What are some tricks and hacks to set efficient email rules in Outlook?

Answer 1

Here are a few things I have found useful as a manager/director:

1. Setup "Search Folders" in Outlook which look for critical messages I don't want to miss:
2. From: My boss, To: Me
3. From: My boss' boss, To: Me
4. From: My lead engineer, To: Me
5. Setup color rules which change the subject to RED for any emails where I am the only person on the "To:" line
6. The rationale here is that if I'm the only person on the To: line, then it's more likely that I'll be expected to respond.
7. Instead of setting up random, separate, new rules for every email you want to send to your deleted items (i.e. fundraiser announcements, or annoying system alerts, etc.), instead you can consider setting up a single rule called "Send to Deleted Items" and then just add "Sender contains: X" or "Subject equals X" to the rule. You can have multiple criteria within a rule.
8. This isn't really a rule, but a suggestion... batch your email. Don't sit there and keep it open and play email ping-pong with people. Read and process your email in batches at 10am and 3pm every day. Or pick two time frames that work. You'll be a lot more productive, and you'll find that many people send emails without thinking or trying to solve their own problems, and will find their own solution before you actually get to your next batch session.

Good luck!