Microsoft Outlook 2013 still forms the backbone of mail management in many organizations. But many a home user also manages their digital mail with Outlook 2013. Get more out of the popular Office 2013 mail client with our ten selected and tried-and-tested tips and tricks. And also save time in the hard work routine.
Tip 1: Receive mails
If you have set up your mail accounts and start Outlook, then the mail client first tries to download the messages already available for you on the mail server. By clicking on the button Send/receive all folders in the toolbar for DeepL access or by pressing the F9 -button you can also start downloading or updating manually. If you want to retrieve only individual accounts again, switch to the tab SEND/RECEIVE :
1. Click Send-receive groups .
2. Select the account you want to update.
3. Outlook now retrieves only messages from this account.
Tip 2: Select folders when opening
You can specify the folder that Outlook 2013 should open automatically on startup. This way you can see the most important inbox after startup. To do this, proceed as follows:
1. Open the tab FILE .
2. Click on Options .
3. Click on Advanced .
4. In the section Starting and quitting Outlook click at Start Outlook in this folder To Search .
5. Select the appropriate folder. This can be a data file, an Exchange, POP3, or IMAP account, as well as any folder.
Tip 3: Mark mails as read
You can also mark mails as read if you read them in the reading pane, i.e. do not double-click to open them in a new window. You set this function on the tab FILE in the options a.
You can find the setting in the category E-mail . Click there in the section Outlook areas on the button Reading pane and activate in the new window the Check box Mark messages displayed in the reading pane as read . Here you can also set the time when Outlook marks the mails as read.
Tip 4: Sort mails better
If you right-click on the columns in the list of mails, you can choose according to which criteria Outlook should sort the mails. By default mails are sorted by date. In 2013, Outlook shows the date, time and first line of the mail in the preview of the mails, in addition to the sender and the subject.
Tip 5: Use mail conversations efficiently
Mails on the same topic are displayed by Outlook as a conversation that you can open and close. If you do not want to display mails as conversations, but each mail individually in the inbox, right-click on one of the column names and uncheck the option View as conversations .
Afterwards you can choose if you want to set this operation for Outlook in general or only for this folder. Outlook then deactivates the conversation view. You can activate this function again via the same way.
Click on the subject at the top of a conversation, Outlook 2013 always marks all mails. If you want to delete only single e-mails, mark them individually or disable the view of mails from other folders as well. If you don’t want to follow a conversation any more, you can delete it after a click with the right mouse button by selecting Ignore hide. Outlook will then automatically move new mails to the deleted items and you won’t notice the conversation anymore.
Click on the tab Start on Clean up , deletes Outlook mails from the conversation that are duplicated. You can set how Outlook should behave when this option is selected on the tab FILE in the options a. To do this, open the category Email . In the section Clean up conversations adjust the settings and select a folder where Outlook should store deleted mails from conversations.
Tip 6: Show file attachments
If a mail contains a file attachment, you can tell by the paperclip in the inbox area. You can also see the file attachment when you select the email. Double-click on a file attachment, Outlook opens the corresponding program. If you only click on the attachment, Outlook displays the content in the window.
Tip 7: The people section in Outlook 2013
Outlook 2013 displays the people pane in the lower part of the reading pane. Here you can find additional information about the senders of the mails. To do this, Outlook can access internal information such as recent mails, current meetings, photos in contacts, but also news from social networks. If a mail was sent to more than one person, you will see all recipients in the upper area, also with a photo if you have stored one in your contacts. If you click on such a person, the person area changes to the information of this recipient and you can retrieve his information. In the window you can also schedule a meeting with the contact, maintain data about the contact and send mails to the various stored mail addresses.
Via the link People section on the tab VIEW you can make settings for the people area, hide it and store the login data for the different social networks.
Tip 8: Delete mails from IMAP accounts
Deleting from IMAP accounts works a bit differently than from POP3 accounts. If you automatically create an IMAP account, Outlook 2013 will not store the mails in a data file on the computer, but in the recycle bin on the server.
During the automatic setup of Outlook 2013, the software automatically binds the user via IMAP and can also automatically detect the trash for the account. If you activate the option that Outlook should automatically delete the recycle bin on exit, Outlook also deletes the mails in the recycle bin of IMAP accounts on the server, regardless of where it is positioned and what the name is. If Outlook can delete the recycle bin, it will delete the mail automatically at the next connection.
You can manually specify settings for deleted items in IMAP account properties. This is not possible for POP3 accounts:
1. Open the tab FILE .
2. Click on Information .
3. Click on Account settings/Account settings .
4. Click the IMAP account you want to customize, and then click Change.
5. Click on Further settings .
6. Open the tab Advanced
7. You can adjust settings for deletion at this point. You can no longer change the folder, this was only possible until Outlook 2010.
Tip 9: Recover deleted mail within the limit in Outlook – The Exchange Server Recycle Bin
Users can recover deleted items themselves with Outlook 2013, even if they have been removed from deleted items. To do this, the mailbox must either be on email servers running Exchange, or in Office 365. For this you mark in Outlook best the folder Deleted items . In Outlook 2013 you can find the recovery on the tab ORDNER at Restore deleted elements .
Tip 10: Mail filtering and Outlook search tools – The advanced search
In addition to the quick search, in Outlook 2013 you can also filter folders by specific terms. You will find on the tab START on the far right the button Filter e-mail . Using the associated drop-down menu, you can choose from various filter options. Initially, however, the filter only works for the currently marked folder. Once you have applied a filter, the tab appears SEARCH TOOLS/SEARCH . Here you have more search options via the ribbon.
From the FILE tab, find the category in the options Search . Set indexing options and specify which folders and mailboxes you want the search to scan.