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Does anyone know if there is a way to merge my Inbox and Sent Items into one view in Outlook 2007? I want a way to manage my email threads in a similar way to how they are managed in Gmail.

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The link provided by Fuzzy Purple Monkey doesn't seem like a realistic solution. It simply shows how to configure Outlook to make copies of sent email that show up as unread messages in the inbox. This clobbers email quota and is basically like Carbon Copying yourself everything. The core issue is that the client typically already has all these emails if you keep email in a sent folder. Isn't this just a aggregated view? There should be no need to actually move data, just create a new view or catalog of emails. – G-Dog Jan 7 at 2:35
@G-Dog: Read the bottom part of Fuzzy's answer, which explains in the last image that you can simply tick off a setting such that your sent items are only moved but no copy is stored. – Tom Wijsman Jan 7 at 3:04
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2 Answers

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I don't use Outlook any more, and I'd hate to go against the advice of the Outlook Program Manager (!) but that doesn't seem a great way to do it to me. Rather than duplicate your sent mail (what!) as originally suggested, or the second option of Save replies with original message, I'd try to make a search folder that contains both received and sent mails. I think that method gives you the most flexibility for different views.

But as I say, I don't use Outlook any more :)

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Delivery to the Sent Items folder is easily turned off. The result is only a single copy of messages you send, in the 'super inbox'. – Myrddin Emrys Aug 31 '10 at 19:42
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Yep, but that's not what was recommended in the article IIRC. If you go the search folder route it really doesn't matter whether you have all the mails in a super inbox, or as default in separate folders, so I'd tend to go with the default, just because it's default! – Andy Sep 1 '10 at 9:20
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up vote 3 down vote accepted

Ah never mind, I have found an answer from Microsoft:

  1. Open Rules and Alerts and click New Rule…

  2. Select “Check messages after sending” and click Next.

  3. Click Next again if you want ALL outgoing messages to be copied to your Inbox.

  4. Click Yes on the succeeding dialog box.

  5. Select the ‘move a copy to the specified folder’ action and choose your Inbox.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you decide to start using this rule or a similar rule:

  1. This rule is a client-only rule which means it will only work when Outlook is running. If you send mail from Outlook Web Access or your Windows Mobile device, it will not be copied to your Inbox.

  2. Outgoing messages copied to the Inbox will appear as unread messages.

  3. This rule makes copies of outgoing messages so you’ll end up with two copies, one in your Inbox and another in your Sent-Items folder. If you have a small mailbox quota you should prevent Outlook from keeping a copy of outgoing messages in the Sent-Items folder, clear Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder in the dialog below:

    Tools | Options | E-mail Options

  4. If you have a lot of folders, click In folders other than the Inbox, save replies with original message in the dialog below, to create the same experience in all folders:

    Tools | Options | E-mail Options | Advanced E-mail Options

Now you have the Ultimate Inbox!

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