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CONTENTS OUTLOOK


 

 

Here is a sample of what you'll learn in Outlook. More tips are on the site than what you see here.

 

Outlook

EmailÞ   Time ManagementÞ   ContactsÞ     CalendarÜ TasksÜ             

Before You Start, do this:

Always show full menus. By default, the Microsoft software is set to only show recently used commands when you click a menu such as Tools. Then you have to expand the list. It's easy to change this to always show the entire list. Do this now and all of my instructions will make more sense. You only have to make the change in one application and it takes effect in the others.

Explore Email Options. In any software, always check every tab in the (click the Tools menu), Options dialog box. Here you'll change settings such as New Email Alert, a sound with new email arrival, read receipt option, and more.

Administrative

Set up additional email accounts in Outlook. You'll have to create an email account with your ISP and/or Web host first. Then set up the account in Outlook. Repeat the process for each account.

AutoArchive a folder. Outlook is set up to AutoArchive my Sent Items folder every three months.

Determine size of Inbox folder. Your IT department is strict about size limits (as they should be), so keep up with space you have left.

Copy a set of folders into another folder. If you need the same set of folders for each client, event, etc., you can make a blank set and reuse it every time you need another.

Sort and search for messages. There are various ways to search for messages.

  • Sort messages from the header row and sort by up to four criteria.
  • Use the Find and Advanced Find commands.
  • Find related messages.
  • Use the Search command (shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+P).

Messages You Send

Choose the email account from which to send a message. If you have different email accounts, you can quickly choose which one to use for a particular message. Later, when you send another message, Outlook will revert to your default account.

Use Outlook as your email editor and use the HTML format. I use Outlook as my email editor (personal preference). By default, it's set up to use Word. If you find that some things you're trying aren't working, it might be because of Word. Here's how to switch to Outlook. Also inside is how to switch to the HTML format instead of plain text.

Email an attachment from the Taskbar (where your Start button is). I do this every day so it's something you'll want to set up. It provides easy access to documents you open or email often. First create a folder in My Documents (or wherever you save documents), then drag documents into that folder you want to email often. These two movies assume you've already done this. (These instructions are not in the movies: Right-click Start button, Explore, find the My Documents folder, click File, New, Folder, name the folder and drag your documents into it. My folder is called Peggy's Stuff.)

  • Email the document from the Taskbar.

  • Steps for adding a folder to the Taskbar.

Stop sending ugly blue email replies. By default, Outlook is set to send messages you reply to in a blue color that's hard on the eyes. You can change the default.

Stop unwanted email addresses from popping up. When you start typing on the To line, email addresses stored in the cache pop up. You might not want some of these choices...might not even know the people.

Customize your toolbar - quickly email a document from Word. This tip is also a Word lesson. Customize your toolbar and add the Send to Recipient as Attachment command to it. Afterwards, you'll simply click your new button (in Word) to create a new message with your document already attached to it. (I'll reference customizing your toolbar in a lot of these lessons so learn this one. The technique works the same in the other software.)

Set the message up before filling in the To line. This movie covers the following:

  • Write great subject lines.

  • Defer the delivery date.

  • Flag a message before you send it and set a reminder.

  • Send message to special folder automatically (e.g., a Waiting for Answers folder. I'm sending a message to someone and will wait for an answer. I don't want to forget I asked. A copy of this message will go into the "Waiting for Answers" folder when I click Send).

You can send the message but set it up so the replies go to someone else. How many times have you sent a message and asked the recipients to send the replies to someone else? You get them anyway, right? Well, not anymore.

Create a Rule that tells Outlook to leave messages in your Outbox for certain length of time after you click Send. Rules are instructions you can create for Outlook to apply to messages you receive or send. This is my 2-minute rule. I created it because I wanted that extra time before the message goes just in case I think of something else I need to tell the recipient. Or how many times have you sent a message and then realized you forgot the attachment? And speaking of attachments, when you create a message, as soon as you type the word "attached," stop right then and do it. (This Rule overrides the standard Defer Delivery command if you don't use the Exception as explained inside.)

Send a message to a distribution list using BCC. Instead of sending a message to everyone in the list whether they need it or not, you should remove people as needed. And to protect the privacy of everyone's email addresses, send it using blind copy (BCC) so each recipient will only see his or her name.

Resend a message. You can get a message out of your Sent folder and resend it instead of forwarding it. You can resend it to the same person or to a new one. When the recipient gets it, it'll look the same as if it were the first time you'd sent it.

Create Signatures for more than just your contact info. The Signature is usually what's automatically included in the body of each email you send (once you create one). The text area of a signature can contain any information.

