Effectively Managing Email Communications at Law Firms
Innessco specialises in implementing, supporting and managing IT for small and mid sized law firms. Robert Cox recently published an article in Lawyers Weekly conveying his insight into managing the most time consuming form of communication – email. The article outlines an email management approach that relies on Outlook search features. Below are examples of how to complete the five most typical searches a lawyer completes in Outlook 2010.
Find emails
- Select the folderthat you want to search in
- Click once in the Instant Search Box
- Type the words that you are searching for
- Press the enterkey to run the search
- This will return any email containing ALL of the words entered
- Click the Try Searching Again in All Mail Itemslink to extend the search to your entire mailbox

Find emails sent to / from a client
- Click in the Instant Search Box
- Click on fromor to in the Search Tool Tab, you will notice the Sender Name is highlighted in blue (see below)
- Type only the clients domain nameg. “innessco.com” or part of the domain e.g. innessco
- Press the enterkey to run the search

Note: You are able to type straight into the Instant Search Box – from:(company.com.au)
Find recent emails
- Click in Instant Search Box
- Select This Month(or you preferred period) from the This Week menu
- The above action will run the search

Find emails with attachments
- Click in the Instant Search Box
- Click Has Attachments from the search tool ribbon
- The above action will run the search

Find emails received during a period
- Click in the Instant Search Box
- Type received:1-Apr-15..30-Apr-15
- Press the enterkey to run the search

When ever you are searching, click on Try searching again in All Mail Items to find emails in other folders.
Summary: Five Typical Outlook Searches
Use the search box or Search Ribbon to perform the following searches

- Find emails
serachterm - Email to / from a client
to:(domain.com.au)
from:(domain.com.au) - Recent Emails
received:(this month) - Has Attachment
hasattachment:yes - Received during a period
received:1-Apr-2015..30-Apr-2015
Combining your searches
You can combine any or all of the above searches to reduce the results returned and make it easier to find what you are looking for.
How to search all folders
After each search if you click Try searching again in All Mail Items the search will find email in all mail folders
Hosted Email Options
Innessco provides:
- Innessco Hosted Exchange– our own Exchange servers, built for redundancy that are able to be configured to your requirements.
- Office 365– Microsoft’s own Hosted Exchange product
Talk directly to an Innessco team member to learn more.
- Stewart Lewis – (03) 8609 1337
- Robert Cox – (02) 8011 0669
Learn more…
Hosted Desktop
Innessco have integrated Hosted Exchange with a Hosted Desktop service.
Innessco’s Hosted Desktops are designed for mobile workers and companies with multiple offices. Each user receives the same experience regardless of location.
Hosted Desktop is a Cloud Computing service where your workstation is actually running in the Innessco datacentre with the Internet acting as a large monitor cable transmitting all keystrokes, mouse movements and screen displays to your local computer.
Learn more…
Email Filing Tip
Although some users leave all of their emails in their inbox, our experience suggests that it then becomes very difficult to determine which emails you have actioned. Rather, we recommend that you create a small number of folders that all emails are filed to. Some suggestions are:
- Follow Up – to store any email that requires a follow up
- Client – to store any client related emails that have been actioned
- Admin – to store any administration emails that have been actioned
