Feb 17, 2015

As you may know, I recommend filing mail into one folder (Processed Mail folder), and then using Outlook Categories to tag mail there with topics, if needed. Here’s a way that can speed that up in Windows Outlook 2010 and 2013.

If there is a particular Outlook Category you use a lot when filing your e-mail, consider creating a Quick Step that both applies the category and moves the e-mail to the Processed Mail folder in one click. For example, the Quick Step above called Amex-File assigns the category Amex to the e-mail and files it all in one click.

Watch free video #24 at this link to learn more about Quick Steps:

http://www.michaellinenberger.com/MYN-Outlook-CompleteVideoCourse.html

Michael

Feb 17, 2015

Windows Outlook, in all desktop versions, has an optional feature called AutoPreview that shows you, in the Inbox list view, the first few lines of each message. See the image below for an example.

This can be useful to scan e-mails without opening them, possibly helping you make quicker decisions about them.

How to Turn On or Off

• Outlook 2013: Open the View tab and choose Message Preview.
• Outlook 2010: go to the View tab and choose View Settings, and then Other Settings, and look for the AutoPreview section.
• Outlook 2007: Go to the View menu and choose AutoPreview.

Should you Activate this Feature?

It depends. Personally, I don’t like this feature because by far most of my mail I delete without reading, and I can decide that just from the sender name and message title. With this feature turned on, I see fewer messages per scroll and that slows down my deletion speed. Also, http messages aren’t handled very well, as you can see in the image  above—another reason not to use it.

But if most of your mail does need reading and is not http, this could be a good feature to try.

Michael

Dec 4, 2014

As you know, I have two primary recommendations in MYN and 1MTD for keeping e-mail under control:

1. Convert action emails into tasks.
2. Empty your inbox into a single folder (for speed) and use Categories in Outlook (or labels in Gmail) to group your mail by topic when needed.

There’s now an app that can do both of these on the iPhone or Android: and it’s called TouchDown, and it’s only for users with an Exchange Server (e.g. for those in a corporate environment or for individuals using Office 365 with Exchange).

I’ve been recommending TouchDown for years on Android but up to now I thought its iPhone version was too immature—but now it’s e-mail module is ready to recommend. It also comes with good Calendar and Contacts modules that sync with Exchange.

These are very unique apps. There are no other e-mail apps on iPhone or Android that can assign or view Outlook categories on smartphone mail—even Microsoft’s apps can’t do this. And very few apps can convert e-mails to tasks. So these apps are very good for MYN and 1MTD users. Continue reading →

Dec 4, 2014

I’ve been recommending the Android version of the TouchDown app for years as a way to bring MYN tasks to your Android smartphone or tablet (see this post).

But what about the iPhone version of TouchDown, do I recommend its Tasks module for MYN or 1MTD?

Well, sort of. It doesn’t sort tasks quite right for MYN, but it might work for you. Here are my thoughts on the most recent version of it.

Continue reading →

Nov 21, 2014

Another $100 Windows 8 tablet has been released for sale: the HP Stream 7.

I haven’t tested it, but below is a link to a good review of it, which states the 7-inch screen is actually quite nice (compared to the other $100 Windows 7-inch tablet that came from Toshiba):
http://winsupersite.com/mobile/hp-stream-7-first-impressions

As you may know, I like the Windows tablet navigation design better than any other tablet OS. And using a Windows tablet gives you a way to take a full version of desktop Outlook mobile so you can use all the MYN features of Outlook.

Of course, I am a bit skeptical of using desktop Outlook on such a tiny screen. Personally, I am waiting for Microsoft to release a touch-friendly version of Outlook (which is apparently now delayed until a Windows 10 release). But if you are willing to use a stylus (you’d have to buy  non-active one because this tablet does not come with an active screen digitizer), you should be able to operate the menus on desktop Outlook even on this small screen

Let me know in comments if you get one of these, and how you like it.

Michael

Oct. 16, 2014

Many of you may have a goal to keep your inbox nearly empty, but have not succeeded at doing that. The main reason I like to keep my inbox empty is that it feels good.

Once my inbox gets larger than say 40 messages, I feel like I am losing track of what’s hanging out there undone or unattended to. Each time I empty my inbox, I feel a wave of relief that I am ahead of the game. If I am sitting at my desktop computer all day, I’ll often empty my inbox several times a day. It only takes minutes and it’s nice to feel ahead of things all day long.

Continue reading →

Sep 18, 2014, Updated Sept 23

Per my earlier post, I ordered the Toshiba $119 Windows tablet two days ago. The unit arrived today (in 2 days) from Microsoft store, with free shipping—that’s fast.

Read on for my initial thoughts: Continue reading →

Sept 17, 2014

A reader submitted the following about tools for categorizing contacts in Outlook, and some other tools. thought I’d pass it on as it looks useful.

Continue reading →

Sep 16, 2014

You know I am a fan of Windows tablets, so this caught my eye: an up-to-date Windows 8.1 tablet, new, for a standard price  of $119. This is getting into inexpensive Android tablet price territory.

http://www.winbeta.org/news/deal-toshiba-encore-mini-windows-81-tablet-available-119-microsoft-store

It’s light on RAM (1-gig) and storage, (16-gig) but it has an SD slot so storage can be increased. No pen, and resolution is low, but it does use an up-to-date Atom Bay Trail processor, so performance should be pretty good.

Productivity Tablet? Continue reading →

Sep 16, 2014

The Windows Phone app called 2Day was recently updated to include start date syncing with Exchange. That was the missing feature to make it work with MYN, so it’s good to hear it’s now in there. I have been meaning to test this out but have not had a chance to do that, so report back in comments below if it works for you or not.

And this new feature means the software now works with MYN on both Toodledo servers and Exchange servers, which is convenient.

I first wrote about 2Day back in August (for use with Toodledo) here: http://www.michaellinenberger.com/blog/2day-a-windows-phone-tasks-app-that-syncs-with-toodledo-and-works-with-myn/

Something I did not mention, 2Day is also available on Windows device (desktop and tablet) as well http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/2day/e1617809-eb8a-4f5c-bfdf-68f1cb023118

Michael