Discovering the Many Ways to View Your Messages in Outlook
You can view your messages in a number of ways, beginning with the set that comes with Microsoft Outlook. You can modify each view by sorting on any column of information in any view by clicking the title of that column. To change your view of your messages in Outlook, choose View-->Current View, and then choose one of the following views from the menu:
- Messages. This is the no-frills picture of your Inbox - From, To, Subject - just the basics. Messages that you haven't read yet are listed in boldface type; the others are listed in plain type.
- Messages with AutoPreview. When you don't have time to read all the messages you get, a preview is helpful. The first few lines can give you a hint as to which messages you want to read. Normally, you see previews only of messages that you haven't read yet. You see only the titles of messages that you have read.
- By Follow-Up Flag. You can flag incoming messages to help you keep track of what you have to do in response to each message. Flagged view groups your messages according to whether flags are set on the messages, and lists what kinds of flags are set and when they're due.
- Last Seven Days. When you're asked to take immediate action on a message you received a few days ago, it's not always easy to find the message that told you what to do. Last Seven Days view shows you only the messages that you got within the past week.
- Flagged for Next Seven Days. If you're flagging messages that are really important, the messages that you've flagged to get your attention in the next few days are likely to require your attention first. For a quick look at the hottest of the hot items, use Flagged for Next Seven Days view.
- By Conversation Topic. This option sorts messages by the subject line. You should always include a subject line that's easy to understand so that the person who gets your message knows at first glance the topic of your message and what to do about it. With any luck, other people do the same thing for you.
- By Sender. When the boss calls and asks, "Did you get the e-mail message about bonuses that I sent you three weeks ago?" you probably don't want to spend a great deal of time sorting through everybody else's messages from the past three weeks. The quickest way to answer the boss's question promptly is to switch to By Sender view. You can instantly find the boss's name in By Sender view. Double-click the message titled Bonuses.
- Unread Messages. The Unread Messages view gives you a quick peek at the things you haven't taken a quick peek at yet. Don't leave your Inbox in the Unread Messages view all the time because messages will seem to vanish when you finish reading them.
- Timeline. Sorts messages by date received.
Last updated: 2/22/07