Unlock Outlook Productivity: Find, Insert, and Reuse Content Effortlessly with Tap

Table of Contents

Microsoft Outlook stands out as a premier email solution, adeptly catering to the demands of mobile users and desktop professionals alike. It streamlines your digital interactions by centralizing access to email accounts, calendars, contacts, and files, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications. Elevating this integrated experience, the enhanced Tap for Outlook feature empowers you to seamlessly discover and utilize pertinent content directly within your email composition or document creation process. This innovation liberates you from the disruption of leaving your current task to hunt for reusable materials, significantly boosting your efficiency. As this feature is relatively new and deserves closer examination, let’s delve into how you can leverage Tap to effortlessly reuse content and optimize your workflow.

Discovering and Inserting Content with Tap for Outlook¶

To begin utilizing Tap for content insertion and reuse within Outlook, the initial step is to launch the Outlook application. Once Outlook is open, navigate to the Home tab located in the ribbon at the top of the application window. Within the Home tab, locate the ‘New group’ section, typically positioned on the left side of the ribbon. From the options available in the ‘New group’, select ‘New Email’ to initiate the creation of a new email message.

Upon selecting ‘New Email’, a fresh message composition window will promptly appear, ready for you to draft your email. Proceed to compose your email message as needed. When you reach a point where you wish to insert content that you or your team members have previously used in emails, documents, or presentations, direct your attention to the ribbon within the message window. Click on the Insert tab. Within the Insert tab, you will find various options for inserting elements into your email. Look for and select the ‘Document Item’ option. This is the gateway to accessing the Tap feature in Outlook.

Leveraging the Tap Pane for Content Recommendations¶

Upon selecting ‘Document Item’, the intelligent Tap feature within Outlook springs into action. It immediately initiates a search process, diligently scanning your connected Microsoft Office applications – specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – to identify content that is likely relevant to your current email or document. The results of this intelligent search are then neatly presented in a dedicated panel, aptly named the Tap pane, which appears within the Outlook window, typically on the right-hand side.

The Tap pane acts as your personalized content recommendation engine, displaying a curated selection of items from your Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. This content is suggested based on context and past usage, aiming to surface materials that could be valuable and reusable in your current task. The items displayed in the Tap pane are visually represented, often with thumbnails or icons, making it easy to quickly identify the type of content and its source application.

Inserting Content with a Single Click¶

Once the Tap pane is populated with recommended content, you can easily browse through the suggestions. If you identify a piece of content that you wish to insert into your email, the process is remarkably simple. Locate the desired item within the Tap pane. Hover your cursor over the item, and you will notice an ‘Adding image/ picture (+)’ button appearing, typically overlaid on the thumbnail or icon of the content. To insert and reuse this content directly into your email, simply click on this ‘Adding image/ picture (+)’ button.

Clicking the ‘Adding image/ picture (+)’ button instantly integrates the selected content into your email body at your current cursor position. Whether it’s a paragraph of text from a Word document, a chart from an Excel spreadsheet, or a slide from a PowerPoint presentation, Tap seamlessly inserts it into your email, saving you the time and effort of manually locating, copying, and pasting the content.

Refining Your Search for Specific Content¶

While the automatic content recommendations provided by Tap are often highly relevant, there may be times when you are looking for something more specific. To refine your search and pinpoint particular content, Tap offers a search box directly within the Tap pane. This search box is usually located at the top of the pane, making it easily accessible.

To utilize this search functionality, simply type a keyword or phrase that is related to the specific content you are seeking into the search box. After entering your keyword(s), press the Enter key or click the search icon (if available). Tap will then re-execute its search, this time focusing on content that matches your specified keywords. The Tap pane will refresh and display a new set of results that are directly relevant to your search terms. These refined results will still be drawn from your Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), ensuring that you are reusing content that is readily available and professionally formatted.

Understanding Content Details in the Tap Pane¶

To provide you with more context and information about each document listed in the Tap pane, Tap includes helpful details at the bottom of each document preview. A small legend is displayed, which concisely summarizes the types and quantities of objects contained within each document. This legend typically indicates the number of objects, pictures, SmartArt diagrams, tables, charts, or slides present in the document.

