¿Eres de los que sigue prefiriendo el clásico correo de Microsoft al de Google? ¿O de los que tiene que usar Outlook (el antiguo Hotmail) en lugar de Gmail por su trabajo? Pues no te pierdas esta serie de trucos para hacer que tu gestión de correos sea más cómoda, personalizada y fácil. Y es que hay muchas herramientas que deberías conocer de Hotmail/Outlook que te pueden ayudar en tu día a día.
1. Cómo usar el modo oscuro
Es una tendencia generalizada y que llega directamente de los móviles. Unos lo usan para tratar de evitar cansar su vista cuando se pasan horas delante del teléfono. Otros lo aprovechan para tratar de alargar la batería de su móvil. En este caso puedes aplicar el modo oscuro de Outlook también en el ordenador, lo cual ayuda a que tu vista no se vea dañada por el brillo de este.
Solo tienes que ir a la rueda dentada en la esquina superior derecha. Al desplegarse podrás ver la función Modo oscuro. Actívala para cambiar el aspecto de todo el correo electrónico, cambiando los colores y el blanco por el negro y los grises. Eso sí, algunos temas no están disponibles en su versión oscura, así que tendrás que optar por cambiar el diseño a la forma más sencilla y luego activar el modo oscuro para poder usarlo a tu favor.
And be careful because the dark theme is also available in the mobile application. You can activate it by displaying the side menu with the button with the three stripes, here you access the settings. Then scroll down to the Preferences section, where you will find the Theme submenu . By clicking on it, you can choose between the usual light theme, the dark one or the one established by battery saving. In this way you can enjoy any theme or even both depending on the charge level of your mobile.
2. Organize your calendar
There is an advanced function that is most interesting if you use your base email for your work and your day to day. That is, if you want to assign an email with indications to a date, you can do it to create an organization and productivity tool from this email. Directly on the desktop and without having to do anything at all. Just the following.
Click on the calendar icon on the top bar, on the left side of the window. Here you have the option to organize the calendar or the tasks you have to do for this day. It's as simple as dragging an email from the inbox to the right hand side, the calendar. This will open a new window so you can organize this information as a task or an appointment. All this with the email information directly in the task. So you will have everything at hand and you will know what you have to do at all times.
3. Task lists
However, if instead of appointments your work email you need to organize tasks, you can also do it with Outlook without using other tools or an agenda. That is, you can generate your day-to-day tasks and collect in them all the information collected in an email so that nothing happens to you.
Click on the calendar icon at the top right of the screen to display this option. And, instead of staying on the calendar, click on the To Do option . Here you can create tasks such as organizing a party, shopping, or any other more elaborate action. The interesting thing is that you can drag the emails to the different tasks created to have this information organized according to the tasks.
4. Notes tool
Outlook is much more than just an email tool. You have seen it with the above functions, but you can also check it when using it as a note tool. Something that means that you do not even need an agenda to carry all the information with you.
On the left side of the screen, next to the different mailboxes, there is a section called Notes . Here you can add different notes so that you do not forget any information. You can also create a color code for different notes, use resources such as lists and text formats, etc.
5. Go back to the classic format
The conversation format in email can be very practical when you cross a lot of messages with another user. A way to organize by topics and not have the inbox completely cluttered. But if you are one of the classic users who prefers to have each new message at the top of your tray, this is what you should do.
Just click on the cogwheel to display the basic Outlook settings. Here you will see a special section about the Conversation View . You have three options: show the most recent messages at the top, show the most recent messages at the end of the conversation or, what may interest you in this case: deactivated. With this last option, your mailbox will stop grouping the responses and will show each message individually.
6. Automatic mail cleaning
There is a formula to automate mail cleaning in Outlook. That is, a way to schedule certain emails to disappear from your inbox to prevent it from becoming saturated. All you need to do is create a rule or schedule and then apply it to cleaning.
Display the Outlook settings on the gear wheel. Then look at the end of this tab for the option to access the rest of the settings, which will bring up a new pop-up window.
In this advanced settings screen, click on Rules to create the aforementioned schedule. Here you can name the rule, but the important thing is that you create a criterion. Display the option bar of Select a condition and look here for the criteria of Message size. You can choose the minimum or maximum, so that the emails that match that criteria are eliminated. You must choose the number of kb for this to happen, of course. And, of course, you must choose the delete option. It will be the appropriate formula so that these messages are frequently deleted.
7. Create a signature for your emails
It looks professional, it is useful to avoid wasting time forwarding contact information and you can automate everything. The signatures on the emails never hurt . And Outlook lets you create your own easily.
All you have to do is display the settings on the cogwheel and then access the advanced options at the bottom of the displayed menu. With this, a new window will appear where you must click on Mail , and then on Write and reply .
With this you get a menu where you can write the signature you want. The good thing is that, in the text box, you also have format and color options to leave everything to your liking. You can also add images and links . But above all, be sure to check the option to include the signature in each new email you write, and also in the forwardings and replies, if that is what you want.
8. Create automatic responses
When you go on vacation or decide to leave a work issue on hold, you either communicate it to everyone or create automatic responses so you don't have to work countless times with the same thing. And Outlook allows it.
All you have to do is display the settings and access the advanced settings section at the end of this list. In the new window that appears, click on Mail and then on the automatic replies submenu.
Here you will have to activate the function and write the message that you want to send automatically to all incoming emails in your inbox. Of course, you can also specify that these responses are sent only to messages that arrived between certain dates, or only to certain contacts.
9. Download all your messages
Do you need to clean up your email without losing a single detail? Well, there is an interesting option for this: download all your email messages. Something that Outlook allows you to do in the following way.
Display the settings and access the advanced menu with the last option in this menu. In the pop-up window you must go to the General section and then click on the Privacy and data submenu. Here you will come across the Export mailbox function . Of course, the process can take up to 4 days . When the backup is ready, you will receive a new email with a link to download all the content to your computer.
10. Avoid distractions
If you are a mobile user, you can avoid the distractions of receiving emails every two by three on your Smartphone. Because it is useful to always have the mail at hand, but it can be exasperating to be alerted at every step. That is why there is a formula to avoid distractions and not be notified with each incoming message in the mobile application.
All you have to do is open the application and display the side menu on the left. Click on the three stripes in the upper left corner for this. Then, next to your email address, at the top, click on the bell icon. Here you can set the times you want to remain without warnings. It can be manual, until you deactivate it, for a single hour, or even until the next day. You also have several options to schedule the shutdown of notifications during trips, meetings and other events on your calendar.
11. Quick actions in the app
Another of the virtues of using Outlook on mobile is the speed when it comes to managing the inbox. Thanks to its design, we can perform actions directly without entering the message, which allows us to directly delete or archive all this. We can also customize these quick actions.
Enter the Settings with the gear wheel in the drop-down menu on the left side of the screen. Here you will find the Options menu for swiping. With this, you will enter a new screen where you can choose the action when you slide to the right and when you slide a message to the left. Click on the Change option to choose the action of each gesture: delete, archive, mark as read, move to folder, mark, postpone, read and archive or no action.