Information Services Watercooler

This tip I attempted to share via email as well since it corresponds to receiving notifications from the blog and highlights the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed feature. You are able to receive blog updates in Outlook by right-clicking on the ‘RSS Feeds’ folder (displayed in the ‘Mail’ and ‘Folder List’ views), choose ‘Add a New RSS feed…’, enter ‘https://blogs.utmb.edu/watercooler/feed/’, choose ‘Add’, and confirm ‘Yes’. You’ll now receive Blog postings in Outlook! More information can be found by clicking the RSS Feed link from the blog (https://blogs.utmb.edu/watercooler/) You can add other RSS feeds from various sources (even Twitter) using this same method. Furthermore, Outlook is just one of the methods to receive RSS feeds. Leave a comment with any questions or ideas, thanks.

Everyone is likely familiar with some version of a keyboard shortcuts or key combinations (you used Ctrl+Alt+Del to login). Some other popular combinations are Windows+L to lock your machine, Alt+Print Screen to take a screenshot of the active window or Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V which translate to Cut, Copy and Paste respectively. You can also create your own shortcuts by right-clicking on any windows application and choosing Properties and then selecting the ‘Shortcut’ tab which should display the menu in the screenshot below. By entering a unique key, such as “C” for the calculator application (it will automatically add the “Ctrl+Alt+”) you’ll set your own shortcut and no longer need to dig through the Start Menu when you’re needing to use the application. Additional details can be found here which also contains a list of all Windows 7 shortcuts. Let us know if you have any additional tips or tricks to suggest and watch the blog for additional hints to make your work more efficient.

We’ll be posting random and hopefully helpful Tips ‘n’ Tricks that you can use in your daily work. We hope to post new options weekly but also invite your suggestions or input for any new ideas you’d like to highlight. Enjoy!

Conversations in Outlook

In Outlook 2010 you can now view your messages as Conversations, similar to how your text messages are likely categorized and grouped on your phone. By right-clicking on the “Arrange By:” Sort bar directly beneath the “Search Inbox” field you’ll receive the menu shown in the screenshot below. If your messages are being sorted by Date you should see both ‘Show as Conversations’ and ‘Show in Groups’ as available options. Choosing the Groups setting will highlight or Title your emails in categorical grouping (such as “Today” and “Last Week” if using Date). Choosing the Conversations setting combines an email string with the same Subject line together into a single unit which is expandable or collapsible to reveal or hide the entire conversation detail. You’ll need to determine if you’d like this setting applied to only the specific folder you’re referencing or All Folders. Also, please note that moving email objects in a collapsed viewing state will transfer the entire conversation instead of just a single message. Additional details can be found here. Hopefully this is a helpful function that can assist you in achieving more efficient management of your inbox.