1. Take Control Over Your Outlook Inbox! Before it Takes Control Over You! Prepared by Jason Belanger, PMP https://co.linkedin.com/in/jasonbelanger

2. Use Search Folders to Better Manage Your Inbox Search Folder Icon

3. Search Folders segregate the email in your Inbox based on criteria you select

4. Create a Search Folder from the menu: File > New > Search Folder… or use the shortcut CTRL+Shift+P.

5. Scroll down and click on “Create a custom Search Folder”.

6. Next, click “Choose” and name your Search Folder.

7. You only want the Search Folder (and the others below) to look directly at your Inbox, and not any sub-folders you may have created. Do this by clicking on Browse from the subsequent dialogue box, then uncheck the ‘Search subfolders’ tick box. Note: If you accidentally leave the tick box next to “Search subfolders” checked, Outlook will scan all your email folders. If this happens, don’t worry…just go back and uncheck the box.

8. Priority 1: To: Me only: These are the emails that are only sent to me. No one else is on the To or Cc line. If I don’t respond, no one will. To create, select ‘Create a custom Search Folder’, the last choice on the New Search Folder dialogue box. Name it, then click ‘Criteria…’. On the Messages tab, check the ‘Where I am:’ box and select ‘the only person on the To line’ from the dropdown.

9. Then on the Advanced tab, select the Cc field (under Address fields) and set the Condition to ‘is empty’. Add the criteria to the list and click OK on all the open dialogue boxes.

10. Priority 2: To: Me and others: These are the emails that are sent to me and other colleagues. Select ‘on the To line with other people’ and you’re done.

11. Priority 3: Cc: me: Finally, the lowest priority emails – the ones where I’m cc’d. Again, this is easy to create. Just select ‘on the CC line with other people’ from the ‘Where I am:’ dropdown.

12. 3 Additional tips you need to know about Search Folders: 1. Search Folders are first created under “Mail Folders, All Mail Items”. To make one or more of your Search Folders a Favorite Folder, right click on the Search Folder and click on “Add to Favorite Folders”, or drag and drop the Search Folder into your Favorite Folders (see screen shot).

13. 2. With your Search Folders created and included in your Favorite Folders, you no longer need to be distracted with your other Mail Folders. Click on the circled icon next to Mail Folders to minimize all such folders, allowing you to focus only on your Favorite Folders.

14. 3. Keep in mind that emails in your search folders will also be included in your inbox. The main benefit of search folders is that you no longer need to focus solely on your inbox, you can go directly to your search folders by order of priority. For example, instead of 200 emails in your inbox, you may only have 20 emails in your Priority 1 search folder – the emails sent only to you and no one else. Take action on those emails first; then go to your Priority 2 and then Priority 3 emails.

15. 4. You will notice I have a folder titled “ARCHIVE” in my favorite folders. This is where I drag and drop all emails I have read and no longer need to take action on. Once I move them into this folder (or any other folder), they are also removed from my Inbox.

16. Note: by having one folder where you file all your read email, you no longer need to spend time creating and managing separate folders. Instead, you can categorize your email to easily identify messages. To do so, right click on any email. Click on ‘categorize’. If you haven’t created any categories, you can create them here and color code them as you like (see screen shot on previous screen).