Email Survival Skills: Survival Tips Compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2010 & 2013 (2015)

Search Functions: Nylon Cord

Like Duct tape, there are many uses for a strong nylon cord on your outdoor adventure. It can hoist food up a tree to keep it away from wildlife, help you build an emergency shelter, lash poles together and even help make a splint for broken bones. It tethers you to safety in many ways.

The search functions in email serve the same purpose: they tether you to important information without which you may be fanatically circling while looking for the return path. As you circle, you realize that you’ve seen that same oak tree with “Trey loves Jenny” carved in it at least 5 times. Needing vital information that you know you stored somewhere can set your entire body in commotion.

The search functions in Outlook, like a nylon cord, tether you to vital information for quick retrieval.

Here are some ways you can search in Microsoft Outlook:

1. Enter a search term into the ‘Search Inbox’ dialog box, and then any email containing your search term will be found.

2. Search the Inbox by clicking on any column heading: Attachment, From, Subject, Received or Flag Status. The Inbox will automatically sort by that column heading.

3. Highlight a person’s email and then click the ‘From’ column heading. All emails from that person will be grouped together.

Subfolders in the Inbox are critical for retrieving information. Some users will set subfolders for each month or perhaps each year. Others archive by the name of the person while others still archive by the project number or name. Choose a system that works best for you and your work habits.

TIP: Ever wonder what to do with those miscellaneous emails that can seem to find a home in a subfolder by person or project? Create an archive folder then pull all homeless emails that have not been deleted into this archive folder named “Miscellaneous” or “Homeless.” This is brilliant because all the search functions just described for your main Inbox still work perfectly in the archive folder and you have not had to do the emotional work of deciding what to do with the email or where to store it.

Use these tips and your information will be forever tethered to a place easy to find.