Touring Outlook

Using Folders

You are new to Outlook and want to get up and running fast. You need to organize the messages into appropriate folders in order to keep your mail from overrunning you. Folders provide the storage area for messages and the only thing you need to do is create them. Avoid using the inbox as a catch all for received e-mail. You wouldn’t keep all your papers in one box, would you?

This section describes how to create new folders and store information in them. Some suggestions will be made as to the possible naming schemes that might be used on these message containers. Keep in mind that the folders we are creating here are personal and are therefore not accessible to anyone else on the network.

                Outlook Today Folders – these folders reside on the SAU exchange server and store all of your incoming and outgoing messages.  The names of these folders can not be changed.  You are allowed 20 megs of space and will be notified by email when you have reached the maximum.  Don’t panic, it is just a warning and your email will still work.

Personal Folders – these folders reside on a completely different server and do not count against the total space you are allowed to use on the mail server. 

To Check Amount of Space You Have Used

1.  Right click on Outlook Today

2. Click on the Folder Size….. button

3. Total size is the amount of space you are using on the server. 

To Create New Folders

The following illustration shows the folder list and the creation of a new folder:

1.       If the list of folders isn’t visible to the right of the views bar click Folder List from the Views menu.

2.       Click on Personal Folders to select it as the point to create a new subfolder.

3.       From the File menu select New and click Folder. Type Inbox-Save in the Name box and click OK.

To Place Items Into Folders

1.       Click and hold on the message you wish to move into the folder and drag the message over until the folder is highlighted. Release the mouse button.
-or-
Select use Rules to automatically place messages into the appropriate folder.

Using Rules

E-mail has become a crucial part of daily communication. More and more messages are being received each day. How do you cope with the increased volume of messages and still keep your sanity? Rules are here to make your life easier. You may set up predefined actions to take on messages that meet certain criteria. Rules can make the difference between you using e-mail and e-mail using you.

To Create a Rule

1.       On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard and click the New button.

2.       Click Next to Check messages when they arrive.

3.       Click the check box next to sent to people or distribution list and click on the underlined words people or distribution list in the Rule description box to select the individuals or groups you wish the rule to affect.

4.       Double click online learning, click OK and click Next.

5.       Click the check box next to move it to the specified folder and click on the underlined word specified in the Rule description box to select the online learning folder

6.       Click New to create the online learning folder and type online learning in the name box and click OK. Click No when asked if you would like to create a shortcut.

7.       Click OK and click Next to move to the next step.

8.       Click Next to move past the exceptions step and click Finish. You may change the name of the rule if you like and you may have it apply to the existing messages in you inbox as well.

9.       Click OK to close the rules wizard. At this point you could go through the wizard again to add more rules.

10.   Send a message to the online learning group and watch what happens.

Using rules you can quickly get rid of junk e-mail or organize mail automatically as it is received. The steps in the wizard lead you through three basic steps, selecting a condition, applying an action to the items returned by the condition, and entering exceptions to the condition. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could apply a rule at the post office?

Using BCC

You have been sent messages before. In the beginning of the message there is an extremely long list of names that copies of the message have been sent to. The only way to read the message is to scroll past that long header to get to the message. The other common issue with these long headers is when a user replies to all, the message is sent to everyone on the list. You may not want the receiver to know whom you sent the message to. Blind carbon copy or BCC is a little known feature that can greatly help out in this regard. When users are sent a message with BCC, all names in the BCC list are eliminated from the outgoing message to each user. To the user it looks like a personal message to them. BCC is a great way to simplify your messaging and keep e-mail a little more private.

To Send E-mail by BCC

1.       Click on the New Message button on the toolbar to start a new message.

2.       From the View menu click the Bcc field to display it on your message.

3.       Click on the To button and select users individually. Then click Bcc and select the users you wish to copy the message to. Click OK.

4.       In the Subject box type in Task force status report and press Enter.

5.       Type in a message to the members of your group and click Send.

Using Personal Distribution Lists

In your work, you commonly e-mail groups of people. Sometimes these groups can become quite lengthy and therefore a burden to individually select all the people you wish to send the message to. Personal distribution lists can help. They allow the amalgamation of a list of users into one easy to use group name. The list is personal meaning that it is not available for others to use. Anyone can create a personal distribution list to establish his or her own groupings of individuals, which makes using e-mail quicker and easier.

To Create Personal Distribution Lists

1.       On the Tools menu click Address Book.

2.       Add a personal distribution list by clicking File and New entry. Click New distribution list and click OK. Type in IT Department  in the Name box.

3.       Click Select Members and double click on the individuals you wish to add to the list. Click OK, then click Save and Close and close out the address book by clicking the X in the upper right corner of the address book window.

4.       To use this list, you must select Contacts in the Show names from the drop down.

Multiple names may be selected by standard windows file selection techniques. The contacts are also accessible by clicking Contacts on the Views bar.

Using Internal vs External Contact Lists

Everyone has outside contacts. You wish to continue to work with those individuals and therefore should have them in your contact list. You may also be involved in a new task and a list of names has been provided to you.

                SAU contact list – global address book (this list can not be altered for any reason)

                Outlook address book – personal address book (only you can alter this book)

Help

At any time while you are using Outlook, you can get help from the online Help. To open the online Help, click Microsoft Outlook Help on the Help menu. If you have an Internet connection, you can also point to Office on the Web on the Help menu and choose from several resources that may be of interest to you such as Product News, Frequently Asked Questions, and Online Support. Don’t forget to go to http://www.microsoft.com/outlook for all the latest information.