Getting Started

This introductory video will introduce you to Microsoft Outlook 2007, and how open and exit the application.  Outlook 2007 can be opened by clicking on the Start Button, choosing “All Programs” and locating your Outlook program, or by moving to the top of your Start Menu and choosing the icon for Email.

To exit Outlook 2007, click on the red “X” in the upper right hand corner of the application, or go under the File Menu and choose Exit.

Toolbars

We’ll introduce you to the primary toolbars that make up your Outlook desktop:

-          Menu Toolbar

-          Standard Toolbar

Navigation and To-Do Bar

In this lesson will examine the Navigation Pane & To-Do Bar

The Navigation Pane is located on the left hand side of Outlook and contains icons and links to all the different views that we can use within outlook, and allows us to easily switch back and forth between different functions and locations in Outlook.  We’ll examine the “tree” structure of the folder list.

The To-Do bar presents your calendar, appointments and task all in one location for quick visibility, and allows you to drill down into the details if needed.

Composing an Email

We’ll walk through the process of composing and sending and email message.

-          Starting a new message

-          Addressing the email

-          Adding an email subject

-          Entering your message text

-          Sending the email

Mail Delivery Options

This lesson will review the options for receiving email.  Your email configuration may depend on the type of connection you have to your network or the internet.  Outlook allows you to configure your options to use one or both of the following options:

-          Automatic Delivery of email

-          Using Send/Receive to manually receive email

We’ll discuss where to configure Automatic delivery and how frequently, and how find the Send/Receive option to manually download your email.

Identifying and Reading New Mail

In order to see new mail we must be looking at the Mail view and select the Inbox folder.  New messages are identified in bold type.  When a message is selected, the contents of the message can be displayed in the preview pane, or we can double click on the message to open it in it’s own window for reading.

Forwarding Messages

Often you may receive messages that you want to share with someone else without retyping or changing the information.  We’ll demonstrate using Outlook’s Forward function to quickly share an email with the recipient of your choice.

Saving Messages

Outlook 2007 allows you to save and organize your messages for later reference, and then to delete them from your Outlook, if desired.  Emails can be saved anywhere on your computer.  Open the message you would like to save, then go under the File Menu to Save As.  Navigate to where you would like to store the message, and enter the name that you would like to store the message as, and click Save.

Deleting Messages

It’s important to keep your Inbox clean by deleting unwanted email.  We’ll demonstrate selecting and deleting emails from your inbox, reviewing the deleted items folder , and permanently delete your deleted emails.

Using CC and BCC

This lesson will explain how and why to use the CC:  address field, and the BCC: address field. 

The CC: field address are viewable to the recipient, where the addresses in the BCC: field will not be viewable to anyone but the sender.

Using Reply and Reply to All

This lesson will demonstrate your options for replying to emails that you receive.  You can choose to reply only to the sender of the email, or you can choose to send your reply to all recipients of the original email.

Attachments

This lesson will demonstrate your options for dealing with attachments that you might receive in your email.  Attachments are identified by a paperclip icon next to the email in your Inbox.

Attachments can be opened directly from your email, providing you have a program installed that can read the attachment.  You can also choose to save an attachment anywhere on your computer.

Using the Address Book

When composing an email, you can click on the TO: button and view all the individuals that are stored in your contacts folder.  This lesson will demonstrate addressing an email, and your options for searching for email addresses.

Editing and Proofing Text

This lesson will demonstrate how to format your email text.  You will learn how to:

• Add color
• Change size
• Change font
• Hightlight text

We’ll also cover how to use the built-in spellcheck to proof your email text and catch mistakes before you send the email.

Creating Signatures

Outlook 2007 allows you to create a custom signature that you can have automatically appear at the bottom of every email you create, saving you time and effort.

Go under the Tools Menu, and move down to the Options button.  Then go to the Mail Format Tab, and click on Signatures.  You can create and store multiple signatures with customized formatting, and choose to insert any of your stored signatures into your emails to provide both a time savings and a consistent look to your emails.

