Home / Non-Accredited / Microsoft Office & Computer Skills / Microsoft Outlook Advanced (1 day)
Quick Look Course Summary:Microsoft Outlook Advanced (1 day)
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Next Public Course Date:
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Length: 1 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 5,654 EX VAT 3 Person R 3,982 EX VAT 10 Person R 2,954 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Microsoft Outlook Advanced (1 day)
Delegates leave with Outlook doing the repetitive work for them: mail sorted by rules, replies sent in one click, calendars shared and delegated properly, and a mailbox that stays within its limit.
Experienced Outlook users lose time in a different way from beginners. They file the same kinds of messages by hand every morning, type the same three replies a dozen times a day, hunt through five folders for anything flagged, run a manager's diary without proper delegate access, and send a tender notice to 40 addresses one at a time. This advanced Outlook course automates all of it.
The day is for people who already use folders, flags and the calendar well and now need Outlook to run the office: executive and personal assistants, team leaders with a shared inbox, project coordinators, and anyone who manages someone else's mailbox or calendar. Working in their own mailboxes where IT allows, delegates build rules and Quick Steps, set up search folders that gather everything flagged, unread or from a key client, create signatures for different purposes, automatic replies and Quick Parts, and learn tracking, voting, receipts, recall and redirected replies.
The afternoon turns to schedules and people: multiple and shared calendars, permissions, calendar groups and overlay, the scheduling assistant, boardroom and resource booking, changes to recurring series, delegate access to a manager's mailbox and diary, then contacts, address books and contact groups, and finally AutoArchive and exporting mail to a data file so the mailbox stays within its limit and nothing is lost when someone leaves.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Shared inboxes and managers' diaries run to a standard, not from memory
- Routine mail handled by rules and Quick Steps instead of by hand
- Meetings booked with the scheduling assistant and Room Finder – no more reply-all time negotiations
- Mailboxes kept within their limits and mail preserved when staff leave
- Contact groups and address books that make a tender or client mailing a one-step job
For your delegates
- An hour a day back from repetitive filing and typing
- Rules and Quick Steps built in your own mailbox on the day
- Confidence running a manager's calendar and mailbox as a delegate
- Search folders that surface what matters without hunting
- A clear archive and export routine
What delegates will be able to do
- Customise Outlook's settings, reply formats and navigation pane, and manage more than one account
- Build rules that file, flag, forward and alert, and Quick Steps that complete repetitive actions in one click
- Create search folders and use advanced find across mail, calendar, contacts and tasks
- Set up multiple signatures, automatic replies, Quick Parts, and junk and clutter settings
- Use tracking, voting buttons, delivery and read receipts, redirected replies, sensitivity and importance flags, and recall a message
- Clean up and manage conversations, categories and local folders, and configure AutoArchive
- Create, share and overlay multiple calendars, set work times and time zones, and manage calendar groups
- Schedule meetings with the scheduling assistant, book rooms and resources, and manage recurring series, reminders and responses
- Grant and use delegate access to a manager's mailbox and calendar
- Build and maintain contacts, address books and contact groups, import contacts, and export mail to a data file
Who should attend
Experienced Outlook users who run the office through it: executive and personal assistants managing a manager's diary, administrators and team leaders on a shared inbox, project and sales coordinators, and anyone who sets up meetings, resources and mailings for others. Delegates should already be comfortable with folders, flags, basic search and their own calendar – the ground covered in Microsoft Outlook Beginners (1 day).
Course outline
Day 1 – Automation, shared calendars and delegation
Setting Outlook up for productivity
- Customising settings: reply behaviour, default fonts and formats for outgoing mail, the navigation pane
- Working with more than one account in one profile
- Printing and saving: messages, calendars, contacts and tasks; saving attachments in bulk; saving a message in another format
- Exporting mail to a data file for a leaver, a project close-out or a legal request
- Search folders: everything flagged, unread, from a key client or over 5 MB, in one place
- Advanced find and searching by folder across mail, calendar, contacts and tasks
Rules, Quick Steps and automation
- Rules that file, categorise, forward and alert – and the order in which they run
- Quick Steps for the actions you repeat: move and mark read, reply with a template, forward to the team
- Automatic replies for leave and for a shared inbox
- Quick Parts, and multiple signatures assigned to different accounts or purposes
- Junk email and Clutter settings that are strict enough without losing real mail
Advanced messaging
- Tracking, voting buttons, delivery and read receipts
- Redirecting replies to a colleague or a shared inbox
- Importance, sensitivity and follow-up flags on outgoing mail
- Recalling a message – what works and what does not
- Hyperlinks, themes and styles; inserting one message inside another
Managing the mailbox at scale
- Sorting by conversation, ignoring threads and the clean-up tools
- Categories and local folders for long-running matters
- AutoArchive settings and manual archiving so the mailbox stays within its limit
- Delegate access: giving a PA or colleague the right level of access to your mailbox and calendar, and working as a delegate
Calendars for teams and managers
- Creating and adding calendars; viewing details, work times and time zones
- Multiple calendars side by side or overlaid; calendar groups for a team or a site
- Sharing calendars and setting permissions
- The scheduling assistant, free and busy status, and booking a boardroom or projector with Room Finder
- Recurring series: changing one occurrence or the whole series, and cancelling properly
- Creating a meeting from an email, forwarding calendar items, reminders, participants, responses and shared meeting notes
- Categorising calendar items; notes and tasks alongside the calendar
Contacts, address books and groups
- Creating, editing and tagging contacts; attaching a photo; sharing a contact
- Importing contacts from a spreadsheet or another system
- Address books and how Outlook searches them
- Contact groups for a project team, a tender distribution list or a committee: building, updating and removing members
- Closing exercise: automate your own mailbox
How it is delivered
One day, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20, each on their own laptop; where IT allows, delegates work in their own mailboxes and practise calendar sharing and delegation with each other. Laptops with the software can be supplied on request. Printed workbook and exercise files. Taught on the Microsoft 365 version of Outlook for Windows; tell us whether your staff use classic Outlook or the new Outlook and the facilitator teaches on that one. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“The training courses were efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training. I look forward to working with Business Optimization Training Institute in the future.”
“We were particularly impressed by the quality of facilitation and the practical relevance of the content presented. The programme was delivered with professionalism, clarity, and a strong emphasis on real-world application.”
“The facilitator effectively encouraged participation and used practical examples, discussions and interactive activities to ensure that the concepts were understood and could be applied in the workplace.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa – Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and smaller centres. We can also host the day at a BOTI venue or run it live online.
Is it accredited, or a Microsoft certification?
Neither. It is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance. The content lines up with the skill areas Microsoft tests in its own Outlook specialist exam, so it is good preparation, but the exam is not included and BOTI does not run it. If you need an accredited route, ask us about BOTI's End User Computing skills programmes (QCTO accreditation pending).
We only need the basics – is this the right course?
No – book Microsoft Outlook Beginners (1 day), which covers the inbox, writing and organising mail, security, the calendar and tasks. If the team needs both, Microsoft Outlook Beginners to Advanced (2 days) runs the two days back to back.
Can delegates work in their real mailboxes and calendars?
Yes, where your IT policy allows it. Delegate access and calendar sharing are practised between the delegates in the room, so the group leaves with real permissions set up the way the office needs them. Room and resource booking depends on how your Microsoft 365 tenant is configured; the facilitator checks this with you beforehand.
Do you teach classic Outlook or the new Outlook?
Either. The two versions put some of these features in different places, so tell us which your organisation has rolled out and the facilitator teaches on that one and points out the differences.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20. Smaller groups get more one-to-one time at the screen. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table or ask us for a quote.