Whether you find it handy or annoying to have a daily email reminding you of outstanding 'tasks' from your email messages, taking control of your own productivity is the key to success.
- Do It NOW! Did Cortana find a task from your emails that you missed? If you can action it in under 5 minutes, do it now!
- Date Activate It! Create a Cortana Quick Step to turn suggested tasks into actual tasks with start and due dates that you can monitor and track progress on.
- Delegate It! Forward the email to a colleague with a quick description of the task in question. Follow up with them in person or via Teams if it's something that needs more clarification.
- Delete It! Nothing helpful in there? Not finding these emails useful? Unsubscribe from the daily Briefing email and declutter your inbox. Keep following the strategies that have worked for you up to this point and remember to be Pro-Active, not Re-Active.
How to Create a Cortana Quick Step
Click Create New button from the Home tab, Quick Steps group in the ribbon in Outlook.
Type 'Cortana Quick Step' for the Name.
Select Create a task with text of message as the first action.
Add Action.
Select Delete message as the second action.
Choose a keyboard shortcut.
Click Finish.
Quick Steps are fantastic when you find yourself repeating the same series of clicks or actions on a daily or weekly basis. If you love keyboard shortcuts, then Quick Steps are for you! The example above is a simple one to get you started on Quick Steps, and while a similar result can be achieved by using the RIGHT mouse button to drag the email onto the Tasks icon a simple keyboard shortcut or single button can make life that much easier.
References:
Briefing Email Overview Microsoft Docs Article
Making it easier to stay caught up with Cortana in Microsoft 365 blog by Andrew Shuman, Corporate Vice President Cortana
