In Outlook 2003 (older versions may be the same), you can use folders to organize your email and have the counts next to them. Those counts, by default, show the number of unread messages in that folder. But, if you deal with a large volume of email, you might have certain folders which you move messages to until they are handled. In my case, I like to keep my inbox as clean as possible. When I get an email, my preferred way to handle it is either to reply to it and delete it from my inbox or to move it to another folder. I have a FollowUp folder which holds messages which require work from me or require me to wait for information from someone else. Instead of that folder showing the number of unread messages, it is more useful for me to know the number of total messages in the folder. This can be done easily. Right-click on the folder name and choose Properties. You will then see radio buttons for “Show numbr of unread items” or “Show total number of items”. Just choose the latter option and press OK.