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Outlook Tips Outlook Express Quick Tips MS Outlook Express: Technology Quick Tips #1 - 9
1: Outlook Express Addresses Do you have people in your Address Book that you don't know? If so, you probably have set Outlook Express to add the addresses of all incoming e-mail to your Address Book. To put a stop to this madness, choose Tools/Options. When the dialog box opens, select the Send tab. Now, deselect the check box labeled "Automatically put people I reply to in My Address Book" and click OK. To clear out the existing useless names, select Addresses in the Outlook Express toolbar and then delete each of the unnecessary addresses. Choose File/Exit when you finish deleting names. ~~~~~
Want to spiff up your Outlook Express messages? Write them on stationery. Select Tools, Options and choose the Compose tab. Under Stationery, select the check box next to Mail, then select the corresponding Select button. Select any stationery to view it in the Preview box (make sure the "Show preview" box is selected), and when you find one you like, click OK twice. The next time you open a New Message window, the stationery appears in the message body area. Compose the message, as always, then send it off. (Personally, I detest receiving emails sent with stationery so am posting this tip with great reluctance.) ~~~~~
Some people prefer to have the Outlook Express folder list open all the time, and some users prefer to keep it hidden when not needed. To permanently display the folder list, run Outlook Express and choose View/Layout. Select the check box labeled "Folder list" and click OK. To hide the folder list again, repeat the above procedure, but deselect the "Folder list" check box. ~~~~~
Do you find yourself e-mailing group messages to the same list of people over and over again? Outlook Express can make your life easier by creating a named Group in your Address Book so that you can address your group messages to everyone all at once. To set up a new Group, follow these quick steps: 1. Click Addresses to open the Address Book. 2. Choose New, New Group. 3. Type in a memorable name for this Group -- such as Book Club or Family -- and then click Select Members. 4. In the Select Group Members dialog box, double-click a name from your list of saved addresses to add it to the group. 5. After you have selected all the names for your new group, click OK. This brings you back to the New Group Properties dialog box. Click OK to create the group and close the dialog box. ~~~~~
The Outlook Bar is great for Outlook. However, since Outlook Express is primarily an e-mail program and not a full-featured personal assistant like Outlook, you may want to get rid of the Outlook Bar. All it does is take up space in your Outlook Express window. To hide the Outlook Bar, choose View|Layout. When the Window Layout Properties dialog opens, deselect the "Outlook Bar" check box and click OK to apply your setting. ~~~~~~
Tired of checking your Outlook Express mail manually, by clicking Send/Receive? Ask Outlook Express to check it for you, at the interval of your choice (you can also use these steps to change how often Outlook Express checks the mail—for example, you might want it to check every 15 minutes instead of the default, 30 minutes). Select Tools, Options and on the General tab, select "Check for new messages every __ minutes." Use the up or down arrows to adjust the number of minutes (and if desired, select how checking mail should be handled when your computer is not connected) then select OK. ~~~~~
Do you receive unwanted Outlook Express mail from a certain address? Put a block on it. That way, any mail messages that come in from that address go directly to the Deleted Items folder. Select Tools, Message Rules, Blocked Senders List and choose Add. Type the address you'd like to block, select the type(s) of messages you'd like to block—in this case, Mail—and click OK twice. (Tip-in-a-tip: To turn the block off for that address temporarily, deselect its Mail check box on the Blocked Senders tab of the Message Rules dialog box. To remove the block altogether, select that address, choose the Remove button and select Yes to confirm.) ~~~~~
You can always add another folder to Outlook Express. Just choose File | Folder | New, then decide where you want to create the new folder and give it a name. However, an easier way to create a new folder is to right-click in the folder where you want your new sub folder to appear and choose New Folder. Name the folder and you're all set. ~~~~~
It's possible to exchange e-mail through more than one e-mail address with Outlook and Outlook Express. You may have different e-mail addresses for business use and personal use. All you have to do if you want more than one address is to set up a separate account (follow your ISP's instructions for that) for each address. Normally, Outlook and Outlook Express send replies to e-mail messages through the account from which you received the message, so you don't really have to think about which account you're using. When you're creating a message from scratch, though, Outlook and Outlook Express send the message through the account that you marked as the default account. If you want to check which account a message will be sent through, click the Accounts button on the message form toolbar and look at the box labeled "Send Message Using." ~~~~~~~~
If you have more than one e-mail account, you may not intuitively recognize each one by its proper name. Rather than trying to remember the difference between jdoe1345@isp.com and jdough987@isptoo.com, you can rename these accounts something like My Business Account and The Silly Walkers Club. Follow these steps to change an account name: 1. Choose Tools, Accounts. 2. Select the View or change existing e-mail accounts option, and then click Next. 3. In the account list, select the account you want to rename by clicking it. 4. Click the Change button. 5. Click More Settings. 6. Type a new name for the account in the text box. Go for something memorable this time. ~~~~~~~
Although the Outlook Express preview pane is very handy, in these days of e-mail virus contamination, many users believe that it's safer to do without the preview. To turn off the preview pane, choose View | Layout. When the dialog box opens, deselect the "Show preview pane" check box and click OK. Now, you can look at the "From" information and decide whether to open an e-mail or just delete it. ~~~~~
Want to add automatic signatures to all your e-mails? Here's how: - Click Tools-Options - Click the Mail Format tab - Click the Signature Picker button - Name your signature and click Next - Type in your signature block in the Signature Text section - Click Finish - Click OK twice ~~~~~~
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