Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Review and Revision Record

Date Document Version Author Checked by

14/5/2014 1.0 Abhishek Shukla

Microsoft ®, Microsoft Office ® 2007 and Microsoft Word ® 2007 are all trademarks of Microsoft

Corporation and acknowledged. All other trademarks acknowledged.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 4

Why Bother?............................................................................................................... 4

Assumptions ............................................................................................................... 5

Margin Icons ............................................................................................................... 5

WHAT IS OUTLOOK? ..................................................................................................... 6

WHAT IS MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SERVER? .................................................................. 6

CONFIGURING OUTLOOK ............................................................................................. 7

Minimum System Requirements .................................................................................... 7

Installation Consideration ............................................................................................. 7

THE MICROSOFT OUTLOOK “INTERFACE” ..................................................................... 8

SENDING & RECEIVING MAIL ..................................................................................... 10

Reading Mail ............................................................................................................. 11

Replying to and Forwarding Messages .......................................................................... 11

Mail Delivery Options (Signatures and Tracking) ............................................................ 12

Signatures ............................................................................................................. 12

Tracking ................................................................................................................ 13

Managing E-mail ........................................................................................................ 14

Folders ..................................................................................................................... 14

Message “Rules” ........................................................................................................ 15

Sorting and Finding Messages ..................................................................................... 17

Deleting Messages ..................................................................................................... 18

Archiving Messages ................................................................................................... 19

Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 19

INTRODUCTION

Greetings..........................prospective email user.

Thanks for taking to time to go through this document. Unlike most user guides this one is

written in plain English which a regular person understands. It is filled with good-to-know

information and not the quantum physics type, which you might need once every third life.

Besides proving my prowess in creating user guides, my main objective of writing this manual

is to help readers access their emails using Outlook – an application that allows you to access

all your emails in one place. It also helps save your contacts, calendars, appointments and

almost everything that you would need your dreary diary for.

Why Bother?

Most Office users (at home) never bother to explore this yellow icon and avoid it while they

can. You interest in the most uninteresting of the applications placed you among am elite

group. No, there is no secret handshake or something. If you are not convinced that using

Outlook is a good idea, I have come up with some good reasons why you should start

pondering over it.

It will make you more marketable: Microsoft applications are widely used, face it.

Learning its usage will not get you in harm’s way or something.

It helps you get most out of your investment (or your employer’s investment):

Using office without knowing Outlook is like buying an HD-TV and watching a video shot

from a VGA cam.

Increase productivity: Learning to use Outlook will take time but the same can be

compensated from the time you save after you have mastered it.

It is fun (yes, it is!!): Some people really have fun making Outlook do things that are

otherwise impossible on a webmail interface. By the time you finish with this manual,

you might just be one of those people.

Assumptions

Before proceeding with this creation, which I consider no less than Michelangelo’s rendition of

Sistine chapel (Yes, I am modest too!), below are the assumptions that have been made.

You have access to PC at work – and probably at home.

You have an email account.

You are running a version of office which has Outlook as one of the components.

You use your PC for work as well.

You consider yourself to be more knowledgeable about computers than the holy cow.

You need to get some work done and have low tolerance level for thick computer

books.

You know how to check your emails on browsers

You are aware of the terms like shortcut, exchange server, webmail, interface etc.

Margin Icons

Sometime ago, a market research company found its usefulness by showing that a manual is

better read and widely recommended when it has icons on the margins. So icons have been

incorporated throughout this manual to draw your attention to various features or help you

decide if something is worth skipping.

I don’t know if this research is valid but I am not taking any risks. So below are the icons that

you will encounter on your journey from the first page to the last.

Read anything marked with this icon or else, you may lose your emails, offend some

recipients, including some guardian of email etiquettes or turn your office into

Chernobyl, overnight.

This is technical information which you can read or safely skip − whichever suits

your fancy.

This denotes keyboard shortcut which comes in handy when you intend to save time

and eventually, leave office early.

Store this information in deep recesses of your brain for later use.

WHAT IS OUTLOOK?

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is considered a groupware application that supports e-mail, calendars,

contacts, “to-do” lists, and other features. It is not to be confused with Outlook Express which

stopped existing with Windows XP. Outlook is a much more powerful with features like auto-

backup, automatic replies, delayed response allowing you to decide the time an email will be

sent (Yes, it can be done!).

This manual has been designed to use Outlook on exchange servers and enumerates only the

basic features that you are likely to be using here at office.

Comprehensive help on Outlook’s features are discussed in on-line tutorials well as web-based

training at office.microsoft.comProductsOutlook 2007 Help.

WHAT IS MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SERVER?

Microsoft Exchange is integrated server software that manages emails, shared documents and

calendars and enables group collaboration through shared calendaring and resources.

In English, it means that it helps you get your office emails, calendars, contacts – the whole

nine yards.

Although Microsoft Outlook does not require a Microsoft Exchange server to function, it offers

more functionality when used with the said server.

