Although many of us can navigate classic Outlook with our eyes closed, new Outlook’s modernized interface can make finding some of the program’s most useful tools challenging. So, to help you with this, here are some tips and tricks for working with new Outlook’s email section.
1
Rectify Mistakes With Undo Send
We’ve all been there—despite proofreading a draft email several times, as soon as you click “Send,” you notice you have made a mistake. Luckily, new Outlook offers you a lifeline, but only if you’ve preemptively changed your settings in advance, so take action now!
First, click the “Settings” cog in the top-right corner of the new Outlook window.
Now, click “Email” in the left-hand menu, and select “Compose And Reply” in the second menu that appears. Then, scroll to the Undo Send section, click and drag the slider to the right (to the maximum of ten seconds), and click “Save.”
Next time you send an email, a gray box Undo will appear at the bottom of the Message pane, just like in Gmail. Just remember that you only have ten seconds to click “Undo” if you realize you have made an error, so you’ll need to act quickly!
After you click “Undo,” the message will reopen as a draft in the New Message pane for you to make any tweaks before sending the message again.
Recalling Emails in New Outlook at Work or in School
If both you and the recipient of your email have an email account linked to the same Microsoft 365 work or school domain, you can attempt to recall a message even after the undo-send time has elapsed. To do this, click “Sent Items” in the Navigation pane, double-click the message you want to recall, click “Recall Message” in the ribbon, and click “OK.” You will then receive a recall report in your inbox that tells whether your recall has been successful, depending on whether the recipient has already opened your message.
2
Plan Ahead With Schedule Send
There are many benefits to scheduling your new Outlook emails, from giving yourself extra redrafting time to optimizing your email read rate.
Draft your email in the New Message Pane as usual, including adding the recipient’s addresses, typing a subject line, and adding any attachments. Then, click the drop-down arrow next to the Send button, and click “Schedule Send.”
You can then select one of the suggested send times, or click “Custom Time” to choose a different time and date.
When you’re ready, click “Send.” Don’t worry: it won’t be sent yet—the scheduled email will wait patiently in your drafts. If you want to make any changes to a scheduled email or send it early, click the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the message after selecting it in your drafts.
When scheduling your emails, keep the following pointers in mind:
- Check the scheduled date and time carefully, as it’s easy to accidentally get these wrong.
- Remember to time travel! For example, “Tomorrow” might mean a different thing when the email is sent to what it meant when you drafted it.
- Don’t always schedule your emails to be sent at the same time of the day. If you become too predictable, your emails could lose their impact.
3
Add Professionalism With an Email Signature
Email signatures add a certain professionalism to your messages by letting you show off your credentials, share your contact details, advertise your brand, and display anything else you want to be tagged onto the end of each email you send. Above all, even if you create a minimalistic email signature with just your name and phone number, it will save you from having to type those details manually each time.
Begin by clicking the “Settings” cog in the top-right corner of the new Outlook window.
Then, click “Accounts” in the first left-hand menu and “Signatures” in the second menu.
If you manage more than one account in new Outlook, select the account for which you want to create a signature. If you haven’t yet created any email signatures, start by giving the new signature you’re about to add a name. Then, use the large, empty text field to design the signature, making use of the formatting tools underneath the field.
When you’re done, choose whether you want the signature to be included on all new messages only, or forwarded emails and replies as well. Once you’ve made that choice, click “Save,” and either close the window or start the process again to create more email signatures.
To manually add a pre-signature when drafting an email, open the “Message” tab on the ribbon, click “Signature,” and choose the relevant signature.
4
Keep Your Inbox Clean With Rules
If you’re an inbox-zero kind of person, you should definitely use new Outlook’s rules tool to automatically file your emails. There are two ways to do this.
Although you can add email accounts from providers other than Microsoft in new Outlook, you can only create rules for emails sent to your Microsoft accounts.
Create a Sender Rule Via a Received Message
The first way to create a rule is by focusing on a specific sender. Right-click an email you’ve already received, and click Rules > Create Rule.
To create a quick rule defining where future emails from that sender will go, simply select a folder location, and click “OK.”
Alternatively, to activate other actions for this sender—like pinning their emails to the top of your inbox or automatically marking their emails as junk—click “More Options” and adjust the settings in the dialog box that appears.
Create Different Types of Rules in the Dialog Box
Another way to create rules is via the Rules dialog box, a method that gives you more flexibility and options. This is also where you can adjust the rules you have already created.
First, select the Microsoft account for which you want to create the email rules in the Navigation pane. Then, in the Home tab on the ribbon, click Rules > Manage Rules.
Next, confirm the Microsoft email address in the Your Rules For drop-down menu, and click “Add New Rule.”
Now, name the new rule, and click the two drop-down arrows to see the different conditions and actions you can use to generate the rule.
Once you’ve finished creating your rules, click “Save.”
Here are some other tips you can use when creating rules:
- You aren’t restricted to adding just one condition and action—you can add as many as you want! That said, adding too many could result in performance issues or complications with conflicting settings, so be selective.
- If you have several rules that could apply to a single message, check “Stop Processing More Rules” underneath the first rule to force new Outlook to apply that rule only and ignore the others.
- Check “Run Rule Now” to apply the rule to all emails already in your inbox. Leaving this unchecked will only apply the rule to future emails that land in your inbox.
5
Use the Search Bar to Save Time
Usually, I’d advise you to use the search bars in Microsoft’s desktop apps with caution, as they can sometimes create more confusion than they solve. However, the new Outlook search bar is surprisingly intuitive and can save you the hassle of wading through lots of folders to find that elusive email.
Begin by clicking the search bar at the top of the new Outlook window to activate the advanced search options.
If you wish, you could go ahead and type a keyword straightaway, pressing Enter to begin the search.
However, to increase your chances of finding the email you’re looking for, make some changes to the search parameters. To do this, click the filter icon on the right-hand side of the search bar, and work your way through the options.
For example, you could click “Current Mailbox” to choose the folder where you think the item is located. If you’re not sure, leave “Current Mailbox” selected, and new Outlook will search all folders under the active email address when you enter you begin the search. Maybe you know the name or email address of the person who sent the email you’re looking for, so you can type that in the From field. On the other hand, you might remember roughly when you received the email, so you could change the Date From and Date To fields. Once you’ve refined the search parameters, click “Search.”
The search results will appear in the Message pane, with what new Outlook deems as the most relevant results placed at the top.
6
Switch to Dark Mode
If you spend many hours a day looking at your emails in new Outlook, you should think about switching to dark mode. Using dark mode has many benefits, including reducing eye strain, possibly lengthening the time your battery lasts if you’re using a laptop, and improving your display’s aesthetic appeal.
First, click the “Settings” cog in the top-right corner of your new Outlook window.
In the left-hand menu of the Settings dialog box that appears, click “General,” and then click “Appearance.”
Now, click “Dark,” and your new Outlook window will instantly show you how dark mode looks. If you like what you see, click “Save.”
Alternatively, if you’ve activated dark mode in your Windows 11 system settings and want new Outlook to adopt this display, click “Use System Settings.” Then, if you ever decide to revert your system to light mode, new Outlook will change accordingly.
If you routinely send emails with repeated content and structure, such as a weekly schedule or business update, create and save an email template in new Outlook to aid consistency, save time, and reduce the chances of typos and other errors.
