3 New Outlook Features To Sort Your Inbox

If your inbox feels out of control, you’re not alone. The volume of email is growing and growing. Thankfully the New Outlook includes some smart tools designed to help you get control of your emails.

Here are three simple features that can dramatically cut down the clutter and save you time.

Sweep – Clean Up Email Clutter in Seconds

What is Sweep?

Sweep is a fast way to automatically clear out unwanted or repetitive emails from a sender. Instead of deleting messages one-by-one, Sweep lets Outlook tidy up entire conversations or newsletters in a single action. Not just once, but always.

How does Sweep help keep mailboxes tidy?

Most inbox clutter comes from things like newsletters, alerts, and automated updates (well it does in mine). Sweep lets you instantly remove or move these messages, and once you've set this rule, Outlook will maintain it going forward.

It’s particularly useful when you realise you've got hundreds of old email newsletters from the same sender sitting in your inbox.

How to use Sweep

Select an email from your inbox.
From the Home tab of your ribbon, click Sweep.
Choose what you want Outlook to do (delete all, keep latest only, move to a folder, etc.).

From that point forward, Outlook will automatically apply your rule.

Snooze – Make Emails Come Back When You're Ready

What is Snooze?

Snooze temporarily hides an email and brings it back to your inbox at a time you choose.

How does Snooze help manage emails and tasks?

One of the biggest inbox problems is emails that require action later. They sit in your inbox, cluttering things up, but you don't want to deal with them yet.

Not just keeping it unread and letting it fall down your inbox. Outlook will come back and remind you.

Your inbox stays clean, and the email returns exactly when you need to deal with it.

How to use Snooze

Right click an email in your inbox.
Select Snooze
Choose when you would like to deal with the email

The email will disappear from your inbox until the time you set.

Quick Steps – Automate Repetitive Email Tasks

What are Quick Steps?

Quick Steps lets you bundle multiple email actions or steps together and run them with a single click. Turn 5 clicks in to 1.

For example, you could create a Quick Step that:

Moves an email to a folder
Marks it as read
Flags it for follow-up

All in one click.

How do Quick Steps help save time managing emails?

Many people perform the same email tasks repeatedly throughout the day — moving emails, forwarding to colleagues, flagging tasks, filing messages deep in sub-folders.

Quick Steps removes the repetition and turns multi-click processes into a single button.

The amount of time that saves every day quickly adds up.

How to create a quick step automation

Go to Quick Steps in on the home tab of the ribbon and select the arrow beside it.
Select Create New Quick Step.
Add the actions you want to combine.
Give it a name and save it.

Now you can run that action on any email with one click of the ribbon.