If you have been looking for an efficient way to streamline your workflow and save time, Outlook Quick Steps templates may be the solution for you. It is an automated feature of the Outlook email client that can help your complete tasks quickly and easily
No doubt Microsoft Outlook Office 365 platform automatically manages specific actions, for instance, deleting specific emails, moving email messages received from a group of persons with Outlook categories, multiple rule functions, etc.
Quick-Step simply works and reduces your step-by-step process into a single click immediately.
Here in this article, you will learn all about “Outlook Quick Steps“.
What is Quick Steps in Outlook?
“Quick Steps” in Microsoft Outlook is a feature that lets you automate repetitive tasks, making it easy to manage your emails more efficiently.
They’re like shortcuts that allow you to perform multiple actions at once with just a single click.
You can customize Quick Steps to suit your personal email habits and preferences, which can greatly improve your productivity.
Here’s a detailed overview:
Basic Quick Steps:
Outlook includes several default Quick Steps, but you can also create your own to better fit your workflow. The default Quick Steps include:
- Move to: This Quick Step allows you to move an email to a specific folder. You can choose to mark it as read or leave it as unread.
- Team Email: With this Quick Step, you can create a new email that is addressed to your team or a group of people.
- Reply & Delete: This Quick Step replies to an email and then deletes the original email.
- Done: This Quick Step marks the selected email as complete, moves it to a specified folder, and marks it as read.
- Create New: This lets you create a custom Quick Step with actions of your choice.
Custom Quick Steps:
You can create your own Quick Steps based on repetitive actions that you often perform.
For example, if you frequently forward emails to your manager or team, you can create a Quick Step that includes the forwarding action and pre-fills your manager’s or team’s email address.
Managing Quick Steps:
You can manage your Quick Steps by clicking the “Manage Quick Steps” option in the Quick Steps group.
Here, you can edit, duplicate, or delete existing Quick Steps. You can also rearrange the order of your Quick Steps so the ones you use most are at the top.
Sharing Quick Steps:
You can also export and import Quick Steps. This is particularly useful if you want to use the same Quick Steps on a different computer or share your Quick Steps with your colleagues.
To summarize, Quick Steps can be a real timesaver in Outlook, helping you streamline and automate your email management.
By creating custom Quick Steps, you can have a set of personalized shortcuts at your disposal to make your work more efficient.
How Do Quick Steps Work?
Quick Steps contains a few default steps, but don’t panic you can easily create your desired requirements in seconds.
Let’s take an example: Outlook quick steps ideas
Recently in the previous article, you learned about the categories in your email. You can simply hit the shortcut key assigned for specific action and your message get that category.
In addition, the rule function also complies with the same action with an additional outcome, if you like to move specific categories of emails received from conditional people or groups, the message will shift to that folder.
But
If you like to add some other message in that folder, Quickstep helps you out.
How To Create Quick Steps in Outlook?
You can find the Quick Steps section on your home tab screen, which includes a few quick steps by default. You can click any of them to apply the included actions to a selected message.
If you are wondering to create your own quickstep, MS Outlook allows you to make it.
You can refer to the snapshot, a few defaults and quick steps are already available:
- To Manager: Allow you to directly forward the selected message to the specified email address (e.g., your manager). Initially, it is required to set up and assign Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Team Email: Create a blank message addressed to the members of your team. For the first time, similar to “To Manager“, you must set up the email address of the team by selecting the distribution list from your contacts, which you can easily create using a shortcut key. Once your setup is created, you can hit your shortcut key or click team member in quick parts and a separate create a message with the team member’s email address appears.
- Reply & Delete: This option is the least used, simply select your email and hit “Reply and delete” or your shortcut key assigned for this action, which would reply to the currently selected message and then deletes the currently selected message after you send the reply. AS SIMPLE AS THAT
How To Create New Quick Steps?
New Quick Steps are additional quick steps templates available in Outlook other than those mentioned above.
- Open Outlook >> Go to Home Tab >> Quick Steps Section >> Click to New Quick Steps (Refer: Snapshot)
Starting with:
- Move to folder – Moving a specific email message received in your inbox automatically with the rule function holds some boundaries, as the message must receive from a specific email or person or group of persons. Quick-Step moves an additional email (not matching the rule criteria) easily by selecting the mail and hitting the shortcut key.
Choose the folder from the drop-down list, “checkmark as read” if you need, as per your requirement, to assign shortcut keys by clicking on options. [Ref – Snapshot].
- Categories and move – This option are like a move to folder; the only difference is “color category”.
Color category options are available in Outlook separately which allows the user to categorize emails with color.
referring to this article you can also get how you can categorize using the rule function.
Outlook quick steps for categories and moves are slightly different, there are no parameters like the rule function.
You can simply assign a category and move selected emails into a specific folder using the assigned shortcut key.
In addition, there was by default option available which can be changed or deleted by clicking the cross sign on the right-hand corner marked as read.
- Flag and Move – It’s exactly like categories and move, you can easily assign to follow up that message flag it and move it to a specific folder.
- New Email to – Creating a new email is the most common function and most important feature in Outlook. Press (Ctrl + Shift + M) you will be forwarded to the New Email window. This case is slightly different you can create a new mail that was preassigned to a specific person. Outlook Quick Steps is designed for it.
- Forward to – Under this criterion after assigning all settings you can simply forward your selected email to a specific person or group of persons available in your contact list, this feature in quickstep is exactly similar to (To Manager) explained above in the article.
Outlook Quick Step Email Template [Customized]
All the above quick steps, we have discussed above are predesigned for Outlook users, in addition to that you can also create your own Quickstep template in Outlook 365.
A single step to execute any action such as selecting an email permanently, moving a specific message to the desired folder, forwarding it as an attachment, or categorizing it or you can easily combine multiple actions in a single step.
