Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Ultimate Inbox: Merging Inbox and Sent Items folders


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Do you love the conversation arrangement introduced in Outlook 2003, but feel like there is something missing? Well there is! By default, the conversation arrangement doesn’t include your contribution to the conversation. With just a few steps, you can configure Outlook to save copies of all outgoing messages in your Inbox to create what I like to call the Ultimate Inbox. Take a look at my Inbox and you’ll see the messages I’ve sent are right alongside incoming messages making the conversations complete. (I use categories extensively too. More on that in a future post.)


Ellen
Here are the steps to make your own Ultimate Inbox:
Step 1: Open Rules and Alerts and click New Rule…
Step 2: Select “Check messages after sending” and click Next
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Step 3: Click Next again if you want ALL outgoing messages to be copied to your Inbox
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Step 4: Click Yes on the succeeding dialog box
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Step 5: Select the ‘move a copy to the specified folder’ action and choose your Inbox
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Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you decide to start using this rule or a similar rule :
1. This rule is a client-only rule which means it will only work when Outlook is running. If you send mail from Outlook Web Access or your Windows Mobile device, it will not be copied to your Inbox.
2. Outgoing messages copied to the Inbox will appear as unread messages.
3. This rule makes copies of outgoing messages so you’ll end up with two copies, one in your Inbox and another in your Sent-Items folder. If you have a small mailbox quota you should prevent Outlook from keeping a copy of outgoing messages in the Sent-Items folder, clear Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder in the dialog below:
Tools | Options | E-mail Options
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4. If you have a lot of folders, click In folders other than the Inbox, save replies with original message in the dialog below, to create the same experience in all folders:
Tools | Options | E-mail Options | Advanced E-mail Options
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Now you have the Ultimate Inbox!
Ellen Adams
Outlook Program Manager

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