How to Organize Emails in Outlook | Step-by-Step Guide

Organizing emails in Outlook involves some of the easiest processes. In this article, we are going to share with you some actionable ways, such as

• Major Organization Fundamentals (create & manage folders, use automation, search strategies)
• More email organizational techniques such as maintaining category, subject, dates, and senders).

Also, we have discussed how you can use Outlook on your smartphone apps to improve productivity from anywhere. So, let’s explore the blog and learn the entire email management process in Outlook.

Core Organization Methods: Foundational Techniques

When you are organizing the emails on your Microsoft account for executive purposes or individual purposes, you have to follow some core methods. In this part, we will discuss the three core methods one by one.

Creating and Managing Folders

In the mailbox, you can easily create the subfolders for the emails. First, sign in to your Outlook account and go to the mailbox. Tap on the three-line menu from the upper right section of the interface.

In the folder section, you can create a subfolder for the emails. Also, move any of the emails to the subfolder to properly organize them.

Utilizing Rules for Automation

To use the rules on your Outlook email, go to the mail settings by clicking the settings icon in the upper right section of the page. Now, navigate to the mail option from the settings. In the mail settings, you will see the function called rules.

Currently, we don’t have any rules for the emails. Let’s click on the +Add new rule button in the upper right section of the page.

In this function, you can easily create proper automation for the emails with the rules. The rules can be created by utilizing the conditions and actions for the automation rules. It’s highly effective for speeding up the performance of your email management task. Also, it helps various virtual assistant teams organize their tasks more effectively, execute better output for their clients, and boost the overall productivity of the entire team.

Effective Search Strategies

There are options for utilizing the “search bar” of the Microsoft Outlook account. There are some specific terms available that are often used to find out the specific email from the bulk collection.

Some of the common strategic search terms are “from:”, “subject:”, and “date:. These terms are useful to find out the specific emails from your inbox.

In the search bar, there are also advanced filtering options available for you. Tap on the filter button; an expanded popup menu will appear.

Enhanced Organization: Visual and Contextual Techniques

In this section, we will show you the processes for organizing emails in Outlook. There are multiple ways of organizing emails in Outlook, so let’s explore each one.

How to Organize Outlook Email by Category

You can easily organize the emails into various categories for different purposes. First, sign in to your Outlook account. Navigate to the Outlook email inbox section.

After marketing the email from the inbox section, click on the three-dot button from the right section of the page. You will be able to see the categorize option in the tags section of the email. In the categorize menu, tap the new category option for the specific email.

Along with that, you can also see the default color categories, such as blue, green, orange, purple, red, and yellow.

How to Organize Outlook Email by Date

You can easily organize the Outlook emails by date and time in your inbox. It’s called the sorting process. Go to your Outlook inbox and choose the emails that you want to sort out by date.

After choosing the email, click on the sort button in the upper right section of the inbox list. This will show you all the sorting menus of the inbox. Choose the date from here. By following this process, you can organize the emails by date.

How to Organize Outlook Email by Sender

Sorting out emails based on the senders in Outlook is similar to sorting by date. Go to the sorting menu, and you will be able to see the form menu.

Form means the senders, who already sent you emails to your outlook account. We have sorted out the inbox based on the sender’s filters. Now it’s displaying the emails based on the senders” Outlook team”.

How to Organize Outlook Email by Subject

In Outlook’s inbox, you can easily sort out emails by subject. In the same sorting function of the Outlook inbox, choose the subject menu.

As you can see, emails are showing based on the subject. Generally, from the sorting menu, you can organize the emails based on multiple purposes. There are also options available such as size, important, and sort by alphabetical orders like A to Z and Z to A.

Conversation and Thread Management

In the new and updated Outlook interface, you can easily manage the conversation and thread efficiently within the simple interface. Let’s explore the management process.

How to Organize Outlook Email by Conversation

In the Outlook email interface, you can easily organize emails based on conversations. In this part, we will explain how to organize Outlook emails by thread. Outlook email thread means the multiple individual conversations are grouped into a single conversation. In Outlook, threaded conversations are signified by the grouped email conversation.

Now, let’s explore the process of customizing them. We have already signed in to our Outlook account. Now, navigate to the settings section from the upper right corner of the Outlook interface.

Here, you will see the first option, called Layout. In this setting, you will be able to organize the emails easily based on your purposes. It has the following options:

• How do you want your messages to be organized?
• Show the email grouped by conversation (thread)
• Show the email as individual messages.

By following this process, you can organize your Outlook inbox without facing any hassle.

How to Keep Your Outlook Email Organized on Mobile Devices

Well, Microsoft also has Outlook smartphone applications for Android and iOS devices. It will be beneficial for you to manage your emails, set up reminders on calendars, tasks and events, etc, from your smartphone anywhere.

In this part, we are going to show you how you can easily organize your email on your Android phone. First, download the Outlook app from the Google Play Store and open it.

First, you have to add your Outlook account to the app or create a new Outlook account from here.

After logging into the account, you will be taken to the mail inbox section of your account. Along with the email, you will see the calendar menu here. Here, you can filter out and organize the emails based on your needs. Click on the Filter option from the right section of the app interface.

In this menu, all the filtering options are available, such as unread, flagged, pinned, etc, emails. So, you can organize all the emails from here without facing any difficulties. In the right upper section of the app interface, click on the Outlook icon.

It will show you all the necessary functions of the mails such as inbox, drafts, archive, sent, junk, etc.

Also, you can go to the Outlook Android app settings from this right menu.

In the app settings, you will get all the Outlook-related functions like mail, calendar, contacts, privacy, etc settings. Also, you can turn email notifications on and off and lock the app for better security. So, the Microsoft Outlook Android app has all the necessary functions and features of the desktop version.

The diversity of the technology makes these types of task management like email management, calendar management, and team collaboration, easier. Because there are numerous smartphone applications are already available along with their desktop version as like Outlook.

“More than 100 million users use the Microsoft Outlook smartphone app for their regular task management process”

Conclusion

When you are organizing emails in Outlook, you should follow some core strategies for a better email management process. Otherwise, it will become tough to manage the emails from the entire team effectively.

In this article, we have gone through an in-depth discussion on topics like –

• Core methods of Outlook email management.
• Basic tactics for organizing emails.
• Usability of Outlook smartphone applications.

Hopefully, this article will help you to operate Outlook emails for your professional and personal communication.