Comments on: Outlook Tip: Display your folders in non-alphabetical order

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:18:45 +0000

damn -tony

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:17:49 +0000

i should specify that this numerically ordinal identifying method is meant for folders with sub folders… duh.

(hopefully when i post it keeps all the spaces i entered in front of the sub folders to demonstrate subordinal position.)

1 (folder name)
1.1 (folder name)
1.2 (folder name)
1.2.1 (folder name)
1.2.1.1 (folder name)
1.3 (folder name)
1.3.1 (folder name)
2 (folder name)
2.1 (folder name)

- tony

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:07:40 +0000

im a student of the NFPA 1 Fire Code which uses the following example:

1 (folder name)
1.1 (folder name)
1.2 (folder name)
1.2.1 (folder name)
1.2.1.1 (folder name)
1.3 (folder name)
1.3.1 (folder name)
2 (folder name)
2.1 (folder name)

im a fan. it works.

- tony

By: Erik

Erik — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:16:27 +0000

Yeah, exactly Scott. We already know Outlook sorts things low to high by the folder name. We also know that all user created folders are re-nameable. Prefixing folder names to attain varied ordering schemes is an obvious solution.

The title of this article is misleading and technically wrong. No matter what name a user gives their folders, Outlook will always use its single and unmodifiable sorting rule. The numeric prefixing of user created folders is a rather ugly way to get your Zebra folder (for example) to appear above your Absurd folder.
1. Zebra
2. Absurd
This method would seem even more frustrating if a user happened to have a significant amount of folders that are all titled with long strings of numbers — an archive folder containing emails sorted by client number perhaps:
1. 16765461
2 . 24765167
3. 42315469
Folder prefixing is not only flawed and ugly, the commonality of this solution suggests that there doesn’t actually exist a way to disable the automatic sorting applied to folder order. Considering the simplicity of object oriented programming, disabling the sorting of folders should be as simple as changing a single property. Moreover, changing Outlook 2007 to allow for personalized folder re-shuffling should be programmatically easy as well. Since that functionality for personalized non-alphabetic sorting schemes exists for so many other GUIs, there shouldn’t be any reason why it can’t be made to work for Outlook.

I’m surprised not to have found an Outlook add-on or script online that would allow for this functionality. Usually when an application is as widely used as Outlook, every conceivable add-on, tweak, modification, tool, and what not is available within a few months of its release. Perhaps I just quit searching too soon.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:42:24 +0000

Call me crazy but how about you just let me place my folders in whatever order I want. Sure place them in some predictable way in the beginning (alpha order, first/last position) but then let me move them wherever I want.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:57:52 +0000

re: Jack – GroupWise
We just migrated this weekend to Exchange and I’m already regretting it. Besides folder sorting (the blog post above hardly counts for more than a ridiculous work-around), wait till your user’s try to share folders! Could MS make it any more cumbersome. Yes, we know about public folders, but there is a need for the user to EASILY share data. Just not available in Outlook / Exchange. If you’re thinking of migrating – STAY WITH GROUPWISE!
c

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:38:01 +0000

This is too bad. We are in the process of moving from Groupwise to Exchange and in the Groupwise client you have the ability to position your folders anyway you like. They both have their positives I guess but there are a few things that Microsoft should have stole from Novell. This is not going to make my users happy. The battle goes on.

By: Jim Stroud 2.0 » Blog Archive » Linked In Blogger Boost: Email Overload

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 23:14:09 +0000

[...] Click here for the rest of the story. [...]

By: Reginald Dittman

Reginald Dittman — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:28:48 +0000

Considering you can’t rename some of the key folders such as Inbox and Sent Items, the mandatory alphabetical listing is hopeless.

By: Jim McKinley

Jim McKinley — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:17:07 +0000

I get quite a bit of mail daily, so what I want to do is sort all my incoming email into alphabetical order.

I used to have a program on my first old computer with Windows 95 that did this, it could order it asending, desending or in alphabetical order, that was a very handy feature. Now I have Windows XP, and a lot of these good things are gone! Not an improvement in my mind! Can you direct me to getting this done.
I will be very greatful, if you can. thanks.
Jim McKinley

By: Laura’s Ideas » Blog Archive » Overloaded email: organize folders

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 22:56:53 +0000

[...] Itzy Sabo’s EMAIL OVERLOADED has a good suggestion: You can use numerals or puncuation as a prefix to sort your folders in your preferred order. [...]

By: JC Payne

JC Payne — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:43:42 +0000

This is a trick I have used for years to organize my email and general data file folders, giving the lower numbers to higher traffic or priority folders. I was amazed by how simple it was, and yet how effective it was. I have found that when I don’t use this method, like with shared network folders at work, I can’t properly organize and have problems finding the things that I need. Unfortunately, convincing others to reorganize has been even more frustrating.

By: Jim Stroud 2.0 - I recruit, therefore I am

Jim Stroud 2.0 - I recruit, therefore I am — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:38:00 +0000

Linked In Blogger Boost: Email Overload

Want to hear this blog instead of just read…

By: kim

kim — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 05:43:49 +0000

I’ve done that within outlook for a while. I also have a couple folders that are top priority “category” stuff so I end up doing something like:
__ 1 Stuff (category 1 folder 1)
__ 2 Stuff (category 1 folder 1)
1 Stuff (category 2 folder 1)
2 Stuff (category 2 folder 2)

By: Licence to Roam

Licence to Roam — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:25:14 +0000

Linked In Bloggers

I belong to a newsgroup for bloggers on Linked In. Many of the members use blogging to drive and support their business, so there is a lot of great information passed around about what makes a good post, how to…

By: Stuart Bruce, BMA PR

Stuart Bruce, BMA PR — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:11:11 +0000

The best thing about this tip is it works in email clients other than Outlook. I use a product called OfficeTalk (disclaimer I also do the PR for its developer, but used the product for years before I started doing the PR). The numbering folders idea really does work well.

By: DeAnna Spencer

DeAnna Spencer — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 17:28:23 +0000

Hi Itzy. That was a very useful post. It may encourage me to actually start using Outlook.

By: The Intuitive Life Business Blog

The Intuitive Life Business Blog — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:38:14 +0000

Blog site under the microscope: Email Overloaded

This starts a new series that I’ll be running on my site to help bring some lesser known weblogs some additional visibility. These sites will either be splendid examples of the state of the art, or be works in progress, in which case I will also point…

By: Thinking Home Business

Thinking Home Business — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:44:54 +0000

Itzy Sabo’s Excellent Email Management Clues

This post is part of the LinkedIn Bloggers Boost project I wrote about yesterday.
It’s funny (as in odd, rather …