MS Outlook 2010 Quick Steps

Along with changes in the area of layout, MS Outlook 2010 introduced a number of features that improve working with this application. One of these is the new feature called Quick Steps. What are the Quick Steps? They are easy to use one-click buttons performing multiple actions. Instead of sending e-mails to the same people over and over - click once and send an e-mail to your group of people. If you like filing your mail, with the help of Quick Steps you can file your mail and mark it as read with one click. Practically they're nothing more than rules or macros that can manage your e-mails. In this article we will look closer at managing Quick Steps and creating personal ones.

Upon using the rules for the first time, these need to be configured. To do that, go to Home tab and find Quick Steps section.

Fig.1. Quick Steps configuration window in MS Outlook 2010.

Click a small arrow in the right-bottom corner of the section. Select one rule, for example Move to: and click Edit. Point to the folder e-mails will be moved to.

Fig.2. Editing a new Quick Step.

Changing this parameter will automatically modify the name as well, but you can edit the name to suit your needs. Although the default action is Mark as read, it is possible to define additional actions. You can do it by clicking Add action. At the bottom of the window, in the Shortcut field, you can define a keyboard shortcut for the quick step. The last thing to do is to save the rule by clicking Save button. Proceed similarly to configure other quick steps.

If you want to define your own Quick Steps, click New, and choose one of the groups from the list that appears on the screen. It is possible to move, categorize, flag or forward e-mail messages. In order to create non-standard rules click Non-standard button, and define the new rule according to your needs. It is also possible to copy your rules' settings by clicking Duplicate.

Fig.3. Defining a new Quick Step.

In order to learn more about Quick Steps, please follow the article on Introducing Quick Steps.