7 Great Outlook.com Tricks You May Not Know About Yet

Earlier this year Microsoft replaced Hotmail and all accounts were transferred to Outlook.com. Microsoft included a host of new features such as integration with SkyDrive and instant search. If you are still finding your way around, then take a look at seven of the features we picked out that you may not have discovered yet.

Outlook Alias

In order to keep different kinds of mail seperate, many of us end up using various email address accounts but it often ends up being a nuisance. Microsoft have included a feature in Outlook.com that allows you to add aliases to your existing account.

To set up an alias then all you need to do is:

• Click the settings icon at the top right of the screen
• Click on “More email settings”
• Click “Create an Outlook alias’ link under “Managing your account
• Enter the user name part of the new email address lias under “Email address”
• Pick a domain name following @
• Finally click “Create an alias”.

If you want to set up a rule for automatically filing messages received to the new alias address to a special Outlook.com folder, then type the desired name under “A new folder”, then click “Done”.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are fantastic at saving us time. Here are our top five for Outlook.com:

• N: Start a new message
• Ctrl-Y: Insert an emoticon or emoji
• Insert: Flag the email for follow-up
• Ctrl-3: Go to People (Outlook.com address book)
• Shift+E: New Folder

For more keyboard shortcuts, click here.

Facebook and Twitter Content

Outlook.com enables you to add your contacts from social networks and manage content from Facebook and Twitter accounts. It even allows you to post comments and accept friend requests directly from the Outlook.com inbox.

To manage privacy settings and view which social media accounts you have linked with Outlook.com then:

• Select the settings icon at the top right of the screen and then Click “More email settings”
• Click “Content from third-party networks” link under “Reading email”
• At the bottom of the page, under “Showing additional content, click “Manage connections”

Sweep Emails

This feature allows you to give your inbox a good spring clean but quickly and easily (not like my housework then!). If you want to set-up an automatic clean-up of emails from a particular sender or entire category:

• Open a message from the sender or newsletter you want removing
• Click “Sweep” in the Outlook.com toolbar
• Select “Schedule cleanup” from the menu

You have various options with this feature, so you can “Only keep the latest message from this sender”, or “Delete all messages older than _ days”, and even “Move all messages older than _ days to <select>.

Revoke Easy Access Feature

If you have a device that only you use, Microsoft has created a feature whereby you can login quickly to this device by just using a password. Should you happen to lose this device however and want to revoke this one-step access quickly, follow these steps:

• Click your name or profile image in Outlook.com’s navigation bar
• Select “Account settings” from the menu that pops up
• Open the “Security info” category under “Overview”
• Click “Remove all the trusted devices associated with my account” under “Trusted devices”
• Click “Remove all trusted devices”.

One-Click Actions

The one-click acttion feature allows you to deal with emails instantly. So for example if you see that an email is spam before you even open it, then with one-click you can deal with it.

To configure these quick actions then click on the settings icon in the toolbar and select “More email settings” from the menu.  Select “Instant actions” under “Customising Outlook” and make sure “Show instant actions” is ticked.

It is possible to add your own instant action buttons by clicking “Add actions” and selecting other options from the menu. If you want this button to be constantly visible then highlight the button under “Show on mouse over” and click “Move down” until the button is under “Show always”.

Outlook.com Service Status

If you are having problems with Outlook.com, then you can find out if Microsoft is aware of it and whether anything is being done about it.

Visit the Outlook Service Status page. If you want to see issues that have been recently resolved then visit the Microsoft Services Status History page.

[Image via tenpennydreams]

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/10444045/7-hidden-features-in-Microsoft-Outlook.com.html