Windows only (for now): ToneCheck is an email plug-in that checks the content of your emails for tone and alerts you to language that may be misunderstood or interpreted as particularly negative. More »
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ToneCheck Stops You from Sending Passive Aggressive (or Plain Aggressive) Emails [Downloads]
Posted on July 20, 2010
Three Microsoft Outlook Rules That Prioritize Your Email
Posted on December 11, 2009
Just like the rest of us, Outlook user Scott Hanselman gets too much email, and he’s come up with some rules that auto-prioritize incoming email into folders before he even looks at it. Scott uses Outlook at work, and messages from his co-workers inside his company are higher priority; also, he gets invited to a lot of meetings via Outlook. If this is similar to your situation, check out Scott’s strategy. He set up three rules which separate incoming email into 1.) messages that were sent directly to him (he’s in the To: field), 2.) messages he was CC:’ed on, 3.) messages from outside his company, and 4.) meeting invitations. Hit up Scott’s full post for step-by-step directions on how to set up these rules.
As always, your preferred email processing system depends on your situation. As a freelancer who doesn’t use Outlook, rarely gets meeting invitations, and almost always gets messages from outside my non-company, this strategy doesn’t work as well for me, but for a nine-to-fiver inside a corporate firewall, it makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks, Scott!
The Three Most Important Outlook Rules for Processing Mail [Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen]
Complete Guide to Making Outlook Faster (Than Molasses) [Microsoft Outlook]
Posted on August 24, 2009
If you are stuck using Microsoft Outlook to send those TPS reports at work, you've already experienced just how painfully slow it can get—but with a few quick tips you can make it usable again.
Install Service Pack 2 (or later)
While you might keep up to date on all of your Windows patches, too many people are running outdated versions of Microsoft Office (not to mention other applications). You'll want to install the very latest service pack—because Service Pack 2 has fixed a ton of performance issues for users with large mailboxes or anybody using IMAP to access their email.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) [Microsoft]
Download Complete IMAP Items (Like POP Does)
When you are using IMAP to access your Gmail (or other email) account, you'll probably notice that Outlook can hang, stutter, and just generally become completely unusable—but it works just fine with POP accounts. You can make the whole experience a lot better by telling Outlook to download the entire message every time you synchronize so you won't have to wait while it slowly grabs the message off the server. Head over to the Send/Receive Groups panel by using the Ctrl+Alt+S hotkey, then drill down into your account and choose "Download complete items including attachments". The first time Outlook syncs with your mail server, it might take a little longer, but you should notice a significant improvement overall.
Force Outlook 2007 to Download Complete IMAP Items [How-To Geek]
Set up Auto-Archive to Clean Your Mailbox
Keeping a nice, clean mailbox is probably one of the most obvious, but also most overlooked aspects of speeding up your Outlook experience. You can do it yourself by setting up a separate personal folders (PST) file, and then moving old email over there on a regular basis. If you don't feel like managing the archiving process yourself, you can turn on the built-in Auto Archive feature by heading into Tools -> Options -> Other and setting up your preferences for when to archive—you may need to tweak them to fit your own emailing behavior, but the key is to keep your daily mailbox nice and small.
Configure AutoArchive In Outlook 2007 [How-To Geek]
Compact Your Personal Folders (PST) File
This is one of those tips that almost all long-time Outlook users know, but it's still important to mention. All of your email is stored in a single .PST file that grows larger and larger as time goes on, but deleting messages isn't good enough because the file never gets any smaller. You'll need to head into the Files -> Data File Management menu, then using the Settings button to take you to the dialog where you can actually compact your mailbox, shrinking the file down and potentially saving you a ton of disk space.
Quick Tip: Easily Compact Outlook Data Files [How-To Geek]
Run the Inbox Repair Tool
You’ve probably never thought of running the built-in Inbox Repair tool unless you absolutely have to, but if your Outlook frequently crashes and requires restarting from Task Manager, you should probably give it a run to fix all the errors you didn’t even realize were there. Since your personal folders file is effectively a database, it’s important to keep it clean and free of errors. You’ll need to head into your Outlook installation folder, and then find the scanpst.exe file to start the repair process.
Fix Your Broken Outlook Personal Folders (PST) File [How-To Geek]
Disable Outlook’s RSS Feature
If you aren't using Outlook to read your RSS feeds, you might not realize that it's still synchronized to the Internet Explorer common feed list. There's really no reason to keep this feature enabled, and you can easily disable it by heading into Tools -> Options -> Other -> Advanced and removing the checkbox from "Sync RSS Feeds to the Common Feeds List". Don't forget to delete any RSS feeds once you are done.
Make Outlook Stop Using Internet Explorer’s RSS Feeds [How-To Geek]
Save Attachments (So You Can Delete the Messages)
Chances are good that the majority of used space in your mailbox is taken up by all those attachments that everybody keeps sending you. After a while, your inbox is going to get so gigantic that Outlook can't help but slow down a little, but you can easily find all of the attachments and save them somewhere else before you go through a big mail cleanup—just use the free OutlookAttachView utility to save them to a folder easily and quickly.
