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Outlook 2007 Agenda

1. Quick Parts

2.Distribution Lists

3. Organizing with Categories

4.Using Rules to organize emails

a.Run Rules now

b.Deleting rules

5.Create appointments from tasks or emails

6. Add and Deleting Holidays in Calendar

7.Preview attachments

8. Using advanced search

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Outlook 2007Reusing Outlook Text and Images This new functionality allows you to reuse text and images just about anywhere in Outlook except Notes. (Includes online tutorial)

What are Outlook Quick PartsMicrosoft defines Quick Parts as a gallery of “building blocks”. Building blocks are a new concept in Office 2007 that allows you to reuse document elements. This functionality replaces the Word AutoText feature from previous versions, but is more versatile.

In Outlook 2007, these Quick Parts elements can be either text snippets or images. The text can even include formatting. These building blocks are saved to the default email template file called NormalEmail.dotm.

One caveat is you need to have installed Outlook 2007 and Word 2007 to take advantage of this feature.

Uses for Quick PartsFor a moment, consider the email you send. How often do you include the same bits and pieces? In my case, I have several emails accounts that separate personal and professional correspondence. Some snippets I routinely use include:

Directions Web logo Map Chain letter / Urban legend advisory Link policy Review policy

Email items you routinely send might include:

Return policy Cancellation policy Privacy policy Awards Multiple signatures Answers to frequently asked questions Promotions

How to Create a Building Block in Outlook

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The steps for creating a Quick Part building block are the same for Email, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks. Technically, it doesn’t matter where in Outlook you create the item. The saved block can be inserted into just about any Outlook item. Since you’re more apt to use email, I’ll use it for the instructions.

1. Open Outlook 2007.

2. From the File menu select New | Mail Message.

3. In the text area of the message, type the text you’d like to use as your boilerplate text.

4. Apply any formatting to your text.

5. Highlight the text passage.

6. Click the Insert tab on the ribbon

7. Click Quick Parts from the Text group.

8. Select Save Selection to Quick Part gallery…

9. Provide a name your Building Block in the Create New Building Block dialog.

Tip: Pay close attention to the Name: field. You want to choose a good descriptive name you can leverage.

10. Add other info such as a Category and a Description.

11. Click OK.

Reusing Quick PartsThere are two ways to insert these reusable elements in Outlook. The conventional way is to click Insert, Quick Parts and then click the desired building block from the preview list. Call me lazy, but that’s too much work for me. I prefer to use the method similar to how AutoText worked in Word.

If you name your building blocks efficiently, you can type the first few letters of the building block name and press F3. As example, I type “log” and press F3 and my logo appears. This works since I don’t have any other entries that start with “log”.

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Another nice feature is you can use them in many areas of Outlook. You’re not restricted to using Quick Parts to just email. For example, I can use the same building block called “directions” in an email or an Outlook meeting request. The only place I’ve found where I can’t use them is Outlook Notes.

Since these building blocks are saved to your template, you could distribute them to others. I’ve not tried this, but Microsoft has more info on this subject on their site.

The Importance of OrganizationIf you plan to create many boilerplate entries in Quick Parts, I would create a paper hierarchy first. For example, if you do product support, think about ways you can structure and name the text snippets. Perhaps, you want to create categories for main areas.

Also, keep in mind how Outlook sorts the Quick Parts preview list. It first sorts by Category and then by Name. This structure makes it easier when viewing the snippet previews.

Another factor to consider is the building block name. If you have many text blocks try to use a naming convention that is easy for you to remember. For example, if many of the emails you get concern forms, try to create a structure around their names or number. As example,

wrf = water rebate form pvf = planning variance form css= customer satisfaction survey f262 = account application form

Although using the word ‘form” at the beginning of the building block name might be a good convention, it does have a downfall. For example, if you used “form-water-rebate” and “form-planning-variance”, Outlook would want you to type at least “form-“ before a unique entry was found. Fortunately, you can rename building blocks by right-clicking a building block and choosing either Edit Properties… or Organize and Delete… from the menu.

