Posted by One of the biggest problems with email is that not everything that comes to your inbox is of equal importance. Email from certain clients needs to be addressed right away; messages from co-counsel need to be referred to repeatedly, yet all of this correspondence gets buried under a barrage of e-newsletters and less important correspondence. Outlook “Search Folders” solves this problem. With Outlook “Search Folders,” specified emails are always available no matter where the emails are located (folders, inbox, sent mail). Microsoft by default creates generic search folders such as “Unread mail” and “mail flagged for follow up”. Users can customized more search folders by following instructions to create “Mail from and to specific people,” or “Mail from specific people”. However, the most powerful and useful search folders are likely to be custom search folders. Here’s how to create them:
In Mail, click “Search Folders.”
Click New Search Folder, and a new window will appear. From the “Select a Search Folder” list, you can select several default options, like “Unread mail,” “Mail from and to specific people,” “Mail from specific people” and “Mail sent directly to me.” To create a Custom Search Folder scroll towards the bottom and select ” Create a custom search folder” and then select the “Choose” button.
In the window that appears, type a name for your custom Search Folder, and click Criteria, and then select the options that you want.
The Messages tab contains criteria on the message content or properties, such as sender, keywords, or recipients.
The More Choices tab contains criteria on other message conditions, such as importance, flags, attachments, or categorization.
Enter in your specific criteria, and then press “OK.” You’ll see the new Search Folder listed below “Search Folders,” but you can drag it under “Inbox” or add it to “Favorites” by right clicking and choosing “Show in Favorites” in the menu so that the search folder is always at the top of your screen.