How to Set Up an 'All Mail' Folder in Outlook

For all of its benefits, one of the biggest criticisms of Outlook surrounds its exclusion of the “All Mail” folder you find in other email clients. This folder is a combined inbox of all your email accounts, and out-of-the-box, it doesn’t exist in Outlook. Instead, you’ll have to click from inbox to inbox to check all your mail.

Luckily, like most things in Outlook, adding a universal inbox is a simple fix. Due to Outlook’s infinitely-customizable nature, there’s not much you can’t do to tweak things to the way you like them.

1. Open the Outlook desktop client.

2. Click the Folder tab and select New Search Folder.

3. Select Create a custom Search Folder at the bottom.

4. Click "Choose" under Customize Search Folder and type "All Mail" in the name field.

5. Click Browse.

6. Check the boxes of the folders you’d like to include, as well as the Search subfolders box at the bottom.

7. Click OK to confirm the new setting.

8. Confirm one more time by clicking Yes in the pop-up.

9. Press OK to exit the New Search Folder dialogue.

Microsoft Outlook Tips