.
A shortcut to search
A search folder is a shortcut to search, nothing more. It is a window into what could have been an advanced search. This is important for several reasons:
- The mail in the folders still only exist in your inbox, not a separate folder within the inbox.
- Deleting a search folder will not delete the contents, just the search window.
If you delete a search folder, you will even receive a message that tells you as much.
Note: be careful when you do so that you are selecting Delete Folder, not Delete All.
Mac Users: Smart Folders
Mac users, it is finally your turn! While you don’t have Search Folders, you have something arguably cooler. They are called Smart Folders.
Outlook For Mac Turn Off Smart Folders Download
1. Start by clicking into the Search bar in the upper right. This will activate the contextual Search tab.
2. Click on the Search tab, and create a customized search: perhaps email from a specific person, then plugging in their name underneath.
3. In the upper right of the Search tab, press Save Search.
4. A new folder is created in your Smart Folders, all you have left to do is name it!
In a lot of ways, the Mac Smart Folders are more user friendly than the PC Search Folders, but they both accomplish the same task: they give you a very special window into a search of your inbox.
Thoughts?
Outlook Smart Folders Windows
What do you think? Will you find a use for Search Folders or Smart Folders? Will this eliminate the need for some of your folder rules?
Congratulations, Power Users!
Congratulations to our newest Power Users! For the full gallery, and more information about the WSU Microsoft Office Power User Program, please visit: wichita.edu/poweruser