Always know what OAS has done
When email is processed automatically, you want to be able to see what has happened. OAS therefore keeps track of important actions that have been performed. This gives you insight into how Inbox Cleanup, Archiving and other automated features work, and allows you to check afterwards what OAS has done with your email.
With the Outlook email history in OAS, you get not only automation but also control. You do not have to remember which messages were previously processed or which action OAS performed: the available history and logging help you find this information later.
Insight into completed actions
OAS records important events while processing email. The logs allow you to see which OAS features have been active and which actions were performed.
This is useful, for example, when you want to check whether an Inbox Cleanup rule has actually been applied or find out what happened during automatic processing. Instead of seeing only the final result in your mailbox, you can also review the processing behind it.
✓ Review completed actions
✓ Check processing results
✓ Insight into automatic processing
✓ Keep track of how OAS is working
Automate without losing control
Automation is most useful when you can trust it to do what you have configured. That is why OAS combines automatic processing with the ability to review the results afterwards.
With Inbox Cleanup, you decide which rules are active and which email they process. With Archiving, you decide which messages are stored in your archive. The Outlook email history and logging provide an additional layer of control, allowing you to review what OAS has done.
This means you do not have to monitor the processing continuously. OAS handles the recurring work, and whenever you want to check something later, you can review what happened.
Look back whenever you want to check something
You do not need to check the OAS history every day. It is particularly useful when you want to know what happened earlier. For example, when you cannot immediately find a particular message, want to check whether a rule was applied or want to see which action OAS performed.
The Outlook email history gives you an overview of previous activity. Instead of having to reconstruct what happened to a message, you can use the available information to check how it was processed.
If you mainly want to find an existing message in your mailbox, Microsoft explains how to use Search in Outlook to find messages and other Outlook items and refine your search results.
This is also useful when you change the way you work. For example, if you have changed rules or adjusted automatic processing, you can check afterwards whether the result matches what you expected. In this way, the history not only helps you review previous actions, but also helps you refine the way you use OAS.
Control as part of OAS
Control and history are not separate from the other OAS features. Instead, they provide the connection between automation and staying in control yourself.
Inbox Cleanup takes care of recurring tasks, Rule Management determines which rules are used, and Archiving ensures that important email can be stored in an organised way. Logging and history then allow you to check how OAS has performed these tasks.
This creates a way of working in which you do not have to choose between automation and staying in control. OAS is designed to combine both.
Automate and stay in control?
Let OAS handle the recurring work while you retain insight into what happens to your email.