Tip of the Week Archive: Email

Turning Off Predictive Text in Microsoft 365 Email

(Shared 06.05.2025)

If you’re using the Microsoft 365 email system, you’ve experienced the predictive text that suggests your next word(s) when you are typing out a message.  If that’s helpful for you, awesome!  However, if you’re like me and find it distracting (and sometimes annoying), there’s a way to make it stop.

How to turn off predictive text:

• Click the gear-shaped settings icon in the top right of your screen.
• Click Mail in the menu on the left.
• Click Smart Suggestions in the menu in the middle.
• Under Text Predictions, un-check the box for “Suggest words or phrases as I type.”
• Click Save at the bottom of the box.

Now you’re free to write emails without interference from a digital know-it-all!

Adding “Safe Senders” to Microsoft 365 Email 
(Shared 04.22.2025)

Sometimes our email system can mistakenly interpret a message as spam.  Here’s how to add a sender to your “safe senders” list so that their messages don’t get hung up in your junk email folder:

-    When logged into your email account, click on the Settings button (the gear-shaped icon) in the top right corner.

-    In the window that pops up, click Junk Email in the middle column, and scroll down a little bit to see Add safe sender.

-    Click Add safe sender, and in the box that opens up, type in the email address, then click OK.

-    After you’ve entered the address, the Save button will become active.  Click Save to finish the process for saving the email as “safe.”
 
 

Tip of the Week – Grouping Messages in the New Email System

(Shared 12/10/2024)

As we’re getting used to the new email system, we’re finding all kinds of ways that it’s different from the old one—most of them better!

If you’re anything like me, though, the default grouping of email messages doesn’t work for the way you work.  If you want to see all of your inbox messages in one spot, in the order in which they arrived, try these steps in the browser version of Outlook:

• Toward the top-left corner of the screen, click “View.”
• In the new menu that shows up, click “View Settings” (with the gear icon).
• A box will pop up with “Layout” at the top.  (If “Layout” doesn’t appear at the top of the box, click “Layout” from the list toward the left.)

A couple of options are worth a look here:

• Focused Inbox – If you would rather have all your messages arrive in one spot in your inbox (instead of being sorted into “Focused” and “Other”) by the email system, choose “Don’t sort my messages.”
• Message organization – If you would rather have all of your emails in order of when they were received (instead of being sorted by conversation), choose “Show email as individual messages.”

 As you scroll down, there are several other options to explore in this “Layout” window, and you may want to adjust those based on your personal preferences of how you like your inbox to appear.

Tip of the Week- Finding Help in Outlook Webmail

(Shared 12/12/2024)

This week features an extra Tip of the Week, related to our new email system. 

Outlook webmail has built-in help resources to assist you with various tasks and features. Here's how to access them:

• Locate the Help Menu: At the top of your Outlook webmail screen, click on "Help" (it's next to "Home" and "View").

• Open the Help Panel: Click on "Help" again. This will open a help panel on the right side of your screen.

• Search for Assistance: Type your question or keywords related to your issue into the search bar within the help panel. For example, if you're having trouble sending an attachment, you could type "attachment" or "send file."

• Explore the Results: Outlook will display a list of relevant help articles. Browse through them and click on the one that best addresses your needs.
• Expand Your Search (If Needed): If you don't find the answer you're looking for, click "Show more" at the bottom of the results list to see additional articles.

Need More Help? Visit the Microsoft Support Website

If you can't find a solution within Outlook's built-in help, you can visit the Microsoft Support website:

• Go to support.microsoft.com: Open a new tab in your web browser and navigate to the Microsoft Support website.
• Find Outlook Support: You can either select "Outlook" from the list of products or type "Outlook" in the search bar.
• Browse or Search: Explore common help topics or type your specific question into the search bar to find relevant articles and resources.

Tip of the Week- How to Stop Outlook from Automatically Marking Emails as Unread

(Shared 1/21/25)

This week's Tip is related to our new email system! Are your emails staying unread even after you've opened them? Here's how to adjust your Outlook settings:

1. Open Settings: You can do this by clicking the gear icon in the top right corner of your Outlook screen.
2. Go to Message Handling: In the Settings menu, select "Mail," then click on "Message handling."
3. Choose how you want emails marked as read:
   1. Under the "Mark as read" section, uncheck the box that says "Always keep items unread unless I explicitly mark them as read."
   2. Select one of the following options:"Mark displayed items as read as soon as they're selected" OR "Mark displayed items as read after 5 seconds"
4. Save your changes: Click the "Save" button.​​​​​​​

This will ensure your emails are marked as read according to your preferences.

Creating an Email Signature

(Shared 2/18/2025)

This week's tip is about creating an email signature in the new Microsoft Outlook email. 

Why have an email signature? An email signature is a simple but powerful tool that can enhance your communication and make a positive impression on your recipients. It saves you time by automatically including your contact details in every email, eliminating the need to type them out repeatedly. You can also use your signature to promote your website, social media, or upcoming events.

Wondering how to set up your email signature in Outlook?

1. Open Outlook Settings:

• Click the gear icon in the top right corner of your Outlook screen.

2. Go to "Account":

• In the Settings window, click on "Account" in the left sidebar.
• Select "Signatures".

3. Create your signature:

• In the "Email signature" section, click on “+ New Signature”.
• In the first box, type in a Signature Name. 
• In the second box, fill in the text you want to include in your signature.
• You can use the formatting tools to customize the font, size, color, and style of your text.
• You can add images or links to your signature by clicking the picture icon or the link icon.

4. Save your signature:

• Click the "Save" button at the top of the page. You can create multiple signatures by following the same steps.

5. Choose when to include your signature:

Underneath "Select default signatures"; you can choose from the drop-down menus which signature you’d like to use "For New Messages" and "For Replies/Forwards".

Creating Rules in Outlook

(Shared 5/13/2025)

1. Open Settings:
   • You can access Outlook's Settings in either of these ways:

     • By clicking the gear icon in the top right corner.

     • Or by selecting the "Settings" option within the View tab.

2. Navigate to Rules:
   • In the Settings window, click on "Mail" in the left sidebar.
   • Select "Rules."
3. Create a New Rule:

   • Click on "+ Add new rule."

4. Name Your Rule:
   • Give your rule a descriptive name (e.g., "Move Newsletter to Newsletters Folder").
5. Add a Condition:
   • This tells Outlook which emails to act on.
   • Examples:
     • "From..." and enter a specific email address.
     • "Subject includes..." and enter a keyword.
     • "Sent to..." and enter your email address.
6. Add an Action:
   • This tells Outlook what to do with the emails that meet the condition.
   • Examples:
     • "Move to..." and select a folder.
     • "Delete"
     • "Mark as read"
     • "Forward to..."
7. Add Exceptions (Optional):
   • Specify any exceptions to the rule (e.g., "except if it is from..." to prevent moving emails from your supervisor, even if they contain a certain keyword).
8. Save Your Rule:
   • Click "Save."