Microsoft Outlook : Getting started

18. Sending mail from Microsoft Office

It is possible to send mail from inside Microsoft Word, and other Office applications, to an Outlook email account. This can be useful if you want to create a quick word document to send to someone, but do not need to keep it or if you already have a word document open which you need to send to others. The word document gets added to your message as an attachment in the normal way.

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  Open the document you want to send in Word
  
  
  
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  From the File menu select Send to > Mail Recipient.
  
  
  
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  A new message window is displayed. The file you have open is automatically attached.
  

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  The subject line is added automatically using the name of the document and will most likely need to be changed. Click in the Subject box to edit this.
  
  
  
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  Enter email addresses of the recipients in the normal way
  
  
  
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  Enter the body of your message in the normal way
  
  
  
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  Click Send. The message window will close and you will return to the Word document.
  

19. Filtering mail into folders automatically

New mail can be filtered into folders as it arrives, in a similar way to creating Message Groups within Lotus. This is done using the Rules Wizard under the Tools menu. The Rules Wizard helps you automatically process and organise your messages and allows quite complex and sophisticated filtering techniques.

What can rules be used for?

Some of the actions you can specify with rules include:

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  Move messages to a particular folder based on who sent them.
  
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  Move certain kinds of messages, such as Out of Office messages, to another folder
  
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  Flag messages from a particular person.
  
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  Set up a notification, such as a message or a sound, when important messages arrive.
  
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  Redirect a message to a person or to a distribution list.
  
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  Ask the server to automatically reply to a certain type of message by using a message you've created.
  

The use of the Rules Wizard to create a simple filter is move messages from a particular person to a specified folder is covered here.

Creating a rule from a message in your Inbox

If you would like to create a folder to store all messages from a particular person it is easy to create this using a message received from that person.

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  Right-click the message you want to base the rule on
  
  
  
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  Select Create Rule from pop-up window
  
  
  
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  The Rules Wizard window is displayed. The first window asks you to specify what you are checking for. Tick the first check box in the top half of this window - from USERNAME. Click Next.
  

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  The second window asks what you want to do with the messages from the person specified. Tick the first check box in the top half of this window - move it to specified folder.
  

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  In the rule description in the bottom half of this window, click on the word specified. In the window that is displayed select the folder to save the messages in. You can create a new folder at this stage if necessary. Click OK. The folder you have selected is now shown in the rule description.
  

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  You now need to set an option to stop Outlook running any other rules on the message. If you do not do this then Outlook continues to apply each of the rules you have set to each message. This means you can end up with several copies of an individual message in different folders, depending on the rules you have set.

  After selecting the folder location in the window above, scroll further down the list to locate the option ‘Stop processing any more rules’. Tick the box to select this. Click Next.

  
  

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  The next window allows you to set any exceptions to the rule – ie instances when you would not want to apply this. It is not usually necessary to make any changes here. Click Next.
  

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  The final window allows you to name the rule. Add a suitable name, so you can clearly identify the action of each rule you create.
  

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  Click the check box Run rule for messages in Inbox. This will move any messages already received into the specified folder. If you do not do this then the rule will only apply to new messages received. Click Finish.
  

To create a rule without having selected a message:

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  From the Tools menu, select Rules Wizard
  
  
  
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  Click New. Select whether to create a rule from a template or to create a blank rule. It is recommended that you select a rule from a template.
  
  
  
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  Follow the instructions in the Rules Wizard to create your rule.
  

20. Searching for messages and files

Outlook has a built-in search facility to allow you to search through all received items for those from a particular person or those containing a specific word or phrase.

To search through your messages:

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  Click Find on the standard toolbar to display the Find Bar
  

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  In the Look for box, type any text you want to search for in the most common fields of the item. Once you have carried out a search you can click the arrow on the Look for box to use previous search text.
  
  
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  Specify the folders you want to search. The default is Inbox. Click the arrow on the Search In box to select a different folder such as sent mail, or all mail folders.
  

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  Click Find Now. Messages matching the criteria you specified will be listed as in the example below.
  

However, searching using the default settings does not give very precise results as Outlook looks for the search term in the body of the message as well as the subject and from/to boxes. To turn off searching within the text of the message deselect Search All Text in Each Message under the search options drop down list.

Advanced Searches

To allow more complex searches within your mail select the Advanced Find option from the Options list.

You can specify several criteria for the search in this window to allow more precise searching. Options available under the various tabs include searching in subject field only; messages from a particular person; send directly to you or cc’d; send within specific time periods; with or without attachments; with particular priority ratings etc.
Enter as many options as you require, then click Find Now. The messages that match the criteria are listed below the window.

21. Not Relevant

22. Printing Messages

Messages and attachments can be easily printed from Outlook.

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  Select the messages you want to print. You can choose to print several messages at one time.
  
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  To select adjacent messages select the first one, and then hold down shift and click the last message.
  
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  To select nonadjacent message, click the first item, and then hold down Ctrl and click additional ones.
  
