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If you need more information or are investigating the issue separately, respond to the whole Contact Group to let everyone know that you are responding and then reply to the individual separately. Make sure to respond to the Contact Group after the issue is resolved with the resolution. In this way, the resolution can be referenced by other people on the Contact Group. If you suspect flush DNS and re-sync Outlook that what you are looking for might be in an accepted meeting request (and therefore is on your calendar), try selecting All Outlook Items. After you start creating Quick Steps, you will find that there might be other ways that you can optimize the number of clicks required to get something done. Whenever you find yourself doing the same thing repeatedly, try creating a Quick Step.

If you find that you are repeatedly applying the same categories and flags, create a new Quick Step that flags, categorizes, and files.To apply the "Work Less" theory, have Outlook automatically file an email.After you start creating Quick Steps, you will find that there might be other ways that you can optimize the number of clicks required to get something done.Messages sent to large distribution lists and to RSS feeds can easily overwhelm your Inbox.Check Sync Contact Groups if you have groups in the contact list and would like to sync members of that group.Even if you already have only one list, use categories to sort your personal from business tasks and manage your list effectively.Then you can read them all at one time without distraction.

Delete it

Outlook and Office 365 sync issues can be frustrating but are almost always fixable. Start with basic network checks, enable Cached Exchange Mode, and repair your data files if needed. For persistent problems, rebuild your Outlook profile or use FixTechGuide’s free diagnostic tools to automate detection of authentication and IMAP errors in seconds.

Which Contact Groups should go to a folder instead of my Inbox?

The same category set applies to all items, so if you use a category for contacts, keep it. Messages sent to large distribution lists and to RSS feeds can easily overwhelm your Inbox. Treat these streams of information much as Outlook Not Sending or Receiving Email you would a large newspaper — there might be a useful or interesting article, but reading the whole paper would take considerable time. Let rules help you to read what is most interesting and pertinent to you. Read and unread states in Outlook help by showing you quickly which messages have been read at least once and which have not.

Daily review: Managing your time and tasks

If you just want to remember a few related tasks, list them in the body of the task. If you have more than 20 items in your Inbox, process the last week of messages and then select the remaining messages and move them to your 1-Reference folder. As time goes on, you will likely receive more and more messages.

When to create a Contact Group in Outlook

Sometimes you receive a message that is really meant for someone else to deal with. In these cases, reply and include the person you're delegating the message to on the To line. If you find you're doing this often, consider creating a Quick Step that replies and adds the delegated person to the To line. If you need it as reference (even if you have decided to defer it), move it into your reference folder. The goal is to reduce the number of times you touch each message. Once you set up your system, you are ready to begin managing incoming messages.

You might not need to share your calendar, because everyone in your organization can see when you are free or busy but not necessarily see the content or subject of the meetings and appointments. However, you can easily share your calendar with your team if you want them to be able to see all of your meetings and appointments. If you are collaborating with other people or just need more room for your thoughts, consider using a OneNote notebook, which can be shared either through a SharePoint site or on a local server. OneNote provides disable faulty add-ins in Outlook a richer note-taking experience than Outlook tasks. If you have a message you want to discuss at a meeting, flag that message for the day of the meeting and mark it with the @Meeting category.

View the calendar and inbox side by side

Use the Scheduling Assistant to view all meeting attendees availability. Rather than using Bcc to inform a third party of an issue, forward the message after you send it. Use the Bcc feature to remove extra people from an email conversation when you deem that they no longer need the extra email or if the conversation topic has changed.

However, the read and unread states of messages can be easily be triggered by clicking around your messages so they aren’t a perfect record — just a tool. Create Contact Groups (formerly known as personal distribution lists) in Outlook when you want to make it easier to send messages to a group of people outside your corporation. For all groups inside your corporation, create a public Contact Group (ask your IT administrator about how to do this). Send your calendar in a message when you set up meetings with people who can’t see your free/busy information, such as people outside of your company. Create a single task, mark it with the @Meeting category, and set the Start Date or Due Date to the date of your meeting. As the meeting date approaches and discussion points come up, add comments, bullets, and thoughts to the task as they occur to you.