Editing and Saving Signatures

This lesson continues from the previous lesson and demonstrates how to edit your existing signatures to change your text or formatting.   You also able to assign one of your signatures as the default signature that will automatically appear in all emails that you create, as well as any emails that you reply to.

Inserting Signatures

This lesson will demonstrate how to insert your preconfigured signatures into your email messages.

 Place your cursor where you want the signature to appear.  Then go to the Insert menu and down to the Signature option.  All you signature names will be displayed and you can choose one to add to your email.

Handling Junk E-mail

How can you manage junk mail without taking too much time out of your day?  Outlook 2007 has a Junk Mail filter, and you are able to control the level of sensitivity of the filter to determine how your junk mail is treated.  Topics include:

• Setting your level of junk email protection
• Automatically delete junk mail
• Safe Senders
• Blocking Senders

Follow-up Flags

Outlook 2007 allows you to setup a Follow-Up Flag for any emails that you would like to not forget and plan to attend to at a later time.

 Right-click on any message that you want to follow up on, and go to the “Follow Up” option, and then choose to 'Add a Reminder'.  You can then choose a due date to follow up by and schedule a reminder for a specific date and time.

Creating Rules

Outlook 2007 allows you to create rules to handle your incoming email.  This will allow Outlook to take automatic action for you when an email arrives that matches a rule criteria.  For example, all emails from a specific address can be stored in a specific folder automatically. 

 Many other rule parameters are available as well to save you time and help keep you organized.

Adding Contacts

This lesson will demonstrate how to add contacts to your contacts folder.  This can be done in two ways:

• Automatically adding a contact from a received email
• Entering a new contact directly into the contact folder

Add Items to Contacts

Often you may want to save certain information (an email or document) and make that data accessible directly from a contact record.  Outlook 2007 allows you to attach items or files to any contact record. 

Open up any contact record, and go to the second tab marked “Item”.  You can then choose either the Attach File or Attach Item buttons, as demonstrated in this lesson.  Be sure to save your contact record to ensure your new information is saved as well.

Contact Views

Within Outlook 2007 we can arrange to view our contacts folder in a number of different ways to quickly access our contact information in the format that makes the most sense for us.

 When you select Contacts from the left column the available views are displayed.  Simply click on the view names to switch from view to view until you find one that presents the information in a way you prefer.

Updating and Sharing Contacts

This lesson will demonstrate how to edit your contact information, and how you can easily change your information and save your changes.   We’ll also discuss options for sharing your contact information with others.  Methods to send contact information include:

• Sending Full Contact information in Outlook or Internet V-Card formats
• Send as a Business Card

Finding Contacts

When you have many contacts in Outlook 2007, how do you quickly find a specific contact?  We’ll demonstrate how to search your contact records and pull up just the one you want.  Topics covered include: 

• Searching Address Books
• Using Advanced Find

Arranging Contacts

Outlook 2007 allows you to arrange your contacts into separate folders to help you group your contacts in whatever manner you would like. For example, you may want to separate your work contacts from your personal contacts.

This lesson will demonstrate how to create a new contacts folder and how to move contacts from one folder to another.

Communicating with Contacts

Outlook 2007 allow you to easily communicate with your contacts right from within the Contacts folder.  Right-click on your contact record to choose between two communication options:

• Click on Create, an choose the option for New Message to contact.  A new email message will appear with the contact’s email address automatically placed in the TO: field.  Complete your email and click Send.
• Click on Call Contact to launch the New Call dialog box.  If you have a modem connected to your computer, you can initiate a call by clicking on Start Call.  The dial out will begin, and you’ll be prompted to pick up your receiver.

Scheduling Meetings and Tasks

Outlook 2007 allows you to quickly schedule  meetings with your contacts.  To schedule a meeting, right-click on the contact and then choose Create, and click on New Meeting Request.  Enter meeting location and time.  You can even check the contact's schedule if you are networked to share schedule information.  You can also choose multiple contacts and email the meeting request to them, allowing them to accept or decline the meeting.

