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You can have Outlook automatically check your spelling before sending all of your outgoing mail? To keep your email looking professional, it’s always a good idea to proofread it yourself first. Then to find any errors that you may have missed, the automatic spell-check feature will double-check! To turn this automatic feature on in Outlook:
Click Tools, Options
Click the Spelling tab
Check the 2nd checkbox, Always check spelling before sending
Click OK
The next time you send a message, your spelling will be checked automatically as soon as you click the Send button. You will then have the chance to ignore or change errors as needed.
You can use colorful stationery for all outgoing email? Now don’t get too excited about this, because not all of your recipients will be able to see your nice stationery. It all depends on the message format that each individual is using. If that sounds confusing, just take a look at your mail format options and see what you have selected.
On the menu bar, click Tools, Options, Mail Format (tab at top)
Under “Message format” and beside “Compose in this message format:” notice what your current format is
Click the drop-down list, and see your other choices
HTML is the only choice that will let you use Stationery, so choose that one
Under “Stationery and Fonts” choose Stationery Picker…
From the Stationery list, click the one you like (you will see a preview of each one at the bottom of that dialog box)
Click OK, OK
Now back to that sentence above where I mentioned that not everyone will be able to view your stationery…If their mail format is set to Plain Text or Rich Text, then your pretty stationery will be stripped off and sent as an attachment. They will be able to see your stationery only if their email options are set for HTML like yours.
You can change the font size for all outgoing email? For some people, the default font size of 10 in Outlook can be difficult to easily read. If you would like to change the size of all of your outgoing email, follow these steps:
On the menu bar, click Tools, Options, Mail Format (tab at top)
Under “Stationery and Fonts” click Fonts…
Under “When composing a new message” click Choose Font…
Under “Size” select the size you prefer (12 perhaps)
Click OK, OK
Next month we’ll talk about using Stationery.
You can change the option that automatically opens a Word attachment in Reading Layout View? This is for Outlook 2003 only! Microsoft thought this would be a handy feature to allow you to view more than one page like an “opened book”, but they never anticipated that some people would actually be annoyed by this feature! To turn this off, start Microsoft Word, then go to:
On the menu bar, click Tools, Options, General (tab at top)
Uncheck Allow starting in Reading Layout
Click OK
You can change the way the Reading Pane displays? In Outlook 2003, the Reading Pane is at the right side of the Outlook window by default; however, you can change this. Just go to View, click Reading Pane, and choose either Right, Bottom or Off (if you want to have more room to view messages). You can also resize the Reading Pane. Just put your mouse on the left border of the Reading Pane and when the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the border to the left or right.
Some people have been concerned about the security of the Reading Pane, since it appears that your messages are actually “opened” after viewing them in the Reading Pane. Here’s what Microsoft has to say about that:
“You can view messages safely in the Reading Pane. Potentially malicious scripts or attachments are not activated or opened automatically in the Reading Pane. Although most malicious attachment types are blocked by Outlook, messages and attachments from unknown or unsolicited senders should always be treated with caution.”
You can change your Outlook calendar to display different time increments on your daily calendar? The default is 30-minute increments, but you can display 5- or 10-minute increments if you tend to have short back-to-back appointments, or even 60-minute increments if you so desire. Here is how:
In Outlook, go to your Calendar
Click the 1 Day button on the toolbar to display the daily view
Right-click the Time Bar (to the left of your daily appointment area)
Click the desired time increment from the menu
You can change your Outlook calendar settings so that your work week is different from the normal Monday thru Friday? You can also adjust your daily schedule to show as 8:00 to 4:30 instead of the normal 8:00 to 5:00. Here is how:
In Outlook, go to your Calendar view
Click Tools, then Options, then the Preference Tab (if necessary)
Click the Calendar Options button
Under Calendar work week, check the boxes for the days you wish to show as workdays, uncheck the others (This only affects the view of the 5-Day Work Week)
Set the Start time & End time by clicking the drop-down arrows (these workday times will be a different shading on your 1-Day view of the calendar, but you can still schedule appointments at any time of the day or night)
Click OK, OK
By default these users are given Reviewer permission. To change the permission level of the newly added user(s), select the user’s name and then select from the Permission Level drop-down list. Click OK when finished setting the permission level for each user.
Other users can now open your calendar from their computer by following these steps:
Now for the new feature! Once the calendar has been opened, you will see a check box in the Navigation Pane (on the left side). You can check more than one box to display calendars side by side. To view only your calendar, just uncheck the other boxes.
