{
    "html_item": {
        "id": 15242925,
        "html_text": "<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Most firms use Microsoft Outlook as their default email client. Below are some useful tips/functions that may help if you are unfamiliar with the program.</span></p><p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Previewing emails</span></strong></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">You can move the email preview pane (or &ldquo;reading pane&rdquo;) from the right-hand side of your inbox to underneath your inbox by selecting: View &gt; Reading Pane (under the Layout tab) &gt; Bottom.&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">You can also ensure that emails are automatically marked &ldquo;read&rdquo; once they have been viewed in the reading pane. To do this, click: View (on the ribbon) &gt; Reading Pane &gt; Options &gt; Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane.</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Adding recipients</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Start typing a name and press &ldquo;check names&rdquo; to show the list of potential recipients. Alternatively, pressing the &ldquo;To&hellip;&rdquo; button should show <em>all&nbsp;</em>potential recipient email addresses. You can then use the search function (including advanced search) to find the correct email.&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Note that if the &ldquo;Bcc:&rdquo; option is not available, you can make it appear by clicking: Options &gt; BCC (under the Show Fields tab).</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Adding files from your firm&rsquo;s document management system</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Assuming your firm uses a document management system, you should be able to attach links to documents saved centrally, as well as &ldquo;local&rdquo; copies of documents (i.e. documents that are not stored on the document management system).&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">It can be helpful to send links to documents saved centrally if the recipient is likely to make changes that will end up in the final version of the document.&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">However, external parties can rarely access documents saved on the firm&rsquo;s document management system, so you should usually send local copies to external recipients.</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Searching for emails</strong></span></span></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\">Microsoft Outlook offers a variety of helpful functions to help you when searching for particular emails. If you click the &ldquo;Search Inbox&rdquo; bar above your inbox in Microsoft Outlook, you will see various options appear in the ribbon. For example:&nbsp;</span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">If you click &ldquo;From&rdquo;, you can narrow your search to only emails sent by a particular sender;&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Clicking &ldquo;Subject&rdquo; lets you view emails with a subject line that contains your specified text;&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Cicking &ldquo;Has Attachments&rdquo; filters out any emails that do not contain attachments;&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Clicking &ldquo;Sent To&rdquo; lets you search for emails sent to a specified recipient (or emails in which a specified recipient was cc&rsquo;d).</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Filing</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Make sure you have a well-structured filing system for emails, especially those that you think you or others may need to refer to in the future. You will be surprised at how often you are asked to dig out specific emails, some of which may have been sent months earlier.&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Consider having separate folders for each project, and then sub-folders within those project folders (e.g. splitting emails by the stage/element of a transaction to which they relate).&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">You may also be required to file all relevant emails within your firm&rsquo;s document management system so that others with access to the relevant matter folder can access them. If in doubt, check with your supervisor.</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Signatures</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">To set up your email signature, click File &gt; Options &gt; Mail &gt; Signature (near top).&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Make sure you create a signature that conforms with your firm&rsquo;s house style (there may well be a template that you can use as the basis for your signature).&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Note that you can allocate different signatures to new emails and replies (meaning you won&rsquo;t keep sending your full email signature every time you respond to an email in a particular chain).</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Quick Access toolbar</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Quick Access toolbar is also available in Outlook, so consider customising it to improve your efficiency. This can make it quicker to create a new email (for instance, directly from the Calendar view).</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Calendar appointments</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">To set up a calendar appointment, click New Appointment under the Home tab, then enter the relevant time and information (you can also attach documents).&nbsp;</li><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The &ldquo;Show As&rdquo; option (under the Appointment tab) enables you to ensure that your status changes to &ldquo;busy&rdquo; during the appointment (this status will show up to others who try to contact you during your appointment). Once you have finished inputting the relevant information, click &ldquo;Save &amp; Close&rdquo;.</li></ul><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px; color: rgb(243, 121, 52);\"><strong>Practical tip: be sure to check that a &ldquo;Reminder&rdquo; is set for every calendar appointment (a small bell appears on the bottom right corner of the calendar entry once a reminder has been successfully set).</strong></span></span></span></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;\"><strong>Calendar invite</strong></span></span></p><ul><li style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Once the appointment has been created (see the above bullet), click &ldquo;Invite Attendees&rdquo; and type in the email addresses of those you would like to invite to the relevant call/meeting (you are automatically included, so no need to email yourself).</li></ul><p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(243, 121, 52);\"><strong>Practical tip: helpfully, you can use the &ldquo;Scheduling Assistant&rdquo; to check the availability of all recipients included in the &ldquo;To&hellip;&rdquo; box before sending them the invite. If anyone is busy, the Scheduling Assistant gives you the opportunity to change the date/time before actually inviting everyone.</strong></span></p>"
    }
}