Outlook Zen

I spent some time this week pimping out (actually whatever the opposite of pimping out is) Outlook to try and improve my workflow. I did my usual remove all toolbar / status bar trick, so Outlook now looks like this:

Next I wrote a couple of Outlook macros: one to take the selected items and move them to a folder called "Archive", and another that moves the selected items to a folder called "FollowUp". The FollowUp macro also creates a new to-do item bound for today so that it shows up in my task list.

Enum ItemOptions
    MarkAsRead
    MarkAsUnRead
    MarkAsTaskForToday
End Enum


Private Sub MoveToFolder(folder As String, options As ItemOptions)
    On Error Resume Next

Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders(folder)
If objFolder Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"
End If

If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then
    'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected
    Exit Sub
End If

For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
    If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then
        If objItem.Class = olMail Then
            If options = MarkAsRead Then
                objItem.UnRead = False
            End If
            If options = MarkAsTaskForToday Then
                objItem.MarkAsTask olMarkToday
            End If
            objItem.Move objFolder
        End If
    End If
Next

Set objItem = Nothing
Set objFolder = Nothing
Set objInbox = Nothing
Set objNS = Nothing


End Sub

Sub MoveSelectedMessagesToArchive()
    MoveToFolder "Archives", MarkAsRead
End Sub

Sub MoveSelectedMessagesToFollowUp()
    MoveToFolder "FollowUp", MarkAsTaskForToday
End Sub

Now keybindings in Outlook are horribly broken. There's no way to assign a macro to an arbitrary key binding. Instead, you have to bind the macro to a toolbar button; that's what the two toolbar buttons (text-only) do. To activate those two toolbar buttons, I bound them to ALT-Q (archive) and ALT-W (follow-up) respectively. By binding to keys on the left-hand side of the keyboard, I can filter email with my left hand, while navigating my emails via the cursor up/down keys with my right hand.

If the Outlook team can add the ability to bind arbitrary keystrokes to macros (or better yet, to provide parameterized macros) I'd be in heaven. This way I could defer a task for a known period of time via something like ALT-W 7 for make this task due in 7 days.

I also learned about two very useful Outlook keys: ALT-F1 and ALT-F2, which will selectively hide your navigation bar and to-do bar respectively (try it, you'll like it). I'm a very keyboard driven guy, so this arrangement makes me very happy now.

Are there any other useful Outlook tips folks would like to share?

Comments

[Oran]

I tried the whole macro-toolbar thing for moving to archive, but ended up getting used to Ctrl-Shift-V and enter (since archive is usually the last thing I selected). You can also start typing A-r-... if it's not already selected.

I also love the ability to flag an email for follow-up before it's even sent (it creates a task on the task list for the specified time). And you can rename the email-task to something other than the email title.

A few automation links:
http://simonguest.com/blogs/smguest/archive/2006/06/04/Implementing-Getting-Things-Done-using-Outlook-2007.aspx

http://simonguest.com/blogs/smguest/archive/2006/05/07/Getting-Things-Done-_2D00_-Command-Line-Processor.aspx

[Robert]

I have found that the 'Unread Mail' to be pretty helpful for managing keeping track of messages that I need to read (since I have rules that automatically sort them into their appropriate folders). The 'For Follow Up' folder is naturally helpful for viewing items that have been flagged.

[piper k]

In addition to the useful tips you mentioned, I discovered a cool Outlook Add-in called Outlook Track-It, that further organizes your e-mails. It flags e-mails you need to keep up with in a “Follow Up” folder, flags e-mails other members of your account need to follow up on in a “delegates” folder, and you can set follow-up reminders for yourself and others. http://www.outlooktrackit.com