Wouldn’t you know it, right after I posted my last blog “Never miss an email again“, I found myself being humbled in a conversation saying “You sent what email?”
In my prior post, I talked about setting alerts in Outlook for those critical emails that you need to respond to right away. However, the messages that rank high in the importance category and require some phone calls or research before I can respond need a different approach. I need those types of messages to stand out in my inbox as a visual reminder of their importance, and for me it’s also a kick in the pants that I better not drop the ball on this one – especially, when it comes to prompt customer service.
How do I solve that dilemma? Conditional Formatting – that is, it’s a great solution if you are a PC user. (Sorry Mac users, it’s not available in Office 2011, but I have read there have been a lot of requests for it in the next release. Maybe you’ll see that in the future.)
Notice in the above pic, you’ll see unread email in the standard blue font and then one in a bold green font. I changed my formatting, so every time I get an email from a specific email account, it stands out with that font. You can specify conditional formatting to occur from specific individuals, when certain keywords are used, etc.
Here’s how…
1. Go to your mail, task, calendar etc. (wherever you want to add conditional formatting)
2. From the View tab, select View Settings 
3. Select Conditional Formatting
4. Click Add and type the name of your rule
5. Click Font and specify the font type, size and color that you want your specified email to display
6. Click the Condition button
7. Specify the condition for your email
8. Click OK
9. Click OK
Will conditional formatting solve my problems for not missing an email again? Probably not, but between this and setting alerts, I’m hopeful it will keep me more organized and lessen my chances of eating humble pie once again!
