Search OutlookPower's 9,596 Outlook and all-things-email article archive 
Home
EasyPrint
News details Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Articles-only Click here for the RSS feed's XML code. This is not a browser URL.
Twitter Feed Click here for the Twitter feed.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
PST files, PR boneheads, and more rules than sense
By David Gewirtz

This week, rather than provide one long answer to a particularly vexing Outlook problem, we've decided to gather up a few recent letters to the editor and present them for your reading pleasure. Let's kick it off with a follow-up to last week's "How to combine PST files".

It's all touch and go
Russ Veinot asks:

Does anyone know a way to select multiple subfolders in a PST and be able to move them all to another PST? Dragging one by one to a new PST can be time consuming if you have a lot of folders. The interface only seems to let you select and move one at a time.

Nope. Such is life.

Computing Unplugged Contributing Editor Bill Mann tells us that there's a PST converter in Outlook 2007, but since he's looking at a beta, we can't be sure until the final product is released.

How many rules does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Jeffrey Carpenter, President of Monticello Homes writes:

I have been using folders per your latest email to organize my email. I have always used to rules to do most of this. Recently we started using MS Exchange 2003, which puts a limit of 50 rules. (not enough). So we redid my profile so I could have my rules based on my computer (client side) instead of server based. It is still being limited to 50 rules for some reason. Do you have any recommendations? I need more rules.

The article Jeffrey's referencing is a June favorite by Denise Amrich, "Using folders with Outlook to organize your mail" (at http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200605/00001772001.html).

Fundamentally, if you need more than fifty rules, you're not thinking generally enough. I get more than 2,000 messages a day and I'm able to manage it all with about 15 rules.

Let's think about this like you would a house. You don't have a room specifically for your underwear and another one for your forks, right? Instead, you have a bedroom, which has a closet for all your clothing. Likewise, you have a kitchen, which is where you do all your cooking.

The same should apply to your rules and folders. You probably shouldn't have an individual folder for each correspondent. It's far easier to have a folder for "correspondence". Into it, place all the basic correspondence you get from all your key correspondents. You can have a single rule that'll do this. If you get a new correspondent, just update that one rule. By using grouping and all of Outlook's fancy View options, you can arrange that folder anyway you want.

Likewise, if you use rules for junk email, you can use a single rule to catch everything that goes to your Junk folder. I prefer using a Bayesian spam filter, but you can accomplish pretty much the same thing with a single rule.

Anyway, Jeffrey, I'd rethink your approach. 'Tis not more rules you need -- just a better approach to managing them.


1  ·  2  ·  Next »
Other articles you might like
Home > Extras > Letters to the Editor > Regarding PST files (6 articles)
   How to combine PST files
   Send us your tired, your poor, your corrupted .pst files yearning to be read
   Moving personal folders, again
Get Weekly Email Updates
Subscribe to our regular weekly email newsletter. It's packed with tips, reviews, deep analysis, and the latest news.
 
Recent OutlookPower Articles
The strange case of Outlook losing notes and requiring passwords
Why I'm choosing to stick with Outlook 2007
Three ways to avoid email distraction and take back control of your time
Twenty ways to use email to commit career suicide
The two most motivational words in the English language
Diagnosing corrupted email headers
Email offenders
OutlookPower News Center
New Filing Assistant from Allometa
Dropbox bridges gaps in Microsoft's mobile sync
SmartBear Software Releases AQtime 7.0 Pro
6 Super Wi-Fi Tools for Windows
Microsoft Revives Windows 7 Family Pack Discount
Microsoft releases FixIt for critical flaw in 100 apps
M-Files Cloud Vault Easy, Hosted Document Management
>> Read all the news
More from the ZATZ journals
Computing Unplugged: Smartphone smarts for a mobile world
David Gewirtz Online: CNN commentary and analysis
DominoPower: It's time for Lotus to double-down on Linux and open source
-- Advertisement --

EASY DEDICATED AND VIRTUAL DEDICATED SERVERS FOR AS LOW AS $67.99 PER MONTH
Customize and configure your own dedicated server. Simply choose one of our popular plans or select your own Linux or Windows server and plan options.

NO LONG WAITS. Server provisioned within hours.

Tap here now and be up and running with your own server tonight.

-- Advertisement --

Printing emails and attachments has never been simpler
When it comes to printing emails or attachments, you can be confident that our Auto-Print add-in can do what Outlook lacks - print the emails and/or attachments as soon as they arrive.

Discover this professional tool today.
ZATZ Home  ·  News  ·  Back Issues  ·  Credits/Trademarks ·  Link To Us
The Power Magazine for Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Users at OutlookPower.com
Copyright © 1998-2010, ZATZ Publishing. All rights reserved worldwide.
Outlook is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Editor's Login