The Windows Jump List and Outlook 2016: Fast and Efficient

From time to time (today for example), students in my Outlook courses ask me about the Jump List. While this is not a feature of Outlook, it can be very useful for us. Here is a quick rundown on what it is and how it works:

What is the Jump List?

The Jump List is a feature of Microsoft Windows 7, 8, and 10. It works with programs like Outlook and the rest of the Microsoft Office suite. To use it, you right-click the icon for a program on the Windows taskbar. This causes a menu of options to appear that is specific to the program. Many programs have limited abilities to work with the Jump List.

But Outlook is not like these. Right-click the Outlook taskbar icon, you get a wonderful menu that looks like this:

The Jump List for Outlook 2016.

As you can see, the Outlook Jump List contains a list of tasks you can do, like creating a new email message or contact. This lets you do these kinds of tasks with as little disruption of your work as possible.

An Outlook Jump List Example

Imagine that you are working on some big spreadsheet. You notice that Juan still hasn’t sent you the information he owes you. You could open Outlook and go to the Mail view and write him a quick message. With any luck, you won’t get distracted, and can return to the spreadsheet without losing focus.

A better alternative would be to use the New Email Message option in the Jump List. You can create and send the email to Juan, without opening the full Outlook interface. This is fast, and keeps you from getting distracted by your Inbox for two hours!

In Summary

Let’s wrap this up. To use the Jump List with Outlook, you:

• Need to be using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10
• Right-click the Outlook icon in the Windows taskbar to see the options you have

Thanks for reviewing this post. Does it all make sense? Do all the steps work for you? Did I spell your name wrong? Did I spell MY name wrong?

Is there anything missing that you think I should cover here? All feedback greatly appreciated.

Please check out this post if you want to know what the heck this is all about!