Tech Tip Tuesday: Use Quick Steps in Outlook to Save Time Every Day
How to combine your everyday Outlook actions into a single click and save time in your inbox
This week we are continuing our focus on automation. Specifically, automation that helps you manage email more efficiently using the tools already built into Microsoft Outlook.
If you use Outlook regularly and find yourself repeating the same steps over and over again, Quick Steps might be the feature you did not know you needed.
What Are Quick Steps
Quick Steps allow you to apply multiple actions to an email in a single click. Instead of manually moving a message, marking it as read, categorising it, and then replying, you can create a Quick Step to do it all at once.
Think of it as a shortcut for your regular email routines. You design the workflow and Outlook carries it out with one click or a keyboard shortcut.
Examples of Useful Quick Steps
Move an email to a project folder and mark it as complete
Forward a message to your manager with a templated note
Reply and then archive the original message
Flag an email for follow-up and add a category for easy tracking
Send a canned response to regular enquiries
You can even assign custom keyboard shortcuts for the Quick Steps you use most often.
How To Set It Up
Open Outlook
On the Home tab, find the Quick Steps group
Click Create New
Name your Quick Step and choose the actions
Add a shortcut key if you want one
Save and test it
You can edit your Quick Steps at any time and create as many as you need.
Pro Tip. Use Quick Steps with Rules for Maximum Efficiency
Quick Steps are great for actions you trigger manually. But if you combine them with Outlook Rules, you can create automated workflows that respond to specific types of incoming messages without you even touching them.
Rules are for automatic actions. Quick Steps are for one-click control. Together they form a powerful productivity combination.
If you are still dragging emails to folders or rewriting the same responses every day, it is time to let Outlook do some of the work for you.
See you next Tuesday for more tech tips.