OutlookAttachView Lets You Save All File Attachments
Use the Mailbox Cleanup Wizard
It's not that difficult to sort a few columns in your inbox and figure out which messages are wasting the most space—but if you've got a complicated set of folders that you use to organize your email, you can quickly view all email that is older than a certain date, or too large to keep around. Head into the Tools -> Mailbox Cleanup wizard that gives you loads of options to quickly find and delete messages you really don't need to keep around anymore.
Quickly Clean Your Inbox in Outlook 2003/2007 [How-To Geek]
Disabling Plug-ins Can Seriously Speed Things Up
There are loads of great add-ins for Microsoft Outlook that add all sorts of great features, but often there are add-ins installed that are unused, unnecessary, or just pointless—and those are most likely the biggest cause of Outlook slowing down to a crawl no matter what you seem to do. You'll need to head into Tools -> Trust Center and click the Go button to edit your COM Add-ins, though Windows 7 or Vista users might have to open Outlook in administrator mode to be able to disable some of them. In my experience dealing with Outlook problems, this is the hidden one that most people never think of, but gives the biggest benefit overall.
Make Outlook Faster by Disabling Unnecessary Add-Ins [How-To Geek]
Pin Outlook Templates to the Taskbar for Quick Access [Outlook Tip]
Posted on June 30, 2009
Reader Stephen writes in with an excellent, time-saving Windows 7 tip: you can create Outlook templates for boilerplate emails and pin them to the Windows taskbar for easy access.
This technique is not limited to readers using Windows 7, since you can pin a folder to the taskbar in any version of Windows—but the new Jump lists in Windows 7 make it a lot simpler. To create your own set of Outlook templates, Stephen advises:
- Create an Outlook template by composing a new email message with the text you want, and then using File -> Save As to save the message as an Outlook Template into a folder of your choice.
- If you are using Windows 7, simply drag the template files onto the Outlook icon.
- For previous versions of Windows, right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars -> New Toolbar, and pick the folder that you saved the templates into.
- Now you can quickly access your templates from the Jumplist by right-clicking on the Outlook icon. For previous versions of Windows, you can use the pop-up folder menu.
It’s a great tip for anybody that repeatedly sends emails on the exact same topic. Thanks, Stephen!
For more ways to be productive while dealing with email overload, learn how to save time and typing with Outlook 2007′s Quick Parts, tweak Outlook to empty your inbox faster, knock down repetitive email with AutoHotkey, or just take a look through our top ten Outlook boosters.
Google Apps Will Soon Support Outlook Sync with Email, Contacts, and Calendars [Downloads]
Posted on June 9, 2009
Windows only: Google Apps Sync is a new free utility from Google that syncs your Google Apps (Premier or Education edition) email, contacts, and calendar directly with Microsoft Outlook.
With this move, Google’s looking to compete more directly with Microsoft Exchange, the business standard for syncing Outlook’s email, calendar, and contacts via the web. Features include:
- Email, calendar, and contacts synchronization. For email, the plug-in uses the offline Gmail protocol, which is much faster than IMAP or other methods.
- Free/Busy lookup and Global Address List functionality, which makes it easy to schedule meetings with your colleagues, regardless of whether they use Outlook’s calendar or Google Calendar.
- A simple, two-click data migration tool which allows employees to easily copy existing data from Exchange or Outlook into Google Apps.
The plug-in isn’t yet available for download, but the download page claims it will be soon. Update: It’s now available at the link below. Whether you’re the person in charge or not, could you see your workplace using Google Apps over Exchange? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
Use an Outlook Macro to Stop Forgetting the Subject Line [Outlook]
Posted on May 18, 2009
Windows only: Microsoft Outlook is a powerful tool used worldwide by corporate drones—and with a little macro goodness, it will remind you to attach a subject line to your TPS Reports.
Adding the new macro requires a number of steps, but when you are finished you'll have a reminder to add in a subject line—just like Gmail has by default. You'll need to open up the Visual Basic macro editor, find ThisOutlookSession over in the left-hand treeview, and then paste in the macro into the editor.
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim strSubject As String
strSubject = Item.Subject
If Len(Trim(strSubject)) = 0 Then
Prompt$ = "Subject is Empty. Are you sure you want to send the Mail?"
If MsgBox(Prompt$, vbYesNo + vbQuestion + _
vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Check for Subject") = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub
Once you've saved and closed the macro editor, you should receive a warning anytime you forget the subject line—a very useful trick to avoid sending an unfinished email.
Hit the link for the detailed walk-through screenshot tour. Note: this macro was found on at least half a dozen web sites, so we’re not really sure who the original author is, but the CodeProject link explains the process in the most user-friendly way. For more, check out how to defer sending emails to avoid embarrassment, or take a look through our top 10 Outlook boosters.
Blank Subject Warning for Outlook 2007 [CodeProject]
SaveAllAttachments Archives and Deletes Outlook File Attachments [Downloads]
Posted on April 14, 2009
Windows only: Microsoft Outlook add-in SaveAllAttachments does just what its name implies; it saves all the attachments from selected messages to a folder of your choosing, optionally deleting them from the message.
