Two more Outlook time-saving tips

When time is of the essence, it pays to learn about the email tips and tricks that will save you hours per week. Photo / Thinkstock

Last week I promised two more email time-savers. The first one is so simple, and yet many very experienced administrators and fast keyboard operators don't know about it. I love watching people's faces when I show it - their jaws drop and you can tell they're itching to get back to their computers to try it out.

1. Click and drag

Let's suppose you've received an email that relates to a meeting you've scheduled, or it requires you to set up a meeting, or it's a big enough task to justify blocking out some dedicated time. What most people do is either retype the information or cut and paste using the shortcuts Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V.

Instead, click on the email and drag it to Calendar. (On my new computer with Office 2010 I can see the Appointment box immediately but with Windows 7 that box didn't open in front of the Inbox screen. Instead, it coyly tucked itself behind the open email window and I had to go back to the Outlook icon along the bottom toolbar to find the open screen.)

Anyway, once you see your Calendar window all you have to do is set the appointment times. The entire email, with all its information, is in the body of the calendar item. And - the original email still sits patiently in whichever folder you dragged it from.

Now you've got that little trick under your belt, try doing the same thing with a new contact you want to transfer into your Contacts list. The smart little 'click and drag' trick works there too. In this case (in my system at least, but yours might be different) the Contact pane did its disappearing trick but again, it was just sitting behind the open email waiting for attention. The only extra thing required, if you don't need to keep the content of the email attached to the new Contact's name, is to delete the email from the Notes section.

If you use the Tasks feature, it also works there.

2. An alternative 'to do' list for today's top priorities

I find very few people like Outlook's Tasks, or use it well - me included. For many it becomes an ever-growing ugly dumping ground with too much in it and no easy way to get a clear visual on your priorities for the day.

If you can identify with that, you might like this trick from a very busy administrator. She wanted a quick and visual way to keep tasks and appointments together and decided to use the 'before work' hours to put her tasks for the day. She either 'clicked and dragged' email as outlined above (or created new appointments if it was something that hadn't arrived by email) using the wee small hours - from 4am.

(Of course she wasn't at work at that hour!) She could then just manually move things into priority order if she wanted to, depending on the volume. If for some reason she needed to print off the day or the week, everything was visible on the one page.

You've probably got a bunch of other longer-term things you want to keep track of. There are various ways but outside the scope of today's article. I'll probably write about it one day.

Coming next week

Something different. I've just completed the 5 Day Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail, from Mt Cook to Oamaru. It was amazing, challenging and rewarding - but I'll tell you more next week. Off to have a celebratory drink with my 14 equally happy mates in the bar of our Oamaru hotel - as soon as I've despatched this article to our trusty editor.

Robyn Pearce (known as the Time Queen) is the MD of GettingAGrip.com, an international time management and productivity training company based in New Zealand. Get your free report 'How To Master Time In Only 90 Seconds' and ongoing time tips at www.gettingagrip.com