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Change the Color of Messages in Your Inbox July 13, 2009

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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When you check your e-mail, are you looking specifically for messages from a particular person?  You can easily find them at a glance by color-coding messages from that individual.

  1. Select an e-mail you want to change to a color when it arrives
  2. Click Tools on the menu bar
  3. Select Organize
    Outlook Organize
  4. Click Using Colors from the Ways to Organize Inbox area
  5. Color messages from (their e-mail address will appear here) in (select a color – you have 15 but white is useless as is Silver and Yellow, in my opinion)
  6. Click Apply Color
  7. Continue with other e-mails and colors, as desired
  8. When done, click the X on the far right corner of  Ways to Organize Inbox

Now you can quickly see when e-mail arrives from that individual!

Add a Field to an Outlook Table View June 23, 2009

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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If you should change a view to a table style view, such as the Contact “Phone List” or the Calendar “All Appointments”, you might not see all the fields you need.  You can add fields to these views by using the Field Chooser.

In the example below, I will use the “All Appointments” view in the Calendar and add the field to show me when the appointment was created.

  1. If you do not see the Current View icon (it might show Day/Week/Month) you do not have the Advanced Toolbar on.  Right-mouse click on any icon at the top of the Outlook window and select Advanced.
  2. Click on the drop-down triangle at the right edge of the Current view icon and select All Appointments.
  3. Right-mouse click on one of the field names that are on the top of the listed appointments.
  4. Click on  Field Chooser.
  5. Click on Created and drag it to the top row of field names and drop it where you would like it to appear.

Outlook Field Chooser

NOTE:  If you do not see the field you would like to use, change the Field Chooser from Frequently-used fields to the All Contact fields, All Mail fields, All Appointment fields, etc.  The field names are listed alphabetically.

The next time you come to this view, the field you added will appear.

To remove a field, simply click and drag it off the field names row.

Recover Deleted Items After Emptying Outlook’s Deleted Items Folder June 11, 2009

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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This feature requires you to use a Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003, or 2007 account. Most home and personal accounts do not use Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft Office Outlook provides a way to recover items after you delete them permanently, even after you empty the Deleted Items folder.

 Note   Your Exchange administrator specifies the retention time for items that are deleted permanently on the server running Exchange. After this time elapses, you cannot recover the deleted items.

You can view and recover deleted items (including the items that were deleted permanently when you selected items and pressed SHIFT+DELETE or SHIFT+ X Delete) after you have emptied the Deleted Items folder.

  1. Click on the Deleted Items folder, then click the Tools menu and select Recover Deleted Items.  
  2. Click an item and then click Recover Selected Items.

 Tip   To select multiple items, press CTRL as you click each item.

Each recovered item is restored to the Deleted Items folder.

 Note   You cannot recover an item if it does not appear in the Recover Deleted Items dialog box.

This will save you heart ache if you delete an item and then realize that you didn’t mean to delete it.  But don’t wait … it will not be available for recovery forever.  I tell clients to plan on only 1 week, although your IT Department might hold them longer.

10 Suggested Changes to Outlook’s Default Settings June 7, 2009

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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When Outlook is installed there are 10 defaults that I suggest that you change:

  1. Turn on the Advanced Toolbar
    Right mouse click on any toolbar icon and select Advanced from the list.
  2. When starting Outlook, don’t start in the Inbox, start in Outlook Today. 
    -  First you’ll need to get to Outlook Today so you can customize its components. 
    -  The left most icon on the Advanced Toolbar is the Outlook Today icon (a clock, house, and calendar are on the icon).  Click that icon or click on Mailbox – “your name” if you are on Exchange Server.
    -  On the right side of the Outlook Today bar click Customize Outlook Today.
    -  The first items is a check box – put the check in the box:  When starting, go directly to Outlook Today
    -  Show this number of days in my calendar   I suggest changing the default from 5 to “7″ … on Wednesday you would get a quick view of the appointments you have at the first of the week.
    -  In my task list show me All Tasks (this is the default … not change it to Today’s Tasks)
    -  Sort by Importance (Descending) then by Due Date (Ascending).  The most important tasks will appear at the top of the list with the most current Due at the top and those Due in the future below.
    - Click Save Changes – the upper right on the Customize Outlook Today bar.
  3. Click on Tools from the menu, then Options.  On the Preferences tab, click the E-mail Options… box, then the Advanced E-mail Options box.  If you have rules that move mail to specific folders when the mail arrived, then you will want to check the box In folders other than the Inbox, save replies with original message.  Using this feature means that the mail in the folder will have the incoming mail and your replies to that e-mail.  Click OK twice. 
  4. You are now back at Options.  Click the Contacts box.  The default “File As” for contacts is Last name, first name.  If I have several contacts from the same company, I find it easier to find then if I have then sorted together by the Company name, so I would change:  Select the default setting for how to file new contacts:  Default “File As” Order:  Company (Last, First).  Then click OK.
  5. Are you frequently changing the font of a new message?  Instead of changing each message, let’s change the default font for new messages and for replies/forwards:
    -  Click on the Mail Format Tab, then the Fonts (Outlook 2003 and earlier) or Stationery and Fonts … (Outlook 2007).
    -  Do nothing at the Stationery Picker (pre 2007)/Theme (2007)… no ivy, no dark background color … just leave it a plain old white sheet.
    - Select the font you want for New Messages, then for Replying or Forwarding.  You can also change the font for composing and reading plain text messages … it does not have to be Courier New if your prefer Arial!
    -  When you are satisfied with your selections, click OK.
  6. Click on the Signatures … box and add the following signatures (at a minimum):
    -  signature for a new e-mail going outside your company (more formal with more information)
    -  signature for a new e-mail going inside your company
    -  signature for replies and forwards.
  7. Click on the Spelling Tab.  By default, your e-mail messages are NOT checked for spelling errors when you click Send.
    -  Click on Always check spelling before sending.
    -  Outlook 2007 – click on the Spelling and AutoCorrection box.
    - I suggest you remove the check in Ignore words in UPPERCASE and Ignore words that contain numbers.
    - Outlook 2007 – click OK.
  8. Click on the Other Tab.  Click to add a check mark in Empty the Deleted Items upon exiting.  The Deleted Items folder should not be a HOLD folder.  You can create a folder to HOLD things in and then when you delete an item, you mean for it to be deleted.
    -  If you are on Exchange Server, you can undelete something once you delete the Deleted Items.  Instructions will follow on a separate Post.
  9. Click on the box for the Reading Pane…
    -      Notice that the default is to Mark item as read with selection changes.  This means that when you leave one e-mail message and simply click on another – perhaps to view it in the reading pane – then the last message is marked as having been opened and read (the closed envelope icon changes to an opened envelope).
    -  Remove the check mark in this item.
  10. Last, click on the AutoArchive…box and remove the check mark in Run AutoArchive every xx days.
    -  I’ll give instructions on how to do a Manual Archive in a future Post.  Using the Manual Archive, you are in control of what you are archiving and which folder you are archiving to.

