Sorting out our email inbox takes up such a significant portion of our time and headspace that anything that makes it even a tinier bit easier is a massive win. Enter Quick Steps, a functionality in Outlook that few people I chat to are aware of.
Quick Steps is a way to create a button that automatically does multiple processes at once. The idea is that if there are certain things you often do with emails, creating a Quick Step will save you faff and a few minutes – which start to add up. So, let’s say you often forward emails to your boss and also move them to a special folder. You can create a Quick Step to do both things for you in one click like this:
In Outlook’s top menu bar, click on the drop-down menu next to Quick Steps (it might be hiding in the ellipsis), then ‘new Quick Step’ followed by ‘custom’.
- Choose an action – you’ll spot options for moving messages to folders, forwarding, replying, deleting, creating tasks, the works.
- Add another action. And another, if you like. As many as you want.
- Create a name for this sequence of actions – one that you’ll remember that relates to the process. Something like ‘red alert emails for manager’ or ‘polite no’.
- Whenever you want to do that series of actions, you’ll just select that Quick Step. Easy!