Microsoft Outlook 2003
Sorting Your Email Messages
Email messages accumulate rapidly. Since folders can contain hundreds of messages, searching for a particular email can seem overwhelming. Instead of scrolling through a listing of emails, Outlook makes finding a specific email easy with its sort feature.
Mailbox Headers
Mail can be sorted by a variety of different criteria using the header fields in the Mailbox listing and can be accomplished in a few clicks. Below is an explanation of the most common sorting options when sorting using the Mailbox view.
NOTE: Clicking the header toggles between ascending and descending order.
| Header | Description | |
|---|---|---|
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Header Status | Messages will be sorted by date received from most recent to oldest without grouping messages by date. |
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Importance | High importance messages are placed first, normal importance messages are placed second, and low priority messages are placed last. |
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Icon | Messages will be sorted by type (e.g., mail message, meeting request, receipts, etc.). |
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Flag Status | All flagged messages will be sorted to the top of the Mailbox. |
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Attachment | All messages that contain an attachment will be sorted to the top of the Mailbox. |
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From | Messages will be sorted and grouped by sender alphabetically from A-Z. NOTE: Messages will be sorted by the first character, which is not necessarily the last name of the sender. |
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Subject | Messages will be sorted alphabetically by subject from A-Z using the first character of the subject. |
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Received | Messages will be sorted by date received from oldest to most recent. NOTE: Messages are grouped according to date received by default. |
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Size | Messages will be sorted by size from smallest to largest. |
Sorting Messages within Mailboxes
If you have several messages in your mailbox, you can sort them by any field in the Mailbox listing. This can make it easier to locate a desired message.
NOTE: You can add, delete, or rearrange fields in the Mailbox listing. For more information, refer to Using the Field Chooser.
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Select the mailbox
EXAMPLE: Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, etc. -
Click the appropriate Mailbox header
The messages will now be sorted by the field requested.
EXAMPLE: Received, Subject
NOTE: By clicking the Mailbox header a second time, the sorting order is reversed. The arrow in the header indicates whether the field is sorted in ascending or descending order.