Also within Create,  you can choose to create a New Task for one of your contacts.  Enter the task details and assign to your contact.  The task is sent by email, and the contact can choose to accept or decline the task.

Journal Entries

Another useful option in Outlook 2007 is the ability to record or keep a journal of activities that you have with your contacts.  Right-click on a contact and choose Create, and click on new Journal Entry. 

• Record type of activity
• Record activity notes
• Time phone calls or activities with contact

At any point you can view your journal of activities with a contact by opening the contact, and clicking on Activities from the Menu Bar.  Use the drop down box to choose Journal to view your journal entries.

Calendar Views

This lesson will explore the available views within Outlook 2007’s Calendar.  Views include Day, Week, and Month, and can choose to view the work week or include the weekend days as well. 

You’ll learn how to navigate forward and backward within the calendar, and how to always return to today’s date.

Adding Appointments

This lesson will demonstrate how you can add an appointment to your Outlook 2007 Calendar.  You’ll learn how to add an appointment from the File Menu, and also how to add a meeting directly from the calendar page itself. 

 You can enter a subject, location, starting and ending times, and any notes regarding your appointment.

Adding Events

Along with appointments, Outlook 2007 also allows you to add an “Event” to your calendar.  Events differ from appointments because they typically last for 24 hours or more.

To schedule an Event, right-click in your calendar, and select New All Day Event.  When the event window opens, you’ll notice that the check box for All Day is checked, and the beginning and ending times are grayed out to indicate that the event will last all day.  When you save your event, it will be placed as a banner at the top of you day, allowing you to schedule appointments within the event day.

Arranging a Meeting

To arrange a meeting in Outlook 2007, select the time for your meeting on your calendar, and then go under the Actions menu and select New Meeting Request.

A meeting window will appear, and looks very similar to other scheduling windows, accept that it includes a “TO:” field that will allow you to select the contacts that you would like to invite to your meeting.  Click on “TO:” to select from your Contacts, or just enter in email addresses of anyone you would like to invite to your meeting.  You can indicate if your attendees are required to be at the meeting, or if the meeting is optional.  Complete the form with a subject, location, and time information, and then send your invitation.

Update the Calendar

This lesson will demonstrate how to update your calendar.  To update an appointment, double-click on the appointment to open it.  Then make the necessary changes to the appointment information, or add any new information that you would like to include.  Then click Save & Close, and your changes will be saved.

When you change a meeting with other attendees you are able to send updated meeting information to your invited attendees so they are notified and can adjust their schedules as well.

Using Reminders

With so much going in our day, we may need reminders to help keep us on track with all our events, appointments, and meetings.  Outlook 2007 allows you to set reminders to help you keep it all straight.

To setup a reminder, double-click on an appointment to open it, and then go to the Options button on your ribbon.  You’ll see the Reminder setting, and can click on the drop down arrow to choose when you’d like to be reminded.  Reminders can be scheduled from 15 minutes to 3 weeks in the future.   Keep in mind, Outlook will have to be open on your desktop for your reminders to work.

Sharing Calendars

Outlook 2007 allows you to share information about your calendar events easily.  Open your calendar entry and look in the Meeting tab for the Forward button.  This will open up an email that includes your meeting information, and allows you to select contacts or enter email address, and then send the message.

When you click on the Forward button, you will also see an option to forward your calendar item as an iCalendar .  This choice will allow you to forward and share your information over the Internet to individuals that don’t even use Outlook, but can read or import an iCalendar item.

Inserting Items into a Calendar

This lesson will demonstrate how you can insert items that may be useful directly into your calendar item.  Maybe you’d like to save the email about the meeting as reference information for the meeting event.  To insert items, open your calendar item.