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Once you have your naming convention down, when you need to insert a specific form snippet, type the first part of the block name and press F3. Your boilerplate text can also include hyperlinks if you need to direct users to a website or network drive.

What’s MissingAs much as I like Quick Parts, I thought editing a building block would be easier. Unless I’m mistaken, you make your changes and save this new entry with an existing name. I was hoping there was a way to edit the existing text through the Properties dialog or Building Block Organizer.

The other item I wish was easier is sharing Quick Parts among the different Office applications. For example, I wish I could save a quick Part called “disclaimer” and have it as a shared item available for use in Outlook, Excel or Power Point.

Even with these limitations, I am pleased with Outlook Quick Parts. It does allow you to reuse text snippets and images with ease. I think it will also make the Outlook purists happy to know I’m not abusing the signature feature anymore.

Please feel free to contact me at

1.Building Outlook Distribution Lists One Microsoft Outlook feature that people don't use as often as they could is distribution lists. Part of this may be because people don't know how to create them. I think another group doesn't understand how much easier they can make regular correspondence whether it is to 4 friends or 40 business associates. (Includes online tutorial)

If you watch your email habits, you'll probably see that there are certain groups of people you send email to regularly. Perhaps, it's a weekly project status report. Or, it could be a family newsletter with snapshots of the kids. The content routinely changes, but the recipients stay the same. These types of situations are great for using distribution lists.

Benefits of Distribution ListsThere are several benefits to using distribution lists in Outlook. The first is that it cuts the time it takes to address your emails. Rather than adding a dozen contacts, you add the name of the list. You might think of the list as an internal alias list as the recipient won't know a list is involved.

The other benefit is consistency. Once you have the list properly set up, you don't have to worry inadvertently leaving someone off. How many times have you seen someone get upset because they were not listed on an email? It wasn't intentional, but just an oversight.

Creating the Outlook Distribution ListTo create the list,

1. From the New menu, select Distribution List.

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2. In the Untitled " Distribution List panel, click Select Members? to add people in your Contacts folder. You can click Add New.. to add other email addresses.

3. In the Select Members dialog, select the contact to add. You can press the Ctrl key and click on each one.

4. Click the Members > button to add your contacts.

5. Click OK to accept the entries. You'll return to the Untitled " Distribution List panel.

6. Type a name for your list in the Name: text box.

7. Click the Notes tab and add some descriptive text about the list.

8. Click the Save and Close button.

Your list entry now shows in your Contacts folder. If you look to the right of the title you should see an icon with two heads. This indicates the item is a distribution list. You can click the entry and see which contacts are in your list.

What the Recipient SeesYou can use the distribution list just like any other contact entry when sending email. The name can be assigned to the To:, Cc: or Bcc fields. The important thing to remember is that the distribution name is internal. The name does not display when the recipients get their email.

As you see in the online demo, I created a distribution list called "clients". Although I see the name "clients" when I compose the email, the recipients will see the full listing of all the names in the distribution list. From their perspective, they don't even know I have a list.

Some people think that the recipients see the distribution list name. This can be an issue if you have a list that is private. Using my "clients" example, I would not want the other recipients to see who else is on the list. In this case, I would add the list to the Bcc field. In this case, the recipient only sees his or her name.

Organizing with Outlook Categories When people start using Outlook, they often enter in countless pieces of information. Sometimes this is a brain drain of items floating around in their head. Other times, it's a focused list of items. This is a good start and many executive coaches and consultants tell you to enter the information first and then classify. One easy way to classify information is to use Microsoft Outlook categories.

Categories tend to be overlooked by many Outlook users. Perhaps, a better way to think of categories is as labels that help you find, sort, filter or classify items. After all, we tend to classify information anyway whether it's grabbing the New York Times Business section or giving that complicated coffee drink order at Starbucks.

