Use “My Templates” for One-Click Common Email Responses

Canned responses can make your job much easier. They save you from having to do repetitive work and make it quicker to provide helpful answers to recurring questions. This article shows how to use canned responses with Outlook email templates

My Templates in Outlook

My Templates is a built-in Outlook add-in which lets you add canned responses. Here’s how it works:

In a message composing window (it works in email preview, too), click the View Templates button. In the desktop Outlook, it’s located in Message > My Templates, while in Outlook on the web, you need to click more options (the three dots icon) and then My Templates.

In both Outlook email clients, clicking this option will show up a new pane to the right. To add a new canned response, click the plus (Template) icon.

Now, the My Templates editor has no formatting options. You can use keyboard shortcuts to make slight adjustments (like Ctrl+B for bold), but it’s easiest to simply compose your canned response in the standard Outlook new message window and paste the contents here. Click Save when you’re done.

After your template is saved, all you need to do is open the My Templates add-in and click the template you want to use.

Pros and cons

Pros:

Similarly to Outlook Quick Parts, it’s easy to use.
Can be used if you reply in the email preview pane (you don’t need to open the message in a new window).
Works for both desktop Outlook and Outlook on the web.

Cons:

The editor does not support any formatting options. You can paste formatted text and images into the add-in pane, but it will not be displayed correctly in the preview box.
There’s no way to centrally manage canned responses for a team or entire company.