In order to use Outlook with your official email address, it is a good idea to contact the IT guy.

However, if you are one of the rare few who like to do things on your own, please, read

through.

CONFIGURING OUTLOOK

Minimum System Requirements

Below are the minimum system requirements for installing office 2007. Needless to say, Office

2007 needs to be installed if you intend to install and use Outlook 2007.

CPU 500MHz CPU

RAM 256MB RAM

Hard drive space Minimum of 2GB of free Hard Drive space for installation

Media Drive CD or DVD drive

Monitor Monitor capable of 1024x768 resolution

Operating system Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later

Browser Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 32-bit browser only

You can, of course, let your IT guy worry about these intricate details, but a little extra

information has never let to nervous breakdown; proven scientific fact.

Also, if you have bought your computer anytime in the last 5 years, you can safely ignore this

information.

Installation Consideration

If you are installing Office 2007 on a Windows Vista, 7 or 8 system, most services will already

be installed to handle enhanced functionality in Outlook 2007 e.g. Instant Search. If Office

2007 is installed on Windows XP, Desktop Search program must be updated for Instant Search

feature to work correctly.

In the heat of the moment, if you sent an office 2007 format document to a poor soul who is

still clinging to an older version (XP, 2000, 2003; Yes! Such organisms breathe too!), you

either ask them to download a compatibility pack, OR, save you document in Office 97-2003

format. Office 2007 has been kind enough to allow you to save your documents in the older

format.

THE MICROSOFT OUTLOOK “INTERFACE”

Figure 1: Microsoft Outlook 2007 interface

Title Bar

Displays the name of the feature you are currently using,

followed by Microsoft Outlook

Menu Bar

Provides commands for performing operations on your data

in Outlook 2007

Toolbar Provides an alternative to the Menu Bar

Folder List

Lists all email folders including Inbox, Sent Items and

Deleted Items. Any folders created will also appear on this

list. It forms part of the Navigation Pane.

Navigation

Provide a quick way of switching between the various

Outlook features such as Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, etc

Status Bar

Indicates what’s going on in Outlook at the moment e.g.

sending or receiving email etc

Reading Pane

Displays the contents of the currently selected item. You can

change the position of the Reading Pane (View menu >

Reading Pane > select Right, Bottom or Off

To-do bar

Integrates your follow-up messages, tasks and

appointments in one central location

Task List Displays a list of tasks

SENDING & RECEIVING MAIL

To send a message in Microsoft Outlook 2007, Click on File New Mail Message or choose

Mail Message from the New drop down list in the toolbar

Pssst...use Ctrl+N to start the new message dialogue.

Figure 2: Creating a New Mail Message

In the New Message window, type the e-mail address of the recipient, a subject for your

message, and the text of your message. You can also format text, i.e., in HTML, but note that

if the recipient is not using Outlook, your formatting may not display properly. When you are

ready to send the message, click the Send button on the toolbar.

In Outlook 2007, the new message window is based generally on the same concepts as Word

2007. Details of this new user interface are in the Word 2007 document. This section

summarizes the most important commands.

Figure 3: New Message Window

Reading Mail

To check your messages

1. Click the Inbox icon in the Navigation Pane.

2. By clicking once on the mail header (header pane) will display the message body in the

reading Pane.

3. In order to open the message in a separate window, double click on the message

header

Replying to and Forwarding Messages

To reply to a message

1. Select the message in the header pane and click the ‘Reply’ button on the toolbar.

2. Type the email body.

3. Click send.

It is advisable never to add new recipients without informing existing ones and edit the

subject line or content from other emails.

The ‘Reply to all’ button allows you to send your reply to everyone who received the original

message.

1. Click on ‘Reply to all’ button.

2. Type in your response.

3. Add your signature, if not added already.

4. Click send

Use this feature only if you want everyone to see your

response.

The Forward button on the toolbar is provided to forward a message to another e-mail

address; useful if you intend to inform other people regarding a mail. Please note that if you

are forwarding an email, the To, Cc and the Bcc fields will be blank.

1. Click on Forward

2. Type in your response

3. Add the recipient

4. Add your signature, if not added already, and click send

Mail Delivery Options (Signatures and Tracking)

Microsoft Outlook has several useful Mail Delivery Options that are not available with regular

Internet mail/webmail. Below features have been enumerated for your benefit:

One can attach a signature to all messages by default, or only a selected few.

A notification can be requested when the recipient has read an email (Read Receipt)

Emails delivery can be scheduled as per your preference. Yes, you can send certain

emails even if you are not on your seat!

Signatures

1. Click the Insert tab for signatures.

2. Click ‘New’Type a name for the signature.

3. In the ‘Edit Signature’ box, create a desired signature.

4. Choose default signature for new messages and Replies/Forwards, on the right.

5. Click ‘OK’ on the bottom.

Figure 4: Set and edit signatures window

Edit Signature here

Tracking

Tracking options

1. Locate 2 check boxes on the options tab

a. Request a Delivery Receipt: If you wish to find out if the email has been

delivered.

b. Request a Read Receipt: You will receive a notification in the form of an email

message that your recipient has read your email.