Classification also provides a host of actions relating to finding and organizing your data. A category can be attached to any object in Outlook such as an email, calendar events, tasks or notes. Moreover, Outlook allows you to create your own categories so you're not locked into someone else's classification system.

Advantages of Outlook Categories

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Although you can use Outlook folders to organize information, categories offer many advantages.

1. You're not dependant on location.

In many companies, employees are allowed to have personal and business information in Outlook. Yet, some system administrators may allow only one Contact folder rather than a work contact folder and a personal contacts folder. You can get around this limitation with categories. As example, you can designate "John Burton's" contact record as "personal".

2. You can assign many categories to an item.

Chances are your friends are multi-dimensional so besides assigning a "personal" category, you might assign John Burton another category called "Golf" or "Prospect". Outlook doesn't care how many categories you assign to an item.

3. Categories allow you to mix and match data types.

Although Outlook allows you to create folders, it only allows one type of information in that folder. You can't set up a folder called Budget05 and include emails and tasks. You have to designate that folder as containing the same data object whether it's emails, contacts, notes or calendar events. In contrast, you could assign any of those items with a category called "Budget05".

4. Categories allow you to focus on your data.

Once you've assigned a category to an item, you can create special views or search folders. Search folders are a new feature to Outlook 2003, which act like virtual folders. You can get a similar result in older Outlook versions by creating category views.

Many Outlook versions have a defined current view that is based on category. Below is an example of a Task by Category view.

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5. Categories allow you to customize Outlook to meet your needs.

Outlook comes predefined with a Master Category list, but you can add and delete categories. For example, I tend to use 15 categories because I synchronize with a PDA. My primary PDA is a Palm device that allows 15 categories unless I use a third party program such as Chapura's KeySuite.

I've incorporated ideas from David Allen, Sally McGhee and Life Balance into my Outlook routine. I have a system that helps me decide what I should do next based on various factors. Sometimes, I'm restricted to what I can do based on my location such as making phone calls. Other times my decision may factor in my energy level or state of mind. As example, if I'm feeling under the weather, I might click the @Reading category and see what's next on my list. Or, if I'm in a bad mood, I stay away from any Website changes.

The nice thing about categories is that you can define your system. Some people may find my 15 categories inadequate. They may prefer to break down my @Computer category into:

Email Online Computer

Alternatively, they may prefer a structure like Computer_email.

Creating an Outlook Category ListBefore creating and assigning categories, you should think about your structure.

How do you want to classify items (people, places, projects and so on) ? Are you restricted to a set number of categories? Do the categories need to be shared with others?

Another item to consider is whether the category should be in Outlook's Master Category list. The benefit to having an item in the Master list is that it can be used on any type of item. Some people start by typing a category name such as School in the Categories textbox for a Task and then become perplexed when they don't see that category listed when they try to assign it to a Contact. Typing category names directly in this fashion limits the category to that item type such as Tasks.

To get around this orphan category problem, I suggest people create a list of their categories and enter them using the Categories dialog. You can get to this dialog by selecting Categories from the View menu.

You may also want to use a special character to precede the category name. Some people use the @ character to show they need to be at some location such as @Home or @Office.

A related tip is preceding a category name with a non-alpha character. By default, the category list is sorted alphabetically. If you precede your category name with a special character such as a ~,!, @, +, it will appear at the top of the list.

Working around Subcategories 

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Outlook doesn't allow for subcategories, but you can be creative and work around this issue. As I mentioned, I restrict myself to 15 categories because of my PDA. One way I've subcategorized is by using the Subject line. For instance to get the @Computer breakout as mentioned above, I might start each of my @Computer items with a keyword and colon in the Subject line such as:

Email: Online: Research:

Although I may not get the same precision, I can easily sort within a category to achieve the desired result. Alternatively, I could create a View based on the category and then use a filter for the keyword in the Subject line.

2. Attaching Categories to Outlook Items 

Each of the data objects in Outlook allows you to assign categories although the field is in different places. Like many Outlook functions, there are multiple ways to attach categories.