Edit and use one of your Signatures. After you've created various Signatures, here's how you'll insert it into the body of a message. This tip also shows you how to edit a Signature and also how to set it up so your vCard is automatically attached to the message you're inserting it into. (Your vCard (virtual business card) is an Outlook Contact you've created with your information in it.)

Send a message with artwork that's hyperlinked. If you have an ad, picture, etc., you can embed it into the body of your message and create a hyperlink to your Website. I create all kinds of artwork in PowerPoint and save the slide as a jpeg and use it for email marketing.

Create your own toolbar button that creates a new message. When this button is clicked a new message is already addressed to people you've specified, the subject line is filled in, and the body is already started.

Send the original message along with any Reply or Forward you send. Don't make recipients have to dig through their Send folder to find out what they asked you. Send their original message along with your answer.

Send someone your vCard, a calendar item, or a distribution list. The same method is used for all.

Spell Check and Add Words to Custom Dictionary. If your writing and proofreading skills need a little help, use Spelling Check. If you have terms that are specific to your industry or names, etc., that would show up as errors, add them to the Custom Dictionary.

Create a template of a message you send often. You can create a message with the recipients, subject, and body already completed. You can also include an attachment. Later when you need to send the message, you'll pull a copy of the original, make any necessary changes, and send it as you normally would.

Messages You Receive

New Email Alert. Set how you want to be notified when a new message arrives (the ding, etc.). If you're addicted to email, turn off all alerts.

Create a Rule that tells Outlook to send a message to a specific folder upon arrival. Rules are instructions you can create for Outlook to apply to messages you receive or send. With this rule, a message with certain words in the subject line will automatically go to an Inbox folder instead of landing in the Inbox. I do not recommend that you create a bunch of rules sending your messages to different folders...you still have to go get them out and you'll forget you received them.

Keep replies to messages inside the same folder as the original message...and not the Sent folder. You might have messages about a project going into a special folder. When you open and reply to one of the messages, your reply will also be saved in that folder (instead of showing up in the Sent folder). I don't use this feature but some people like it.

Close a message after you Reply or Forward. Once you reply to (or forward) a message, if it's still open after you click Send, set the option to close it before taking you back to the Inbox view.

Save the body of several messages into one text file. After a project or event, you may want to save all of the important messages into one file instead of saving several folders.

Save messages that have attachments. In addition to simply dragging a message into one of your Inbox folders, you can also:

  • Remove the attachments and save the message;

  • Or you could save all of the attachments at once (instead of opening each one and File, Save As);

  • Or you may want to save the message with the attachments completely outside of Outlook.

Change the subject line of a message you receive. If you receive a message with a poor subject line, you can change it before filing it. Later, it'll be easier to find.

Edit a message before you file it. You might want to add a note to a message before you file it. This tip also shows you how to drag a message from the Inbox to a folder that has subfolders.

Sort messages in the Inbox. Either sort messages from the Inbox or create a custom sort using up to three criteria (e.g., sort by Subject then by Date Received).

Reduce, Block, and Delete Junk Email. I hope you don't receive a lot of junk...I don't. This tip covers several commands, but your best protection against junk email is using a good spam fighter on the server side, not responding to professional spammers, and not allowing anyone to place your live email address on the Web (without the @ symbol). It's a good idea to Google your email addresses to see where they're showing up and ask that they be removed).

  • Add (or remove) a sender to the Blocked Senders List.

  • Delete email from Junk Folder the right way.

  • Explore Junk Options, including how to change your level of protection.

Make handling junk email easier. I customized my toolbars to make it easier to either block a sender or to move a legitimate sender's message from the Junk Email folder to my Inbox. I make reference to a previous lesson in which you learned how to create your own toolbar buttons and change how they read.

Create a rule that permanently deletes messages coming from a specific email account with certain words in the body. I use iContact for email marketing. Every time I'd send an email campaign, all of the Out of Office replies would pile up in my Inbox. To stop this, here's what I did. (This rule will also show you how to edit a rule by double-clicking it.)

  1. Created a new email account in Outlook to only use with iContact.

  2. Set Outlook up to not download email from this account during the regular Send/Receive (this way I decide when to check this account for messages).

  3. Created a rule that permanently deletes all email coming to this special email account with the text, Out of Office or Out of the Office or On Vacation, in the body of the message.

Print only the part you need - an HTML message. I hope you'll get into the habit of only printing email messages when you absolutely have to. If you do print them, you don't have to print the whole thing. You can use this same method to print information on the Web also.

Print only the part you need - a plain text message. I hope you'll get into the habit of only printing email messages when you absolutely have to. If you do print them, you don't have to print the whole thing. If the message is in plain text, you'll have to take a couple of extra steps, but it's worth it.

Turn off question about permanently deleting an item. If you're deleting messages from the Deleted Items folder and the question comes up "Are you sure...?" you can turn this feature off. I sure did!

