1. Administrative Coordinator
Outlook Tips & Tricks
Deb Capecci
Administrative Coordinator
2024 E. Monument St. Suite 2-630
Baltimore, MD 21287
Good Afternoon, My name is Deb Capecci, and I am an administrative Coordinator here at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, located in the suite of the Welch Center.
While you are enjoying your lunch, I’d like to offer some Microsoft Outlook tips and tricks, which, hopefully, will make your life easier.

2. What we will cover today:
Inbox Conversations
Categories
To-Do Lists
Additional Resources
We will cover three main points today, including:
the Inbox Conversations feature
Outlook Categories
and To-Do Lists
If you would like additional resources, I have a slide at the end with several links to online resources.

3. Inbox Conversations
So lets get started! First, Inbox Conversations.

4. Inbox Conversations
Find relevant s fast, automatically, and conveniently.
Without “conversations”, an inbox can quickly become inundated, and searching for related s can be a daunting task.
Many of these s have the same subject line. I’ll show you in the following slide how these can be organized.
So what are inbox conversations? They are an outlook feature which allows you to find relevant s fast, automatically, and conveniently.
Without “conversations”, an inbox can quickly become inundated, and searching for related s can be a daunting task.
As you can see in this picture, several of these s have the same subject line. In the following slides I’ll show you how these can be organized more efficiently.

5. Inbox Conversations Click on “By Date” 1.) Activate conversations
On the headings at the top of your inbox, below the search bar, you should see a drop-down menu labeled “By Date” (or similar).
If the following error appears, I recommend selecting “All Mailboxes”, however, you can limit the change to the current folder by selecting “This Folder”
First, let’s activate the Conversations feature. On the headings at the top of your inbox, below the search bar, you should see a drop-down menu labeled “By Date” (or similar).
Click on by Date,
This will bring up a drop-down menu
Where you can select Show as conversations
IF the following error appears, I recommend selecting “All Mailboxes”, however, you can limit the change to the current folder by selecting “This Folder”
Select “Show as Conversations”

6. Inbox Conversations Click on “By Date (Conversations)”
Step 2: Activate Groups
Right-clicking on that same menu again, select “Show in Groups”
Second, let’s activate the groups feature.
Right click on the same menu again,
View the drop-down list,
and select “Show in Groups”
Select “Show in Groups”

7. Inbox Conversations Look how tidy the Inbox looks!
s are grouped by date received
Subject lines are only shown once
The Inbox is uncluttered!
Now look how tidy the Inbox looks!
The s are grouped by the date received,
Subject lines are only shown once,
And the Inbox is uncluttered!

8. Inbox Conversations Next Steps: Viewing the conversations
To View the conversation, select the expansion arrow next to it.
s from other participants will appear
In conversations with several participants, the initial click will only show others’ participation, and the arrow icon will appear unchanged. This indicates that further s are available for view by clicking the arrow a second time.
So what now, how do you view all of those s that were just sorted and grouped?
Easily. To view the myriad s in a conversation, simply click on the expansion arrow next to it.
This expands the conversation to show other participant’s s.
You’ll want to note that in conversations with several participants, the initial click will only show others’ participation, and the arrow icon will appear unchanged. This indicates that further s are available for view by clicking the arrow a second time.

9. Inbox Conversations Next Steps: Viewing the conversations
To view your participation in the conversation, select the expansion arrow again.
The arrow icon appears shaded and points down.
The entire conversation is now visible.
Your participation will show your name italicized.
To view your participation in a conversation, click the expansion arrow a second time.
The arrow will change color and direction
This indicates that the entire conversation is now visible.
You’ll notice that your participation will show your name italicized.

10. Creating Categories
Next, let’s look at creating categories.

11. Categories Color-code and group emails, meetings, and to-do lists
Categories are a convenient method to organize your outlook items through color-coding.
You can make an unlimited number of categories, or keep it simple and limit yourself to a few.
So what are categories in Outlook? Categories are a feature in Outlook which allow you to color-code and group s, meetings, to-do lists, and really anything in Outlook. Today we’ll look at applying them to s.
Categories are a convenient method to organize your outlook items through color-coding
And You can make an unlimited number of categories, or keep it simple with only a few.

