Have you abandoned Microsoft’s desktop email client in favor of its lighter and more responsive web app? Discover our tricks and hidden functions to master all mysteries.
Using the Outlook email client on a daily basis for work or for personal use is not always a cakewalk. If the Microsoft mail client is very complete, it is also quite heavy and can sometimes be capricious enough to block the use of your machine. Never mind, there is a less cumbersome and just as practical solution to access your inbox: use the web version of Outlook.
Microsoft’s mail client web app is indeed just as effective for carrying out your daily tasks, lightness and more, since you just need to refresh the tab of your web browser in which it is open in the event of a problem. And contrary to what one might think, the online version of Outlook is not a sub-version of the Redmond firm’s email client. It embeds indeed a large part of the functionalities that we know on desktop. Also, it will let you have one less program running on your computer and will most definitely load faster than the desktop app.
In the following lines, you will discover tricks and hidden functions which, once mastered, will allow you to take full advantage of Outlook in your Web browser.
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1. Enable Dark Theme
The white interface used by default in the Outlook web app can be quite unpleasant, especially when you find yourself in the dark. To avoid having to lower the brightness of your screen if you frequently work with dim light, know that it is quite possible to activate a dark theme.
To do this, click on the Settings button represented by a toothed wheel, displayed at the top right of Outlook, and activate Dark Mode.
2. Show list of keyboard shortcuts
Like the desktop mail client, you can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate faster in the web version of Outlook. You can consult the complete list of shortcuts available on the Microsoft webmail by using the shortcut Shift + ?.
3. Pin your important messages
If you’ve just received an important message and want to be able to keep it just a click away, Outlook lets you pin it to the top of your inbox.
To do this, hover the mouse over the message in the inbox, and click on the pushpin button. Your message will then be automatically pinned to the top of your inbox.
4. Like an email to indicate that you have read it
If you use Outlook Webmail with a Microsoft 365 account, for your work for example, you don’t necessarily need to reply to a message to tell the author that you have received and read it.
A simple click on the Thumb displayed at the top right of the e-mail is in principle sufficient for your correspondent to receive a notification indicating your action.
5. Use flags to find your important messages
Outlook also has a very practical option to help you store, find, and easily process your important e-mails: flags, represented by the button representing a flag.
When you add a Flag to a message, it is somehow tagged as important. Thus, in Outlook, you can find all messages with a flag very simply.
Simply click on the Filter button, then select the With indicator filter. All the messages on which you have associated a flag will be grouped together.
Even better, these messages with indicators can be transformed into tasks that you will find on Microsoft To-Do, provided of course that you have connected your Microsoft account to the application. You will also need to go to To-Do Settings, then in the Connected Apps section, enable Flagged Mail.
Finally, in the left To-Do column, click Flagged Mail. You should see all flagged mail in your inbox, giving you a chance to deal with it when you have a moment.
6. Set up an acknowledgment
To know when someone reads the message you send them, you can ask them for a read receipt.
To do this, in the window for composing your e-mail, click on the option button represented by three small dots at the top right, then click on Show message options.
In the pop-up that appears, select the Request receipt option. You can also take the opportunity to select the option Ask for a read receipt. Then click on OK to save your preferences, then send your message by clicking on the appropriate button.
You should then very quickly receive an e-mail notification from Outlook indicating that your message has been successfully delivered to the recipients. For his part, your interlocutor will be invited to click on a “click here” link to send you his reading receipt. If he does, you in turn receive an e-mail notification to let you know that your message has been read by the recipient.
7. Pull down the preview of your conversations
Getting hold of a specific message to the drowned in the middle of a long conversation is not always easy. Outlook, however, allows you to see a little more clearly in your conversations without having to open them completely. All you have to do is click on the small arrow just to the left of the subject of the conversation to scroll through all the messages that make it up.
8. Tag people in your emails
Just as is possible on the desktop client, the online version of Microsoft Outlook allows you to mention your interlocutors directly in the body of the message, using the @ sign followed by the name of the person (provided that this person is in your address book of course). The people thus mentioned in the content of your e-mail will be automatically added to the list of recipients of the message.
9. Recall an email sent too soon
Who hasn’t clicked the send button a little too quickly after writing an email? To avoid this kind of mishap, Microsoft has implemented a safeguard that allows you to recall an email sent accidentally.
Once activated and configured, you will have about ten seconds after clicking on the Send button to cancel the sending of your e-mail in order to correct your typos or insert the attachment you forgot to insert. in your message.
10. Use models to answer
You may not know this, but Outlook Online allows you to use predefined message templates to send, or to use in response to emails you receive.
To display them, click on New Mail to compose a new message, then in the window for composing the e-mail, click on the icon showing a page surmounted by a lightning bolt.
If you are using the templates for the first time, click Continue.
By default, Outlook offers three predefined message templates. You just have to click on one of them and the body of the message is automatically filled. You can also click + Template to create your own message template.
11. Schedule a message to be sent
You don’t need to set an alarm to remind you to send an email at a specific date and time. The Web version of Outlook integrates an option which authorizes you to schedule the sending of your e-mails.
After you have written your message and scheduled it to be sent, it will remain saved in the drafts of your mailbox until Outlook takes care of sending it automatically at the date and time defined.
12. Use the Tidy Up Function to Clean Up
Outlook has a handy feature to help you keep your inbox always perfectly organized. Select one of the received messages in your inbox, then click on the Store button displayed in the toolbar at the top of the interface.
The Store Messages window should then open. This allows you to establish filing rules that will be applied to all messages from this sender. You can decide to move all these messages to a very specific folder, or even better, to move them to Deleted Items (in other words the trash), in order to empty your inbox.
13. Enable Automatic Replies
If you plan to take a few days off, it is desirable to remember to configure an automatic response in your absence.
Thus, all the people who try to reach you by e-mail will be able to read your absence message, inviting them to contact you again when you return.
14. Include a survey in your emails
Preparing for an event by inviting several guests by e-mail can quickly become chaotic. Rather than asking each participant to write their response by return e-mail, why not poll them directly in your missive instead?
Outlook Online includes a function that allows you to insert a poll directly into the body of your message. The recipients will thus only have to select their choice so that you have an immediate return of their availabilities for example.
Click on New mail to start writing a new e-mail, then click on the Options button represented by three small dots, displayed at the bottom right of the message writing window, on the line where are grafted Send and Discard buttons, and then select the Polls option.
If you aren’t already, click Sign In and sign in using your Microsoft account to access Microsoft Forms, Microsoft’s form builder.
All you have to do is enter your question, add the different possible answers and activate the Multiple answers option if you want to allow your interlocutors to choose several answers. Then click Next.
The Polls tool should then display a preview of the poll you are about to send. Click Add to mail to insert it into the body of your email and send your message to your recipients. They will only have to click on the link inserted in your message to access your survey.
15. Create a Signature
If you sometimes send formal e-mails at the end of which you try to add your contact details, know that it is quite possible to get rid of this thankless task. You can indeed configure a signature that you can choose to insert or not at the end of your letters.
Microsoft messaging allows multiple signatures to be created for the same account, giving you the flexibility to customize the information you want to add to the end of your messages based on the intended recipients.