Can I change the behavior of Outlook 2007's "Sent Items" so that emails sent and subsequently filed *still* show up there?

Question

I come from a Lotus Notes background where the email client distinguishes between "folders" (physical representation of a set of emails) and "views" (logical representation of a set of emails). One benefit of this behavior is that if I file a sent email in the "Stuff" folder, the message will appear both in the "Sent" view and the "Stuff" folder. This way, my "Sent" view is an authoritative record of ALL sent emails.

In Outlook, "Sent Items" appears to behave like a folder, such that if I send an email and then file it, it's removed from the "Sent Items" folder. This makes it difficult to see all the emails I've sent regardless of where those outbound messages are now filed.

Are there workarounds for this?

Thanks

Answer 1

From Outlook 2007 help under the "Create a Search Folder" topic:

A Search Folder is a virtual folder that provides a view of all e-mail items that match specific search criteria. For example, the Unread Mail Search Folder allows you to view all unread messages from one location even though the messages may be located in different Mail folders.

Search Folders fit perfectly because you can have an arbitrary number of them, essentially creating virtual folders (or views) to present a list of emails depending on the search criteria. To create a Search Folder showing ALL sent emails I did the following:

1. Right-clicked "Search Folders" and selected "New Search Folder..."
2. Selected "Create a custom Search Folder"
3. Clicked "Choose" then named the new search folder
4. Clicked "Criteria" then clicked the "Advanced" tab
5. Clicked "Field", selected "All Mail fields" then selected the "Sent" field
6. Left the "Condition" at "anytime", clicked "Add to List" and saved the Search Folder

Answer 2

When you drag an email from "Sent Items" while pressing the Control key, the email will be copied rather than moved.
Does that answer the question?