To insert an email, go to the Ribbon and choose the Insert Tab.  On the left side, choose Attach Item.  This will allow you to navigate within Outlook to find your Inbox and the actual email you want to include.  You can choose to insert the email as text, an attachment, or a shortcut.

To a different file like a Word document to your Calendar meeting, choose Attach File instead.  Then navigate to the location of your file and select it.  Then save your modified calendar item, and your inserted items will be available to you the whenever you open your calendar event.

Viewing and Adding Tasks

We’ll explore how you can view and add tasks in this lesson.  In your Navigation Pane, click on Tasks to view all entered tasks.  You can click on any task, and see the details of the task in the Reading Pane.

To add a new task, right click in the Task Window and select New Task.  Add a subject, start date, and due date.  Choose an appropriate status from the drop-down and set a priority if you’d like.  You can even indicate the percentage complete.   Task can also use the Reminder feature to schedule the date and time to remind yourself of a task. 

Recurring Tasks

Do you have tasks that have to be done each week, or each month?  You can handle those easily in Outlook by using Recurring Tasks.  Create a task, and then click on the Recurrence button on the Task tab in the Ribbon.

 The Task Recurrence box will open, and allow you to schedule the recurrence pattern of your task.  You can set weekly, monthly, or yearly tasks, and choose the day or days for the task.  You can even choose to have a task regenerated automatically in one or more week’s time from the date you complete the original task.

Update a Task

This lesson demonstrates how to update an existing task, how to arrange our task list, and mark a task as complete. 

To update a task, simply open it and make the necessary changes, and save & close your task. 

Your To-Do List allows you to arrange your task by a variety of characteristics, like category or due date.  Click on “Arranged by:” and choose the sorting option that works best for you.

You can mark a task as complete by clicking on the red flag on the right side of each task in your task list.  If you right-click on the red flag, you will see other options you can easily change your task due date, and even add a reminder.

Inserting Items in a Task

This lesson will demonstrate how you can insert items that may be useful directly into your tasks.  Maybe you’d like to save the email about the task as reference information.  To insert items, open your task.

To insert an email, go to the Ribbon and choose the Insert Tab.  On the left side, choose Attach Item.  This will allow you to navigate within Outlook to find your Inbox and the actual email you want to include.  You can choose to insert the email as text, an attachment, or a shortcut. 

To a different file like a Word document to your Calendar meeting, choose Attach File instead.  Then navigate to the location of your file and select it.  Then save your modified task, and your inserted items will be available to you the whenever you open your task.

Assigning Tasks

In some cases you may need to assign a task to somebody else within your organization.  To do this, open your task, and click on the Assign Task button on the Task tab.  This will add a “TO:” field to your task, allowing you choose from your contact list or enter in an email address. 

Outlook also allows you to keep an updated copy of an assigned task in your task list.  This allows you to see any updates to the task by the person that you assigned it to.  You can also check a box to receive a status report when the task is complete. 

When you’ve completed your task assignment settings, click Send.  The recipient will then receive the task and have the choice to accept or decline it.

Sharing Tasks

Outlook 2007 allows you to share information about your tasks easily.  Right-click on the task you want to share, and click on Forward.  This will open up an email that includes your task information, and allows you to select contacts or enter email address, and then send the message to share the task information.

Viewing and Adding Notes

Have you ever jotted down a quick note on a little sticky paper, and then lost your little note when you needed it later?  What if you could have all those little notes in one place that is easy to find?  Outlook is your answer.

To access your Notes folder, click on the Notes icon at the bottom of the Navigation Pane.  To create a new note, go to Actions in the Menu Bar, and click on New Note.  A small note window will appear, and you can enter any text that you would like into the note.  When you are finished, just click the X in the top right corner, and your note is saved to your Notes Folder.

You can adjust your Notes view by using the buttons in the Standard Toolbar above the notes section, and by choosing from the available views in the Navigation Pane to the left. 

Sharing Notes

Outlook 2007 allows you to share information about your Notes easily, as demonstrated in this lesson.  Right-click on the Note, and click of Forward.  This will attach your note to an email, which you can send to any contact or email address.

