Getting ready for Outlook 2007?  Check out Microsoft's Outlook 2007 Interface Guide, which will show you what to expect.

 Any of you using Outlook 2002/Word 2002 to do EMAIL MAIL MERGES and getting annoyed with that prompt from Outlook telling you that something is trying to send mail from outside of Outlook?  Well, thanks to Steve Mills, one of my ABC Fleet members, I've now located the fix for this one!  Click Here to download ClickYes!!

Interested in Outlook in the Corporate Environment?  Read Parker Renaud's column in my ABC Newsletter, Parker's Mailbox.

• Organizing Mail with rules.

• Organizing mail with colors.

• Moving Your Contacts to Another Computer 

• Quickly Adding Dates from Email to Your Calendar

• Outlook 2000 keyboard shortcuts

• Creating Out of Office AutoResponders in Non-Corporate Installations of Outlook

Have you updated Outlook 2000 with the SP2 patch or installed Outlook 2002 or 2003 and now you can no longer receive certain types of attachments? 

Well, there's a registry fix for this and it is available at Slipstick.  There are also some third-party addins listed at Slipstick that will add a tab to Tools>Options, which allows you to pick and choose which types of attachments you want to receive. I use the one called "Attachment Options" and it works great.

• Do you get lots of email and spend hours sorting through it to find certain emails from certain people or pertaining to certain subjects?

• Would you like Outlook to organize your email for you automatically?

• Wouldn't it be nice to have all your email from Grandma automatically separated from the rest, so you never miss new news from her?

Let's look at creating rules in Outlook 2000:

(this may be slightly different in earlier versions of Outlook, but it's there!)

1. First, right click on your Inbox in your folders list and select "New folder" and name it Grandmas Mail

2. Now, go to your tools menu and select  "Rules Wizard" (if you use Outlook Express instead of Outlook, the option in your tools menu is "Message Rules", then "Mail"...the rest of these directions apply to Outlook, but are fairly similar in Outlook Express).

3. When this wizard box comes up, click on the "New..." button

4. The first thing you must tell Outlook is WHEN you want this rule applied.....make sure "Check messages when they arrive" is the one that is highlighted and click on Next

5. In this next box, put a check next to "From people or distribution list" and notice, in the box below, it now says "Apply this rule after the message arrives from people or distribution list"....click on this underlined text and you will be presented with your address book where you can select Grandma's email address....double click on Grandma's name in your address book and click OK.....notice Grandma's name is now in the bottom box....click on Next

6. Now you can specify what you want to do with Grandma's mail once it has arrived ....click on the option that says "move message to a specified folder".....now in the bottom box, click on the underlined specified folder and select Grandma's folder from the list and click OK.....now you will see in the bottom box that Outlook is ready to move Grandma's mail to the folder you selected....click on Next

7. Now you can add any exceptions to this rule if you want, or just click on Next

8. Here you can give your rule a name and select to run this rule now (or not) and click on Finish.

9. That's all there is to it!  Now, when Grandma's email arrives, it will go directly into her folder and her folder will show up in your folders list as highlighted with a (1) behind it. letting you know immediately that you have email from Grandma!

10. I recommend you explore all of the options in this Rules Wizard and see how many different ways you can organize your incoming and outgoing mail.....try applying a rule to messages with something specific in the subject line!

11. and, most importantly, HAVE FUN!!

P.S.  If you ever want to get rid of this rule, just go back to the Rules Wizard and take the check off of this rule to temporarily disable it or highlight it and hit the delete button to permanently remove it.

• Would you like to move your email contacts from one computer to another?

• Would you like to save your email contacts because you have to uninstall Outlook or format your hard drive?

• Would you like to send your email contacts to a friend as an email attachment?

Well....all you have to do is export your Contacts folder to a file, then import it from this file at the new location.

Here's the steps:

Inside Outlook, go to your File menu and select Import and Export; select Export to a File; select Text File (Comma Separated Values); click Export; identify the destination file; click Next; select the fields to export; then click Finish. 

Now, to import that information back into Outlook in a new computer, select File, Import & Export, and select Import from Another Program or File. Select Text File (Comma Separated Values), click Import, then click Browse and navigate your way to the *.csv file you want to import. Select this file, click Open, then click Next. Map any fields, if necessary, then click Finish. When you see a message telling you that the File Has Imported  Successfully, click OK, then Close. 

Voila!  There it is!

• Here's a way to quickly add an appointment from e-mail to your calendar:

Let's say a friend sends an email message saying, "Let's get together at 8:00 tonight for dinner. I need you to bring chips, dip, wine, and cheese." Rather than switching to your Calendar and retyping everything, just drag the email to your Calendar.

Click on the email message and drag it to the Calendar on the Outlook bar or in the Folder List. A new Appointment window will pop up for today's date. The subject of the email message will automatically appear in the subject line of the appointment, and the text of the email will appear in the Appointment window. You'll probably have to adjust the time, because Outlook will automatically schedule the appointment for the next available half-hour increment. 

Colorful Mail
AutoRespond