Contacts and Tasks place a Categories button and textbox in the lower right.

To add a category to Notes, click the icon in the top left corner and then select Categories from the menu.

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Assigning a category to emails is a little trickier. I think the easiest way is to right-click on the message and select Categories. Otherwise, you need to open the email and select Options from the View menu. A dialog will appear which has the Categories button.

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Using Rules to Organize Your EmailUsing Rules can help you organize your email in Outlook. Rules allow you to set actions that will be performed automatically after receiving a message that meets criteria you set.  For example, Outlook can redirect messages with a certain subject line or messages containing a certain word or phrase. Or, messages from a colleague can be automatically forwarded or placed in a special folder. Outlook rules are flexible and allow you to tailor them to your needs.

Types of Rules Creating Rules from a Message Creating Rules with the Rules Wizard Deleting Rules

Types of Rules Outlook allows you to create many different types of rules to help automate and organize your email. Once set, these rules enable Outlook to automatically perform such actions as the following:

Flag messages from a specific person Move messages from certain people to a special folder Redirect messages based on subject Display an alert message when an important message arrives Assign a category based on the content of a message Open or start a program after receiving a certain message Filter unwanted or junk messages and send them to a special folder Print messages containing specific words or phrases

Creating Rules from a MessageIf you know that you will be getting a number of messages similar to one in your Inbox, you can create a rule from that message to react in a particular way to all the similar messages. This process is similar to creating Rules with the Rules Wizard, but uses assumptions based on the selected message.

HINT: If you do not like the options provided with Outlook's assumptions, you can further customize the rule by working with the Rules Wizard at any time by clicking ADVANCED OPTIONS.

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1. Right click the message you want to base the rule on » select Create Rule...The Create Rule dialog box appears, with some information filled in.

2. In the When I get e-mail with all of the selected conditions section, select the conditions that you would like to trigger the action

3. In the Do the following section, select the action you would like to happen when the message fits the selected conditions

4. To save the rule, click OKTo close the Create Rule dialog box without creating the rule, click CANCEL

Creating Rules with the Rules Wizard The Rules Wizard allows you to quickly and easily set rules in Outlook.

1. From the Navigation pane, click MAIL2. From the Tools menu, select Rules and Alerts...

The Rules and Alerts dialog box appears. 3. Select the E-mail Rules tab

Add holidays1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Calendar Options.2. Under Calendar options, click Add Holidays.3. Select the check box next to each country/region whose holidays you want to add to your Calendar,

and then click OK. Your own country/region is automatically selected.

Notes

By default, no holidays are loaded when you begin using Microsoft Outlook. The holiday information provided with Office Outlook 2003 includes calendar years 2003 through

2007. To add holidays for calendar years 2008 through 2012, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 924423.

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Remove holidays1. In Calendar, on the View menu, point to Arrange By, point to Current View, and then click

Events.2. Select the holidays you want to remove. To select multiple rows, press the CTRL key and click

subsequent rows.3. Click Delete on the Standard toolbar.

Attach and send in one smooth flowMost of us usually take the Attach File route to send attachments using Outlook. The quicker way to send attachments is the simple copy-paste routine.

Open Outlook in your Inbox. Copy one or more documents from the source folder. Drop it in the Inbox view. A new mail opens with your documents attached. A single attachment will have the file’s name in the

subject field while multiple attachments will have the subject line bank.

All you need to do is complete the other details and send it across.

Peek into your attachments before you save or openThe feature to preview attachments within Outlook itself saves lots of time as unlike in earlier editions, one doesn’t have to open them separately. A quick peek and you can decide if you want to save it or ditch it. Note that this will work only for  applications which have previewers installed (it doesn’t work for PDF files).

By default, MS Office previewers (includes image previewer) are installed. The XPS Essentials Pack (for XPS files) for Windows Vista and Windows XP has to be downloaded separately.

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Preview is as simple as right clicking on the attachment and selecting Preview. After previewing the file, you can choose to save it.

