Outlook Sweep For a Tidy Inbox

The Outlook “Sweep” function is your friend. Do you get bundles of emails from the same business, organization, vendor etc.? Do they add up over time to mountains of mostly meaningless information? Me too! Although one can argue that Outlook can be a receptacle for endless amounts of email, I prefer a neater, tidy Inbox. Some of this is simply a reflection of my personality. But I have noticed times when searching for an actual IMPORTANT email can get challenging due to the high volume of needless emails blurring the search results.

Again, the Outlook Sweep tool is NOT intended for important emails. But when I get endless coupons from CVS, Walmart or never ending political or fundraising email solicitations, it is time to train my Outlook to dispose of these emails after a certain amount of time. In this example, I decided to move Wells Fargo bank emails of a certain sort [wellsfargo@connect.wellsfargoemail.com] – they tend to be Marketing oriented with a sprinkling of services or feature enhancements etc. The emails may be useful occasionally, but not mission critical in my life. So, I do not quite want to unsubscribe completely [again, there MAY be a useful tidbit every now and then] but I certainly do not need these emails hanging around for years!

This is for the personal, free Microsoft Outlook. In the Inbox, I just select the email in question, choose Sweep, then send to Deleted, but only after 10 days. There are several options, but this is the one I like. If I have not checked the email within 10 days, then I do not need it. Use carefully, be sure NOT to use this with important emails.

Interesting Microsoft Purchase of Windows Phone App Maker

I normally get what is needed from my Windows phone Outlook, but some searching and sorting type of improvements would not be turned down.

Microsoft Acquires Email Startup Acompli to Give Outlook a Mobile Advantage

“Microsoft has acquired the mobile email startup Acompli, the tech giant announced today on its website.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the tech news site Re/code reports that Microsoft paid over $200 million.
Acompli makes an email client for Android and iOS designed to make common but sometimes complex tasks—such sorting messages, sending typical responses, and finding attachments—much easier to accomplish on mobile devices. But even though it runs on devices from competing companies—Google and Apple—the app seems like a good fit for Microsoft. The product has long been focused on selling software to large companies—Microsoft’s bread and butter—and it already plugs into Microsoft’s primary email server software, Exchange.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/microsoft-acquires-new-age-email-app-acompli/