This information is valuable as it gives you a quick overview of the document’s contents without needing to open it fully. For example, you might see a legend indicating “5 Objects, 2 Pictures, 1 Chart” beneath a document preview. This allows you to assess whether a document is likely to contain the type of content you are looking for, further streamlining your content discovery process.

Advanced Actions via the Three-Dot Menu¶

In addition to the quick insert functionality, Tap also provides a three-dot menu (often referred to as an ellipsis menu) associated with each document listed in the Tap pane. This menu offers access to more advanced actions, allowing you to interact with the suggested content in different ways. To access these actions, locate the three dots, typically positioned to the right of each document entry in the Tap pane, and click on them. This will open a dropdown menu with several options.

The three-dot menu typically includes the following actions:

• Open in application: Selecting this option will open the chosen document in its native application. For instance, if you select this action for a Word document listed in the Tap pane, the document will open in Microsoft Word. Similarly, Excel documents will open in Excel, and PowerPoint presentations will open in PowerPoint. This is useful when you want to review the entire document in detail to ensure it contains the precise content you need or to potentially reuse multiple items from the same source.

• View all items: Choosing this action will instruct Tap to display all reusable content available within the selected document directly within the Tap pane. Instead of just showing a preview of the document itself, Tap will expand the view to showcase individual elements like paragraphs, images, charts, and slides that can be reused. This is particularly helpful when you know a document contains relevant content but want to quickly browse and select specific items without opening the full document in its respective application.

By utilizing these advanced actions, you gain greater control over how you interact with the content suggestions provided by Tap, ensuring you can efficiently find and reuse the most relevant materials for your needs.

Previewing Content for Informed Reuse¶

Before definitively inserting any content into your email, Tap allows you to preview it in detail directly within the Tap pane. After the Tap pane displays the search results, whether from the initial recommendations or a keyword search, you can select any individual result to view it more closely. Clicking on a result in the Tap pane will expand the preview area, displaying a larger and more detailed view of the selected content.

This preview feature is crucial for ensuring that you are inserting the correct content. You can carefully examine the text, image, chart, or slide to confirm it is exactly what you need before adding it to your email. This eliminates guesswork and prevents the insertion of incorrect or unintended content, saving you time and potential errors in your communication.

Finalizing Content Insertion¶

Once you have previewed the content and confirmed it is the desired item for reuse, the final step is to insert it into your email. Within the detailed preview of the selected content in the Tap pane, locate the ‘Adding image/ picture (+)’ button again. This button is typically positioned in a prominent location within the preview, making it easy to find and click.

Clicking the ‘Adding image/ picture (+)’ button at this stage definitively adds the content – whether it’s SmartArt, an object, a picture, a graph, a chart, a table, or a slide – directly into your email message at your current cursor position. After clicking this button, the content will be seamlessly integrated into your email, ready for you to continue composing your message or send it.

Streamlining Workflow with Tap¶

The Tap feature in Outlook is designed to be more than just a content insertion tool; it’s a workflow enhancer. By making it incredibly easy to find and reuse existing content, Tap significantly reduces the time and effort spent on repetitive tasks. Imagine needing to include a company logo, a standard paragraph about your services, or a frequently used chart in multiple emails. Without Tap, this would involve manually searching for these items, copying them, and pasting them into each email. Tap streamlines this process to just a few clicks, allowing you to focus on the unique aspects of your communication rather than the redundant elements.

Moreover, Tap promotes consistency in your communication. By reusing approved and pre-existing content, you ensure that your messaging is aligned with your brand guidelines and company standards. This is especially important for teams where multiple individuals contribute to external communications. Tap helps maintain a unified and professional voice across all outgoing emails.

Conclusion: Embrace Effortless Content Reuse¶

Tap for Outlook is a powerful feature designed to boost your productivity and streamline your email creation process. By enabling effortless discovery, insertion, and reuse of content directly from your familiar Office applications, Tap eliminates unnecessary steps and saves valuable time. Whether you are frequently reusing standard text blocks, incorporating charts into reports, or sharing presentation slides via email, Tap offers a seamless and efficient solution. Embrace this feature to unlock a new level of productivity and consistency in your Outlook workflow.

Have you tried using the Tap feature in Outlook? Share your experiences and tips in the comments below! What are some ways you can see yourself using Tap to improve your email workflow? We’d love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you might have.