Find the needle in the haystack with Instant Search and Advanced SearchMS Outlook 2007 offers two different ways to search for emails, documents and files.

Instant Search as the name suggests, starts matching the searched item with the search term as you begin typing. Within each item, the search term gets highlighted in yellow. You can configure a few search options by clicking the solid downward arrow. You can fine tune your search by using the Query Builder. Instant Search is a part of Windows Desktop search which indexes all content in the computer.

Advanced Find is really for that very tiny needle in the haystack. Bring up Advanced Find by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + F. You have a lot of options you can use in the three tabs of the box. A combination of a few criteria leads to pinpointed and quick results.

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4. Click NEW RULE...The Rules Wizard dialog box appears.

5. To start from a template or from a blank rule, a. In the Select a template section, select the appropriate rule template b. In the Edit the rule description section, edit the conditions as necessary by clicking the underlined

portionNOTE: Conditions that are not underlined do not need editing.EXAMPLE: Click PEOPLE OR DISTRIBUTION LIST to set which email addresses Outlook will look for before moving the message to the desired folder. A dialog box appears.

c. Complete the dialog box as appropriate and click OKNOTE: This dialog box will differ depending on which type of rule you selected.You are returned to the Rules Wizard Type of Rule dialog box.

d. OPTIONAL: If more than one underlined condition appears, to adjust the parameters for additional condition, repeat steps b-c

6. Click NEXT7. To add any additional condition(s),

a. From the Select condition(s) scroll box, select the additional condition(s) NOTE: You may select more than one condition.

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If the selected condition(s) allow additional parameters to be set, the text in the Edit the rule description text box will appear underlined.

b. In the Edit the rule description section, edit the conditions as necessary by clicking the underlined portionNOTE: Conditions that are not underlined do not need editing.

c. Complete the dialog box as appropriate and click OKNOTE: This dialog box will differ depending on which type of rule you selected.

8. Click NEXT9. To add any additional action(s),

a. From the Select action(s) scroll box, select the appropriate action(s)NOTE: You may select more than one action.

b. In the Edit the rule description section, edit the conditions as necessary by clicking the underlined portionNOTE: Conditions that are not underlined do not need editing.

c. Complete the dialog box as appropriate and click OKNOTE: This dialog box will differ depending on which type of rule you selected.

10. Click NEXT11. To specify times when this rule should not be applied,

a. From the Select exception(s) (if necessary) scroll box, select conditions that will indicate the rule should not be appliedNOTE: You may select more than one action.

b. In the Edit the rule description section, edit the conditions as necessary by clicking the underlined portionNOTE: Conditions that are not underlined do not need editing.

c. Complete the dialog box as appropriate and click OKNOTE: This dialog box will differ depending on which type of rule you selected.

12. Click NEXT 13. In the Specify a name for this rule text box, type a name for the new rule14. If it is not already selected, select Turn on this rule

HINT: The option is selected if a check mark appears. 15. OPTIONAL: Select Run this rule now on messages already in "Inbox" to have the rule applied to

messages you already have 16. Click FINISH

The Rules and Alerts main dialog box appears.HINT: You can review the rule and revise it as needed in the Rule description text box.

17. Click OKThe new rule is applied.

Deleting RulesWhen a rule is no longer needed, it can be deleted.

1. From the Navigation pane, click MAIL2. From the Tools menu, select Rules and Alerts...

The Rules and Alerts dialog box appears. 3. Select the E-mail Rules tab

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4. From the Rule (applied in order shown) scroll box, select the rule that you want to delete NOTE: The rule is selected when it appears highlighted.

5. Click DELETEORPress [Delete]A confirmation dialog box appears.

6. To delete the rule, click YESTo keep the rule, click NO

7. Click OK The Rules and Alerts dialog box closes.

Using out of Office Assistant1. On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant….2. In the Out of Office Assistant dialog box, select the Send Out of Office auto-

replies check box.3. If you want to specify a set time and date range, select the Only send during this

time range check box. Then set the Start time, and then set the End time.4. In the Inside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send within

your organization, and in the Outside my organization tab, type the message that you want to send outside your organization.

