Tips for Managing Your Outlook Email
for MAC Users

 

Below are some useful tricks for managing the size of your Microsoft  Outlook Inbox.  Remember, by default all your email is stored on the University’s server, which has a limited capacity and will cease functioning if it gets too full.  It is everyone’s responsibility to manage the size of their Outlook Inbox.

Important Note: These procedures were composed and tested using Microsoft Office 2001.  Most of them should also work with Office 98, but a few may not.  If you are still running Office 98, please contact the Computer Services office, (205) 665-6512 to investigate an upgrade to Office 2001.

 

1. Adding the Personal Folders Service
   Personal Folders are storage folders that Outlook can create for you on your hard drive.  You can use these folders to store old emails that you don’t want to leave on the server.  However, if you’ve never used Personal Folders before, you may need to add the Personal Folders Service.  Here’s how:
    
   1. With Outlook running, make sure that you have the Folder View available. You can do this by going to the View menu at the top of the screen and making sure there is a check mark next to Folder List.  Displaying the Folder List will give you a tree view of all available Outlook folders and will be necessary to follow many of these tips.
       
   2. Next, go back to the menu and select Tools then Services.  You should see this window:
      
      
      Look to see if Personal Folders is listed as a service.  If it is, click Cancel, then skip ahead to Section 2.  If it is not, proceed to the next step.
       
   3. Click the Add button.  You should see this screen:
      
      
      Highlight Personal Folders and click Add again.
       
   4. You should see this window:
      
      
      Click New
       
   5. Next, you will be prompted to give the personal folder service a name. You can name this service anything you wish or you can accept the default name Outlook gives it.  In this example, newfolder was used.
      
      
      Click Save to continue.
       
   6. The final window in this process allows you to set security options. You can check what you feel applies or you can leave the service at the default setting.  In either case, click OK to continue.
       
   7. Click OK on the Services window to complete the process.
       
2. Creating a Personal Folder
   Near the bottom of the Folder List, you should see a new tree named Personal Folders:
   
   
   The Personal Folders tree is where you can create new folders for backup and organizational purposes.  Here’s how to create a new folder:
    
   1. Highlight the Personal Folders tree.
       
   2. Click File on the menu at the top of your screen and choose Folder. A small menu will appear. Choose New Folder.
       
   3. You will be prompted to name the folder and to specify its location. Name your new folder and scroll down to Personal Folders in the window if it is not highlighted already.
       
   4. Click Personal Folders then click OK.
       
   5. To move emails to your new folder, simply click on Inbox in your Folder List so that you can see your email again. You can now either select which emails you want by clicking on them separately, or you can click on the first one and hold down the Apple key + A, which will select all of them.
       
   6. With the emails selected that you want to move, simply “drag and drop” them to the newly created folder in the Folder List. When done, click on the new folder to verify that you have moved them successfully.
       
3. Creating a Rule
   If you would like to send emails directly to your Personal Folders without doing it manually, you can create a Rule.  Rules tell Outlook to perform an action automatically so you don’t have to.
    
   1. Click Tools on the menu at the top of your screen and choose Rules.
       
   2. Next, click the Add Rule button.
      
      There are many different kinds of rules you can make in Outlook to handle how your email is delivered and stored.  The rule we are going to create here as an example will automatically send email from one particular correspondent directly to a Personal Folder.  Feel free to try making other kinds of rules as well.
       
   3. On the Edit Rule window, enter your correspondent’s full email address (ex. contact@email.com) in the From… box.  In the Sent To… box, add your email address (ex. staffname@montevallo.edu).
       
   4. Check the box next to Move To, and click the Folder button to the right.
       
   5. Choose the personal folder you previously created in the instructions above.
       
   6. Click OK.

 

Important Note:  Remember that these personal folders live on your hard drive, so when you need to back up your data you will also need to back up your personal folders as well.

If you have any questions about any of the procedures in this document, or would like to schedule a technician to come to your office for a consultation, please do not hesitate to contact the Computer Services Help Desk at (205) 665-6520 between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday - Friday or send an email to helpdesk@montevallo.edu.