Tame your computer - simplify searching

In her regular series for Cambridge Network members, software training expert Karen Roem offers handy tips to help you 'Tame your computer'. This week she describes how to reduce irrelevant search results (Outlook 2007-2010)...

Searching in Outlook 2007 and 2010 is easy. Simply open your mail, calendar, contacts or task folder and type the words or phrase that best describe the information or the name of the person you’re looking for in the Search box. But what if your inbox is an out of control beast and you get too many hits? Or you have a lot of contacts with a similar sort of name? (I get Alan, Ank, Anna, Anne, Anneke and Andrew when I’m looking for An.)

Well, did you know you can use double quotation marks (" ") in the same way they might be used when you search the web?

Here’s how:

1.       Open the item you want to search in, such as your inbox or to-do list.

2.       In the Instant Search box in the top right hand corner, type the exact phrase or specific word you are looking for, enclosed in double quotation marks (" "). For example, “outlook 2010”. Or “an” if I don’t want to find Alan, Ank, Anna, Anne, Anneke and Andrew.

3.       If you cannot find what you are looking for, you could click on the All Mail Items button in the Search Tools tab (Outlook 2010 only) so that it won’t just look in, say, the inbox but also all the subfolders.

 By the way, see http://roem.co.uk/tip_292.html   and http://roem.co.uk/tip_294.html for more tips on finding that needle in a haystack.


PS I'm committed to sharing the best of what I know with others so please don't keep these tips a secret. If you enjoyed today's tip, please forward it to anyone you feel may benefit or reprint it (with full copyright and subscription information) in your newsletters and message boards. Got a tip to share? Submit it by emailing karen@roem.co.uk - if your tip is selected, I'll publish it along with
your name; the bragging rights will last a lifetime.


17 September 2012

Karen Roem offers software training and support through her company Roem Ltd.  Contact her by email  (Karen@roem.co.uk) or visit her website at http://www.roem.co.uk
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