You must simply select the appropriate Quick-Step to deal with it immediately.
Open Outlook >> Click on Home Ribbon >> Go to the Quick Steps section
You will find Create New & Custom under New Quick steps; both walk you through the same place Edit quick steps dialog box.
Under this Edit Quick steps, a dialog box is a plane form nothing is available by default, you must create your own custom Quick Steps.
You can find several functions that are majorly used in Outlook.
Some of them are predesigned and available in the box, and some need your additional homework.
- Move to Folder
- Copy to Folder
- Delete message
- Mark as read
- Mark as unread
- Set important
- Categorize message
- Clear Categories
- Flag Message
- Clear flag on Message
- Mark Complete
- Create a Task with an attachment
- Create a Task with the Text of the Message
- New Message
- Forward
- Reply
- Reply all
- Reply with meeting
- Forward messages as an attachment
- New Meeting
- Create an appointment with the attachment
- Create an appointment with the text of the Message
- Always move messages in this conversation
- Ignore messages in this conversation
You can use these options individually and the combination is countless, it simply applies or commands Microsoft Outlook with a single shortcut key.
That’s How Microsoft Outlook Quick-Step works.
Category and Move, Flag, and Move are good examples of multiple combinations of action.
Let’s take an example of How to create an Outlook Quick Step of multiple actions with a single shortcut key button.
- After clicking the custom button mentioned above >> Edit quick step dialog box pops up.
- Name Your Quick-Step (for instance – Move and Mark)
- Select the action and move to the folder, here you must assign the folder for these specific emails.
- Click Add action and select mark as read.
- The Final Step assigns a shortcut key.
- Click Finish & your new Quick-Step will appear in the Quick Steps box in Outlook.
You can also add some text to be displayed when you hover over the Quick-Step with your pointer.
How To Manage Quick-Step? (Delete / Edit)
Once you have created your own quick step in Outlook, you can Manage Quick Steps.
- Open Outlook >> Click to Home Tab >> Go to quick steps >> Click the small arrow at the bottom right of the Quick Steps group on the Ribbon.
- The manage Quick Step dialog box appears, and there are a few options like Edit, Duplicate & Delete
- Edit – The edit option helps you to redesign and impose some changes to your existing quick step.
- Duplicate – Duplicate options create a copy of your quickstep with slight deference in it. you can make some other changes like color category and shortcut key.
- Delete – Delete function permanently delete your quick step from the system.
Other than that, you can shuffle your order by clicking the up and down arrow key, (Refer: Snapshot)
Reset to Default – Clicking on the Reset to Default option bring back all the existing quick steps and remove all the new one you created, it also removes any changes you’ve made to the default Quick Steps.
Once you click the reset a confirmation warning Outlook show, that it’s a dead-end, once you confirm there is no setback.
How To Export Outlook Quick Steps?
Exporting Quick Steps is usually required when the user shifts Outlook to the higher version of Windows and Outlook itself. The process is quite complicated, you’ll need to make use of MFCMAPI software.
For more details refer – To Backing up and Restoring Quick Steps
How To Create and Use Template in Outlook Web App (OWA)?
Outlook Web App also provides so-called templates to their user which insert specific matter in a single click. Let’s dive in:
- Open Outlook Web App (Outlook.com)
- Login to your account >> Click New message from the lefthand top corner.
- In the lower right corner of the New Message window, click on the “My Templates” icon.
- Outlook consists of a few default samples of templates ready to use, you can click on the + Template and type a Template Name and the body of the template to create your own template.
- Hit Save, your customized template is saved in the “My Templates” feature, which you can use by simply clicking on the template and the template appear in the body of the new message. You can also edit or delete your template any time you want.
We have covered every aspect of Microsoft Outlook Quick-Step in this article. Drop your comments in the comments section below.
Final Words
In conclusion, Outlook’s Quick Steps feature makes it easy to create macros that you can use to automate recurring tasks and repetitive activities.
Quick Steps templates include shortcuts for the most common tasks in your email, calendar, and contacts folders.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick Steps with Flags and Reminders:
Quick Steps in Microsoft Outlook can be combined with flags and reminders to make managing your emails even more efficient.
For instance, if you have a specific action to perform on an email, you could create a Quick Step to move it to a specific folder and set a flag and reminder for it.
By using Quick Steps, flags, and reminders together, we can streamline our email workflows and stay organized.
Using Quick Steps across devices:
One of the great advantages of Microsoft Outlook is that it can be used on multiple devices, such as your computer, smartphone, or tablet.
When you create Quick Steps on your main device, they will be synced to your other devices where you have Outlook installed.
This ensures that you can access your Quick Steps and maintain a consistent workflow experience on all your devices.
Troubleshooting Common Issues:
If you encounter issues using Quick Steps, there are a few common troubleshooting steps you can follow.
First, ensure that you are using a supported version of Outlook, as older versions may not have the Quick Steps feature.
Secondly, if your Quick Steps are not syncing across devices, it’s essential to verify that your devices are connected to the internet and signed into the same Microsoft account.
Lastly, review the existing Quick Steps and their settings to ensure they are correctly configured.
What are some examples of useful Quick Steps?
There are many different ways to use Quick Steps to improve your email workflow in Outlook. Some useful examples include:
- Moving emails to a specific folder, such as “Read Later” or “Action Required.”
- Marking emails as read and archiving them.
- Forwarding emails to a team or specific individuals with just one click.
- Creating a new email message with a pre-populated subject line and recipient list.
These are just a few examples of how Quick Steps can be customized to suit your needs and streamline your email management process.
As you become more familiar with this feature, you’ll likely find even more ways to tailor it to your workflow.
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