Using Microsoft Outlook 2007
Review and Revision Record
Date Document Version Author Checked by
14/5/2014 1.0 Abhishek Shukla
Microsoft ®, Microsoft Office ® 2007 and Microsoft Word ® 2007 are all trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation and acknowledged. All other trademarks acknowledged.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 4
Why Bother?............................................................................................................... 4
Assumptions ............................................................................................................... 5
Margin Icons ............................................................................................................... 5
WHAT IS OUTLOOK? ..................................................................................................... 6
WHAT IS MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SERVER? .................................................................. 6
CONFIGURING OUTLOOK ............................................................................................. 7
Minimum System Requirements .................................................................................... 7
Installation Consideration ............................................................................................. 7
THE MICROSOFT OUTLOOK “INTERFACE” ..................................................................... 8
SENDING & RECEIVING MAIL ..................................................................................... 10
Reading Mail ............................................................................................................. 11
Replying to and Forwarding Messages .......................................................................... 11
Mail Delivery Options (Signatures and Tracking) ............................................................ 12
Signatures ............................................................................................................. 12
Tracking ................................................................................................................ 13
Managing E-mail ........................................................................................................ 14
Folders ..................................................................................................................... 14
Message “Rules” ........................................................................................................ 15
Sorting and Finding Messages ..................................................................................... 17
Deleting Messages ..................................................................................................... 18
Archiving Messages ................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 19
INTRODUCTION
Greetings..........................prospective email user.
Thanks for taking to time to go through this document. Unlike most user guides this one is
written in plain English which a regular person understands. It is filled with good-to-know
information and not the quantum physics type, which you might need once every third life.
Besides proving my prowess in creating user guides, my main objective of writing this manual
is to help readers access their emails using Outlook – an application that allows you to access
all your emails in one place. It also helps save your contacts, calendars, appointments and
almost everything that you would need your dreary diary for.
Why Bother?
Most Office users (at home) never bother to explore this yellow icon and avoid it while they
can. You interest in the most uninteresting of the applications placed you among am elite
group. No, there is no secret handshake or something. If you are not convinced that using
Outlook is a good idea, I have come up with some good reasons why you should start
pondering over it.
It will make you more marketable: Microsoft applications are widely used, face it.
Learning its usage will not get you in harm’s way or something.
It helps you get most out of your investment (or your employer’s investment):
Using office without knowing Outlook is like buying an HD-TV and watching a video shot
from a VGA cam.
Increase productivity: Learning to use Outlook will take time but the same can be
compensated from the time you save after you have mastered it.
It is fun (yes, it is!!): Some people really have fun making Outlook do things that are
otherwise impossible on a webmail interface. By the time you finish with this manual,
you might just be one of those people.
Assumptions
Before proceeding with this creation, which I consider no less than Michelangelo’s rendition of
Sistine chapel (Yes, I am modest too!), below are the assumptions that have been made.
You have access to PC at work – and probably at home.
You have an email account.
You are running a version of office which has Outlook as one of the components.
You use your PC for work as well.
You consider yourself to be more knowledgeable about computers than the holy cow.
You need to get some work done and have low tolerance level for thick computer
books.
You know how to check your emails on browsers
You are aware of the terms like shortcut, exchange server, webmail, interface etc.
Margin Icons
Sometime ago, a market research company found its usefulness by showing that a manual is
better read and widely recommended when it has icons on the margins. So icons have been
incorporated throughout this manual to draw your attention to various features or help you
decide if something is worth skipping.
I don’t know if this research is valid but I am not taking any risks. So below are the icons that
you will encounter on your journey from the first page to the last.
Read anything marked with this icon or else, you may lose your emails, offend some
recipients, including some guardian of email etiquettes or turn your office into
Chernobyl, overnight.
This is technical information which you can read or safely skip − whichever suits
your fancy.
This denotes keyboard shortcut which comes in handy when you intend to save time
and eventually, leave office early.
Store this information in deep recesses of your brain for later use.
WHAT IS OUTLOOK?
Microsoft Outlook 2007 is considered a groupware application that supports e-mail, calendars,
contacts, “to-do” lists, and other features. It is not to be confused with Outlook Express which
stopped existing with Windows XP. Outlook is a much more powerful with features like auto-
backup, automatic replies, delayed response allowing you to decide the time an email will be
sent (Yes, it can be done!).
This manual has been designed to use Outlook on exchange servers and enumerates only the
basic features that you are likely to be using here at office.
Comprehensive help on Outlook’s features are discussed in on-line tutorials well as web-based
training at office.microsoft.comProductsOutlook 2007 Help.
WHAT IS MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SERVER?
Microsoft Exchange is integrated server software that manages emails, shared documents and
calendars and enables group collaboration through shared calendaring and resources.
In English, it means that it helps you get your office emails, calendars, contacts – the whole
nine yards.
Although Microsoft Outlook does not require a Microsoft Exchange server to function, it offers
more functionality when used with the said server.