It doesn’t matter if you are new to Outlook or have been using it for awhile, these changes will make Outlook easier to work with!

Need help with anything listed above, contact me at Gretchen@UhasCT.com.

Add an Icon to your Toolbar May 29, 2009

Posted by computertrainer in Access Tips, Excel Tips, Outlook Tips, PowerPoint Tips, Publisher Tips, Visio Tips, Word Tips.
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Today during an Office 2007 class with employees at KaZak Composites in Woburn, MA, we discussed using the Filter feature in an Outlook calendar.  This is a multi-step process if you start from the menu.

Adding the Filter icon to a toolbar makes the process simpler.  Since that feature was not included in their book, I thought I would share the steps here so everyone can benefit from this shortcut.

NOTE:  You can add icons to other office applications using the same technique, however, Outlook 2007 is the only Office 2007 application that uses the toolbar.  So try this in Office 2000, XP, or 2003 for Excel, Word, etc.

  1. [RIGHT] click on any toolbar and select Customize.
    Right click a toolbar and select Customize
  2.  Make sure you can see the toolbar you want add an icon to. 
  3. Click the Commands tab.
  4. In the Categories box, click the View category.   (The Category will be the Menu that you would use to find the command.)
    customize toolbar 2
  5. Scroll on the Commands: until you find Filter … (or the command you want to add).
  6. Click on the Filter… command and drag it to the toolbar.
  7. Release the mouse button when it is placed in the location of your choice.
    NOTE:  You will see an “I beam” where it will be dropped.
  8. Click Close.
  9. Now when you want to filter simply click the icon, then go to the More Choices tab and click Categories to filter based on a category.
  10. When you want to remove the filter, click on the Filter icon and select Clear All.customize toolbar 3
     

Outlook – Personal Folders Backup May 30, 2008

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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Outlook Add-in:  Personal Folders Backup

The Personal Folders Backup download creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2000 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.  Note:  This is NOT for folders stored in Exchange.


Backing up your Microsoft Outlook information is quicker and easier with the Personal Folders Backup feature. Personal Folders Backup creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2000 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.

With Personal Folders Backup, you can choose which of your .PST files you wish to back up, and how often you wish to back them up.

Each .PST file contains all of your Outlook folders, including the Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts. You can have a single .PST file (usually called “Internet Folders” or “Personal Folders” in your Folder List), but you might also have an additional .PST file that you use for archiving (“Archiving Folders”). Personal Folders Backup lets you back up any or all of these .PST files.

Note Personal Folders Backup only backs up .PST files. If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox, your server mailbox folders are likely backed up regularly by your server administrator.

For additional details and assistance refer to Using the Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool.

Instructions

Go to the Outlook Add-in Download page

 

File Name:                                pfbackup.exe

 

To install this download:

1.     Download the file by clicking the Download button (above) and saving the file to your hard disk.

2.     Double-click the pfbackup.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

3.     Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

 

Instructions for use:

Once you have installed this download, complete the following:

1.     Start Outlook.

2.     On the File menu, choose Backup.

3.     To change the backup options, such as which .PST files to back up, click Options.

 

To remove this download:

To remove the download file itself, delete the file pfbackup.exe.

1.     On the Start menu, point to Settings and then click Control Panel.

2.     Double-click Add/Remove Programs.

3.     In the list of currently installed programs, select Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup and then click Remove or Add/Remove. If a dialog box appears, follow the instructions to remove the program.

4.     Click Yes or OK to confirm that you want to remove the program.

Outlook – Create an appointment from an email message May 30, 2008

Posted by computertrainer in Outlook Tips.
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If you have received an email message from a client requesting a conference call and the email contains a list of criteria that the client would like to discuss during the phone call, then you will want to create an appointment on your Calendar in order to remember when the call will occur, but you’d also like to include the contents of the email message.

To do both in one easy step, select the email in the Message list and drag it to the Contacts icon in the Navigation Pane (Contacts folder in the Folder List in 2000 and 2002).

 A new Appointment form launches that includes a Subject line and the email’s contents in the Notes area. Simply adjust the start and End Times of the appointment, and then click Save And Close.