15. Using Folders
In This Chapter
Many users like to file their mail into folders, if only to keep the Inbox empty. Although I don’t recommend using a lot of folders because it makes managing Outlook items more difficult (especially contacts), filing mail into a few folders and then using Instant Search to find the messages can be useful.
The most common reason many people use more folders in Outlook is to file their email and get it out of the Inbox. Some people like to create a folder for each person they receive email from, but this makes it harder to work with long email exchanges when several people are replying, because each message is stored in a different folder.
If you want to move messages out of the Inbox to keep it clean, move the messages to a folder named Completed, or use separate folders for personal and business messages, plus one for receipts for online purchases.
In this chapter, I’ll show you how to manage your Outlook data using folders and data files.
Creating New Folders
You can create as many folders as you need at either the Inbox level or as a subfolder to any other folder. The default folder type is the same type as the parent folder or parent module. You can create subfolders of any type under any folder. For example, you can create contacts and calendar folders under the Inbox.
Note
Is there a limit to the number of folders you can create in Outlook 2013? No! The data file format Outlook 2013 uses supports unlimited subfolders and Outlook messages or other items per folder. The default data file size is 50GB, so it can hold a lot of email, appointments, and contacts (somewhere around one million items, depending on size). If you need a larger data file, the file size can be increased by editing the registry. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925 for instructions.
When you need to create a new mail folder, you can click the New Folder button on the Folder tab or right-click an existing folder, and then choose New Folder from the context menu. When you are creating Mail folders, type the name for your folder right in the folder list (see Figure 15.1).
When you are working in other modules and choose New Folder from the right-click menu or Folder tab, the Create New Folder dialog box opens (see Figure 15.2). Type a name for your folder, verify that the desired folder type is selected in the Folder contacts drop-down, and select the folder that the new folder will be placed in. If you want it at the same level as the Inbox, select the top level of the mailbox. Press OK to create the folder and exit the dialog box.
Note
You won’t see the New Folder command on the context menu or ribbon in the Calendar module; look for the New Calendar command instead.
After you’ve created the folders, you can move them to another position in the folder list by dragging the folder with your mouse.
Note
If you have a habit of accidentally picking up folders and dropping them inside other folders, try enabling the mouse’s ClickLock feature in Control Panel, Mouse. With ClickLock enabled, you need to click once to pick up a folder and click again to drop the folder.
Managing Folders
In addition to creating new folders, you can move, copy, rename, and delete your folders. These commands are available on the Folder tab and on the context menu when you right-click a folder, or you can use your mouse.
When you delete a folder, it’s moved to the Deleted Items folder. The Calendar, Contact, or Tasks folders won’t be visible in the Deleted items folder when you use the Mail pane. You’ll need to switch to the folder list to see the nonmail folders.
Note
If you need to delete a lot of folders, drag the folders into one folder, and then delete that folder, or drag the folders into the Deleted Items folder. This will avoid the annoying “Move [folder name] to the Deleted items folder?” dialog box that comes up when you use the Delete command.
If you need to move a folder a short distance on the folder list, you can drag it with your mouse. Use Outlook’s Move Folder and Copy Folder commands when you need to move the folders a longer distance, because it uses the Folder picker, which is usually easier than dragging a folder up or down the folder list (see Figure 15.3).
The Folder tab on the ribbon contains these commands (see Figure 15.4):
• New Folder—Opens the Create New Folder dialog box.
• New Search Folder—Opens the New Search Folder dialog box.
• Rename Folder—Click to rename the selected folder. Instead of using the button, you can click twice on the folder name to initiate a rename.
• Copy Folder—Opens the Copy Folder dialog box. Select the folder and then click the Copy Folder button to choose the folder you want to copy the selected folder into. Instead of using the button, you can hold Ctrl as you drag the folder with your mouse. The cursor will include a + sign, indicating it is being copied.
• Move Folder—Opens the Move Folder dialog, where you’ll select the folder you want to move the folder into, or you can drag the folder using the mouse.
• Delete Folder—Select the folder you want to delete and press the Delete button. If you prefer using the keyboard, select the folder and press the Del key.
• Mark All as Read—Select a folder and then click the button to mark all messages in the folder as read.
• Run Rules Now—Use to open the Rules and Alerts dialog box to run rules. Note that this button is not shown on the ribbon with all account types.
• Show All Folders A to Z—Previous versions of Outlook sorted folders in alphabetical order, but Outlook 2013 lets you arrange the folders in any order you desire. If you decide alphabetical order is better for you, click Show All Folders A to Z to sort the folders. When the button is highlighted, the sort order is locked alphabetically. Click it again to unlock.
• Clean Up Folder—Use this button to remove redundant messages from threads.
• Delete All—Move the contents of the folder (but not the folder) to the Deleted Items folder.
• Purge (IMAP accounts only)—Permanently deletes messages marked for deletion.
• Recover Deleted Items—Used with Exchange Server mailboxes to recover recently deleted messages after the Deleted Items folder is emptied.
• Show in Favorites—Adds the selected folder to the Favorites list. You can also drag folders to the Favorites list and drag to reorder the folders.