In order to use Outlook with your official email address, it is a good idea to contact the IT guy.
However, if you are one of the rare few who like to do things on your own, please, read
through.
CONFIGURING OUTLOOK
Minimum System Requirements
Below are the minimum system requirements for installing office 2007. Needless to say, Office
2007 needs to be installed if you intend to install and use Outlook 2007.
CPU 500MHz CPU
RAM 256MB RAM
Hard drive space Minimum of 2GB of free Hard Drive space for installation
Media Drive CD or DVD drive
Monitor Monitor capable of 1024x768 resolution
Operating system Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 32-bit browser only
You can, of course, let your IT guy worry about these intricate details, but a little extra
information has never let to nervous breakdown; proven scientific fact.
Also, if you have bought your computer anytime in the last 5 years, you can safely ignore this
information.
Installation Consideration
If you are installing Office 2007 on a Windows Vista, 7 or 8 system, most services will already
be installed to handle enhanced functionality in Outlook 2007 e.g. Instant Search. If Office
2007 is installed on Windows XP, Desktop Search program must be updated for Instant Search
feature to work correctly.
In the heat of the moment, if you sent an office 2007 format document to a poor soul who is
still clinging to an older version (XP, 2000, 2003; Yes! Such organisms breathe too!), you
either ask them to download a compatibility pack, OR, save you document in Office 97-2003
format. Office 2007 has been kind enough to allow you to save your documents in the older
format.
THE MICROSOFT OUTLOOK “INTERFACE”
Figure 1: Microsoft Outlook 2007 interface
Title Bar
Displays the name of the feature you are currently using,
followed by Microsoft Outlook
Menu Bar
Provides commands for performing operations on your data
in Outlook 2007
Toolbar Provides an alternative to the Menu Bar
Folder List
Lists all email folders including Inbox, Sent Items and
Deleted Items. Any folders created will also appear on this
list. It forms part of the Navigation Pane.
Navigation
Provide a quick way of switching between the various
Outlook features such as Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, etc
Status Bar
Indicates what’s going on in Outlook at the moment e.g.
sending or receiving email etc
Reading Pane
Displays the contents of the currently selected item. You can
change the position of the Reading Pane (View menu >
Reading Pane > select Right, Bottom or Off
To-do bar
Integrates your follow-up messages, tasks and
appointments in one central location
Task List Displays a list of tasks
SENDING & RECEIVING MAIL
To send a message in Microsoft Outlook 2007, Click on File New Mail Message or choose
Mail Message from the New drop down list in the toolbar
Pssst...use Ctrl+N to start the new message dialogue.
Figure 2: Creating a New Mail Message
In the New Message window, type the e-mail address of the recipient, a subject for your
message, and the text of your message. You can also format text, i.e., in HTML, but note that
if the recipient is not using Outlook, your formatting may not display properly. When you are
ready to send the message, click the Send button on the toolbar.
In Outlook 2007, the new message window is based generally on the same concepts as Word
2007. Details of this new user interface are in the Word 2007 document. This section
summarizes the most important commands.
Figure 3: New Message Window
Reading Mail
To check your messages
1. Click the Inbox icon in the Navigation Pane.
2. By clicking once on the mail header (header pane) will display the message body in the
reading Pane.
3. In order to open the message in a separate window, double click on the message
header
Replying to and Forwarding Messages
To reply to a message
1. Select the message in the header pane and click the ‘Reply’ button on the toolbar.
2. Type the email body.
3. Click send.
It is advisable never to add new recipients without informing existing ones and edit the
subject line or content from other emails.
The ‘Reply to all’ button allows you to send your reply to everyone who received the original
message.
1. Click on ‘Reply to all’ button.
2. Type in your response.
3. Add your signature, if not added already.
4. Click send
Use this feature only if you want everyone to see your
response.
The Forward button on the toolbar is provided to forward a message to another e-mail
address; useful if you intend to inform other people regarding a mail. Please note that if you
are forwarding an email, the To, Cc and the Bcc fields will be blank.
1. Click on Forward
2. Type in your response
3. Add the recipient
4. Add your signature, if not added already, and click send
Mail Delivery Options (Signatures and Tracking)
Microsoft Outlook has several useful Mail Delivery Options that are not available with regular
Internet mail/webmail. Below features have been enumerated for your benefit:
One can attach a signature to all messages by default, or only a selected few.
A notification can be requested when the recipient has read an email (Read Receipt)
Emails delivery can be scheduled as per your preference. Yes, you can send certain
emails even if you are not on your seat!
Signatures
1. Click the Insert tab for signatures.
2. Click ‘New’Type a name for the signature.
3. In the ‘Edit Signature’ box, create a desired signature.
4. Choose default signature for new messages and Replies/Forwards, on the right.
5. Click ‘OK’ on the bottom.
Figure 4: Set and edit signatures window
Edit Signature here
Tracking
Tracking options
1. Locate 2 check boxes on the options tab
a. Request a Delivery Receipt: If you wish to find out if the email has been
delivered.
b. Request a Read Receipt: You will receive a notification in the form of an email
message that your recipient has read your email.
