A Guide to Quick Steps in Microsoft Outlook

Outlook includes a Quick Steps feature that lets you apply multiple actions to a message with one click. Outlook includes several default Quick Steps, but you also can create your own (and delete the default ones if you don’t need them). If you regularly perform the same set of actions, creating a Quick Step and assigning it a hotkey can save you a lot of time. Here’s how they work.

The Default QuickSteps

You can find Quick Steps on the “Home” tab of Outlook. When you first start, you’ll see the default Quick Steps there. You can click any of them to apply the included actions to a selected message.

The default quick steps include:

1. Move to ?: Opens a window for you to select a folder to which you’d like to move the message.
2. To Manager: Creates a forwarded copy of the currently selected message with your manager’s address in it.
3. Team Email: Creates a blank message addressed to the members of your team. (If your email is managed by your employer then depending on how your Exchange administrators have configured your mailbox, Outlook may already know who your manager and team members are. If not, you’ll have to fill these in the first time you use these quick steps.)
4. Done: Marks the message as read and complete, and then sends it to a specified folder. The first time you use this one, you’ll have specify the folder, but from then on Outlook will remember your choice and send it to that folder every time you use the Quick Step.
5. Replay & Delete: Opens up a reply to the currently selected message and then deletes the currently selected message after you send the reply.

Outlook only displays Quick Steps that are available. If you haven’t got a message selected, for example, then only the “Team Email” Quick Step is shown because the other defaults work on an existing message.

How to Create a Quick Step

To add a new Quick Step, click the “Create New” option in the Quick Steps box.

This opens up a new window where you can name your quick step and choose the actions you want it to perform.

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