Regular readers of this blog (and its predecessor on technet.com) will know my fondness for Microsoft Outlook’s SHIFT+CTRL+v keyboard shortcut which is a quick way to the ‘Move to Folder’ command. Using this cuts out a lot of mouse travel, allowing you to move any item in Outlook (an email, a task, a calendar appointment, a contact etc) to a different folder location. After the ‘Move to Folder’ dialog box appears you can type the first letter of the folder to quickly find it in the list. So to create a new Task from an email, simply highlight the email then press SHIFT+CTRL+v then t.
The trouble come when you have lots of folders, all starting with the same initial letter and you find yourself then scrolling around in the ‘move to folder’ windows trying to find the right folder. Don’t worry, help is at hand now! Microsoft Outlook 2007 is smart enough to understand multiple character inputs so you simply start typing the name of the folder and Outlook will hone in on the one you want. So, in the previous example, if you have multiple folders beginning with t, just press SHIFT+CTRL+v, then t, then a, then s, etc until you find the folder you need.
If you’re not yet running Outlook 2007, you can buy an add-on utility called ‘Speedfiler for Outlook’ from www.claritude.com to get this same functionality and a couple of extra features. It will set you back £11.50 / $19.95 / AU$28.50 but is a useful short term fix until you can upgrade to Microsoft Outlook 2007.