Once you've installed SaveAllAttachments and restarted Outlook, you can use the add-in by simply selecting some messages and clicking the button. You'll be prompted for a folder, asked if you want to delete the original attachments, and the files will be swiftly saved into a folder—a very useful solution for quickly reducing the size of your PST file.
SaveAllAttachments is a free download, Windows and Outlook 2007 only. For another solution that lets you search through attachments before saving them, check out previously mentioned OutlookAttachView. While you’re beefing up Outlook, take a look through our top 10 Outlook boosters.
Missing Attachment Powertoy Reminds You to Attach Files [Downloads]
Posted on April 8, 2009
Windows only: The Missing Attachment Powertoy for Microsoft Outlook 2007 reminds you when you forget to attach a file to an email—preventing an embarrassing situation with an important contact.
Once installed, the plug-in scans your new email message for words indicating that you've attached a file—you can change the words that are checked in the Outlook options panel. The detection only happens for the latest message in a conversation, so you won't be constantly reminded when dealing with a long message chain explaining cover sheets on TPS reports.
Missing Attachment Powertoy is a free download, Outlook 2007 on Windows only. For more, check out our top 10 Outlook boosters, or if you want attachment reminders without a plugin, you can use a previously mentioned Outlook macro to do the same thing.
Use Google Reader from Within Outlook [Outlook 2007]
Posted on March 27, 2009
Reader David writes in with a useful tip for consolidating windows—he embeds Google Reader into Outlook as a replacement for the built-in RSS support.
Replacing the current RSS Feeds folder with Google Reader instead is easy—just right-click on the folder, choose Properties, enter the full URL to Google Reader on the Home Page tab, and then check the box for “Show home page by default for this folder”. You can even use the full URL to a specific folder in Google Reader, or create extra folders in Outlook and use a different URL for quick access to different views.
The technique itself is nothing new to most Lifehacker readers—we've previously mentioned how to use Google Calendar from Outlook—but it's a very useful tip if you spend most of your day in Outlook anyway. Thanks, David!
Update: If you are getting javascript errors, you should be able to use the following URL to fix the problem: www.google.com/reader/ (thanks to k3n85 in the comments for clarifying).
Add a Gmail-Like Archive Button to Microsoft Outlook [Ubergeek]
Posted on March 19, 2009
Gmail has popularized archive as an easy way to keep your inbox clean without trashing email, but if you're using Outlook, archive isn't really an option—by default, at least. Here's how to add archive to Outlook.
Whether you follow Inbox Zero or use Gina’s Trusted Trio to keep your inbox clean, one of the most time-consuming and annoying tasks in Outlook is moving your mail to an archive folder—and today we'll show you how to automate it using Outlook's powerful macro support.
All credit for this solution goes to Lifehacker reader jayp, who sent in his own ubergeeky technique that was the basis for this article—well worth a read if you want to see a more advanced version of the script .
For our scenario, we're trying to create a button that moves email messages from the Inbox into an Archive folder like this one—the magic happens behind the scenes with a macro that we'll create.
In order to use macros without being prompted every single time to accept them, you need to create a personal digital certificate using the aptly named Digital Certificate for VBA Projects utility.
Creating a digital certificate couldn't be easier—just type in a name and click the button, closing it out when you are done.
Next we'll create the macro by selecting Tools -> Macro -> Macros from the menu, type in a name for your macro and click the Create button.
Once you’ve launched the Visual Basic editor, you’ll need to paste in the following macro, replacing whatever is currently there. You’ll notice the Folders("Archive") section in the code—this can be modified if you want to use a folder name other than Archive.
Sub Archive()
Set ArchiveFolder = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI"). _
GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Parent.Folders("Archive")
For Each Msg In ActiveExplorer.Selection
Msg.Move ArchiveFolder
Next Msg
End Sub
Once you've completed that step, go to Tools -> Digital Signature and assign the certificate that you created earlier. This is what will allow Outlook to run our macro without constant warnings. Once you are finished, click the save button and use the File -> Close and Return menu item to return to Outlook.
Next we get to actually add the button to the toolbar—just right-click over the toolbars, choose Customize, and then browse down to Commands -> Macros and drag your macro onto the toolbar.
While you still have the Customize dialog open, you can rename the button or even eliminate the text, and assign a new icon. If you want to create a shortcut key for the button, you can put an ampersand (&) character before any of the letters, which will make the shortcut accessible through the Alt+<key> shortcut key combination.
Now we've got an icon to archive mail—but you'll need to restart Outlook to complete the setup.
After Outlook starts back up, you'll see a security notice dialog asking whether to enable or disable macros—you want to choose "Trust all documents from this publisher" so you won't be prompted again.
At this point you should have a fully working solution for quickly archiving messages, but the same techniques could be used to create more advanced functionality—like a full-blown GTD system—it's just a matter of rolling up your geek sleeves and getting to work.
This solution is what works for me, using Outlook 2007 hooked to Exchange. If you’re having problems, let’s try to figure it out in the comments. Good luck!
If email automation is up your alley, be sure and check our guides to emptying your inbox with the Trusted Trio or separating your email from your to-do’s.