Folder Management in Outlook 2016 and Later

Folder management is a very important skill and in this time of teleworking and virtual instruction, it’s even more important. Use of folders in Outlook can really increase efficiency and productivity. The following guide gives instructions on creating a new folder in Microsoft Outlook as well as moving messages and navigating to/among folders. This works only if you have Outlook installed on your laptop, but if you want to learn more about using Outlook on the web, you may want to view Chuck’s resources on that subject (linked at the bottom of this message)

To create a new folder

  1. Press Control + Shift + E to open a new folder dialogue box

  2. Type the name you’d like to assign to your folder and press Tab

  3. You are now able to change the types of items you’d like to store in that folder. You’ll probably want to keep it focused on “mail and post items”, but if not, use the arrow keys to select the desired category the press Tab

  4. You may now choose the location of the new folder. Keep in mind that the default location for the new folder will be within whatever folder was in focus when you began this process (for example, if you were in the Inbox, the new folder will be created as a subfolder in the Inbox). I usually recommend creating subfolders in the Inbox, but you can create them anywhere you’d like.

  5. Once you’ve chosen your folder’s location, press Enter or press Tab to navigate to the OK button, then press Enter. Your folder will appear in the folder pane on the left side of your screen.

Here are some commands related to folders and messages that may be useful to you. After typing the command, you will be in a dialogue allowing you to choose the folder/location. Once you select the folder/location, press Enter.

  • Navigate to folder (move focus to within a specific folder)

      • Control + Y

  • Move message to folder

      • Control + Shift + V

  • Copy message to folder

      • Control + Shift + Y

  • Navigate to the Folder Pane

      • F6 or Shift + F6 (pressed until your screen reader announces “mail folders tree view””)

Other Resources:

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Outlook Mail

Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook

Why not give it a try (these key commands work whether or not you are using a screen reader and are generally quicker than using the mouse once you get into the habit of utilizing them).