Microsoft Outlook : Getting started

7. Reply to a message

After you have read a message, you’ll often want to send a reply immediately. You can reply just to the sender, or to everyone who has received the message.

Open the message you want to reply to.

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  To reply to only the sender of the message, click the Reply button
  

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  To reply to all of the recipients in the To and Cc boxes, click Reply to All
  

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  By default the received message will be included in the reply window. You can edit this as you wish and add your comments, then click the send button . Text you enter in a reply is automatically entered in blue.
  

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  When you have replied to a message, Outlook changes the icon of that message to indicate a reply has been sent.
  

8. Forwarding messages

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  To send a message you have received onto others for information or action, click the Forward button while the message is open or highlighted in the message list.
  

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  See Section 11 for information on the use of address books and contact lists.
  

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  Edit the message and/or add your own comments as required. Text you enter in a forwarded message is automatically entered in blue.
  

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  Click Send.
  
  
  
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  Any attachments in the original message will be forwarded too
  
  
  
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  To indicate a message has been forwarded Outlook changes the icon of the message
  

Note: The icon shown by the message indicates your last action on this message. If you replied to a message then forwarded it to someone else, the icon will be the forwarded icon, as this was the last action.

9. Flagging Messages

If when you have read a message, you decide you need to do something with it, but do not have the time to do so immediately, you can add a ‘flag’ to this to remind you to take action at a later date. Outlook refers to these as follow-up flags

To add a follow-up flag:

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  Open the message you wish to add a flag to.
  
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  Click the flag icon on the toolbar .
  
  
  
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  The Flag item for follow-up window is displayed.
  

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  You can select the type of action from the drop down Flag to box. Options include Call, Forward, Reply, and Review. You can also select the date by which the action must be taken.
  
  
  
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  When the options are set as you wish, click OK.
  
  
  

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  An information line is added to the message window to indicate the details of the action selected. An example is shown below. In this the action has been set to reply by 5 February.
  

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  A flag is also displayed next to the message in the folder list view.
  

10. Sorting Messages

Outlook normally displays messages in the order in which they were sent, with the most recent messages at the top of the list. You can change the order in which you display messages by clicking on the column headings at the top of the Inbox window. Most options also allow the sort order for that option to be reversed by clicking on the downward arrow on the toolbar.

Arrow shows the sort order

! Sorts messages with high priority at the top. Clicking on this button again reverses the order, with low priority messages at the top.

Sorts messages into groups depending on the actions carried out on them. Unread messages are at the top, and forwarded messages at the bottom.
Sorts messages with flagged messages at the top

Sorts messages so those with attachments are at the top

From Sorts messages in alphabetical order of who the message is from

Click on the downward arrow to display in reverse alphabetical order.

Subject Sorts messages so those with the same subject are grouped together in date order
Received Sorts messages so the most recent messages are at the top. Clicking the downward arrow on this button reverses the order with oldest messages first
Size Sorts messages so the largest file sizes are at the top. Clicking again reverses the order.

11. Address Lists and Contact Lists

There are several ways to address your message:

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   Enter the full address - If you know someone’s email address you can type this into the To: or Cc: line.
   

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   Enter the first part of the email address into the To: or Cc: box and then click the Check Names button, to make sure the name has been recognised. If there are several possible names Outlook will display a list for you to select from, if there is just one person their name will be inserted automatically.
   

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   You can also search for names in the Global Address list. In the new message window click on the To: or Cc: button. The Select Names window will open and display the list of names in the Global Address book
   

Start typing the name here

Click here to select the highlighted name

Scroll to find the names you require

Shows the list you are selecting from

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  Scroll through to find the name you want (Note: the list is quite long so this can take a while) or start to type their name in the Type Name or Select from List: box. As you start to type Outlook scrolls to the appropriate part of the address book. Select the name you want, then press return or select To:, Cc: or Bcc: as appropriate.
  

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  When you have selected all the recipients you want, click OK to return to the new message window.
  

Global Address Lists

The Global Address List contains all staff accounts within the Town. This is arranged in alphabetical order and is obviously quite large. There is no indication in the Global Address List which School/Service an individual is based in.

The Global Address List is displayed by default when you click the To: or Cc: button in a new message.
This list is managed centrally by Information Services and new staff are automatically added to this as their accounts are set up.

Public Contact Lists

In order to make finding addresses more manageable and allow the creation of distribution lists for groups of staff, Public Contact Lists have also been set up for all Schools and Services. You can also create personal contacts and distribution lists for people you have regular contact with either inside or outside the Town.

The Public Contact Lists group together all members of staff within a particular School/Service or other grouping (for example Disability Forum, Unison, BLC Managers). This enables you to locate staff within each department more easily.
Each Public Contact List is managed by an administrator within the appropriate School/Service who can create and delete entries.
The Contact Lists can contain both individual contacts within a School/Service and distribution lists.

Distribution Lists

Distribution lists are used to provide an easy way to send messages to a group of people. If you frequently send messages to members of a committee for example, you can create a distribution list that contains the names of all members of the committee. A message sent to this distribution list goes to all recipients listed in the list. Recipients see their own names and the names of all other recipients on the To: line of the message instead of seeing the name of the distribution list.

Distribution lists may contain individuals within a particular School/Service, individuals from other Schools/Services and external contacts.
Accessing Public contact lists:

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  In the Folder List click on the plus (+) to the left of Public Folders to expand this
  
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  In the same way expand the folders All Public Folders and Public Contacts Folders
  
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  Expand the folder for the School or Service you want.
  
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  You can select individual contacts or distribution lists from these folders.
  

a) Viewing individual names

b) Viewing distribution lists

To send a message to a contact:

There are several ways to send a message to a contact:

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  Locate the name of the contact or distribution list
  
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  Right-click on this and select New Message to Contact from the popup menu
  Or:
  
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  Select the name you require and click on the New Message to Contact button on the Toolbar
  

To send a message to several contacts or distribution lists at once:

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  Select the contacts or lists you require
  
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  From the Actions menu select New message to contact or click on the New message icon on the toolbar
  

Searching for Contacts

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  In the Find a contact box on the toolbar, type the name of the contact you want to find. Microsoft Outlook will search all the available address books. You can enter any part of the contacts details in the search – such as partial name, first or last name, e-mail alias
  
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  To quickly open a contact you have previously searched for, click the arrow to the right of the Find a contact box and then select the name.
  

Creating Personal Contacts

You store your own contacts in your personal Contacts folder which are stored within your account on the Exchange server.

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  Select your Contacts folder in the folder list
  
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  From the File menu, select New, and then click Contact.
  
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  Type a name for the contact.
  
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  Enter the information you want to include for the contact. The minimum is their name and email address, but you can choose to include phone number, fax, job title and more.
  
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  You can specify how you want the contact's name to appear in the To: line of a message by typing the name in the Display As box.
  
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  To enter multiple entries in a field, such as more than one address or e-mail address, click the down arrow next to the field.
  

Creating distribution lists

To create a distribution list within your Contacts folder:

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  Select your Contacts folder
  
  
  
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  From the New menu select Distribution list
  
  
  
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  An untitled distribution list window is displayed. Enter a suitable name for your list.
  
  
  
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  To add names of Town staff to the list click the Select Members... button. The Global Address list is displayed. Select the name(s) you require, then click the Members button. When all names are selected click OK.
  

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  To add external contacts to the distribution list click Add New. Enter the name and email address of the contact. If you want this address to be added as an individual to your Contacts folder (so you can email them separately as well as part of the list) tick the Add to Contacts box.
  

Check to add the individual to contact list