Organize your inbox in Outlook for Windows
Organizing your inbox is paramount to keep you productive. Making the switch from Gmail to Outlook, here are a few differences in terminology and functionality between the two apps:
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Outlook uses Folders, while Gmail uses labels, to organize messages.
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Outlook uses Rules to sort your emails into folders and categories as they are delivered. Gmail uses filters. Outlook also has Filters, but in Outlook it is a way to sort the inbox or a folder.
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Flagging an email in Outlook is a lot like starring an email in Gmail.
Use Folders to organize your email
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Select a message.
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Select Move.
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Choose a folder.
Or, drag and drop an email into a folder.
Create Rules to sort your email automatically
You can make your Rules as complicated or as simple as you want. Here's how you quickly send all messages from a single sender to a specific folder:
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Right-click a message.
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Select Rules.
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Choose Always move messages from [name of sender].
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Choose a folder or select New to create a new one.
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Select OK.
Note: To make your rule more complicated, right-click a message and select Rules > Create Rule. Read Manage email messages by using rules to learn more.
Flag email for follow up
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Select an email.
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Select Follow up.
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Choose an option.
Or, hover over the message and select the flag.
To see all of your flagged messages:
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Select Filter Email > Flagged.
Archive email
Use Archive when you want to keep a clean inbox, but don't want to delete certain emails. Unlike deleted messages, archived messages can be searched.
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Select one or more messages.
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Select Archive.
Note: Features and information in this guide apply to Outlook Mail as available through Microsoft 365.