Tips & Tricks for Outlook 2003

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This handout is simply an outline to be used as a guide in class. Microsoft Outlook 2003 offers many ways to accomplish different tasks. The steps below identify at least one way to accomplish a task in Microsoft Outlook 2003. We will explore as much of this program as time allows.

Stay Informed (by adding links to the MSU newsgroups)

  1. On Outlook Today, click Customize Outlook Today.
  2. Click the Choose Folders button and select the MSU news announcement folders.
  3. Click OK and then click Save changes.

Count Me In! (Drag & Drop)

Drag and drop a message from the newsgroup on to your calendar in the folder list to place an item from the MSU newsgroup on to your calendar.

Quick Access

Right-click on the Calendar and click Open in New Window. This will open the calendar in a separate window.

Rules to Live By

create rule screen

You can quickly create simple rules to move messages into specific folders from specific recipients.

  1. Select a message from that recipient.
  2. Click the Create Rule button create rule button on the toolbar.
  3. Click the From box.
  4. Click the Move e-mail to folder: box.
  5. Click the Select Folder button to specify the folder in which to move the messages when they arrive.

Color My World! (Color-code Your Messages)

  1. Click Tools, Organize.
  2. Click Using Colors.
  3. Click an e-mail message in your Inbox, and you will find the name of the sender displayed in the Color messages box. Or, you can type the name in the Color messages box yourself.
  4. Select a color from the list.
  5. Click Apply Color.
  6. Click the Organize button (if necessary) to close the Organize box.

Color messages in Apply Color

Order in the Inbox! (Sorting)

To quickly and easily sort by a specific field, click on that field. To sort in reverse order (descending order), click the field again.
inbox title bar

Choose Your Field

  1. In the Inbox, right-click on one of the fields (From, To, or Subject) and click on Field Chooser.
  2. Click and drag any of the fields from the Field Chooser box onto the bar next to an existing field. You can also remove fields from the bar by dragging the field to the Field Chooser box.
    field chooser

Who are you sending to?? (villw; bry sch; help desk; annette sp)

You DO NOT need to enter the full address or name of the recipient of your e-mail message if they are in the global address list or in your contact list. Simply type part of their name and press tab to move to the next box. You can also press Ctrl-K or click the Check Names button on the toolbar to resolve the address. This keyboard shortcut also works in MavMAIL.

Moving People Around (Dragging Addresses Between To, Cc, and Bcc Fields in Outlook)

When composing or replying to an e-mail message in Outlook, you can easily rearrange the names of the people receiving the message by dragging their e-mail addresses between the To, Cc, and Bcc address fields.

Link Up (Entering hyperlinks into an e-mail message)

Create a hyperlink in an e-mail message by typing the link and pressing the space bar or the Enter key.

DON'T Open Outlook to Send Your Office Document!

  1. In the document, click File, Send To, Mail Recipient (as Attachment).
  2. Fill in the Recipients, Subject, and message boxes and click Send.

OR if you have Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2003:

  1. On the Standard toolbar, click E-mail.
  2. In the To and Cc boxes, enter the recipient names separated by semicolons.
  3. By default, the name of the document appears in the Subject box. If you want, you can type your own subject name.
  4. Click Send a Copy.

Save Me! (Drag & Drop File Attachments)

In the Preview Pane of the message, click on the attachment and drag and drop it into a folder on your computer such as My Documents.

Save All of Us!! (Save Multiple Attachments Simultaneously)

  1. Click Save Attachments on the File menu.
  2. When the Save All Attachments dialog box opens, click OK.
  3. Then select the folder where you want to save all of the files and click OK.

Send It Again! (Sending the same message to the same recipients again)

  1. Open the message.
  2. Click the Actions menu.
  3. Click Resend this message... A new message is created and can be altered before sending.

UNSEND! (Recall a message that you've sent)

  1. Open your Sent Items folder.
  2. Double-click the message you want recalled.
  3. On the Actions menu, click Recall This Message.
  4. To recall the message, click Delete unread copies of this message. To replace the message with another one, click Delete unread copies and replace with a new message, click OK, and then type a new message.
  5. To be notified about the success of the recall or replacement for each recipient, select the Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient check box.

What's their 411? (Forward an Outlook Contact)

Send contacts to other people by right-clicking on the contact you want to send and then click Forward. A new e-mail message will be created with that contact included as an attachment. Enter the e-mail address of the people you want to send the contact to and click Send.

When the recipients receive the contact, all they have to do is to drag the attachment onto onto the Contacts folder and it will be added automatically to their contacts list.

I Know Where You Live! (Mapping an address using Outlook and the Internet)

  1. In Contacts, double-click the contact whose address you want to locate.
  2. Choose the address you want to find on a map Business, Home, or Other.
  3. On the Actions menu, click Display Map of Address. Your Web browser will open up and display a map of the contact's address using the MSN.com maps web site.
  4. Click OK.

Display Nonconsecutive Dates in Outlook Calendar

  1. On the right side of the window in the Date Navigator (the small calendar that displays the current month), click the first date you want to view.
  2. While holding down the CTRL key, click any other dates you want to view. (To remove a date, click it again.) You can display up to 14 nonconsecutive days.

