I received some great advice the other day about managing your Outlook and being efficient with emails.

1. Use the subject line to say what the email is about or what you want them to do

This has been the biggest eye opener for me and it makes so much sense. State clearly in your email subject line what the email it is about and what you want the recipient to do. Don’t just say “Project X” put more details about what the email is asking i.e. “Project X – start date unclear – please remind me ASAP”.

For replies, don’t just hit reply and ignore the subject line. How often do you get an email that uses the “RE: previous email subject” and then just says Thanks? Update the conversation in the subject line as well as the email body

2. Set times in your day for checking your Outlook

It might seem odd that you would ignore your email for set periods of the day but you need to make efficient use of your time. Let people know of your practice and tell them what times you check your emails. As well as being able to stay focused on your work you will find you get less emails as people will call your or come find you if they want a quick question answered. I hate those emails when I know it would have been quicker to deal with if the other person had called me.

Simple – two quick tips for a better working life