5. Click OK.6. If you selected the “Only send during this time range” option in step 4, the Out of

Office Assistant feature will continue to run until the date and time set for the End Time in step 5 is reached.Otherwise, the Out of Office Assistant will continue to run until you repeat step 1 and select the “Do not send Out of Office auto-replies” option.

Quickly Create Appointments from Tasks with Outlook 2007′s To-Do BarLike any geek, I spend many hours looking for ways to save a few minutes out of my day. Everybody knows that dragging emails or tasks to the calendar icon on the left hand Outlook menu will open a new appointment… but wouldn’t it be simpler to drag it to a specific day?

The To-Do bar in Outlook 2007 allows us to do just that… you can drag any item to a specific day on the calendar without having to switch views.

For illustration, I created a new task in the list…

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Now just drag that task up to the day you want to create an appointment…

And up pops a new appointment, already keyed to the correct day. Instead of having to select the date, it’s already done for us!

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You might notice the example dates are way in the past… I wrote this tip and then forgot to post it. At least I shaved a few seconds off my day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK5Puq71fe4&safe=active

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Viewing Multiple Weeks in Outlook’s Calendar. Sometimes an aerial view of your time commitments for the next several weeks is a great way to make plans. When you open Outlook’s calendar, show two consecutive months of dates in the upper right pane, then hold down your mouse button and drag to select every date from the left- top-most date to a date six weeks out. When you let go of the mouse button, voila! You’ll see six weeks of appointments neatly arranged for you to view from the clouds. Select Print if you want the aerial view of the weeks on paper.

Set Reminders to Act on Messages. If you spend a lot of time in Outlook, this tip can really boost your efficiency. Easy as it is, it’s very underused. To set a reminder—visible in your Inbox–to act on or reply to any message, right-click on the message you want to set the reminder for, select Follow Up, and choose your Due By time and date. When you click OK, the message will be flagged for you to remember to respond to, and the date and time will be automatically kept track of. To clear the flag, right click on the message and choose Clear Flag.

Use Advanced Find. If you get tired of waiting for Outlook to search for messages, or you get sick of sifting through too many search results for any given search term, use Advanced Find. Click Ctrl-Shift-F to bring up a dialog for it, and select options such as searching only in the Subject field of e-mails to save time.

Quickly Peruse Related Messages. If you get a lot of e-mail, you’re familiar with the woeful feeling of wondering what was said before about any topic you’re currently reading about. You might even be wondering what you said about it if you said it a few weeks ago. For an on-the-fly look at all messages related to one you’re currently reading, open a

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message, select the Actions menu, choose Find All, and select Related Messages. A dialog will pop up and pertinent messages—sent and received–will be listed for you to review.

Permanently Delete Messages. You can avoid the multiple-step process of deleting messages, then emptying the Deleting Items folder by simply holding down the Shift key when you hit Delete for any message. You’ll be asked if you want to permanently delete the message. If you’ve selected lots of messages for deletion, it works the same way. Just hold down the Shift key as you click Delete.

Quickly Undelete a Message. If you have just deleted a message and want to bring it back, reach for the Ctrl key and press Ctrl-Z to make it reappear. Ctrl-Z is also the undelete tool to reach for in other Windows applications, and can be a lifesaver if you just deleted several pages of content in, say, Word.

Check Spelling in All Messages. Do you frequently misspell things or is the professionalism of your e-mails very important to you? You can easily have Outlook check your spelling in all outgoing messages. Just click on the Tools menu, click on Options, and select Always check spelling before sending.

Quickly Add a Contact from an E-mail. If you want to save the sender of an e-mail to your contact list, with the e-mail open right-click on the person’s name in the From field and select Add to Contacts. Especially if you delete e-mails frequently or haphazardly, this can ensure that your contact list stays organized.