12. Creating Categories
The Categories are found on the “Home” Ribbon under the “Tags” section.
First, lets look at how to create categories,
The categories are found on the Home ribbon under the “tags’ section

13. Creating Categories Select the “Categorize” drop-down menu
Select “All Categories”
Click on the “Categorize” icon to show the drop-down list
Then select “All Categories”

14. Creating Categories The “Color Categories” Tool Window will appear
Select “New”
This will bring up the Color Categories Tool window
Select New to add a category to your list

15. Creating Categories The “Add New Category” Tool Window will appear
Type a name for your category
Choose a color
Select “OK”
Category Name
This will bring up the Add New category Tool window.
Adding a category is simple, simply type a name for your category
Choose a color
And select OK

16. Applying Categories
You can categorize any outlook item you wish. For our example, we’ll look at an .
Right Click on the message in your inbox.
Select “Categorize” from the drop-down list
Select a category from the drop-down list.
Again, you can categorize any outlook item you wish, but for our example, we’ll look at an .
To apply a category to an , right click on that in your inbox.
This will show a drop-down list. Select “Categorize” from the list
A list of all your categories will appear. Select the one you wish to apply.

17. Applying Categories The color of the category will be visible:
In the inbox list
In the header when opened.
You’ll see that right away the color of your category is visible in two places
First, as an icon In the inbox list
And second in the header, which shows both the color, and the name of the category.

18. Using Categories to Create To-Do Lists
Next, let’s discuss how to use these categories to create organized to-do lists

19. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
Now that we’ve created and applied all of these lovely categories, what do we do with them? What was the point?
Here’s the great part!
Categories can help create color-coded, grouped to-do lists in the “Tasks” window of Outlook
--when used in conjunction with flagging s--
The Tasks Window can be accessed through the bottom ribbon in outlook. Simply click on “Tasks”
Depending on your layout, it may look like either of these two icons:
So now that we’ve created and applied all of these lovely categories to our s, what do we do with them? What was the point?
Here’s the great part!
Categories can help create color-coded, grouped to-do lists in the “Tasks” window of Outlook
--when used in conjunction with flagging s--
The Tasks Window can be accessed through the bottom ribbon in outlook. Simply click on “Tasks”
Depending on your layout, it may look like either of these two icons:

20. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
In the Tasks window, select “To-Do List” on the Home ribbon, in the “Current View” section.
Now that we’re in the task window, go to the Home Ribbon, and select “To-do list”. This is found in the “Current View” section of the ribbon.
This sets the view to all flagged items and tasks, as shown on the next slide.
This sets the view to all flagged items and tasks, as shown on the next slide.

21. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
Here we can see all of the flagged s shown in a color-coded, grouped to-do list.
Here we can see all of the flagged s shown in a color-coded, grouped to-do list.
What a beautifully succinct to-do list!

22. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
If Outlook does not automatically group the to-do list by category, take these steps:
Click on “Arrange by…” located at the top of the list, below the search bar.
Select “Categories” from the drop-down list.
If your outlook does not automatically group the flagged s into a to-do list organized by category, take these steps:
Click on “Arrange by…” located at the top of the list, below the search bar.
Select “Categories” from the drop-down list.

23. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
Another nice feature of the to-do list is the ability to expand and collapse each category.
Also, clicking on an item opens a preview in the reading pane.*
Another nice feature of the to-do list is the ability to expand and collapse each category.
Also, clicking on an item opens a preview in the reading pane.*
*If the reading pane is not open, go to the Ribbon, and then View>Layout>Reading Pane
*If the reading pane is not open, go to the Ribbon, and then View>Layout>Reading Pane

24. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
To find additional s related to the one flagged on your to-do list:
Right-click on “Follow up. …” (on the header in the reading pane)
Select “Find Related Messages” from the drop-down menu
If you’ve flagged an , and want to see other s in that conversation, you can do that from the task window in outlook.
Simply right click on “follow-up” ( which is in the header in the reading pane)
Then select “Find related messages” from the drop-down menu.

25. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
This will open a new outlook window with only the related messages shown
This will open a new outlook window with only the related messages shown.

26. Using Categories to create To-Do Lists
Note – you can apply more than one category to an item. Both categories will appear in the Inbox preview and reading pane.
You may find it useful to note that you can apply more than one category to an . Both categories will appear in the Inbox list and in the reading pane.

27. Additional Resources
There’s a tone more that you can do with these categories and the task window in outlook, so I’d like to share some additional resources to help you get organized.

28. For more outlook tips and tricks, visit:
Microsoft Outlook Video Training:
My JHU – Outlook courses:
Here’s two links to help you.
First, Microsoft Office has great online video tutorials. Not just for outlook, but for all of their programs. This is largely how I learned how to do all of this.
Second, My JHU offers courses in Outlook, as well as a myriad of other applications we use every day.

29. Finally, thank you for your time today, and I hope these tips and tricks will help you no longer feel like these cartoons whenever you open your inbox!
(laugh) 