Tip #4549 - I'll Reply to That Later
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I'll
Reply to That Later
Do you have an
e-mail in MS Outlook you know you need to reply to, but you just don't
have the time right now?
I know you hate
to just leave the e-mail sitting there though, because let's face
it, there's a very good chance you'll completely forget about it.
So, what can you
do to ensure you address the situation on time?
Well, I can think
of a couple of things. First, you could set up an appointment for
the message.
Yep, that's right,
I said appointment. You can turn that e-mail into an appointment so
that Outlook reminds you to take care of the situation before it's
too late.
To create an appointment
for your message, simply drag and drop it into the Calendar
section on the Outlook Bar (or drag it to the Calendar folder).
A new appointment
will open up with the body of the message already there. Next, simply
complete your normal steps for setting up appointments
(don't forget to set enough reminder time for yourself to get the
job done) and hit the Close and Save button.
With the appointment
set, you'll be reminded to handle the message just like you're reminded
about any other appointment you create.
A second way to get Outlook
to give you a helping hand when it comes to that message you just
can't forget is to use message flags.
To flag a message,
select it and right click.
In older
versions of MS Outlook, you'll see this:
From the menu
that opens, choose Follow Up.
The Flag for Follow
Up dialogue window will then open, allowing you to set up some basic
information.
When you've set
everything to your liking, click OK.
Now, for those
of you working with Outlook 2007, here's what you'll
find.
When you right
click on the message, you'll find that the Follow Up choice opens
as a submenu.
You can quickly
pick one of the Quick Flag times offered or choose
Add Reminder, which will open the following dialogue
window:
Set your preferences
and click OK.
Outlook will remind
you about this item if the flag has not been cleared by the due date/time
you set. (That's right, this option isn't a reminder before the time
you set, rather it actually lets you know right after the time it
was due).
When a message
has a Follow Up Flag, there's a red flag displayed with the message
(in Outlook 2007, instead of a red flag, you'll see the text "Follow
Up") as a visual reminder that the e-mail requires your attention.
Once you've completed
the job, right click on the message again and choose
Flag Complete or Mark Complete (depending
on your version of Outlook).
To remove a Follow
Up Flag, completely right click on the message and
choose Clear Flag from the menu.
There you have
it! Two ways you can deal with an e-mail message later on, without
it slipping your mind. Yep, Outlook's got you covered!
~ April
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