By Jim Boyce

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 can help you can manage much of the information you work with on a daily basis. Some people think Outlook is just a personal information manager (PIM), but over the years Outlook has grown into a very powerful program.

Outlook combines these key features into a single program:

• E-mail   Send and receive e-mail messages, block junk e-mail, organize messages, and quickly locate important messages. You can even work with multiple e-mail accounts simultaneously.
• Calendar   Keep track of appointments, schedule meetings, and schedule your time by the hour, day, week, or month.
• Contacts   Maintain a list of contacts that has physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers, e-mail address, instant messaging addresses, and other information. Quickly locate addresses, start letters in Microsoft Office Word 2003, and initiate phone calls to specific contacts.
• Tasks   Create a prioritized to-do list, organize and manage tasks, and even assign tasks to others.
• Journal   Keep track of time spent on documents, meetings, phone calls, and other events.
• Notes   Create electronic sticky notes from phone calls, meetings, shopping lists, and other lists.

Take a look at these key features and ways in which Outlook can help you better manage your time.

Getting a handle on e-mail

You can use Outlook to work with multiple e-mail accounts that use Microsoft Exchange Server, POP3, IMAP, and selected HTTP accounts. In short, you can use Outlook to send and receive e-mail messages through almost any type of e-mail server.

With the number of important messages and the overwhelming amount of junk e-mail you likely receive each day, managing your e-mail effectively can mean the difference between being productive and drowning in junk e-mail. Fortunately, Outlook gives you a great set of tools to manage your e-mail.

Mail folders and Search Folders

Many people use Outlook to create folders that help organize their messages. For example, you might create a folder for each project you're working on and use them to separate messages from each of your main clients. Or you may use folders to separate personal and business messages. Either way, creating folders is an easy, logical way to organize those important messages that you just can't throw away.

The Search Folders feature in Outlook 2003 is a wonderful new tool for finding and managing e-mail. Search Folders appear in Outlook like regular folders do, but they are actually a graphical way to display the results of a search. For example, you can use the Unread Messages Search Folder to quickly locate all messages that have not been read. Or you might use the For Follow Up Search Folder to see all messages that are marked for follow-up.

Whatever the case, Search Folders can display messages from multiple locations in your mailbox in a single virtual folder and are a powerful tool for visually organizing your messages. Outlook includes three Search Folders by default, and you can create as many other custom Search Folders as you need, each with its own search conditions. After you've completed this, you'll find that being able to quickly find specific types of messages can really improve your e-mail productivity.

Rules, filters, and automatic formatting

Outlook gives you the capability to easily and quickly create rules to automatically process and manage messages.

For example, you might use rules to automatically move messages to different folders based on sender, subject, or other conditions when the messages arrive in your Inbox. Rules can automate many tasks (such as move, delete, copy, reply to, and print a message) and can perform other tasks (such as play a sound, start a program, and run a script). Automating these tasks, instead of manually managing your messages, saves time so that you can focus on more important things.

You can also use Outlook to easily create your own custom views of your message folders to help you identify messages at a glance, view only selected messages, and organize your mail folders in other ways. For example, you can use the automatic formatting feature in Outlook to highlight in a specific color those messages that fit the conditions you set — for example, sender and subject. (To set up automatic formatting, on the View menu, point to Arrange By, point to Current View, click Customize Current View, and then click Automatic Formatting.)

These features help you find messages more quickly and identify important messages, both of which can boost your productivity and simplify your workday.

Manage junk e-mail

Without some way to block junk e-mail, your Inbox would quickly be swamped. Outlook includes some useful tools for identifying and dealing with junk e-mail. You can specify an allow list of allowed senders and domains, create a block list of banned senders and domains, and use other methods to separate good messages from junk e-mail messages. You can also configure Outlook to move messages to the Junk E-mail folder or to delete them.

