Tip of the week # 424
20 June 2014

Organise your inbox using colour (Microsoft Outlook)

Is your Outlook inbox an overstuffed, out-of-control beast? If so, you'll be pleased to know that there are various ways to organise your inbox to help you easily locate certain messages. For example, you can specify that messages from a specific sender will be displayed in your Inbox in a certain colour, making them stand out from the rest. In earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook, the Organize feature enabled you to create conditional text formatting rules for email messages (see tip_187.php for details). In Microsoft Outlook 2010, conditional text formatting is accessed in the Advanced View Settings dialog box.

Here's how:

1. On the View tab, in the Current View group, click View Settings.
2. Click Conditional Formatting.
3. Click Add.
4. Give your rule a name.
5. Click Font.
6. Go wild.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Condition.
9. In the From box, type the email address of the person whose messages you want to stand out.
10. Click OK 3x.

Any new messages that come into your Inbox from that specific sender will be displayed in your chosen colour. (Happiness is.)