How I Used Outlook 2010 Quick Steps to Eliminate Custom Macros
In 2008 I wrote a blog post entitled “Outlook Macro: Flag and Move Message to Follow-up Folder” which has become one of my more popular posts. Nearly two years later this method has, fortunately, become obsolete because of 
the additions in Quick Step features in Outlook 2010.
As part of my Getting Things Gone process I use the Flag for follow-up function in Outlook to identify messages I need to respond to at a future date. In the past my macro would simply place them unscheduled in a folder called “Follow-up” and I would need to schedule them and categorize them later. I have replaced this process with a new Quick Step that I call “Flag, categorize, and move” which does exactly the name describes. When I select a message and click on the Quick Step I am prompted to categorize the message and then it is moved to the “Follow-up Issues”. I use categories to identify the follow-up context, like @Phone or @person name to trigger my follow-up when it is relevant.
Using this technique I could have just as easily prompted for a follow-up date but I choose not to add the additional step for every item I move.
You will also notice that I have two Quick Steps entitled “@Paul” and “@Julio” which are based on the “Flag, categorize, and move” except the automatically set the category to the proper context. These are two of the most common follow-up categories so I chose to make click options to speed up the process. I have purposefully chosen not limit the number of Quick Steps to minimize clutter and decision making when I am filing and managing my inbox.
Reader question: How would you use Quick Steps to make managing your in-box more efficient?
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