Michael Linenberger's Blog

We’ve got a new blog-post subscription service and form for this blog-series. This was the mailing that you may have subscribed to that sends you an email immediately everytime I post a blog.

The new subscription service replaces the old service and (unfortunately) the old list is gone. So if you were getting these before they are no longer being sent out to the old list.

If you want to receive these emails going forward, then sign up again at right for the new service, using the box that looks like this:

We will still be summarizing most postings in the monthly newsletter (and that subscription is still the same), so getting the immediate post emails is purely optional.

Michael

Hi All, quick reminder: January is coming to a close, so a good time to set goals. Check out my book Master Your Workday Now for good instructions on how to do that.

Michael

For the New Year, here is a 20%-off coupon code to use on the MYN Outlook Complete Video Training course. Good for three days only (expires Friday the 4th).

Here is the code: NEWYEARMYN

Enter the above Coupon Code box at checkout.

Start the new year by learning the advanced MYN task management system. It’s an excellent step up from the One Minute To-Do List (1MTD) system. This video course will give you full command over an out-of-control workday and life.

It’s the start of the new year, and I am asking you what your priorities are. Notice that I did not ask what your goals are. Why not?

Well, there is nothing wrong with setting goals for the new year. But nearly everyone suggests setting goals and I am sure you’ve gotten that message by now.

And really, I think what most people need to do at the start of the year is to learn how to set priorities effectively. There is no point in setting goals if you cannot execute those goals throughout the year by effectively setting and managing your priorities—you need to start there.

If you own the MYN-Outlook Complete Video Training course, then here’s a free upgrade for you. We’ve created a new video delivery page, one that works better on mobile devices and on a variety of browsers. It’s the same video content, just delivered differently. Go to this link, log in, and take a look.

Note, you could still use the older video delivery page, but the technology we used there is not great for mobile devices, and older browsers like Internet Explorer are starting to complain about that video technology. The newer delivery page loads faster and is more problem free. Plus, we are going to start putting all updates and new videos only on the new page (for example, Lesson 31 on that page is new).

Once you navigate to the new delivery page, don’t forget to save the link for future reference.

Michael

Subscribers to Office 365 are starting to see a monthly update to Windows Outlook with a dramatically different Ribbon design.

I mentioned this in December’s newsletter, but now I have a free video that demonstrates it. Go to this link and then scroll down to video 8.2, it’s unlocked and free whether you own the Ninja course or not.

This new Ribbon is an optional Coming Soon feature, presented for you to commend on. But eventually it will be a solid part of Windows Outlook, so take a look.

A lot of people avoid using the Search box at the top of the Inbox in Windows Outlook because it returns too many hits—that makes finding a specific email very hard. If you are consistently frustrated by that, here’s a simple tip. Narrow the search by using the Subject button (see left side of figure below).

This works because very often the keyword we are looking for is in the subject (title) of the email and using the button forces a search in the subject only. The way to do this is simple (step numbers below correspond to numbers in figure above):

1. Click once in the empty Search box.
2. Doing that opens the Search Tools Ribbon, find it.
3. Find and click the Subject button in the Search Tools Ribbon. That inserts a phrase in the Search box.
4. In that phrase, overtype the selected “keywords” entry with your specific search term and hit Enter.

That’s it!

For a video demonstration of this tip, and to see a lot more similar tips, watch Lesson 3.2 in the Outlook Inbox Ninja Video Course. Also watch Lesson 3.3 there. In fact, there are a ton of good tools described in the whole section 3 of that course, so check it out.

Michael

This is a pet peeve of mine: I open an email from someone I trust, and all the images in the email are disabled—you know, you see a blank square where the image should be. Then you have to right-click the square to display the image.

Well, there is a way to fix that so that the images DO load automatically for people you trust.

First, a little Background

Outlook makes this a default global setting to avoid privacy issues and malware infections. It’s a real concern and you probably should leave this global setting as-is, and continue blocking image downloads in emails from unknown senders.

But did you know you can automatically unblock images for trusted senders? It’s incredibly easy and well worth it; you’ll no longer need to right-click images inside their emails to view them.

How to Fix This

The way to do this is you simply white-list those users in Outlook, and from then on, all mail from them will include downloaded images automatically. You do this one sender at a time, as you determine that certain senders are trusted (by the way, I recommend you do this for MY newsletters!).

Here’s how to do it:

1. Right-click an email in the Inbox.
2. Choose Junk.
3. Choose Never Block Sender. Or choose Never Block Sender’s Domain (if you get trusted email from numerous addresses in that company).

That’s it! From now on all mail from that sender will auto-download images whenever you open them, saving you time and giving you more information.

Michael