Tips and tricks: getting the most out of Outlook Web Access

The NHS’ own email system, NHSmail, is preparing for a move to a new platform, Microsoft Exchange 2007.

One of the benefits is that anyone using its web pages to access their account will automatically use Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA) to pick up their mail and perform other tasks. OWA comes with many exciting features, as tips and tricks expert Nick Saalfeld explains.

The health service is planning to move its own, secure email service, NHSmail, onto the Microsoft Exchange 2007 platform.

When this happens, users will still be able to access their NHSmail accounts through the NHSmail web pages (www.nhs.net). But when they do, they will automatically use Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA) to pick up email and carry out other tasks. “OWA not only gives you email, but lots of other functions (like calendars and task lists) that are usually only found on desktop software.”

OWA is a web-based version of Microsoft’s popular Outlook software that not only allows people to send and receive email, but gives them access to lots of other functions like calendars and task lists that normally only come with desktop software.

Familiar, but full of new features

There are lots of benefits to using OWA. For a start, you may well be familiar with Outlook already, if you have it on your home computer or use it at work. Lots of effort has been put into making the web-based version visually similar to the desktop version – so it shouldn’t take long to get the hang of it.

But because OWA is web-based, it always offers the very latest facilities and functions. If you or your trust are using old desktop software (Windows 98, Office 2002), you won’t be enjoying all the cool new features of the latest version (and there are plenty).

Training, tips and tricks

If you’re just getting started with computers, email or Outlook, then take a look at the free training packages here in the Microsoft NHS Resource Centre. And look out for the special free training package for NHSmail that will be added on when the new service goes live. “Even if you’re an experienced emailer, these tricks should make a real difference to your daily email routine.”

If you’re comfortable with the basics, then read on: we’ve collected some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Outlook and OWA. And if you’re using older desktop software then read on as well: it could make a real difference to your daily email routine.

1. Distribution Lists

One of the central functions of the desktop version of Outlook and OWA is the address book. By saving contacts to your address book, you won’t have to remember lots of email addresses.

Deep down in the address book is an often-forgotten function: Distribution Lists. If you regularly send an email to one group of people you can add them to a Distribution List.

Not only does this mean you can include them all in an email simply by typing the list name, but it also means you should never miss anyone off an important message.

2. Viewing Attachments

Many corporate email systems – including NHSmail – put tough restrictions on the attachments that can be opened. There are often good reasons for this; some attachments can be harmful to your computer, or put a big load on a network.

Even so, restrictions sometimes mean that a perfectly legitimate document cannot be opened. Fortunately, OWA comes with web-based document viewing tools.

You can read several document formats (including pictures, PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents) within the browser. You don’t need any additional software - simply click the attachment’s title and it will open on screen.

3. Views

When you open OWA, your email will be presented in a View - usually in date order by default. However, there are actually several views to choose from; many of which will make your life much easier. Here are just a few - hit Arrange By to see plenty more:

• By conversation topic: This is a little known View that collates all the correspondence around a particular subject in one place. It means you can view an entire conversation (called a Thread), and all participants in it, at once.

• From: Easily find all the emails you have received from a specific sender.

• Importance: Call up all emails designated as urgent or of high importance with a single click.

4. Categories

Categories is a nifty little tool that allows you to apply characteristics to emails. In earlier versions of Outlook, these include generic categories like Follow Up, Call this Person or Review."OWA is designed to support compliance regimes, right from the creation of every email."

In OWA (and also the latest version of the desktop Outlook software), categories are entirely user-definable and come in a range of fetching colours, so you can be as creative with your categories as you like. You can also sort emails by category.

5. BCC

You’ll definitely be aware of the To: box. It’s where you type in the email address of your recipient(s). The CC: box copies your email to additional recipients.

There is another box on offer, though: BCC. (If you can’t see a BCC box, start a new email, hit Options and tick Show BCC). BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Email addresses entered here will receive your email, but they won’t be able to see who else you have sent the email to.

In this way, you can send an email to fifty people, but it will appear to each of them as a single conversation. They will similarly be unable to Reply All, and will only be able to reply to you. This is useful for maintaining privacy and preventing responses from landing in everybody’s inboxes and clogging them up unnecessarily.

6. Meeting Requests

All but the very earliest versions of Outlook integrate email with the onboard calendar. You can therefore schedule a meeting in your calendar, and send invites to everyone that you would like to attend. They can reply by email with a single click, and you will have a real-time record in your own calendar of who can or cannot attend.

But because OWA is web-based, everyone’s calendars are stored centrally - and that makes arranging meetings even simpler. Instead of waiting for attendees to reply with their availability, you can instantly interrogate multiple calendars in order to look for a free time slot which suits everyone. Simply select New > Meeting/Appointment, select a number of attendees, and ask OWA to find the next available slot which suits everyone.

7. Security

Everybody is concerned about security and compliance. OWA is designed to support compliance regimes, right from the creation of every email. Each email you send can be identified as requiring a specific compliance treatment (for example, storage of the email in a central repository, or restrictions on forwarding and third party access) to prevent misuse of sensitive data.

OWA also supports the internationally accepted HIPAA standard for management of healthcare data, which lays down rules for the security and privacy of patient-confidential information.

Of course, NHSmail itself has security at its heart. Data in emails sent between two NHSmail addresses is encrypted or coded, so it can’t be read easily if the email is intercepted. That’s one reason NHSmail is the only email system that is endorsed by the Department of Health, British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing for sending patient data.

Crumbs - that’s rather a lot to take in!

No problem. OWA comes loaded up with more tools than a plumber who’s paid by the hour. You don’t need to know all, or even any, of these functions to start sending and receiving emails - feel free to play with OWA and learn new tools as you feel comfortable. There’s no way you can “break” anything, and you won’t do any harm to your computer.

There is, however, a version of OWA called OWA Light. OWA Light simplifies the menu lists, which makes it easy for first-timers to familiarise themselves with the most used functions.

You can select the OWA Light interface as you log in. It’s also optimised for slow or insecure internet connections, which means it’s also ideal for accessing your email from home or out on the road.

And once the new NHSmail service goes live, you’ll be offered OWA Light automatically if you are using a non-Microsoft browser, or a Microsoft browser older than Internet Explorer 6 to access your account. 

Read more, do more

Find out more information about NHSmail and its move to Microsoft Exchange 2007

Want that free training? Information about what is available on the NHS Resource Centre is here: link to new e-learning pages.

Want to know more about security? Read the columns by our security expert Davey Winder by using the “sidewinder” search tag. Read Davey's handy guide to viruses, Trojans and other nasties