Grouping email by conversations should be one of the first things you do when trying to organize Outlook. It's smart, it saves time (and possible embarrassment), and it gives your inbox and nice, tidy appearance. (And we all know that when you look good, you feel good.)

It seems to me that this method of going through emails the— view by conversation method—  could be particularly useful fwhen you've come back from vacation and you want to know all that went on without you but don't know where to start.

Football playersExample: Say your coworkers have spent the past couple of days punting emails back forth like Pee Wee footballers (and no I don't mean soccer, World Cup fans). Today they're close to hammering out a solution to whatever issue or project the conversation was about when suddenly, a message flies in from YOU who was on vacation when this particular email thread started. In one fell swoop (or I guess that would be one fell punt), you've flown off the handle, stated your passive/aggressive opinion, and blasted all of them for not seeing the forest for the trees (or whatever). In other words, you've made your fellow workers wish you'd stayed on vacation...permanently.

So, do me a favor: You come into work, you boot up Outlook, and you immediately go to the View tab, and in the Conversations group, select Show as Conversations (and then click All Folders or This Folder). Then maybe your smart, useful, and quick-witted retorts will find a warm home, not a hostile environment.

 Group email messages by conversation

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it." — Robert Frost

— Crabby