Sort Folders in Outlook 2013

In previous versions of Outlook, your folders were sorted alphabetically. What annoyed me is that they were sorted among the Drafts folder, Sent items, etc. To work around this, I either put all folders under my Inbox or in a special folder I labeled "My Folders."

With Outlook 2013, you can move your folders anywhere you want by clicking and dragging. You'll notice when you move a folder, a gray highlight bar appears to let you know where it is going. Watch the dark gray horizontal line to determine it will drop into another folder, be a main or a subfolder.

If you really do prefer the alphabetical sorting, right-click your e-mail at the top of the list and click Sort Subfolders A to Z.

One Day Two Day Red Day Blue Day

Everyone who knows me has heard me say, "if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't happen in my life." I'm a slave to my calendar. Because I have a lot going on, I can't memorize things days in advance. Sometimes, I'm happy to just know what's happening tomorrow, forget about three or four days from now. But, there are times I need to look further ahead than just one day.

You may already be familiar with some of the built-in views for your Outlook calendar:  Day, Work Week, Week, Month and Schedule view.

While all are nice, I want to view only two days. The easiest solution is to switch to Day view. Now press Alt+2. Want three days? Press Alt+3. In case you're wondering, yes, Alt+4 will show four days. You can use this method all the way up to Alt+0 for ten days.

If you leave your calendar view as such, you'll notice that the next day, your current day is always the first day listed in the view and you consistently look forward how ever many days you choose.

Office 2013 Quick Start Guides

Get to know the new Office 2013 with these downloadable and FREE Quick Start Guides. These printable guides contain useful tips, shortcuts, and screenshots to help you find your way around. If you are a Windows 8 user, you can open and view these guides in the Windows 8 Reader app without any additional steps.

Happy Birthday, Outlook!

On this day in 1997, Outlook 8 was released as a part of Office 97, replacing Schedule+ and Exchange Client. I began using it when it came out. One of my favorite features was flagging. I love to flag messages for me to follow-up on later.

When I came to UNL in 2000, I (begrudgingly) made the switch to Lotus Notes.I really missed my flagging option. I had to resort to changing items to be marked as unread so I'd remember to go back to them later. I am so happy to return to Outlook and have my flags back. YAY! It's the little things that make me happy.

If you want to learn more about using flags in Outlook, read this article from Microsoft.

E-mail Merge using Microsoft Word

People have been asking for this in Lotus Notes for so long. Now that UNL is converting to Outlook for our e-mail, I can finally show everyone how incredibly easy this is. This video includes both 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac. 

For this example, I'll be using Word for my message, Excel for my data source and Outlook to send the email.

In Microsoft Word, you can use an existing letter or type a new one from scratch. I already have a letter I'd like to repurpose for this message.

1. In Windows, click the Mailings tab.On the Mac, go to the Tools menu and select Mail Merge Manager.
2. In Windows, click Start Mail Merge and select E-mail Message.On the Mac in the Mail Merge Manager, click Create New and select Form Letters.
3. Click on Select Recipients and select Use Existing List.On the Mac in the Mail Merge Manager, select Get List and Open Data Source...
4. Navigate to find your list. When using Excel, you'll be asked to select which worksheet to use.
5. In Windows, select the fields to replace and click the words Insert Merge Field and select the name of the field to insert.On the Mac, from the Mail Merge Manager, simply drag and drop the field to its proper location.
6. Click to Preview Results (View Merged Data on the Mac) and double check everything is okay.
7. Use the record selector to double-check to be sure everything is in the proper location.
8. When satisfied, go to Finish & Merge and Send E-mail Messages.On the Mac, select Generate e-mail messages in the Mail Merge Manager.
9. Select the field which contains the e-mail address.Type the Subject line you'd like to appear on the e-mail message, and then click OK (Mail Merge to Outlook on the Mac).

Back in Outlook, in the Sent Items folder, you'll find all the e-mails that have been sent.

Send a Calendar via E-Mail

Being able to view my coworkers’ free/busy time is a great time-saver when I want to schedule a meeting with them. But there are times when I need to schedule a meeting with someone outside of my organization. When that’s the case, I send them a copy of my calendar for the time period requested so they can match their free time with mine.

To send someone your calendar…

1. In a new e-mail message or a reply, click in the body of the message.
2. On the Message tab, Include group, click Attach Item and select Calendar.
3. In the Send a Calendar via E-Mail dialog box:
   1. Specify which calendar to include (if you manage more than one).
   2. Specify the date range. If you don’t see the option you need, select Specify Dates to choose the beginning and end of the date range.
   3. Select the amount of detail to include.
   4. If you only want to include working hours,
      select ☑ Show time within my working hours only.
4. Click OK.

The calendar will be added to your message as a neat and easy-to-read table, making it easy for the recipient to select a time that works for both of you.