This is great if you send it to the same person all the time because it won’t even distract you by bringing the email up. In the Name box, type the name for your new Quick Step. To create a new Quick Step, under the Outlook Home tab, in the Quick Steps group, click Create New.
I recommend using Quick Steps for things that need some human thought to determine what “bucket” it falls into, but once you’ve decided it can follow a standard path.Īn example of when to use Quick Steps would be when an outside vendor sends you a proof that needs reviewed by different people each time. To save the time of writing the same intro text explaining that the proof needs reviewed, You could set up a Quick Step to run and all you would need to do is add the specific person each time the email is sent. Outlook Quick Steps are partially automated. This means that you will still need to look at the email and determine what Quick Step needs to be used. They should be used when you can set firm criteria, so when the email falls into that criteria the action happens. A great example of rules in Outlook is to automatically drop emails where you’ve been carbon copied into a folder that you review periodically instead of right when they arrive. This means they happen automatically in the background and are completely distraction free. You, my friend, will be (or already are) a model of consistency, competence, and class (not to mention efficiency, effectiveness, and equilibrium).The difference between Rules and Quick Steps in Outlook Take a look at Outlook MVP Dian Poremsky’s blog post that explains Quick Steps.Īre you not yet convinced that using Quick Steps is a must? Create them and use them and you’ll never lose a message, miss a meeting, or forget to follow up on anything ever again.Read about how you can automate common or repetitive tasks with Quick Steps.I’m always tweaking this gallery because I’m always undertaking new projects, working with new people, and well, I tend to get bored with the same-old thing and like to see how many actions I can cram into one mouse-click… I’d like to know how many actions YOU can cram into one mouse click (and you have to name each one). Then I added it to my Quick Access Toolbar, like I’ve done here: What I’ve done is create my own “Quick Steps gallery” of actions that I take most often. Start from scratch and create a Custom Quick Step. Create a new one that starts you off with an action (see image to the left). Change an existing, pre-made Quick Step. With this tool, repetitive or common tasks will be automated, saving you tons of time on those time-consuming yet necessary tasks. With Quick Steps, you can create an automated set of actions that will occur with a specified trigger. There are a few ways you can go about creating your own Quick Steps. Quick Steps is a great tool to use to get more advanced organizational functionality out of Outlook. But I’m getting ahead of myself.įirst off, there are some pre-made, self-explanatory Quick Steps such as Move to:, Team Email, and Reply & Delete.įor me, those are great starting places but I am all about customization my needs are different from your needs, yours are different from your grandma’s, and hers are different from her twin sister’s needs (love those techie grannies).
I like to think of Quick Steps as rules that I apply when I want to (rather than setting something up in Rules that is usually applied automatically). Frankly, I like the control that Quick Steps allow me because I’m looking at each mail that comes in and, with one click, I can have it take any number of actions. Quick Steps, new in Outlook 2010, is a feature that applies multiple actions at once to an email message. Question: How many mouse clicks and keyboard finger tappings does it take to categorize an email message, move it to a folder, add a follow-up flag, reply to it, and create a meeting request about it?Īnswer: One, if you’re using a Quick Step.