2. Use either or both of these for the said purpose.

Figure 5: Options tab on New Message window

Delayed Delivery

1. Click on Options tab Click on Delay Delivery

2. Set the time and date of sending the email under delivery options

3. Click Close

Figure 6: Delay Delivery Dialogue box

Managing E-mail

As you begin to age in the organization (possibly unlike a fine wine), you will receive more

messages. When that happens, you will want to manage your e-mail more efficiently.

First step should be to learn to create folders.

Folders

Use folders to help organize the messages you receive. For example, you can transfer all

correspondence with your boss into a folder called bashing.

1. To create a new folder in your Inbox, choose File New New Folder.

2. Type a name for the folder in the dialog box, and select the type of information the

folder will contain. Finally, select the destination for the folder in the dialog box and

click OK.

Figure 7: Creating and naming a folder

There is no IUPAC which governs the nomenclature. Use your imagination and choose a name

which helps you remember its possible contents.

3. Drag and drop one folder to another in the Navigation Pane, to move it. You can also

select the message and choose Edit Move to Folder; or Copy to Folder if you want to

copy the message to another folder and not just move it.

4. You can also set up a Message Rule to automatically move messages to your new mail

folder.

Message “Rules”

In Outlook “rules” can be created to filter your emails. For example, you might want to

automatically transfer all messages from your boss’ boss, to a folder called ‘Chewed out’. Other

routine mails describing some server’s health in unknown parts of Tunisia, can be set to be

deleted.

1. To create a mail rule, choose Tools Rules and Alerts.

2. Click New Rule.

3. Select the type of rule you want to create.

4. Click the underlined words in the Rules Description and fill in the required information.

Figure 8: Message Rules for Automatically Handling Messages

5. To run the rule anytime you want, including when the rule’s behavior or criteria are

modified, select the rule you want to run and select Run Rules Now. You can run rules

on all folders, or you can select a specific folder run the rules again.

Figure 9: Typical Email Rule Names and Details of Sample Rule

Sorting and Finding Messages

If you are working (notice the ‘if’?), you are bound to have hundreds of messages in your

Inbox, it’s not always easy to locate the email you want. Outlook’s Sort and Find features come

to rescue.

To change how the messages are sorted, Right Click the Arranged by bar just below the title

bar that displays the current folder name in the header pane.

Figure 10: Sorting Messages by Date

You can also group messages by the selected category or categories, if you check the Show in

Groups checkbox, your messages will be separated by group labels defined by you. It can be

anything from grouping by date, alphabetical, conversation subject etc.

Figure 11: Sorting Messages by Group Figure 12: Finding Messages Using the Search Box and Options

If sorting doesn’t help, or you are feeling too lazy, you can search for a specific text in a

message. Simply type in text in the search box above the Message List and you should get an

instantaneous result.

Please bear in mind that this instance search feature is native to Office 2007 and not to XP.

Users of this obsolete, older than time operating system, will have to install desktop search

from Microsoft.

Deleting Messages

To delete a message, select the message in the header pane and click the delete tool , on

the toolbar. Outlook transfers the message to the Deleted Items folder. To retrieve a message

from Deleted Items, open that folder, select the message and choose Edit Move to Folder

select the folder to move it to. Also, selecting Delete again will permanently delete that

message.

To delete a message, select it and press Delete on the keyboard. To permanently delete a

message, select the message and press Shift + Delete on your keyboard.

Multiple other options appear when you right click on a message. And you know what; it’s not

a sin to use those options. Drag-and-drop works like a charm too.

Routinely emptying your trash is a good idea, be it from deleted items or your house.

However, I can only tell you about the former.

1. Right Click on Deleted Items and select Properties.

2. Select the ‘AutoArchive’ tab and select Archive This Folder Using These Settings.

3. Then select ‘Permanently delete old items’.

4. Then, set the interval at which items are deleted by setting the value at Clean out items

older than... The default is 2 months.

Figure 13: Using AutoArchive to Automatically Remove Deleted Messages

Archiving Messages

Remember those letters that you used to file away for later reference? The same can be done

with emails. It’s called Archiving; yes the same that they do with library books.

The process of archiving messages can be accomplished in two ways, through manual

archiving or through auto archiving.

To archive messages manually, select File Archive. You can choose to archive all messages

under all folders according to the AutoArchive Settings, or archive specific folder.

Figure 14: Archiving Messages

File Data File Management gives the location of archived mails. This location can be changed

as per user’s preference. Needless to say, the archive and other folders should not be more

than your allocated storage space

Referring to figure 9 gives us a fair idea of Archive settings. Here you can also select, do not

archive items in this folder and get rid of annoying reminders to archive.

Conclusion

With this I hereby end my atrocities on your sore minds. Remember, when in doubt, call out.

Extensive help can be found on Outlook Help accessible through F1.

Select Date