Tips and Tricks – Email

Mike Cavalerro

By Mike Cavallaro

To mark an email message as Not junk in Outlook.com

  • Open your Junk Email folder and select the messages you want to keep.
  • From the top toolbar, select Not junk > Not junk (or Not spam > Not spam). You can also open the message and select the It’s not junk link at the top.
  • If you’ve blocked someone by mistake, open your Blocked senders list and select the Remove next to their name.
  • Add the sender to your Safe senders list.

 Send automatic (out of office) replies in Outlook on the web

  • Office for business Office 365 Small Business Outlook on the web.
  • Use automatic replies to tell people you won’t be responding right away to their email messages. Automatic replies are sent once to each sender.
  • Note:  If the instructions don’t match what you see, you might be using an older version of Outlook on the web. Try the Instructions for classic Outlook on the web.
  • Sign in to Outlook on the web.
  • At the top of the page, select Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Automatic replies.
  • Select the Turn on automatic replies
  • Select the Send replies only during a time period check box, and then enter a start and end time.
  • If you don’t set a time period, your automatic reply remains on until you turn it off by selecting the Automatic replies on
  • Select the check box for any of the following options that you’re interested in
  • Block my calendar for this period
  • Automatically decline new invitations for events that occur during this period
  • Decline and cancel my meetings during this period
  • In the box at the bottom of the window, type a message to send to people during the time you’re away.
  • If you like, you can use the formatting options at the top of the box to change the font and color of the text or customize your message in other ways.
  • If you want senders outside your organization to get automatic replies, select the check box for Send replies outside your organization.
  • When you’re done, select Save at the top of the window.
  • If you didn’t set a time period for automatic replies (step 4 earlier), you’ll need to turn them off manually. To turn off automatic replies, sign in to Outlook on the web, choose Settings > View full settings > Mail > Automatic replies and then select the Automatic replies on.

Take advantage of Outlook’s easy email templates

If you find yourself composing the same kind of message over and over again, save one of the emails as a template so that you can quickly reference it in the future. Go to File > Save As… > Outlook template, then click on Items > Choose Form… > User Templates when you’re ready to put that pre-saved form to use.

Schedule delivery of an email

Want to compose a message now but send it later? Outlook makes it easy. Write your email, then go to Options > Delay Delivery > Do not deliver before, then specify the time and date you want it to go out. Perfect for crafting a few timely responses before you hop on a plane or go into an afternoon of meetings.

Learn your keyboard shortcuts! This is more of a practice makes perfect strategy, but accumulated knowledge of keyboard shortcuts can start saving major time. A few of our favorites are Ctrl + R (reply to an email), Alt + R (reply all), Alt + W (forward an email), Alt + S (send an email), and Ctrl + G (go to any date on your calendar).

Save important emails, calendar events, and notes as files on your desktop

This not only helps to streamline your inbox but also allows you to access crucial messages and events even quicker. Simply drag an email, calendar entry, or other note on to your desktop or into a folder, or click File > Save As if you’d like to save it in a specific file format. Then, when you’re ready to access it, double click and it will automatically open in Outlook.