A misconception out there is that if you have multiple e-mail accounts, then you have to log in multiple places every day, and it’s a huge hassle. Across the board, I have seen this come up on virtual teams as well as within professional organizations, the resistance piece being that people will say something like…
“Why can’t I just use my Yahoo address? I get everything there – it’s easier for me!”
In the ideal world, “convenience” rules. In the real world, however, the branding of your virtual team or the organization you lead takes precedence over considerations of “convenience,” all day long, every day.
Guess what, though? Problem solved. You can do this. Really. It’s easy.
If you use Microsoft Outlook, it’s easy to check multiple e-mail accounts every time you hit Send/Receive.
Here are the steps. I use Outlook 2002 (still) but most Outlook versions are substantially the same (note, I am not referring to Outlook Express…if you’re still using Express, by all means, upgrade!)
Setting up Multiple Accounts
Remember how you set up your first e-mail account in Outlook? It’s Tools >>> E-mail accounts >>> Add a New Account (ALT +T then A).
Follow the instructions and enter the settings you are given by your webhost or internet service provider. Just follow the process over and again until you have all of your e-mail accounts loaded in your Outlook.
After you’ve set up your multiple accounts…
When multiple e-mail accounts are active in your Outlook, you will find, when sending e-mail (new message, replying, or forwarding) in the menu at the top of the message itself, a drop-down box called “Accounts” (ALT+N).Click this, and all the accounts you have installed will be listed. Select the e-mail account you want to send from. When your message is sent, it will go out through that account.
Sorting Your Incoming Mail
When you hit Send/Receive, new e-mail will also come in simultaneously from all of the accounts you have loaded. (See, I told you – no multiple logins!) Now, you may be thinking that will get confusing, all that e-mail from so many places getting dumped in your Inbox.
Nope. Problem solved here too! (Told you this would be easy.)All you have to do is create new e-mail folders in your list, just like you probably already have folders to sort “pending,” “ongoing,” “quarterly reports,” etc. Then, you create Rules to tell incoming e-mail where to go.
To create Rules in Outlook…
1. In the main Outlook window, go to Tools >> Rules Wizard (ALT+T then L).
2. In the dialogue box that then pops up, click the “New” button.
3. At the top of the next screen, you will see two radio buttons. Click the one that says “Start from a blank rule.” Then click “Next” at the bottom of the dialog box.
4. On the next screen, highlight “Check messages when they arrive” and click “Next.”
5. From the list of options that will appear, check the box beside “through the specified account.” When you do this, that option will appear in the lower part of the dialog box.
6. In the lower part of the dialog, click the hyperlinked word “specified” and you will see a list of all the accounts you have installed. Select the account you are creating the rule for, click “OK,” then click “Next” on the main dialog box.
7. On the next screen, check the box beside the option “move it to the specified folder.” When you do this, that option will appear in the lower part of the dialog box.
8. In the lower part of the dialog, click the hyperlinked word “specified” and you will see a list of all the mailboxes you have in your Outlook bar – including the one you created just a minute ago. Select the mailbox to send mail to, click “OK,” then click “Next” on the main dialog box.
9. The next window will ask for exceptions. Usually you won’t have any. Click “Next” again.
10. On the next screen, name the Rule whatever you want to call it, then click “Finish.”
11. On the final screen, click “OK.”
You’ll now see, next time you download e-mail, that all e-mail coming in through the account you just created the Rule for, will be sorted into the folder the Rule tells it to!I hope this quick Outlook tip will help you easily manage multiple e-mail accounts and not have to log into five or more different places each day!