Turn messages into tasks

Often, tasks that you need to perform arrive in the form of an e-mail message from a coworker, boss, or client. Outlook includes the Tasks folder and features to help you manage your to-do list. Converting those e-mail messages to tasks is easy — just drag a message to the Tasks icon in the Navigation Pane, and Outlook creates a task from the message. You can then set a reminder or add other information to the task as needed.

Tips and tricks for managing your e-mail

Using Outlook to handle your e-mail can help you get a handle on your day. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Don't let your messages pile up — try to clear your Inbox by the end of your workday.
• Use folders to organize the messages you keep.
• Create Search Folders to help you locate and organize messages.
• Use rules to automatically process messages.
• Customize your junk e-mail options to improve junk e-mail message handling.

Working your contacts

Many businesses are all about contacts — customers, clients, business associates, suppliers, and vendors. Consequently, the most important information you keep is the addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and other information about those people.

The Contacts folder in Outlook gives you the means to store a broad range of this type of information about individuals and companies.

Here are some of the ways that Outlook can help you better manage your time when working with contacts:

• Easily create mailing lists   Use your Outlook Contacts folder as the address list for newsletters, promotions, and other documents you need to mail to a group, whether large or small.
• Quickly create new documents and other items   To start a letter with the recipient's name and address already filled in, click a contact and then click New Letter to Contact on the Actions menu. The Actions menu also offers other commands to help you easily start a new e-mail message, meeting request, appointment, or task for the contact.
• Initiate phone calls to contacts   By using a modem connected to your computer, you can easily place a call to a contact without dialing. Just click the contact and then click Call Contact on the Actions menu. Select the phone number (if the contact has multiple numbers), and Outlook dials the number for you.

Tips and tricks for working your contacts

To take advantage of the time-saving Contacts folder in Outlook, start by including as much information for each contact as possible. If a person has multiple phone numbers, enter them in the contact item. Include a complete mailing address, add anniversaries and a birthday, and as much other information as you can. The more complete the contact item, the more ways that you will be able to use it. Also, use categories or separate contact folders to separate your personal and business contacts to make it easier to work with each group.

Managing your schedule

No discussion of time management would be complete without a look at calendar and schedule management. Outlook includes a handy set of tools to help you manage your day, week, and month.

• Manage appointments   You can quickly add appointments to your Calendar folder. Just click the day or time slot and then type a name for the appointment. Then double-click the appointment to add a time, set a reminder, or add other information for the appointment.

  

• Schedule meetings   Outlook provides a complete meeting scheduling system. You can view participants' free/busy times to locate the perfect time for a meeting, schedule resources such as equipment or meeting rooms, and easily reschedule meetings when needed. These capabilities will help you plan and run meetings much more effectively, helping you and others with whom you meet manage time more efficiently.

• Use automatic formatting and categories for at-a-glance scheduling   Use the label feature in Outlook to automatically color appointments to help you tell at a glance what the appointment is for. Take advantage of automatic formatting to set the color and font in the Calendar folder for items that meet certain conditions. For example, you might use a particular color and bold font to indicate appointments with your manager. (Again, to set up automatic formatting, on the View menu, point to Arrange By, point to Current View, click Customize Current View, and then click Automatic Formatting.)
• Have an assistant help you   Using Outlook and Exchange Server, you can designate someone else as your assistant (to get started, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Delegates tab). That person can then schedule meetings for you, respond on your behalf to meeting requests from others, and even handle your e-mail, if you give the person that permission.

Tips and tricks for managing your schedule

Make the most of schedule-management features in Outlook by diving right in. If you have an assistant and use Exchange Server, delegate that person in Outlook as your assistant (again, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Delegates tab). Whether you delegate your calendar or not, make use of automatic formatting and labels to help you quickly identify specific types of appointments and meetings. Also, set reminders for appointments and meetings to help you stay on track.

Additionally, learn about the different views available in your Calendar folder to find the one that best suits the way you work. Keep in mind that filtering and formatting will also help you get a better handle on your appointments and meetings.