You can schedule meetings using Outlook? When you send a meeting request to someone, it looks just like a combination appointment/email form. That is, it has email information at the top (To and Subject boxes), as well as appointment information regarding start time and end time. It also has some special reply buttons in the top left corner (Accept, Decline, Tentative, or Propose a New Time) that will only be available for use on the recipient’s meeting request. To send a meeting request, just follow these steps:
You can also conveniently schedule a meeting from Contacts, if you wish. Just right-click a contact entry (or distribution list), and choose New Meeting Request To Contact.
You can print your contacts? You can print in a phone directory style, or other built-in styles that look very professional. Just follow these steps:
You can share your calendar or contacts with co-workers? This requires setting permission levels for various users. You can allow some users to view your calendar and others to add or even edit items. Just follow these steps:
Right-click calendar icon
Click Properties
Click the Permissions tab
Click the Add… button
Select a user from the list on the left, & click Add
Repeat to add other users
Click OK
By default these users are given Reviewer permission. To change the permission level of the newly added user(s), select the user’s name and then select from the Permission Level drop-down list. Click OK when finished setting the permission level for each user. Other users can now open your calendar from their computer by following these steps:
From the Outlook window, click FileOpenOther user’s folder…
Click the Name… button to browse for the name of the person you’re looking for
Click the name of the user from the list
From the Folder Type drop-down list select Calendar
Click OK
You can categorize your Contacts? For example, you could assign the category “Business” to some contacts, and the category “Personal” to others. That way you can easily keep up with a group of contacts without putting them in a separate folder (subfolder). Once a category has been assigned, you can sort the contacts into separate groups. To quickly assign a category to a contact, follow these steps:
Right-click the contact
Click Categories…
Click the check box beside the desired category
If you don’t see an appropriate one in the list, you can click Master Categories List…, type the desired category name, then click Add, OK
You can also assign a category by opening the Contact form (double-click it), and then click the Categories… button at the bottom of the form. Once the categories have been assigned, you simply change the view of your Contacts to “By Category” as follows:
From Contacts, click View (on the menu bar), Current View, By Category
Click the + (plus) button by each category you wish to expand, or the – (minus) button to collapse that category
To return to the original view, click View, Current View, Address Cards
You can flag your messages for follow-up? If you’re like most folks, you have a lot of email to wade through each day, and sometimes you just don’t have enough time to read all the messages in their entirety right then. You can flag messages that are important so that you can remind yourself to go back and read them, follow up with an email, call, etc. Just follow these steps:
From the Inbox, right-click your message
Choose Follow Up
You can choose how you want to follow up by clicking the drop-down arrow button beside Flag to…
You can also choose a due date by clicking the drop-down arrow button beside Due date…
Click OK
Note the red flag beside the message
After you follow up on the message, you can clear the flag by right-clicking the message and choosing Clear Flag.
You can create a subfolder for your Calendar so that you can keep a separate calendar? Sometimes you might want a blank calendar so that you can print out a month view as a working copy for planning. It works basically the same way as creating a subfolder for your Inbox or Contacts, which we have previously told you about. Just follow these steps:
From Calendar, click File, New, Folder…
Type a name for the folder (for example, Blank Calendar)
Click OK
Click Yes (if you would like a shortcut to this folder on your Outlook Bar, otherwise it will just show up in the Folder List)
You can get to your shortcut from the Outlook Bar, or by turning on the Folder List (from the menu bar click View, Folder List). Now you’ve got a blank calendar in which you can put appointments or events, or leave blank if you wish.
You can create a subfolder for Contacts so that you can keep a group of people separate, like your work associates or students? Just follow these steps:
From Contacts, click File, New, Folder…
Type a name for the folder (for example, Students)
Click OK
Click Yes (if you would like a shortcut to this folder on your Outlook Bar, otherwise it will just show up in the Folder List)
You can get to your shortcut from the Outlook Bar, or by turning on the Folder List (from the menu bar click View, Folder List). Now you’ve got an empty folder in which to put some new contacts, or you can drag and drop existing Contacts into that folder.
