Blah, blah, blah. Something clever about weather
and time of the year.
What’s Inside:
Tech Section
·
Outlook 2013 tips
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Color-coding email by contact!
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The new Search
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Quickly mark an email as unread
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Sorting folders
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Make it pretty(ish)
Outlook 2013
Tips
Rejoice! We have all been upgraded to Outlook
2013! Obviously, everyone despises it (SAY NO TO CHANGE!!).
Just kidding! I personally like it and I have
received a decent amount of positive feedback. Like it or not, it’s here to stay (at
least until the next time Microsoft needs some of that sweet, sweet Microsoft Office
license money).
There are some changes worth noting and even
some new features. If you don’t mind, we’ll go over some incredibly useful Outlook
2013 tips now!
Color-Code Messages by Contact
Many people like to make their Inbox easier to
manage by color-coding messages from particular recipients. This is a great way
to pick out high-priority contacts (or that Keith guy so you can know what messages
to avoid).
The process is a bit different in the newer
versions of Outlook. It is now accomplished with “conditional formatting”. Here’s
how:
First, click on the “View” tab on the Outlook
ribbon.
Next click on “View Settings”.
Now click the “Conditional formatting” button.
Click on the “Add” button.
Name the conditional formatting rule.
Now click on the “Condition” button.
Enter the Full name of the person whose messages
you wish to color-code and then click OK. Keep
in mind that this must be an exact match; for IMC employees, it may be
easier to click the “From” button and choose them from the list.
Now click on the “Font” button so we can choose
the color.
Now you can choose any formatting you wish. In
my example, I changed the font color to lime
and the size to big. Click OK when
you’re happy with the formatting.
You will see the color choice back on the conditional
formatting window. Click OK and you’re done!
You can see
that messages from my IT comrade, the one and only Christopher Tatro, now come
through lime green in color and with big font!
The New Search
The search has also changed a bit in Outlook
2013. It looks imposing but it’s actually pretty simple and quite powerful.
When you click in the search field, you will
notice that the ribbon automatically changes to the “Search” tab.
From here, you can start searching by using simple
keywords. However, we’re not here to search with simple keywords; we’re better
than that (go you!). Let’s get more advanced.
The ribbon has a multitude of search refinement options.
As you click these search options, you will notice that it puts special search
terms into the search field.
In this video I am looking for messages that
have an attachment:
We can also search by “From” (who sent the
message). Simply click on “From” and then enter the person’s name or email
address in between the parenthesis. Like this:
Obviously, these search terms can be combined to
further refine your search. Check this out:
Play around and you’ll see that you can get very
granular results with this search tool.
Two important things to keep an eye out for
when searching:
1. Check
what folder you’re searching.
a. By default, Outlook will search in your “current
mailbox” which means all folders and sub-folders (excluding any archives or
resource mailboxes). If you want to search only in the current folder, you’ll
need to click on “Current Mailbox” and change it to the more appropriate view.
2. To
improve speed, the new Outlook only searches back 12 months by default. You
need to click on “More” at the bottom of the search results if you need the
search to go back further.
Quickly Mark a Message as Unread/Read
Save yourself a few clicks with these handy
shortcuts! You can quickly mark a message as read or unread with a simple
keystroke.
1. To
mark a message as “read” simply select the message and then press Ctrl + Q on
your keyboard.
2. To
make it unread, select the message and then press Ctrl + U on your keyboard.
Sort Your Outlook Folders
If you’re having folder sorting problems I feel
bad for you, son. I got 99 problems but a folder-sort ain’t one. See what I did
there? Man, I’m good.
You may find that some of your folders in
Outlook 2013 do not alphabetize automatically. This is because some people want
to have certain folders at the top of the list even if it’s not in alphabetical
order.
If your folders aren’t sorted A-Z and you’d like
them to be, simply click on “Folder” on the ribbon and then click on “Show All
Folders A to Z”.
Let’s Make it Pretty(ish)!
Love it or hate it, Outlook 2013 is here to
stay. Many of you like the new look while others seem to loathe it.
Fortunately, you can customize the look of Outlook 2013 a bit.
You can change the color with an unbelievably
diverse palette of White, Light Gray or Dark Gray! I know, WAY too many choices,
right?!?! HOW CAN YOU DECIDE?!?!
It’s pretty easy to change. Simply click File, Options
and then change the “Office Theme” on the “General” tab. Like this:
It doesn’t end there! The engineers at Microsoft
have given us a choice of 14 (that’s FOURTEEN!) “Office Background” choices.
Obviously, I’m a huge fan of circuits, but I also quite fancy “Doodle Diamonds”.
The Office Background can be changed in the same
place as the theme color.
Note:
keep in mind that the color and theme changes will apply to all Office programs
(Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc…).
Have
a great month, everyone!
-Keith
Please
don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you have a something that you think will
make a good tip. You’ll get credit on the blog for your contribution and I
might give you a high-five
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