Help! Find Outlook answers

Learn to use all the helpful aspects of this e-mail program

By Jessica Padykula

I have lost count of how many day planners I’ve purchased over the years and never used. It wasn’t until I installed Microsoft Outlook on my PC that I realized I don’t need an agenda to help plan my day-to-day tasks.

It’s one thing to send and receive e-mail — we all do it daily, but it’s another to use your e-mail program to help simplify your life. Outlook is an organizational tool that can help you be more productive at work — and at home.

Ken Slovak, president of Slovak Technical Services and author of Professional Outlook 2007 Programming (Wrox Press, 2007), agrees. He describes Outlook as a PIM or Personal Information Manager and a fully featured e-mail program that has sections for tasks, a calendar, a journal and notes.

Use your organizational powers

Slovak uses the calendar function to set up and log appointments and meetings and to enter tasks for items on his to-do list.

He uses the journal function to log information about his work in other Office applications. (To do this, go to Tools > Options > Preferences > Journal Options and choose from which Office components you would like to record files.)

Slovak also benefits from the journal function that helps him track his time spent on different tasks. “If you open a journal form, you can start a timer and log your time on any project, personal or professional,” he says.

Another area Slovak uses to organize himself is the Outlook search folders. They can be set up to combine e-mail in almost any folder that meet certain criteria, such as items that are unread or marked for follow up. You can also create your own search folders using your own criteria definitions, he explains.

I have mail folders dedicated to each of the projects I’m working on, so whenever I get an e-mail related to that project, I move it to the corresponding folder. This way, it’s easy to find any messages I may need at a later date.

Slovak recommends using the Outlook Today window, which is shown for users as Personal Folders in the folder list. This area can be organized to show all your daily appointments and tasks and can link to various mail folders. Under All mail folders choose Personal folders > Customize Outlook Today. From here you will be given options to set up your daily to-do list. With this kind of detail, who needs a day planner!

Setup made simple

Outlook 2007 makes it easy to set up e-mail accounts. Select Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Email Accounts > Email > New, and the wizard will take you through the steps to create a new account or change existing ones.

The steps are self-explanatory and easy to follow, says Slovak. “The main thing is to have all the information you received from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) handy so you can enter the servers, passwords and log-in information you’ll need.” If you are starting up Outlook on a clean installation or new computer, the e-mail wizard runs automatically to help you set up your accounts.

Exercise your options

The Options tab, under Tools, is full of tasks and preferences to help you customize your Outlook account. The ones that are most useful depend on each user and how she or he uses Outlook.

“I always recommend that users explore everywhere in the Options tab and experiment with the various settings,” says Slovak. He also recommends not shying away from tabs that have Advanced in their names. “Many users feel they aren’t advanced and are afraid to change any settings or even open those tabs. Don’t be afraid. Explore and experiment.”

To begin customizing your account, go to Tools > Options > Preferences. Some key areas include Junk Mail options, where you can choose the level of junk mail protection you want and create safe and blocked sender and recipient lists. Here you can also customize the look and feel of your inbox — everything from the background colour on your calendar (mine is a rosy pink) to your current time zone. Also under preferences, customize the look of Notes, Contacts, Journal and Tasks.

The Mail Setup tab allows you to use the setup wizard to easily add new e-mail accounts and directories or to change existing ones.

Under Mail Format, you can choose a format for outgoing mail, customize the stationery on which your messages appear, alter fonts and create a signature that will appear at the bottom of all your outgoing mail.

You can use the Spelling tab to spellcheck your messages automatically, and you can even customize the AutoCorrect to ignore words in all caps or those containing numbers.

Find a helping hand

Slovak explains that when it comes to finding help for Outlook, instead of searching online or in the various support venues, it’s common for people to just get frustrated.

So the next time you’re tempted to throw things at the computer screen, opt for the built-in help in Outlook, which looks like a question mark in a blue circle. Type in a word or phrase pertaining to your problem and you will automatically be given a list of possible help options. When I was having trouble sending pictures, I typed photos into the online help box and got an extensive list of options. I chose the one for “I can’t send pictures,” which provided me with a simple, step-by-step solution.

Slovak also suggests visiting Office Online for tutorials, articles and other helpful content to make the most of Outlook’s capabilities. Click on Assistance and you will find various tips and program-specific help by selecting Outlook 2007 in the Browse Assistance section.

Visit the following links for further help and support for Outlook: