9 tips to get more from the Outlook email app on your phone

Whether you use Outlook on your Android phone or iPhone, for work or for personal use, there is a tip here to help you work faster, smarter, and more easily. Supercharge your Outlook usage.

Outlook email started out as Hotmail, a company that was bought by Microsoft way back in 1997 and relaunched as MSN or Microsoft Hotmail. That is when I signed up for a free account and I have had one ever since.

It has changed a lot over the years and it did not even have a mobile app back then and it was desktop-only. Hotmail was rebranded as Outlook in 2012, although if you are a longtime user you will still have an email address @hotmail.com.

The mobile app has changed over time and the latest version has some clever and useful features that you may not have discovered, like quietning notifications in the evening when you have finished work, a great dark theme, flags, filters, swipes and more. Here are some of my favorite features and they will hopefully may Outlook easier and more fun to use.

I will be using the Android version of Outlook, but the iPhone app is almost identical, so most of these tips work for iOS fans too.

1 Customize your favorite folders

Open the sidebar with the three bars icon in the top left corner of Outlook and Tap the pencil icon to the right of Favorites. At the bottom of the page are folders. Tap the star next to a folder to move it up to the Favorites list. If the favorites are not in the best order, press, hold and drag the two bars on the right of a favorite to move it up or down the list.

2 Use a Focused inbox

Not all emails are important and some require your attention immediately, but others can wait. The Focused inbox feature sorts incoming emails into two lists, Focused and Other and it is a great way to remove the clutter from your inbox.

Tap the menu button in the top left corner and then tap the gear icon at the bottom to open Settings. Turn on the switch next to Focused Inbox, then return to your inbox.

There are two tabs, Focused and Other and Outlook automatically sorts messages. Mostly it makes the right decision, but occasionally you might see an important email on the Other tab or an unimportant one on the Focused tab. It is not perfect, but it is a big help.

3 Choose a theme

There are light and dark themes and an option to select the theme to match whatever the phone is currently using, so if you have a light theme during the day and a dark theme after sunset using the phone settings, Outlook will match it. Open the side menu, tap the gear icon and tap Theme. Choose your preferred option.

4 Use do not disturb

Outlook has a Do Not Disturb feature that enables you to silence notifications when you are not working, doing something else and do not want to be interrupted, sleeping and so on. This is separate to the Android Do Not Disturb feature and it is easily missed.

Open the menu on the left and at the top is a bell icon. Press it to see all the Do Not Disturb options. There is Until I turn it off, For one hour, Until tomorrow. More interesting and more useful are the scheduled Do Not Disturbs. For example, you can turn off notifications during evenings and/or weekends. Don't let your boss or work colleagues pester you when you are not working, silence them.

5 Add calendars

The calendar in Outlook is useful for scheduling and notifying you of meetings, appointments and other events, but it is not the only information it can show. Open the side menu and then tap the gear icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap Interesting Calendars and see what it offers. It depends on your location in the world and there are different calendars in the US, UK and other places. Mine are all sports related and mostly UK-specific, but you might also see TV shows.

6 Flag important emails

Sometimes you receive an important email, but don't have time to deal with it right now. Flag it so that it is easy to find (see next tip) so you can deal with it when you have time. Open the email and press the three dots in the top right corner to show a menu. Tap Flag.

7 Use filters

It can be difficult seeing important emails in your inbox when there are so many. Fortunately, filters help you by only showing what you want to see. When viewing the inbox, tap Filters in the top right corner and select Unread, Flagged, Attachments or Mentions Me. (If someone uses @yourname in an email, that's a mention.)

8 Set up swipe actions

Increase the speed and ease with which you can deal with emails in the inbox by setting up swipe actions. Swiping left or right over an email in the inbox can perform an action like deleting it, archiving it, adding a flag, moving it to another folder and so on. You can then swipe, swipe, swipe and clear your inbox quickly.

Open the menu and tap the gear icon down at the bottom. Tap Swipe options and then tap Change next to Swipe right and Swipe left. Choose an action from the collection that appears. Choose the actions that you perform the most.

9 Limit notifications

Some emails are important, but some are not. It is irritating when notifications appear on the phone and it chimes to alert you, only when you look you discover that it is unimportant or even spam. Limit notifications to only important emails that you want to see.

Open the menu and tap the gear icon. Tap Notifications underneath Email and then tap Notifications again. A menu appears and you can choose to see notifications only from Favorite People or Focused Inbox only.