Prioritizing and managing your tasks

Every day is about getting tasks done, whether it's writing a report, making a sales call, or just taking out the garbage. The Tasks folder and task-management features in Outlook will help you organize your tasks, prioritize them, and get them completed on time.

The Tasks folder lists all of your tasks by default. However, you can use other folder views to focus on specific types of tasks in the Tasks folder — for example, showing only tasks with a high priority.

The TaskPad optionally appears in your Calendar folder, giving you another way to view and work with your tasks. You can choose from a selection of views for the TaskPad — for example, views showing only tasks due today, overdue tasks, or tasks for the next seven days. When you complete a task, just select the Completed check box to mark it as complete. (Outlook uses the strikethrough font style by default to identify those tasks that are completed. You can either delete completed tasks or use a filter view to hide them.)

Tips and tricks for prioritizing and managing your tasks

Make the most of task-management features in Outlook with the following tips:

• Choose a system and stick with it   You can use task-management features in different ways according to the way you like to work. Most important, settle on a system and stick to it. Spend the first part of each workday reviewing and prioritizing your tasks for that day. Then, use the Tasks folder features throughout the day to help you stay on track.
• Prioritize your tasks   Sort your Task list by priority to help you target your time more effectively. Focus on high-priority tasks to get them finished first.
• Break up tasks into manageable chunks Rather than add major tasks that require several days to complete, break up projects like this into several subtasks that you can accomplish during a typical day. Spread these minitasks across the time required for the overall project.
• Delegate tasks   Use the capabilities that Outlook and Exchange Server have to assign tasks to others. You can receive status updates on those tasks as others work on and complete them.

Tracking your documents, phone calls, and other events

Effective time management includes tracking how you spend your time, not just how you plan your day. The Journal folder in Outlook gives you the means to track the time that you spend on documents, phone calls, meetings, and many other types of events.

The Journal folder works in conjunction with other Microsoft Office System programs including Word, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, and Microsoft Office Access 2003, automatically recording the amount of time you spend on each document. This feature is great for monitoring your billable time, but it's also a handy way to analyze and understand where all of the hours in your day go. (To turn on this feature, on the Tools menu, click Options, and click Journal Options on the Preferences tab under Contacts. You can then use the Journal Options dialog box to choose which Office document types to track. Note that you can also track a variety of items such as task requests and meeting requests for specific contacts.)

In addition to tracking documents automatically with the Journal folder, you can also add items to it yourself. For example, you might log a phone call, noting the start and end times of the call and noting the topic. Or you might log an informal meeting that you had in the hallway. Outlook offers several default Journal entry types, and you can also create your own entry types. (To add a new Journal entry, click the Journal icon in the Navigation Pane and click New on the Standard toolbar to open the new Journal entry form.)

Like the other standard Outlook folders, the Journal folder gives you many ways to organize and view the items in the Journal folder. So you can choose a view that works best for you or create a custom view to fine-tune the way you use the Journal folder.

Tips and tricks for tracking your documents, phone calls, and other events

To get a feel for how the Journal folder can help you track your time, spend a while browsing it, adding a few items of your own, and experimenting with the different views. Then, start adding events like phone calls and chance meetings to the Journal folder on your own. Make sure to fill in useful information like the start and end times for each event.

Also, consider tracking documents with the Journal folder. (Again, to turn on this feature, on the Tools menu, click Options, and click Journal Options on the Preferences tab under Contacts. Proceed by using the Journal Options dialog box.)

Creating more time in your day with Outlook

Outlook includes a useful set of features to help you manage messages, your calendar, tasks, and other day-to-day items. If you're like many users of the Microsoft Office System, you likely spend a lot of time in Outlook. For that reason, managing your time effectively in Outlook can have a big impact on how well you manage your time during the day.

If you put to work the tips and features outlined in this article, you'll be well on your way to getting control of your workday.

About the author   Jim Boyce has authored over 50 books about computers and technology; many of these books are about the Microsoft Office System. He regularly contributes to several online sites and publications. His latest book is Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Inside Out, which is available from Microsoft Learning.