University Email: Sorting, Searching, and Handling Attachments (Text Transcript)

Welcome to “Microsoft Outlook Email Cleanup: Sorting, Searching, and Handling Attachments.” In this tutorial, you will learn to use the following strategies when you clean up your Microsoft Outlook Mailbox:

Sort your email Use instant search Create Search Folders Handle attachments efficiently

Sort Your EmailA good place to start your mailbox cleanup is with the sorting features located at the top of your current active folder.

Depending on your cleanup strategy, you can sort by different categories of mail. For example, If you are looking for personal email or emails from listservs, click on “From” to sort by sender. When you sort by sender, it helps to arrange your email in groups. Right + click on the category, and, from the arrange menu, choose “Show in Groups.” Now hold down shift to select a range of emails---and “Delete.”

If you want to eliminate the largest emails first, click on “size.” Remember that when you sort by category, you can click to toggle the order. Right now the largest emails are at the top. When I click again, the smallest messages are on top, and the largest on the bottom.

When you sort by size, the largest emails will often be the ones that have attachments. If you plan to clean up email with attachments anyway, you might just sort by attachment. Look for the paperclip on that same top bar and click to bring all of the emails with attachments to the top.

It’s important to know that this method rearranges your current folder, and it only works in one folder at a time.

Use Instant SearchAnother feature that you can use from within your folders to help with mailbox cleanup is Instant Search, located between the sort bar and the ribbon.

To activate instant search, click into the search field. This will activate the Search Tools tab. The most common way to search is by typing a keyword—like “New Horizons.” This brings up messages containing the keyword.

You can also use the tools on the ribbon tab to compile a search. If you are looking for emails with attachments, for example, click into the search field. Then, on the Search Tools tab of the ribbon, click

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the “Has Attachments” button—the one with the paperclip. The search field will be populated with “has attachments:yes,” and the results displayed will be emails that include attachments.

Create Search FoldersAnother way to identify email that can be deleted is with a Search folder. A search folder will display messages that fit certain criteria, but will not remove items from their original location, unless YOU move them. A search folder will not rearrange your inbox, and will remain (like a regular folder) until you delete it. When new email comes in that fits the criteria you set, it will appear in your search folder without leaving your inbox.

To create a search folder, locate the “Search Folders” label in the folder pane to the left of your Outlook mail window. Right click on “Search Folder” and choose “New Search Folder.” In the “New Search Folder” dialog box, select the type of search folder from the list, or you can create a Custom Search Folder. Let’s choose “Large Mail.” The next step is to customize the Search Folder. For Large Mail, you can specify size. The default is 100 KB, but we can change that value. Let’s try 250 KB instead. Click OK. Now click OK again. And you have created a search folder. Click on your Search Folder to view items that fit the criteria you set. A search folder can contain Sent items as well as items in your inbox and mailbox folders.

You can also create a Search Folder to display email with attachments. Right Click, choose “New Search Folder,” then scroll down to “mail with attachments.” Click O.K. You can sort to find the oldest messages with attachments, select and delete, to move the message from its current location to the trash.

Handling Attachments EfficientlyOnce you have located the emails with attachments, you need to decide how to handle them. If you don’t need the email or the attachment, simply press delete on the keyboard.

With some emails, you may need the attachment but not the email. To save one or all of the attachments, open or preview the email, right-click the attachment, and choose “Save As” or “Save All Attachments.” Then you can delete the email you no longer need.

Other times, you need to keep the email and NOT the attachment. To remove the attachment, right + click the attachment and choose “Remove Attachment” Now you can keep the original email, which takes up less space without the attachment.

ConclusionFor more resources on Microsoft Outlook, or for information on our Outlook classes visit our website at EODinfo.tamu.edu.

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