Agency Technology: A Baker's Dozen of Outlook Tips, Part II

Welcome back. Last month, we listed the first six of my “Baker’s dozen” of tips on getting the most out of Outlook. Now that you’ve had a month to practice, let’s move on to the big finish!The First Six Rules . . .o Click and drag: Organize your e-mail outside of the Inbox.o Scheduling: Create “friendly reminders” for underwriters and others.o Notes: Ditch the Post-Its and organize Notes in Outlook.o Forms: Organize your commercial lines workflow.o iCal: Invite someone to a meeting.o Cancel serial spammers: Banish them to Junk Mail.7. Distribution ListsIf your agency regularly sends e-mails to specific groups of people, creating a distribution list is the quickest way to do it. Using a prepared list means you don’t have to type or copy individual names when sending the same e-mail to multiple addresses.Press Ctrl-Shift-L to present the distribution list dialogue. Type in a name for your list under Name, use the Add New and Select Members buttons to add your list members and then click Save and Close. You’re done.

8. HolidaysHolidays are not displayed by default in Outlook’s Calendar. However, since holidays are important to everyone in the agency, you may want to add them.To add holidays, click Tools, Options, then Calendar Options. Click Add Holidays.You can also manage other calendar options, such as Time Zone, Start and End Times for workdays, and Background Colors.