Quick Steps are a built-in feature of Outlook (since Outlook 2010) that allow you to automate Outlook to do multi-step operations at the click of a button.
Despite being one of the greatest productivity features in Outlook, Quick Steps is probably one of the least used.
In the next few weeks I will show you how you can use Quick Steps to simplify your Outlook. I want to start with an example that I use every day.
Scenario
I often receive emails from clients that I need to forward to my assistant with some standard text at the top. Normally this would take at least 4 steps:
- Click on Forward
- Type her name in the To field.
- Type my standard text (Please deal with this for me) at the top of the email.
- Click Send.
Quick Steps allows me to do all this simply by clicking one button.
Step-by Step: Creating the Quick-Step
Click Quick-Step on the Home tab of the Outlook ribbon.
Click New Quick Step – Forward To. (Quick Steps can be used to do many other things too which you can explore by clicking on Custom if you wish).
Click the Options button to display the full screen.
Click the Show Options hyperlink.
Type in an easy to remember name for this Quick Step in the Name box.
Type in the email address of the person you wish to send the email to the To box.
Write anything that you want to add to the email in the Text box
Tick the Automatically send checkbox. Leave it unticked if you still want to manually click Send aftet the email is created.
(Optional) You can set a Shortcut key combination to use the Quick Step if you want.
(Optional) You can add some Tooltip text to remind yourself what this Quick Step is meant to do.
Click Save.
Now that your Quick-Step is save, let’s use it.
Step-by Step: Using the Quick-Step
Click on the email that you wish to apply the Quick Step to (in this case the email that I want to forward)
Click Quick Step on the Ribbon and then click on the appropriate Quick Step from the list.
… and That’s it!
Summary
Quick Steps are one of the hidden productivity tools in Outlook that can save you a lot of time if used properly. Try it out.
Please share your own ideas for using Quick Steps by leaving a comment.
