For Part III of the Time Management Series, I am going to give you a Thursday - Tech Tip involving a program that you might already have installed on your computer!
Microsoft Outlook is a program that comes in the Microsoft Office Suite. It is the calendar I use to manage my many work responsibilities and deadlines at my J.O.B. - Here, I'd like to show you some of the simple tools available within outlook to make your life easier!
Overall, Outlook saves me a lot of time at work because it is my "digital brain". The reminders that I can set on the calendar save a lot of headaches. As many of you know, I have a very complicated concert schedule that I run as a part of my job. This requires several deadlines for the same event: press releases, posters, programs, piano tunings, etc. All of these can be digitally worked into my calendar; and when that deadline approaches Outlook pops up a reminder to do those things! (The reminders are also in your task list if you don't want to wait for the reminder)
The archive feature also allows me to store several years of past e-mails (only the important ones, don't be a digital hoarder) - which saves countless hours of recreating things that have already been done!
The reply buttons are right at the top of the homescreen - as is the shortcut menu - both of which are used constantly. (I personally love clicking "To Manager" and having an e-mail pop up without wasting a key-stroke!)
Also, when a new e-mail comes into my in-box - I instantly sort it according to if it needs follow up. Clicking the flag next to an email creates a "follow-up" in the system; and adds the e-mail to your task list. If you right click when creating this flag, it also gives you the option to create a reminder with an alarm! If it doesn't need follow up right away, then I will assign it a color as a "category marker" - this allows me to look at my in-box with one sweep; and see what categories are waiting for me!