• View on Server (Exchange server only)—Includes the messages that are on the server when using Sync Slider to limit the amount of messages stored in Outlook.
• Policy (Exchange Server only)—Policy settings used for archiving older messages.
• IMAP Folders (IMAP accounts only)—Opens the IMAP folders dialog box.
• Update Folder List (IMAP accounts only)—Updates the IMAP folder list.
• AutoArchive Settings—Opens the autoarchive settings dialog box.
• Folder Permissions (Exchange Server only)—Opens the Folder Properties dialog box to give other users permission to view your folders.
• Folder Properties—Opens the Folder Properties dialog box.
FIGURE 15.4 The Folder tab contains the commands you need to manage your Outlook folders. This screenshot shows the commands for an IMAP account.
Managing Data Using Folders
Common usage of folders is to sort Contacts into groups. Some people sort their contacts into folders by state or country, others use 26 folders and sort the contacts alphabetically. Some Outlook users sort by company or social group.
Although it makes sense to keep the contacts for members of the civic club or baseball team in a separate folder, if the members are also friends you’ll have a copy of the contact in your Friends folder. If you need to update their address, you’ll need to remember to update both contacts. For this reason, it’s usually better to use fewer folders, and then group contacts or appointments using color categories.
My recommendation for calendar and contacts folders: one folder each. If you want or need more, use two: one for business and one for private or personal contacts or appointments. Use categories to group contacts together instead of separating them into different folders.
Most users, myself included, use folders to sort email. Some of the messages are moved using rules as the messages arrive in Outlook’s Inbox. Other messages are moved to other folders after reading them.
As with contacts, fewer folders is better, but most people will have more than two folders for email. At the very least, have a folder for messages that you are finished with but don’t want to delete, one for messages you need to keep forever, and folders for messages from email lists. Most people have at least a dozen folders, and it’s not uncommon for some users to have several hundred folders. I don’t recommend several hundred folders; it’s too hard to manage that many folders, and it’s harder to navigate the folder list.
More than one person has created deeply nested folders and then forgot where a folder was. In some cases, they forgot where the folder was and what it was called; other times, they accidently picked up the folder with their mouse and then dropped it. Because Outlook can’t search for folder names, finding the folder involves a lot of browsing unless you know the tricks.
If you can find a message in the folder, you can use these steps to find where the folder is.
1. Use Instant Search to find an email message in the folder you are looking for. You may want to add the In Folder field to the view so you can see if a message is in the “missing” folder.
2. Double-click the email to open it.
3. Click the opened email to make sure that is your active window.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+F (Advanced Find). If the folder name you are looking for is not shown in the In field, the message was not the active window or the message is not in that folder.
5. Click the Browse button to reveal the full path to the email (see Figure 15.5).
FIGURE 15.5 Use the Select Folder(s) dialog box in Advanced Find to find where folders are in your folder list.
Conversation View
Although I don’t recommend either using a large number of folders to sort your email or filing mail in folders by sender, you can use the conversation feature in Outlook 2013 to show all mail in a conversation. With the Conversation Settings option enabled to Show Messages from Other Folders, all messages in a conversation, including sent messages and messages stored in other folders, are shown in the conversation.
To enable conversations, switch to the View tab and add a check mark to Show as Conversations; then expand conversation Settings and select Show Messages from Other Folders (see Figure 15.6).
FIGURE 15.6 Use Show as Conversations and Show Messages from Other Folders to view all messages in a conversation together.
If you have multiple Personal Folders files in your profile and are not delivering mail to the Personal Folders, you’ll need to enable it for Search if you want to include the results in the Conversation view. You can also enable an option for reminders.
To include the data file in searches, open the Search tab by clicking in the Search field, and then expand Search Tools, Locations to Search. Select the data files you want to include in the searches.
If you want to display reminders for items in Personal Folders files (.pst), you’ll need to right-click the top-level folder, Choose Data File Properties from the bottom of the context menu to open the Properties dialog box. Add a check to Display Reminders and Tasks from This Folder in the To-Do Bar (see Figure 15.7). With this option set, reminders on items in the data file are displayed.
FIGURE 15.7 Enable Display Reminders and Tasks from This Folder if you want to include the contents of the folder in the Conversation view.
Adding More Data Files
Outlook can open as many Personal Folders files as you want, within reason. However, after you get above 50 .pst files open in your profile, Outlook may start to slow down. Multiple .pst files are used for different email accounts or to archive older messages.
You can open existing Personal Folder files (.pst) in Outlook or create new .pst files.
To open an existing .pst or create a new one, switch to the File tab.
1. Click Account Settings. Switch to the Data Files tab.
2. Click Add.
3. From the Save As Type list, select Outlook Data File.
4. Browse to find the .pst file you want to open, or type a name for the new .pst in the Name field (see Figure 15.8).
FIGURE 15.8 Use the Create or Open Outlook data File dialog box to create a new .pst file or select an existing .pst file to open in your profile.
5. Click OK and return to the Account Settings dialog box in Outlook.
Note
When you create new Personal Folders (.pst) files, you can put them anywhere on your hard drive.