How to Share Outlook Quick Steps With Other Users in Your Organization

You have created a set of useful Quick Steps in Outlook to automate your email workflow. You want your team or department to use the same automated actions to ensure consistency and save time. Quick Steps are stored as XML files, which can be exported and imported by other users. This article explains how to export your custom Quick Steps and distribute them to colleagues in your organization.

Understanding Quick Steps and Sharing Prerequisites

Quick Steps are a feature in Outlook that lets you perform multiple actions on an email with a single click. Common examples include moving a message to a specific folder and marking it as read, or forwarding an email to a predefined team distribution list. These are stored locally on your computer as part of your Outlook profile.

To share them, you must export your custom Quick Steps to a file. The recipient must be using a similar version of Outlook, as Quick Steps created in newer versions may not be fully compatible with older ones. Both users need appropriate permissions to run the actions contained within the Quick Step, such as access to target folders or distribution lists.

Steps to Export and Share Your Quick Steps

Follow this process to create a shareable file containing your Quick Steps.

1. Open the Manage Quick Steps dialog
   In Outlook, go to File > Options. In the Outlook Options window, select the Mail category from the left pane. Scroll down to the Quick Steps section and click the Manage Quick Steps button.
2. Export your Quick Steps
   In the Manage Quick Steps dialog box, click the Options button in the lower-left corner. From the menu that appears, select Export Quick Steps. A file save dialog will open.
3. Save the .rwz file
   Navigate to a location where you can easily access the file, such as your Desktop or a shared network drive. Give the file a descriptive name and click Save. The file will be saved with the .rwz extension.
4. Distribute the file to your team
   You can now share this .rwz file. Common methods include attaching it to an email, placing it in a shared Microsoft Teams channel, or copying it to a network folder that your organization uses for templates.

Steps for Other Users to Import Your Quick Steps

Your colleagues must import the file you shared into their Outlook.

1. Access the import function
   The recipient should open Outlook and navigate to File > Options > Mail. They then click Manage Quick Steps.
2. Import the .rwz file
   In the Manage Quick Steps dialog, they click the Options button and select Import Quick Steps from the menu. A file browser will appear.
3. Select the shared file
   They must browse to the location where you saved the .rwz file, select it, and click Open. The imported Quick Steps will now appear in their Quick Steps gallery on the Home ribbon.
4. Verify and test the new Quick Steps
   They should check that the imported Quick Steps appear. It is good practice to test one on a sample email to ensure all actions, like moving to a specific folder, work correctly with their account permissions.

Common Mistakes and Limitations to Avoid

Quick Step fails after import due to missing folder

If a Quick Step moves mail to a folder named “Project Alpha,” but the recipient does not have a folder with that exact name, the action will fail. The solution is to either instruct users to create the necessary folder structure first, or edit the Quick Step after import to point to an existing folder.

Shared Quick Steps do not appear on the ribbon

After import, Quick Steps may be added but not visibly pinned to the Quick Steps gallery if it is full. Users can click the dialog launcher in the Quick Steps group to see all available steps and drag their favorites to the gallery for easy access.

Actions referencing specific people fail

A Quick Step that forwards email to “helpdesk@company.com” will work for anyone. However, one that forwards to a personal contact named “John Smith” from your address book will not translate correctly on another user’s machine. Use distribution lists or shared mailbox addresses for team automation.

Quick Step Sharing Methods Compared

Item	Export/Import .rwz File	Manual Recreation
Method	Official export function in Outlook options	Manually noting steps and recreating in each client
Time Required	Fast, one-time export and import	Slow, repetitive for each user
Accuracy	Perfect copy of all actions and settings	Prone to human error in recreation
Best For	Sharing with a team or deploying standard procedures	Individual, simple one-step actions

You can now efficiently distribute your email automation rules across your team. Start by exporting your most useful Quick Step for a common process like triaging customer inquiries. For advanced automation, explore combining a Quick Step with a rule to run automatically on incoming mail.