Last month you learned to create a subfolder for your Inbox, and then create a rule to have emails from certain people go into that subfolder automatically. But what if you want to get rid of that rule you created? Just follow these steps:
From the Inbox, click Tools, then Rules Wizard…
Underneath “Apply rules in the following order:” click on the
rule in the list that you wish to delete (When you click the rule, you
will see a description of it in the lower text box)
Click Delete, then Yes, OK
You can create a subfolder for your Inbox, and then create a rule to have emails from certain people go into that subfolder automatically? Just follow these steps:
From the Inbox, click File, New, Folder…
Type a name for the folder (for example, Committee)
Click OK
Click Yes (if you would like a shortcut to this folder on your Outlook Bar, otherwise it will just show up in the Folder List)
Now you just need to create a rule for emails to go into this folder automatically:
From the Inbox, select a message from a person for whom you would like to create a rule
Click Tools, Organize (or the Organize button on the toolbar)
This will open an area above the Inbox. Note 2nd option: Create a rule to move new messages from…
Make sure the correct person’s name is in that box (if not, select a message from that person in the Inbox below)
Fill in the “into” portion of the rule (click the down arrow and choose your new subfolder)
Click Create
At the message, click Yes if you would like all older emails from this person to be moved to the new subfolder (or No if you’d like for the older emails to stay where they are, and only future emails to go directly into the new subfolder)
Note: The shortcut will be put in the My Shortcuts area (at bottom) of the Outlook Bar
Repeat these steps to create a rule for another person
You can request a read receipt for an individual email message, letting you know for certain the email has been opened? Just follow these easy steps:
From the Inbox, create a new mail message
Click the Options… button on the toolbar (of the Message window)
Under the Delivery Options section, click the checkbox for “Request a read receipt for this message”
Click “Close” to close out of the Message Options dialog box
Send the message
The receipt will be delivered to your Inbox once the message has been opened
You can delay message delivery? If you would like to create an email and then set the delivery date for a later date, then do the following:
From the Inbox, create a new mail message
Click the Options… button on the toolbar (of the Message window)
Under the Delivery Options section, click the checkbox for “Do not deliver before:” and fill in the desired date and time
Close out of the Message Options dialog box
Send the message
The message will be stored on the Exchange Server until that date, then will be sent automatically
You can send a distribution list to someone else? If the distribution list was created in Contacts, then do the following:
From the Inbox, get a new mail message
Fill in the address information, subject, and type your message
Click Insert, Item…
Underneath “Look in:” click Contacts
In the bottom part of the window, scroll down through your Contacts and double-click your distribution list
You should see an icon representing your distribution list at the bottom of your message window
The recipient should do the following to copy to Contacts:
Open up the message
Double-click the distribution list icon
Click File, Copy to Folder, Contacts, OK
You can sort your messages by sender or subject in your Inbox or Sent Items? By default, your Inbox messages are sorted by date received, and your Sent Items are sorted by date sent. To sort your Inbox or Sent Items in different ways, just follow these steps:
Go to your Inbox, and note the column headers there (From, Subject, Received, etc.)
Click one of the column headers (From, for example) to sort in ascending order
Click the header a second time to sort in descending order
If you have a contact with more than one e-mail address and would like to send a message to all of that contact’s e-mail addresses you can do it in one quick step? Just follow these steps:
First make sure that you have entered the contact’s email addresses on the Contact card in the E-mail field (three different email addresses can be stored by clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of E-mail)
From Contacts, select the desired contact card
Click Actions, New Message to Contact
Voila! All the contact’s e-mail addresses will be entered in the e-mail address box on the message form for you
You can use Outlook’s Journal feature to keep up with activities concerning Contacts? For example, let’s say you would like to keep up with details of each time you have a conversation with or what was said to Mr. Smith, you could make a Journal entry each time you speak with him. First, you must make sure you have a Contact entry for Mr. Smith. Then to make a Journal entry, follow these steps:
From the Outlook Bar, click Journal
If a message appears asking if you would like to turn on the Journal feature to automatically track Office documents, click No
Click the New Journal Entry button on the toolbar
Type in the details in the Journal Entry window—Subject, Entry Type (phone conversation, etc.), Company, Start Time, Duration, and any notes in the bottom portion of the window
At the bottom of the window, click the Contacts… button, navigate to the Contact in the list, click to select, then click OK
Click Save and Close
You can view all Journal entries and other activities regarding this contact from the Contact card by going to Contacts, open the desired Contact card, then click the Activities tab. After a few seconds, all activities regarding this contact will appear in the window, whether it’s a journal entry you’ve recorded, an email or meeting request received from or sent to the contact, or an appointment scheduled.
You can have Outlook Address archive automatically to your M drive? This is the equivalent to cleaning out your closet—storing the old things in a safe place in case you need them later. AutoArchive saves all your older items (like emails) to a separate file (archive.pst). Normally this archive file is located on your local hard drive, but drive M is a more logical place for safekeeping. To do this, follow these steps:
From the Outlook window, click Tools, Options…
Click the Other tab, then AutoArchive
Under “Move old items to:” click Browse…
Navigate to a place on Drive M, then click OK, OK, OK
You can also individually set archive options for each Outlook folder (like Contacts, Calendar, Inbox, etc.) by right-clicking the folder on the Outlook Bar, then clicking Properties. These individual folder settings will not be overridden by the AutoArchive settings.