2. Use either or both of these for the said purpose.
Figure 5: Options tab on New Message window
Delayed Delivery
1. Click on Options tab Click on Delay Delivery
2. Set the time and date of sending the email under delivery options
3. Click Close
Figure 6: Delay Delivery Dialogue box
Managing E-mail
As you begin to age in the organization (possibly unlike a fine wine), you will receive more
messages. When that happens, you will want to manage your e-mail more efficiently.
First step should be to learn to create folders.
Folders
Use folders to help organize the messages you receive. For example, you can transfer all
correspondence with your boss into a folder called bashing.
1. To create a new folder in your Inbox, choose File New New Folder.
2. Type a name for the folder in the dialog box, and select the type of information the
folder will contain. Finally, select the destination for the folder in the dialog box and
click OK.
Figure 7: Creating and naming a folder
There is no IUPAC which governs the nomenclature. Use your imagination and choose a name
which helps you remember its possible contents.
3. Drag and drop one folder to another in the Navigation Pane, to move it. You can also
select the message and choose Edit Move to Folder; or Copy to Folder if you want to
copy the message to another folder and not just move it.
4. You can also set up a Message Rule to automatically move messages to your new mail
folder.
Message “Rules”
In Outlook “rules” can be created to filter your emails. For example, you might want to
automatically transfer all messages from your boss’ boss, to a folder called ‘Chewed out’. Other
routine mails describing some server’s health in unknown parts of Tunisia, can be set to be
deleted.
1. To create a mail rule, choose Tools Rules and Alerts.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Select the type of rule you want to create.
4. Click the underlined words in the Rules Description and fill in the required information.
Figure 8: Message Rules for Automatically Handling Messages
5. To run the rule anytime you want, including when the rule’s behavior or criteria are
modified, select the rule you want to run and select Run Rules Now. You can run rules
on all folders, or you can select a specific folder run the rules again.
Figure 9: Typical Email Rule Names and Details of Sample Rule
Sorting and Finding Messages
If you are working (notice the ‘if’?), you are bound to have hundreds of messages in your
Inbox, it’s not always easy to locate the email you want. Outlook’s Sort and Find features come
to rescue.
To change how the messages are sorted, Right Click the Arranged by bar just below the title
bar that displays the current folder name in the header pane.
Figure 10: Sorting Messages by Date
You can also group messages by the selected category or categories, if you check the Show in
Groups checkbox, your messages will be separated by group labels defined by you. It can be
anything from grouping by date, alphabetical, conversation subject etc.
Figure 11: Sorting Messages by Group Figure 12: Finding Messages Using the Search Box and Options
If sorting doesn’t help, or you are feeling too lazy, you can search for a specific text in a
message. Simply type in text in the search box above the Message List and you should get an
instantaneous result.
Please bear in mind that this instance search feature is native to Office 2007 and not to XP.
Users of this obsolete, older than time operating system, will have to install desktop search
from Microsoft.
Deleting Messages
To delete a message, select the message in the header pane and click the delete tool , on
the toolbar. Outlook transfers the message to the Deleted Items folder. To retrieve a message
from Deleted Items, open that folder, select the message and choose Edit Move to Folder
select the folder to move it to. Also, selecting Delete again will permanently delete that
message.
To delete a message, select it and press Delete on the keyboard. To permanently delete a
message, select the message and press Shift + Delete on your keyboard.
Multiple other options appear when you right click on a message. And you know what; it’s not
a sin to use those options. Drag-and-drop works like a charm too.
Routinely emptying your trash is a good idea, be it from deleted items or your house.
However, I can only tell you about the former.
1. Right Click on Deleted Items and select Properties.
2. Select the ‘AutoArchive’ tab and select Archive This Folder Using These Settings.
3. Then select ‘Permanently delete old items’.
4. Then, set the interval at which items are deleted by setting the value at Clean out items
older than... The default is 2 months.
Figure 13: Using AutoArchive to Automatically Remove Deleted Messages
Archiving Messages
Remember those letters that you used to file away for later reference? The same can be done
with emails. It’s called Archiving; yes the same that they do with library books.
The process of archiving messages can be accomplished in two ways, through manual
archiving or through auto archiving.
To archive messages manually, select File Archive. You can choose to archive all messages
under all folders according to the AutoArchive Settings, or archive specific folder.
Figure 14: Archiving Messages
File Data File Management gives the location of archived mails. This location can be changed
as per user’s preference. Needless to say, the archive and other folders should not be more
than your allocated storage space
Referring to figure 9 gives us a fair idea of Archive settings. Here you can also select, do not
archive items in this folder and get rid of annoying reminders to archive.
Conclusion
With this I hereby end my atrocities on your sore minds. Remember, when in doubt, call out.
Extensive help can be found on Outlook Help accessible through F1.
Select Date