Outlook is among the best Gmail alternatives for most people. Microsoft’s email service is free and has a bunch of features that Gmail does not. At the same time, there are some shared features you’ll likely want to use if you’re coming from Gmail—they’re just not enabled by default. I’ve been using Outlook’s email service for over a decade, and these are the best hacks I’ve discovered while sorting through my inbox.
Disable image downloads to prevent email tracking by shady companies
Companies and organizations often use pixel tracking to see if you’ve opened their emails. Every one of these emails includes a hidden tracking pixel, which sends read receipts to the sender when opened. Outlook’s default settings protect you from the worst of it, but you should take a few additional steps to safeguard your account. Go to Outlook.com and log in to your account. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open settings. Now, go to Mail > Junk email. Under “Security options,” select Block attachments, pictures, and links from anyone not in my Safe senders and domains list.
Note that this might not be for everyone, as it requires you to manually vet people who send emails to you. From a security standpoint, however, it’s your best tool against email tracking, phishing, and scam attempts. You can also go to Outlook settings > Mail > Layout, and choose Don’t show sender images to add an extra layer of privacy protection. On a similar note, you can go to the Message handling tab in the same settings page, and uncheck For shopping-related messages show a sender logo and relevant links in the message header.
Use “Safe senders” to stop Outlook from sending good emails to spam
Outlook’s “Safe senders” list lets you add people to a trusted contacts list. Emails from these people won’t be sent to spam, and won’t be subject to restrictions such as blocked links or attachments—perfect for anyone who uses the hack above. You can use this feature to ensure that important emails, such as account statements from your bank, or paystubs from your employer, are never sent to spam. To get started, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Junk email > Add safe sender. You can also select the Safe mailing lists tab to add mailing lists to the Safe senders list. This is great for newsletters from your favorite publications, or safety-related emails from your companies.
Run an automated inbox sweep to delete emails every 24 hours
Credit: Pranay Parab
One of Outlook’s best features is Sweep. It automatically checks your inbox for emails from certain senders, and follows your instructions to manage the clutter. For example, my bank sends me an email for every transaction on my credit card. At one point, I was looking at 150+ unread emails that I had no use for. So, I used Sweep to keep transaction emails from the past 10 days, and archive the rest. To set it up, select any email in your inbox, then choose the Home tab at the top of the page in Outlook’s desktop or web apps. Select Sweep, and you’ll see a pop-up asking what to do with emails from that sender. There are four options here:
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Move all messages from the Inbox folder
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Move all messages from the Inbox folder and any future messages
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Always keep the latest message and move the rest from the Inbox folder
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Always move messages older than 10 days from the Inbox folder
You also have a drop-down menu to select where you want to move these messages. I usually select one of the last two options above, and move the rest of the messages to the Archive folder, or Deleted Items. I’ve used this feature for a couple years now, and it works flawlessly in the background. If you ever want to change or delete Sweep rules, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Sweep.
Configure gestures to delete emails in one swipe
Outlook’s mobile apps support gestures to quickly triage emails without opening each manually. You can swipe left or right to archive, delete, or report emails. However, you can customize these gestures to suit your needs. Go to Outlook settings in the mobile apps, and navigate to Email > Swipe Options. On this page, select what happens when you swipe right or left. Some useful options include delete, archive, flag/unflag, mark read/unread, snooze, and read and archive.
In Outlook’s desktop and web apps, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Customize actions. This will let you configure swipe gestures (for laptops with a touchscreen), and quick actions, which are the buttons that appear on each email in your inbox. I used this to replace the Pin button with Archive as I never pin emails in my inbox. You can select a maximum of four actions for each email.
Turn off Copilot AI and disable Microsoft’s data collection
Credit: Pranay Parab
In Outlook’s mobile, desktop, and web apps, go to Settings > Copilot, and disable Turn on Copilot. This will turn off almost all AI features in the apps. You should also go to Outlook settings > Mail > Smart suggestions, and turn off Show suggested replies.
Microsoft also collects a bunch of data and enables AI services in your Outlook account. If you want to disable this, head to Outlook settings > Mail > Privacy and data > Privacy settings. Turn off all options on this page to disable optional diagnostic data collection, prevent Microsoft from analyzing your emails for “connected experiences,” and disable online content linked to emails in your inbox. You can also select Delete history to clear your search history from Outlook. While you’re at it, go to Mail > Compose and reply, and disable Microsoft Edge Autofill. With this feature enabled, Microsoft Edge will pull from your Outlook inbox to autofill information, namely flight info. This feature may be useful for those who use Edge a lot, but it’s not of much use to those who don’t.
What do you think so far?
While working on this article, I discovered Outlook’s hidden bulk unsubscribe feature. This feature lists all the subscriptions in your inbox and lets you unsubscribe from all of them without opening a single email. To try it out, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Subscriptions. Click the Unsubscribe button next to any of the lists, and Outlook will handle the rest for you.
Switch to Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts to speed up email actions
I’ve never liked Outlook’s keyboard shortcuts much. As an example, “Ctrl-N” opens a new email in Outlook. In Gmail, it’s “C.” While Ctrl-N is the more familiar shortcut, it’s not as fast as using a single keystroke. The good news is you can use Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts in Outlook and save a lot of time. I love this hack because most people have Gmail as their primary email account, and now you don’t have to remember two sets of shortcuts for email. To set this up, go to Outlook settings > General > Accessibility > Keyboard shortcuts. Select Gmail, and you’re all set. Google has all of Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts listed here, if you need a refresher.
Use “Quick steps” to mark emails read and archive in one click
Credit: Pranay Parab
I find myself marking emails read and archiving quite a bit, and I’ve set up a single-click workflow using Outlook’s “Quick steps.” You can do that too by going to Outlook settings > Mail > Quick steps. Give your Quick step a name, choose an action such as Mark as read, and click the Add another action button. You can now select Move to, followed by Archive. On the same page, you can add a keyboard shortcut for this action, and click Save. This is a basic example of what you can do with Quick steps. You can set up any multi-step workflow to suit your needs, which could include categorizing emails, turning emails into tasks, or muting an email conversation, among many others.
Set up undo send to prevent accidentally sending incomplete emails
If you’re ever regretted sending an email right after hitting the Send button, you’re not alone. In Gmail, the undo send feature is enabled, but that’s not true for Outlook. You’ll need to enable it manually from Outlook settings > Mail > Compose and reply > Undo send. Use the slider to set a timer between 0 and 30 seconds, which is how long you have to stop sending an email where you’ve misspelled your own name. (Been there, done that.)
Configure Outlook’s email filters to highlight messages sent directly to you
You can use Outlook’s rules feature to filter out messages where you’re marked in the cc or bcc fields of an email. This way, you can focus on emails directly addressed to you, and move the rest to a different folder. To set this up, go to Outlook settings > Mail > Rules, and select Add new rule. Give this rule a name, select I’m not on the To line as the condition. In the actions field, select Move to, and pick a folder. Select Stop processing more rules to avoid further rule conflicts, and click Save. Now, all emails where you’re in cc or bcc will go to the new folder, keeping your inbox exclusive to direct messages.