Block Outlook from automatically downloading large messages. I travel a lot and sometimes check email using dialup. I don't want large messages to automatically download from the server. This demo includes two parts.

Change colors of certain messages so they stand out. Do this if you'd like messages addressed only to you to stand out (as opposed to the ones you're cc'd or bcc'd on.

Time Management

Create your own menu. I created easy access to commands I use often by creating my own menu (such as File, Edit, View, etc.).

Create your own toolbar. Just as you can create your own menu, you can create your own toolbar and add commands to it. In this lesson, learn how to create a Flags toolbar. You'll add each colored flag, rename each one, and display it whenever you need it.

Flagging messages

  • Display the Flag column. If you don't see a column of flags (grayed out) next to your messages in the Inbox, view this movie first.
     
  • Flag messages for follow up. In this example, someone has promised to check on something for me. I don't use my Inbox as a tickler file so instead of leaving the message visible in the Inbox, I'll flag it, create a reminder, then hide it.
     
  • Hide flagged messages. When you flag a message, a copy of it moves to Outlook's For Follow Up folder but the original is still in the Inbox. You don't need to see the message anymore because your reminder is set, so filter the Inbox and only show unflagged messages (this also helps you keep your Inbox to one screen). When the work is complete, open the message in the For Follow Up folder and delete it (if you mark it complete, it'll still be in your Inbox but hidden with the filter). Or you could unfilter the Inbox, then move the message to a folder or insert it into another item (inserting a message as an item is in a separate lesson).

Browse the Web from Outlook. You don't have to leave Outlook to browse the Web. You can drag information you find and drop it into a Note, the Calendar, etc.

Organize the Favorite Folders. If you want easier access to an Inbox folder, drag it to Favorites..

Contacts

Adjust how you view the Contacts folder.

Change how Outlook files your contacts. If you change File as from Last, First, new contacts you add will be filed this way but not contacts you've already entered. To make them consistent, you could export to Excel, delete from Outlook, then import back in from Excel.

Export Outlook Contacts to an Excel spreadsheet. Exporting your Contacts to Excel is one way to create a back up (I use an online vault, Carbonite, for data backup). If you receive a message about an Import/Export engine not being installed, click to install it. You may or may not need your original software CD.

Create a new contact and Change 'Display As' Info. You can create a new contact without clicking Full Name. And you can change the Display As info that shows up on the To line in a message. In a separate movie, learn how to change how contacts are filed (First, Middle, Last Name, etc.).

Create a new contact (or look one up) from an email message.

Use anagram™ to create new contacts. All I do is select text of addresses or meeting information and anagram puts everything in the right boxes. It's magical. As long as you can select the text (in Word, a Webpage, etc.) anagram will work.

Create a new contact when people work for the same company. You won't have to retype general information such as company name.

Create a new contact from an email message.

Import names and addresses from an Excel spreadsheet into Contacts. If you have your Excel spreadsheet set up with First Name, Last Name, etc., it's easy to import it into Outlook.

Separate contacts into categories. You can categorize contacts and filter them later to send messages and mail merge documents just to those people. This demo is listed in the Word mail merge lessons.

Send an email message to a category after you customize current view. To send email only to people who meet a specific criteria, you'll need first view contacts a certain way (in this case by Category), then Customize Current View. This is also how you will set up your contacts to send a mail merged email message (in a separate lesson).

Associate one contact with the other. You can think of John's name but never Virginia's. Associate them so you open John's contact and click to go to Virginia's or vice versa.

Add a photo to a contact. Need to remember what John looks like? Grab a photo off his Website (right-click on the photo, Save Picture As), save it to your computer, then add it to his Contact page.

Determine how long ago a contact was created or modified. This will help you determine which ones to purge. If you've had it awhile and don't remember who they are, you might decide to delete them. This lesson shows how to use the Field Chooser to add a missing column.

Find a contact. A shortcut to finding a contact is by using the Find a Contact box.

Use Advanced Find to locate a contact when you don't know their name. This tip shows how to find text you've written in the notes section of the contact page. There are many options in Advanced Find so spend some time in this dialog box.

Find email messages you've sent from a contact's page. Use the Activities tab and decide which items you want to display. Double-click an item to open it.

Use distribution lists. If you need to email a special group of people such as the media, you can create a distribution list either by entering one name at a time, from your contacts, or from a group of email addresses you've copied to the Clipboard.

I do not recommend making distribution lists for every group you need. Study the lesson on separating contacts using categories.

  • Create a distribution list (3 ways).
     

  • Send a vCard or distribution list to someone
     

  • Send a message to a distribution list using BCC

Insert an email message into a contact's page. Before you delete a message, you may want to add it to the text area of a contact either as an attachment or as text.

  • Insert a message by copying/pasting.

 


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