Here is a quick video on how to Flag emails so they don’t get lost and how to add color categories using the Categories column. The Categories inside your inbox can serve that purpose. I once taught at a company that had color-coded their internal departments but didn’t apply the same system to their emails. Use “Flags” and “Categories” to keep track of important emails in your Inbox They would probably contain contract files, corporate records, tax records, etc. These would be your Archive Folders at the bottom of the Navigation (Folder) Pane. The third office file system is the “Perennial file” and I’m not talking about flowers here.

You see, since computers auto-file for us, no one remembers or teaches the old rules of filing: “Symbols and numbers come before everything else'. What if you’d like to cheat and move a “W” folder to the top of the Inbox list, but you can’t pick it up and move it there? Here’s a tip… Just type an underscore, “_”, or a number in front of the folder name. (I still cringe at the memory of those heavy, metal drawers slamming shut.) Well, these have essentially become the Inbox folder system which automatically alphabetizes the folders. The second file system was contained in the old and dreaded “4-Drawer File Cabinets”. When you are done with that project, simply right-click the Folder and choose “Remove from Favorites”.

To add a folder to the Favorites, right-click the Folder and choose “Show in Favorites”.So we don’t file them into the A-Z folder system instead, we keep them handy in the “Favorites” folder at the tip-top of the Outlook Navigation Pane. These are your active customers, most urgent vendors, you name it, these are the files you need at your fingertips. These still apply to today’s world but have been lost in the flurry of digital organizing. In the days of “paper offices”, (pre-computer age), we had 3 filing systems. Use “Favorites” to keep active folders at the top of your Navigation Pane (aka folder pane) Then you can read them all at one time without distraction.Ģ. To apply the “Work Less” theory, have Outlook automatically file an email.

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