You can have the Outlook Address Book display names from Contacts instead of the default Global Address List? To do this, follow these steps:
From the Outlook window, click Tools, Address Book…(or click the Address Book button on the toolbar)
In the Address Book window, click Tools, Options…
Under Show this address list first, click the down arrow to display the drop-down list choices
Click Contacts, then OK
Close the Address Book window
You can add holidays to your calendar, even holidays specific to certain countries? By default, Outlook does not show holidays, but adding them can help with planning or serve as a reminder. To do this, follow these steps:
From the Outlook window, click Tools, Options…
Click Calendar options...
Click Add Holidays…
Click United States check box (and any others you may want), then OK
Once added, you can remove individual holidays by changing the Current View as follows:
From the Calendar window, click View, Current View, Events
Select the holiday or holidays you wish to remove, and press the Delete key
You can assign a task to someone? (This will make you really popular!) The task is sent to the person in an email message, which they can either accept or decline. If they accept it, it will be kept on your task list so that you can keep track of when it is completed.
To do this, follow these steps:
From the Tasks window, click Actions, New Task Request
Fill out the Recipient, Subject, Due Date, etc.
Click Send
When the recipient receives the email, there will be Accept/Decline buttons at the top of the message window. You will be notified in your Inbox of their choice. If accepted, the task will be put in their Tasks. When marked complete, you will be notified as well. Now you have the power to delegate!
You can plan a meeting and invite attendees via email? The attendees will get an email with several options to click on, such as Accept, Tentative, or Decline.
To do this, follow these steps:
From the Calendar window, click Actions, Plan a Meeting…
Note the All Attendees list, which just includes your user name at this point
Click Add Others
This should take you to your Address Book, where you can double-click other users to add them to the list
Select a meeting start time and end time from the list
Click Make Meeting
A meeting request form will appear, which looks like an email message form.
Fill in the Subject and any other information
Click Send
When the attendees receive their invitations, they will have response buttons at the top left. These options are Accept, Tentative, or Decline. When they click the appropriate button, you will be sent a reply. In your Inbox, you will see in the Subject column how they responded without having to open up the message.
You can recall an email message, providing the other person has not already opened it?
To do this, follow these steps:
From the Outlook window, click View, Folder List…
Click Sent Items
In the Sent Items window, open up the sent email message by double-clicking it
From the message window, click Actions, Recall This Message…
Click OK
You will receive a message in your Inbox whether the recall was a success or a failure (sometimes this takes about 10 minutes or more)
NOTE: The person you are attempting to recall the message from will be notified that an attempt has been made to recall a message. This will appear in that person’s Inbox for a short time, then it will disappear.
You can create an automatic reply for all incoming email messages while you are away from the office? For example, you could have an Auto Reply as follows:
I am out of the office the week of August 5th through August 9th. I will return on August 12th. Please call 333-3333 if you need assistance.
To do this, follow these steps:
Click Tools, Out of Office Assistant…
Select the I am currently Out of the Office option
Type the text
Click OK
Now your automatic reply is set up
Don’t forget to turn it off when you get back to the office! (Tools, Out of Office Assistant, then select I am currently In the Office)
You can create a signature for all your outgoing email messages? For example, you could have your signature appear as follows:
John Smith,
Training Specialist
Computer Resource Center
(901) 333-0000
To do this, follow these steps:
Click Tools, Options…
Click the Mail Format tab
Ensure that your message format is either HTML or Rich Text
Click Signatures… (at bottom)
Click New…
Type a name for your signature, then click Next
Type your signature lines
Click Finish, OK, OK
Now your signature will appear on all outgoing messages automatically!
You can send a message to multiple people without their names or email addresses showing in order to protect their identities. To do this, follow these steps:
In the message window, click To…
Click once on the name from your address list (either the Global Address List or Contacts) to select it
Click Bcc…
Repeat for other names, adding them to the Bcc area underneath Message Recipients
When finished, click OK
Type your message, and click Send
Oops! Last month we gave you steps for sending a contact card to someone and mistakenly said that you could use the same steps for sending a distribution list to someone. Here are the steps for sending a distribution list (that you’ve created in Contacts) to someone:
The recipient should do the following to copy to Contacts:
You can send Contact information (a Contact card) to others? This works whether it’s Contact information you’ve created on yourself, someone else, or a distribution list in Contacts.
You can create a distribution list to quickly send emails to a group of people Just follow these steps:
If you need to look up a phone number for an employee, using Outlook:
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