Appearance

Public Folders ​

We will be using Public Folders in Outlook to the same effect as the Ωffice folders in Thunderbird. (In reality they can store more than just email, but we'll only use them for email.)

Outlook Desktop ​

Click on the More Apps icon in the left sidebar and then the Folders icon to display the full folder tree.

TIP

Pin the Folders icon to the sidebar for faster access.

When in the Folders tab, you'll see the list of Public Folders in the left sidebar, and can browse for your project. (They are now organized by year.)

You can work with public folders directly in this tree, or right click -> Add to Favourites for faster access.

Outlook Web App ​

To view Public Folders inthe Outlook Web App, you must first add them to your favourites.

  • Right-click on Folders ->
  • Add public folder to Favorites ->
  • Select the folder ->
  • Add Public Folder at the top of the menu.

Outlook Mobile ​

Public Folders are not available on Outlook Mobile.

Outlook Mac ​

Public Folders are not available in New Outlook on Mac. You must run classic Outlook on Mac.

Disable New Outlook ​

Outlook -> uncheck [ ] New Outlook

Open the Public Folders uemnu ​

Tools -> Public Folders

Subscribe to the folders you want ​

Select folder -> Subscribe

Non-Project Folders ​

I have not re-created the unnumbered folders wholesale at this time because they warrant a clean up, but feel free to create those that you currently need underneath the Office top-level folder.

Tips ​

Public Folder Nicknames ​

When adding a Public Folder to your Favourites in Outlook for Windows, you can assign it a nickname. E.g.:

22994\1 Pre-Construction -> 22994.1 or
22995 TCH Westacre Modernization\1 Pre-Construction -> 22995 TCH Pre-Con or
23996 Evergreen Brick Works Improvements\1 Pre-Construction -> Evergreen

This is helpful when using the recently used folder list in context menus or Quick Steps so that instead of:

1 Pre-Construction
1 Pre-Construction
1 Pre-Construction

you would see:

22994.1
22995 TCH Pre-Con
22996 Evergreen

Move context menu item remembers recent folders ​

Right-click on a message or selection of messages and choose Move. Your 10 most recent destinations are remembered for quicker repeat actions. (Quick Steps are another good mechanism for repeated actions.)

Multiple Windows ​

Outlook doesn't have tabs like Thunderbird, but you can open multiple separate Outlook windows to have views into multiple folders at the same time. Right click -> Open in New Window.

Using Public Folders in Quick Steps ​

When creating a Quick Step action to move a message to a folder, Public Folders don't appear in the Other Folder... list. To create a Move action to a Public Folder, first move a message manually to the public folder. The public folder will then appear in the list of recently used folders when you are creating the action.

Favourites are smart ​

If the underlying folder is later moved or renamed, favourites will still point to the correct folder.

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