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  To select all messages, click the Edit menu, and then click Select All.
  

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  On the File menu, click Print.
  
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  To print attachments, select the Print attached files check box.
  
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  When all print options are set as you require click OK.
  

Note   Attachments will print only to the default printer. For example, if you have printer A set as the default, and you open a message with an attachment and choose to print the e-mail to printer B, the message will be sent to printer B, but the attachment will go to printer A.

23 AutoArchive

AutoArchive is a feature within Outlook to backup any redundant items in your mailbox on the server to a location on your individual PC/Mac. AutoArchive automatically moves old items to the archive location and discards expired items such as meetings in the calendar that have already taken place. When enabled, AutoArchive runs automatically at scheduled intervals – every 14 days by default, and moves any items meeting a given archive criteria. By default the criteria is any items older than 6 months.

Some of the advantages and disadvantages of using AutoArchive are as follows:

Advantages:

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  Older items are automatically removed from the Server
  
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  Easier to stay within server quota limits
  
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  Mailbox becomes easier to manage – fewer items to search through.
  
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  Automatic process – don’t have to remember anything.
  

Disadvantages:

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  Archived items are stored on the local machine by default, so if you need to get them you need to use the same computer.
  
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  Space on local hard disk is used.
  
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  Less secure – archived items can be lost if disk crash occurs.
  

AutoArchive is not enabled by default on Town Staff Image PCs.

24. Public folders

Public folders such as all-staff, staff-talk and IT-Announcements are available within Outlook. While staff are still using Lotus, these are shared between the two systems.

To locate Outlook Public folders:

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  In the folder list expand Public Folders. This is located at the bottom of the folder list.
  
  
  
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  Expand the folder All Public Folders.
  
  
  
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  Expand the folder Public Mail Folders. The list of available public folders will be displayed. Select the folder you want. You can then read or reply to messages in the normal way.
  

25. Dealing with ‘Junk’ mail

As the use of email has become more popular and widespread, so unfortunately has the amount of unwanted spam or junk mail. It is not easy to stop receiving this, however, there is a facility within Outlook which can help reduce this.

Junk mail filtering is turned on from the Organize window.
To display this window

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  Click on the Organize button on the toolbar
  
  
  

or

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  select Organize from the Tools menu
  

The organize window is displayed in the top right of the Outlook window just above the message listing:

The Organize window allows you to set a number of preferences for your Outlook account, such as moving messages, creating rules and setting different colours for messages.

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  Click on Junk E-Mail in the list on the left. The defaults settings are displayed:
  

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  By default the Junk mail settings are to colour the messages so these are easily identified. However the recommended option is to move these to a separate folder From the drop down list of actions select Move, then select the folder to move the messages to. A folder called Junk E-mail is created automatically by Outlook. Select the settings for both Junk and Adult content messages, then click Turn on.
  

The Junk mail filter works by using lists supplied by Microsoft. Although these are updated on a regular basis they do can capture all unwanted messages. You can add messages from a particular address to the list yourself so that further messages from that address are filtered out.

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  Right–click on the message you want to add to the Junk senders list. From the drop down menu select Junk E-mail
  
  
  
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  Choose Add to Junk senders or Adult Senders list as appropriate.
  

26. Out of Office Assistant

When you are away from the Office you set up Outlook to automatically reply to incoming mail for you.

To turn on the Out of Office assistant:

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  From the Tools menu choose Out of Office Assistant
  
  
  
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  In the window that is displayed click I am currently out of the office
  
  
  
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  Enter the message you want Outlook to send to others while you are out.
  

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  You can also specify more precise action that Outlook can take by setting up a rule. Actions can include moving the messages to a specified folder, copying or forwarding them to someone else.
  
  
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  If you subscribe to mailing lists it is important that you set up the Out of Office Assistant not to send messages to the list. To do this ensure the Sent directly to me option is checked when you set the rule up.
  

27. Getting Help

There is a very comprehensive Help system available while you are using Outlook.

To get help at any time:

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  Click on the Help icon on the toolbar
  

Or

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  From the Help menu, select Microsoft Outlook Help
  

If the Office Assistant is turned on type the Office Assistant window will be displayed. Type in the topic you want help on and click Search.

Note: To hide or show the Office Assistant, select the appropriate option from the Help menu.
If the Office Assistant is turned off the main Help window will be displayed. You can access help topics in several ways:

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  View the Table of Contents and browse through these to find the topic you are looking for.
  
  
  
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  Type a question in the Answer Wizard
  
  
  
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  Search for specific words or phrases, or choose from a list of keywords in the Index.
  

A quick way to access help is to use the Ask a question box on the toolbar.

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  Enter the topic you want help on, and press return.
  

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  A list of topics is displayed. Select the most relevant or click more to display further topics.
  

If you cannot find the topic you are looking for in main help window you can use the Office on the Web option from the Help menu to access the Microsoft web site for additional information.