5 unknown features in Outlook

4 min read
July 10, 2019

Do you want to keep an eye on your coworker’s time zones, canceled appointments and meetings, and a short break between meetings you are participating in? In Outlook all this is possible with a few clicks. Not only with empower¼ is Outlook one of the most used tools, almost all companies are confronted with the e-mail giant on a daily basis. Very few of them use all the features that the tool provides to make their work easier.

In this Office tip, we show you 5 unknown features in Outlook that you absolutely have to know to make your daily work with Outlook easier.


Feature 1: show declined appointments in the Outlook calendar

Sometimes it is important to display an appointment in your Outlook calendar that you do not take part in. Therefore, it is also possible to enter canceled appointments in your Outlook calendar.
Simply mark the appointment in the calendar and copy it afterward.
Then insert it again. The appointment is then duplicated so that the original appointment can be deleted and the copy is still displayed in the calendar.

This is how you can keep declined appointments and meetings in your Outlook calendar:

 

Open your Outlook calendar.

Outlook features declined meetings calendar

Click into the appointment and copy-paste it by dragging the appointment downwards holding the CTRL key. Then put it next to the original meeting.

Outlook features declined meetings calendar copy and paste

Now you have the original and a copy of the appointment in your calendar. You can delete or cancel the original appointment.

Outlook features declined meetings calendar delete original meeting

Result: The copy of your canceled meeting or appointment will remain on your calendar.

 

Outlook feature 2: display time zones in Outlook

It often happens in companies where communication takes place with foreign colleagues who work in a different time zone. Until now, you've probably switched between the time zones yourself. This can easily be done by Outlook itself by creating a second time zone in your Outlook calendar.
Click on “Options” under File. Then select “Calendar” on the left and scroll down to “Time zones”. There you have the option to create a second time zone.

Outlook features time zones

 

Feature 3: turn an email into an Outlook-appointment

In Outlook you can add all the important information of an e-mail to your Outlook calendar.
Simply drag the e-mail to the Outlook calendar icon. The e-mail will then be created in your calendar.

Outlook features turn email into appointment

 

Outlook feature 4: Quick Steps

With Quick Steps, you can combine several work steps into one automated quick command. For example, you can classify an e-mail and move it to a subfolder with just one click. Find more detailed instructions for creating Quick steps in Outlook.

Feature 5: add time buffers before and after meetings in your Outlook calendar

 

Do you have travel time between your meetings or just want to have a bit of downtime in between a day of appointments? With this Outlook feature, you can easily add time buffers to your meetings.

Go to your calendar and click on „File“, then choose „Options“.

Outlook features time buffer meetings

Click on „calendar“.

Outlook features time buffer meetings calendar options

Tick the „Shorten appointments and meetings” box.

Outlook features time buffer calendar options shorten meeting time

Now you can choose whether you would like your meetings to end early or start late in order to add a time buffer.

Outlook features time buffer meetings end early

 

Lastly, pick how long you would like your time buffer between meetings to be. You can do that by adjusting the number of minutes.

Outlook features time buffer meetings add minutes

Click „OK“ to use this Outlook feature for all your future meetings and appointments.

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