GISD Technology Newsletter
December 2019
Managing a Challenging Email Inbox!
Does it seem like a never ending struggle to keep up with all the email you receive daily? Do you dream of having an empty (or almost empty) inbox? If you are like me, the answer is probably a resounding YES! While it can be a challenge to manage email, there are strategies that you can use to help you gain control of your email inbox. The strategies below can be used with Microsoft Outlook. For each strategy, if you want help finding the tool or to get help with more explicit instructions, use the “Tell me what you want to do” area in the toolbar. You will be presented with a shortcut to the tool or offered “Get help with…. “.
#1. Use folders to organize your To Do list
Create new folders under your Inbox for filing and prioritizing incoming emails. Act on emails that are quick (two minutes or less?) and fit into your scheduled “email times” during the day, otherwise move them from the Inbox into your To Do Folders. Perhaps you will have a “Today” folder that you will act on by the end of the day, a “Follow-up” folder to act on within a week, and another folder for items that can wait until much later to take action. You can set up other folders to archive emails that are informational only and get them out of your inbox to keep it close to or at zero. Get started and make adjustments to your folder system as you go! (Type “create folders” in the “Tell me what you want to do” part of the toolbar.)
#2. Utilize Tasks in Outlook
There are several ways to use tasks. Did you know that you can drag an email from your inbox on to the task icon and Outlook will create a task around that email? You can set start and end dates, get reminders, notate a percent complete on more complex tasks, and more! When you have finished a task, there is a “Mark Complete” checkbox that will give you that little burst of encouragement when you check it off. (Type “use tasks” in the “Tell me what you want to do” part of the toolbar.)
#3. Use Rules to automatically handle certain emails
Maybe you receive emails on a regular basis because you are part of a distribution list. You need to review these regularly, but you don’t need to react to them in any given timeframe. Using rules you can have them automatically moved from the inbox to a folder(s) that you schedule time for reviewing as needed. (Type “create rules” in the “Tell me what you want to do” part of the toolbar.)
#4. Did you know about the “Clean Up Folder” button?
This can be a huge time saver, especially after you have been gone on vacation or been away from your email for a while. Clicking on this button will go through the folder you have selected and remove emails that are included in parts of later replies or forwarded emails. Not only will this save time by preventing you from reading through many duplicate emails, it can save you the embarrassment of replying to an early version of a thread that has already been resolved. (Type “use clean up folder” in the “Tell me what you want to do” part of the toolbar.)
There are many more ways to tame your email inbox - this is just the beginning! Whether someone else has written about them or you have created your own, we’d love for you to share your ideas or any other feedback about this article by emailing sgilliam@geneseeisd.org.
Sue Gilliam
Director of Technology Services
Upcoming Trainings & Events
Tips & Tricks for Creating PowerPoint Presentations
Attendees will learn about resources for creating Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations
January 30, 2020
2:00 p.m.
For more details or to register, click the link below:
Google Chrome Tips & Tricks
Come and learn about tips and tricks for Google Chrome.
February 4, 2020
11:30 a.m.
For more details or to register, click the link below:
Web Accessibility - Documents Made Right
Learn more about how to make documents online accessible and why this is important.
April 8, 2020
8:30 a.m.
For more details or to register, click the link below:
Technology Tip For December
Shortcuts for Microsoft Outlook
Shortcuts can make life easier. Whether you are looking for a faster route to your favorite vacation spot or a quicker way to fix dinner, it seems we are always looking for shortcuts! Once you find a few good ones, you will use them over and over until you don’t even remember how you got along without them.
Given the amount of time so many of us spend in email these days, we thought you might enjoy trying out a few of these keyboard shortcuts for use with Microsoft Outlook:
CTRL+R - Reply to an email
CTRL+Enter -OR- Alt-S - send the email you’re composing
CTRL+P - Open the Print window
CTRL+Q - Mark as read
CTRL+U - Mark as unread (also will underline highlighted text within an email message)
Here are a few more, but these will only work from within the Microsoft Outlook client (not on Office 365 - where web browser shortcuts take precedence!)
Insert key - toggle on or off the follow-up flag
CTRL+F - Forward an email
CTRL+N - Create a new email (when in Mail section) or create new Appointment (when in Calendar section), same for Contacts and Tasks (when in those sections of Outlook)
CTRL+Shift+K - Add a new task (from anywhere in Outlook)
CTRL+Shift+C - Create a new contact (from anywhere in Outlook)
Technology & Media Services
For Support Contact: helpdesk@geneseeisd.org
or call: 810-591-4473
Luke Wittum
Assistant Superintendent
Technology & Media Services
Phone: (810)-591-4436