Using Plain English on a Date Field (AutoDate)

Type "next week" or "Christmas" in a date field and Outlook will format the date automatically for you. You can also type in a firm date such as the following: 9-25 or 10/05/04

Moving Appointments

Drag and drop any appointment on to a date on the date navigator (monthly calendar on the left) to reschedule.

Over Quota?! (Checking Folder Size)

Faculty/staff members will receive 100 megabytes of storage, and students will receive 75 megabytes by default.

  1. Right-click on the folder (Inbox).
  2. Click on Properties.
  3. Click on the Folder Size button.
  4. Check the Total Size.

Out with the old, in with the new (Archiving)

  1. Click File, Archive.
  2. In the archive dialog box, click the folder to be archived.
  3. Click the drop box to specify a date for archiving.
  4. Very Important: Click the browse button to specify a location for the archived file and give the file an appropriate name with a .pst extension.
  5. Click OK.
    archive screen

Undelete!!

Have you ever deleted mail from your Deleted Items folder and then wanted to retrieve it? In most cases, you can with Outlook 2003.

  1. In the Folder list, click Deleted Items.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Recover Deleted Items.
  3. Click the item you want to recover. To select multiple items, click the first item, and then hold down CTRL and click additional items.
  4. Click the Recover Selected Items button.

The items will be returned to your Deleted Items folder and then you can move them to other folders. Some items may no longer be recoverable because your system administrator has limited the amount of time to two weeks that deleted items can be stored on the server.

Cruisin the Web through Outlook

  1. On the Address Bar, click the vertical line next to Address, and then slide it to the left until you see the Address box and the Go, Stop, and Refresh buttons.
  2. In the Address box (located on the web toolbar), type the address for the web page you want to display, and then press Enter on the keyboard or click Go.
  3. To return to the Outlook folder you selected prior to viewing the web page, click the Back button on the Address Bar.

Help Me!

Inbox and Messaging Keyboard Shortcuts

Press To
Ctrl+Shift+I Switch to Inbox.
Ctrl+Shift+O Switch to Outbox.
Alt+Enter Display message properties
Ctrl+A Mark All
Ctrl+Shift-B Open Address Book
Ctrl+C Copy selected text
Ctrl+D Delete selected message
Ctrl+E Opens People Search Dialog
Ctrl+F Forward to selected message
Ctrl+Shift+F Open Message Search Dialog
Ctrl+G Follow-up to newsgroups
Ctrl+N Create new message
Ctrl+P Print selected messages
Ctrl+R Reply to the author of selected message
Ctrl+Shift+R Reply to author and all recipients of selected message.
Ctrl+U Display next unread message
Ctrl+< Display previous message
Ctrl+> Display next message
Ctrl+F2 Open message body in Notepad
Ctrl+F3 Display message source code
Esc Close window
Press To create or open this item
Ctrl+Shift+A Appointment
Ctrl+Shift+C Contact
Ctrl+Shift+E Folder
Ctrl+Shift+J Journal entry
Ctrl+Shift+L Distribution list
Ctrl+Shift+M Message
Ctrl+Shift+Q Meeting request
Ctrl+Shift+N Note
Ctrl+Shift+K Task
Ctrl+Shift+S Post in this folder
Ctrl+Shift+U Task request
Calendar Keyboard Shortcuts
Press To
Day/Week/Month view
Alt+# (1-9) View from 1 through 9 days
Alt+0 (Zero) View 10 days
Alt+Hyphen Sign Switch to weeks
Alt+Equal Sign Switch to months
Ctrl+Tab Or F6 Move between Calendar, TaskPad, and the Folder List
Shift+Tab Select the previous appointment
Left Arrow Go to the previous day
Right Arrow Go to the next day
Alt+Left Arrow Move selected item to the previous day when multiple days appear
Alt+Right Arrow Move selected item to the next day when multiple days appear
Alt+Down Arrow Go to the same day in the next week
Alt+Up Arrow Go to the same day in the previous week
For Day view
Home Select the time that begins your work day
End Select the time that ends your work day
Up Arrow Select the previous block of time
Down Arrow Select the next block of time
Page Up Select the block of time at the top of the screen
Page Down Select the block of time at the bottom of the screen
Shift+Up Arrow Or Down Arrow Extend or reduce the selected time
With The Cursor In The Appointment, Alt+Up Arrow Or Down Arrow Move an appointment
With The Cursor In The Appointment, Alt+Shift+Up Arrow Or Down Arrow Change an appointment start or end time
Alt+Down Arrow Move selected item to the same day in the next week
Alt+Up Arrow Move selected item to the same day in the previous week
For Week or Month views
Home Go to the first day of the week
End Go to the last day of the week
Page Up Go to the same day of the week in the previous week (or 5 weeks previous if viewing by month)
Page Down Go to the same day of the week in the next week (or 5 weeks ahead if viewing by month)
Alt+Up, Down, Left, Or Right Arrow Move the appointment up, down, left, or right
Shift+Left, Right, Up, Or Down Arrow; Or Shift+Home Or End Change the duration of the selected block of time
For Date Navigator
Alt+Home Go to the first day of the current week
Alt+End Go to the last day of the current week
Alt+Up Arrow Go to the same day in the previous week
Alt+Down Arrow Go to the same day in the next week
Alt+Page Up Go to the first day of the month
Alt+Page Down Go to the last day of the month