How to create Quick Parts in Outlook
How to create Quick Parts in Outlook (adding calendar link to emails)
To begin with, type the desired text, format it the way you want, and include graphics if needed. Technically, it does not matter where you create a new building block - the steps are the same for emails, appointments, contacts and tasks.
When your new piece of content is ready, here's what you do to add it to the Quick Part Gallery:
- Select the content that you want to store.
- On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts > Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery…
- In the dialog box that pops up, specify some attributes. For the most part, you'll only need to a give a unique name to your new building block and can leave the other fields in their default values, as shown in the screenshot below.
When done, click OK to save the new entry.
OK to save the new entry.
Once a Quick Part is created, you can access and reuse it at any time from everywhere including emails, meeting requests, tasks, etc.
Quick Parts attributes
By specifying the following details, you can better organize Quick Parts for your specific needs:
Name - type a unique name for your new Quick Part. Because a building block can be inserted by name, short and meaningful names can save you a lot of time.
In the gallery, the names are listed in alphabetical order. So, if you want a specific entry to appear at the top of the list, you can prefix the name with a number or underscore, e.g. "1map" or "_map".
Gallery - select the gallery in which you want the new building block to appear. Outlook can save entries in many different galleries, but generally you'll use Quick Parts and AutoText.
Category - categories belong to galleries and you can regard them as kind of sub-folders for further grouping. The default category is General. If you have over 10 reusable pieces, it's a good idea to organize them in your own categories. For this, click the drop-down arrow and choose Create New Category.
Description - optionally, type some text that describes the entry. But you may not bother about this attribute, as you'll never see it or use it.
Save In - Save to the default NormalEmail.dotm template if you want the new Quick Part to be available in all emails and other Outlook items. If you use your own Outlook templates, you can isolate your building blocks by template. A template must be open to appear in the drop-down list.
Options - defines how the entry is inserted:
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Insert content only - the default option that you will use in most cases.
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Insert in its own paragraph - inserts the content into its own paragraph, even if the cursor is in the middle of another paragraph.
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Insert content in its own page- inserts the content into its own page; is more useful for Word Quick Parts.
How to use Quick Parts in Outlook
There are three ways to insert building blocks into Outlook items. The below instructions are for emails because we use them most often. The techniques for tasks, appointments, and contacts are exactly the same.
Insert Quick Parts by pressing F3
The fastest way to put a reusable piece of content into an email message is this:
- In a message, type the quick part name where you want the content to appear.
- Press F3, and the name is immediately replaced with the full content. Done!
For example, to insert the Quick Part named "Map", you type "map" and press F3. The image below shows the result:
In most cases, you do not need to enter the whole name. It is enough to type the part of the name until it becomes unique.
Let's say, you have two Quick Parts named "Thanks for support" and "Thank you":
- To insert the entry named "Thanks for support", type "thanks" and press F3.
- To insert the "Thank you" entry, you must at least type "thank" and a space character before pressing F3.
Auto-complete Quick Parts with the Enter key
In Outlook 2016 and higher, Quick Parts can also be auto-completed by hitting the Enter key.
You just start typing the name and as soon as it becomes unique the "Press ENTER to Insert" suggestion appears. Press the Enter key and the content is inserted straight away.
Notes:
- Auto-completing does not work for pieces that contain images or other graphics.
- Auto-completing is not available in Outlook 2013, 2010 and 2007. In these versions, press F3 to quickly insert Quick Parts by their name.