This configures outlook to read and send email using a given email account.
Tools>Account Settings>Email Tab>New. Select server type (normally POP3). Outlook 2007 attempts to discover the appropriate settings for your email host, but if this does not work, click the box "Manually configure server settings ..." The settings will depend on where the email account is hosted -- I have listed the settings for several places in Email Settings.
On the "Advanced" tab, one can control whether a copy of your incoming messages are saved on the server. I find it convenient to do this so that one can still access the incoming messages on the server (and hence from any location) after they have been downloaded to Outlook. You may also want to set a number of days for the message to remain on the server that is small enough so that the mailbox capacity provided by the ISP is not exceeded.
By default, upon connection to your ISP, Outlook will download new messages and send any messages in your Outbox. I find it more convenient to change this so that the send/receive only occurs when I click Send/Receive. I do this for two reasons: (1) To avoid the distraction of incoming email while I am working on something else, and (2) To avoid sending email inadvertently -- this way it goes into the outbox first and remains there till I hit send/receive. To set this, go to Tools>Options>Mail Setup and uncheck the box "Send immediately when connected".
Left side - Mail (with folders of Deleted, Drafts, Inbox, Junk Email, Outbox,
Sent, Search Folders - Messages for Followup, Large Messages, and Unread Messages),
Calendar, Contacts, Task categories -
Middle (assuming Mail is selected as category) - Message Pane (list of messages)
Right hand side - Reading Pane - the text of a single message that is highlighted
in the message pane
The number in parentheses after the folder name is the number of items in the folder that haven't been opened. In the message pane, items that haven't been opened will appear in bold. The status of the message is also indicated by the message list icons at the left - e.g. a message that has been opened will appear as an opened envelope whereas a message that hasn't been opened will appear just as an envelope, a purple arrow on the envelope will indicate you replied to the message, and so forth.
Changing the Order of Messages in the Message Pane - Right Click on the top of the message pane to select the basis for arranging messages (I do by date)
By default, the reading pane appears on the right. If you want it to appear below the message pane, as in pre-2003 versions of Outlook, select View>Reading Pane>Bottom. You can also turn off the reading pane entirely if you want to see more messages in the message pane.
Basic Email steps - Composing a new mail message, Reading, Replying, Forwarding, Deleting, Adding and Viewing Attachments, cc and bcc.
Creating Folders within Inbox and Sent folders
Tools>Options>Mail Format. You can specify the format of outgoing messages (HTML, Rich text, plain text). By clicking on the Signatures button, then New (enter name for signature) - then choose email account and whether to use for ( 1) new messages and/or (2) replying and forwarding
Follow up - Right click on message header and select Follow Up>choose date.
Categorize - Right click on message header and select Categorize and choose color category (which you can rename). The color will show up in the list of messages as one of the fields and will show up at the top of the message in the reading pane.
View>Arrange By>Custom>Filter -- to remove filter, check the Clear All.
Rules - Tools>Rules and Alerts>New Rules - can route incoming mail
Setting various options for a message - While composing new message, can set some through icons in the Options group and others through launching the Options dialog box. You can also change the default level of importance and security through Tools>Options>Preferences>Email Options>Advanced Email Options
You can add people listed in the From or cc area of an email to your contacts easily by right-clicking on the email and selecting "Addi to Outlook contacts.
Creating a Personal Folder - right click the contacts button in Navigation pane>New Folder
Changing view of the contact list - the default view is address cards - the alphabetical buttons at the right are useful for longer lists -- In navigation pane, can select a different view through View>Current View
Creating a Distribution List - with Contacts open, select File>New>Distribution List. Add New - enter address, Select Members -- double click on names and then click OK. To send to the distribution list, select that as recipient and Outlook will expand so that all addresses are visible.
Can click Categorize to categorize contact before you save it. You can have more than one category assigned to a contact. If you choose View>Current View>By Category, can drag a contact from one category to another, either left-click drag or right-click
Viewing a list of email messages you have exchanged sith a contact - Contact>Activities button - make sure to give it time to find the messages -- but you won't see other information about the message this way, such as when sent, but this is quicker than trying to sort the inbox, which doesn't get at messages in another folder or subfolder
Sort by categories - View>Current View>By Category -- to control which fields show up, you right-click gtghe header row and choose Customize Current View>Current View.
Map - If the contact address is in the US, you can view a map for the address -- in the Ribbon of the person's contact window, in the Communicate group, click the Map button -- this is very fast
Preview messages - View>Auto Preview - shows first three lines of a message
Format a message - In the compose message screen, select Options tab and then look in the Format group. By default, Outlook uses Word to create email messages so can use many of the Word features to format text.
Sorting - (1) Can click on column heading in list of messages, particularly reading pane is off and at the bottom, or (2) View>Arrange By>select one of about 12 things
Finding - Tools>Instant Search>Advanced Find
Spam filter - Actions>junk Email Options >Options tab - (1) Choose the level of spam filtering you want, and (2) Can add people to the safe senders list -- this will allow images in their email to automatically show up
Using RSS Feeds - Open a web page with RSS links in your web browser and click the RSS link and click subscribe. In Outlook, click RSS Feed in the left hand list. Tools>Account Settings>RSS Feeds>New
View the calendar - View>Current View
Create new appointments - Calendar>New>Appointment and enter information, save and close. For a recurring appointment, click the appointment tab and then Recurrence. To quickly schedule an appointment, in Day/Week/or Month view, click the start time for the appointment and then type the subject -- to schedule it more precisely, double click it to open the appointment
Print a calendar - Switch to calendar if not already open. File>Print. Click on the Calendar Format you want, Start and End Dates, Can hide details of private appointments, Print Preview, Page Setup to change Printed calendar appearance
Share a calendar - Can establish a free Office Online account and share your calendar directly from Outlook and after publishing, can send links to others. Calendar?Send a Calendar via Email - Date range, Level of detail. Calendar>Publish My Calendar - register/login to Orffice Online. Choose who you will share it with. You can subscribe to the calendar to get updates.
Create a Task list - Task>New>task - Enter the task. Click a task to see its detail in the Reading Pane. Can do a recurring task by clicking Recurrence.. Can have Outlook remind you of a task -- if you click on the flag icon, it will go away, indicating completion of the task
Manage a Task list - Task>Arrange by panel for a list of the sorting options. Can click on right to sort in order or reverse order
Keep personal notes - New>Note. To display notes, click on Notes button (for me it's at the bottom left below Tasks. Can search notes by typing in the Search notes box.
Revised: February 16, 2010. Comments to William Pegram, bill@billpegram.com