Since its creation, email has become the main way that businesses communicate. In 2020, the humble phone call has taken a backseat to email, with faxes and traditional mail falling completely out of favour. On that basis, getting the most out of your email software can be crucial and pay dividends when it comes to efficiency. If you have just completed your Office 365 migration with Rapid IT, starting to use Outlook is going to be the next step. Here are 3 neat features of the software that you may not have known about.
Rules
The “Rules” system in Outlook is one of the most powerful features it has. In short, the feature allows you to set up basic “if this, then do that” statements. An easy example of this is that you might want all emails sent by your boss to automatically be sent to a certain folder. Outlook Rules allow you to do this (and much more) quickly, as well as automatically.
Mentions
In any larger organisation, internal email chains can quickly get messy. Within just a few emails, you might end up with 20 or more people receiving an email when only a handful of them need to be aware of the information contained within. Outlook has a solution here, with the “Mentions” system. Within the body of an email, simply type an “@” symbol, followed by a person’s name. This will highlight their name just for them, automatically put them in the “To” section of the email (as opposed to “CC”), and the person will also receive a specific notification, indicating that they have been mentioned in the email.
Ignoring conversations
Distribution lists for emails can get very large, and frequently you will have better things to do then get distracted by emails that you really don’t need to know about. For example, if you have no control over the IT systems of an organisation, then a string of emails from the organisation’s IT helpdesk may be something you want to ignore. Outlook can intelligently understand what emails are part of a conversation, and you can from there elect to ignore any further emails in that conversation. This will automatically move further emails in the chain to the “deleted” folder, meaning you can stay focused.
Summary
As a general rule, organisations should utilise their IT services to maximise efficiency, and your email software is a large part of many employees’ days. To assist here, we have highlighted 3 things you can do within Outlook to get more out of it: Rules, Mentions, and the ability to ignore conversations. If you don’t have Office 365 set up in your organisation and are interested, get in touch with Rapid IT today to discover the wealth of benefits, at 1300 727 430.
