Agents who liberally create local folders and subfolders, and give a name to them in Outlook Express, and then file old emails in them, are often annoyed because the folders may suddenly get stuck open, showing all the subfolders that they contain.

For agents who file scores of reciprocal link requests that hundreds of other agents have sent to them, this problem can be especially burdensome.

When local folders are stuck open, it makes the list of alphabetically displayed folders quite lengthy, since now the main subject matter folder, plus the names of all their subfolders, and even their subfolders, and even more subfolders (if any exist) appear, too.

This makes it take far longer to find a given email since you must scroll down farther to find your choice by alphabetic position. Here's how you solve that problem:

My solution:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.

2. On the General tab, click to clear the Automatically display folders with unread messages check box.

3. Click OK.

Once this is done, the main folders all close up, displaying a + sign alongside each one. Now it takes far less time to scan the list to find what you want. The list might suddenly become 1/10th its former length with hundreds less folder names displayed. This might save you ten hours a year!

When you do choose to open a folder after applying the above fix, just click on the + to the left of the folder, and it turns into a – (minus) sign, with all the subfolders, and sub, sub, sub folders that you created displayed below it. When you are finished, just click on the – sign to close the folder back up tightly again.

See below what Microsoft's Outlook Express "help" has to say about using Outlook Express folders. What they say is correct, but you may want your favorite techie to interpret this additional info on local folders for you.

Microsoft's solution:

To change the Outlook Express folder list, status bar, or toolbars….

1. To hide or display the Folders list, Contacts list, Outlook bar, status bar, or toolbars, on the View menu, click Layout, and then select the options you want.

2. To display subfolders in the Folders list, double-click the plus sign (+) to the left of each of the main items in the Folders list (Local Folders, your e-mail server, news servers, and so on). All of the subfolders appear beneath their main folder or server, and the plus sign becomes a minus sign.

3. If you click the main folder name instead of its plus sign, the subfolders display in the main Outlook Express window, rather than beneath the folder or server in the Folders list.

4. To display the Outlook Express start-up window, which contains links to primary Outlook Express tasks, as well as a Tip of the Day, click Outlook Express at the top of the Folders list.

See, I told you Microsoft liked overcomplicating things…

Local folders are an excellent way to keep records of emails you have sent or received. If you are in doubt about deleting or saving a particular email, it's always best to drop it in a local folder. If an appropriately entitled one does not exist for a given email, create one.

Here's how:

1. In your Outlook Express Local Folders column:

2. Go to your Local Folders section.

3. Right click on the word Local Folders at the top of the list.

4. From the dropdown menu, click on New Folder.

5. Type in the name of the Folder you want to create.

6. Click Ok.

7. Note that the new folder has been created and inserted alphabetically.

Now you can create a subfolder of that folder the same way. And you can also now draaaaaaag emails from the viewing panel into any folder, directly from your inbox, sent, or deleted folders. Hold CONTROL down as you highlight a bunch of emails, and you can drag the whole bunch at once into a folder.

Hey, what a great way to save emails and the URLS of web sites that you've been reciprocating with. I file reciprocated URLS without their "www." then they automatically drop themselves alphabetically into the folder list. For example, if I were swapping links with Charissa Pemper in Boston www.Charissa.com, I would file her filled-out reciprocal link form by creating a new folder and naming it "Charissa.com." Afterwards, I can easily find her (among more than a thousand other reciprocated URLS) by just scanning down the list.

Hey, do I tell you the good stuff or what?

Published: August 23, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Bill Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to web-proficient agents nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the Prentice-Hall books, Internet Marketing in Real Estate and Internet Marketing. Bill is also webmaster of Orange County Real Estate, among the most-awarded known Realtor® sites. Visit his website, Koelzer.com or e-mail him at .