HOWTO: Group Outlook mail messages by conversation without wasting 2 lines per thread
Problem
I like Outlook Express as an email client. I like how nicely it groups message threads without wasting space. It’s excellent for… home use only though. When it comes to work, integration with Calendar becomes the most important factor - I manage 50+% of my time through Calendar. Thus, I have no choice but to use the big brother, Outlook, for email. The problem I have with Outlook is that it adds 2 extra lines per message thread that I don’t want to see. Imagine you have a folder full of collapsed message threads. The useful information in the view is only 33% because for each thread (which is collapsed to a single line), Outlook adds two more (unnecessary) lines – a blank one and a copy of the subject.
Half-Solution
Here’s what I’ve discovered to keep my messages organized by thread and by receive time:
- Disable grouping
- Sort by: Conversation Index (ascending), Receive Time (ascending)
Then Outlook is smart enough to simulate something like threads. The problem is I cannot collapse threads but I can it live with that for now.
Feedback Welcome
If anyone has an idea how to group messages in collapsible threads, or knows a mail client that integrates with Calendar, please let me know. I’ll appreciate that.
