I love Outlook!
Anyone who works for me or with me knows that Outlook is my brain; my go to for everything! I have tried others, REALLY I have. I tried the Gmail route, the Thunderbird route, the web-mail route, but always come back to my trusted friend, Outlook.
As a busy business owner I have limited time to fuss with email. Outlook allows me to customize features that clone my work so I don’t have to repeat tasks.
Here are the top 3 reasons I love Outlook:
Synchronicity
I love getting all of my emails in one place and it integrates my calendar and contacts in one program.
Years ago I opted for an Exchange account for my business account. That was the best money I ever spent. Having the ability to sync my contacts, calendar and emails with my laptop, tablet and smart phone has saved me hours of work.
Having the ability to pull in my IMAP email accounts is wonderful as well. I don’t have to sign into multiple web-mail accounts to view client email or my Gmail account. Everything comes to one central location and I can drag and drop work into my calendar and work folders.
That gets me to my next love…
Folders
I create folders for everything I need to keep. I have folders for bank accounts, clients, family, etc. As I complete items or schedule them I drag and drop them into the proper folders.
I can even drag something from my Gmail account and save it to my Exchange account folder. Let’s say I buy something and the company sends the receipt to my Gmail account. I can then drag and drop it into my banking folder on my Exchange account.
I automatically archive my folders every 60 days which stores them in a long-term .pst folder. If I need to find something from 2017, I just open the .pst file and retrieve. This keeps my Outlook file operating at peak efficiency.
Insert Ability
Several features in Outlook are indispensable to me. These are key features that help me clone my work.
Signatures
I have a signature set up for each email account on my computer so that it automatically updates when I send from that email account.
One of my clients needs a standard email sent weekly. I don’t have to remember to change the email signature. When I open a new email it from that email account it automatically pulls up the standardized text and signature and I just have to personalize, attach the proper file and send.
AutoText
This feature allows me to keep a library of insertable text. I open a new email window, click on Insert and then QuickParts. I then have access to text that I type frequently.
An example would be text that I use when I respond to RFPs. There are standard responses that I use and then personalize for the potential client. It saves me valuable keyboarding time and helps me not to forget a key part.
What about you? Do you have key features of Outlook that you recommend? Let us know in the comments below. Maybe that will become my new favorite feature!
I look forward to hearing from you.