Create and View Journal Items (Part 1)

Your Outlook Journal is a log of actions taken, and can be like a diary of your activities.  You can use your journal to keep track of what you have done and how much time you’ve spent on specific tasks.  This can be very useful if you need to provide your employer with a status report for a specific project or activity.

Go to the Journal window by clicking on the Journal button in your Navigation Pane.  If you don’t have a Journal button, you can click the down arrow in the bottom right of your navigation pane to view the other options that you can add to your Navigation Pane.  Go to Add or Remove Buttons and select Journal to add it.  This lesson will demonstrate:

• Creating a Journal Entry
• Using the Timer
• Viewing Journal Entries

Create and View Journal Items (Part 2)

Outlook 2007 can be setup automatically journal our tasks that we do, even it we work in other applications like Word or Excel.  To do this, go to the Tools Menu and drop down to Options.  In the Preference Tab, select the button for Journal Options.  You’ll see you can select which Outlook task to add to your journal, as well as what Microsoft program activity to track. 

You can also set your journal preferences to that one of two actions takes place when you double click on a journal entry:

• Open the journal entry
• Open the item referred to by the journal entry

Search Categories (Part 1)

Outlook 2007 allows you to assign categories to all your Outlook items.  To apply a category, first select the item, and then click on the Category Button from the Standard Toolbar, and choose a category.  This button looks like four colored squares.  The lesson will also demonstrate:

• Assigning multiple categories
• Renaming categories
• Assigning shortcut keys to categories

Search Categories (Part 2)

This lesson demonstrates how Search Categories look through your grouped emails or items.  This can be done by looking in your Search Folders, which are found in the Navigation Pane. There are three predefined search folders:

• Categorized Mail
• Large Mail
• Unread Mail

You are not limited to these three folders, and can create your own search folders by right clicking on your search folder and choosing Create a New Search Folder.  You can create a custom search folder and select the criteria that will be used to group items into your search folder.  Search Folders look through all the folders in Outlook and group together any email that matches the criteria that you’ve entered.  It will even display emails that are in the Deleted Items folder and Junk Mail folder, as well as what is stored in your Inbox.

Organizing Folders

This lesson demonstrates how you can further organize your Outlook items by creating folders to group like items together.  To create new folders, go to your File Menu and select New, and then choose Folder.  Name your folder and choose where you would like it to be located.  We’ll also demonstrate how to move mail items into your folders, and how to create new folders directly from your items.

Mailbox Cleanup

The best way you can control the performance of your Outlook application is to keep it clean.  Clear out the “garbage” and put away things you do not use.

 This lesson will demonstrate how to you’re the Mailbox Cleanup tool found under Tools in the Menu Bar.  Topics include

• Viewing your mailbox size
• Finding old or large items
• Using and configuring AutoArchive
• Empty Deleted Items

Managing Deleted Items

This lesson discusses the benefits of deleting items to keep your mailbox clean and demonstrates the process of deleting items.

If you determine you need an item that has been deleted, we’ll demonstrate how to view the items in your Deleted Items folder, and how to move an item back to your Inbox.

You can also permanently empty your Deleted Items folder, and after this point your items are no longer recoverable.

Managing Outlook Data Files

This lesson will discuss management of your Outlook data files, which can be viewed by going to your File Menu and choosing Data File Management.  The Account Settings window will open up to the Data Files tab, and your existing data files will be displayed.  Topics discussed:

• Viewing the file path
• Setting the default file
• Remove Files
• Open location folder
• Adding a new .PST file

Exporting and Importing Data Files

This lesson will demonstrate how to export and import data files in Outlook 2007.  To begin, go under your File Menu to Import and Export.  The Import/Export Wizard will guide you through the steps of selecting what action you want to take.  Choose to export a file, and then select .PST as the type of file to export.  Next, you will select the folder or folders that you want to export, and then choose where you want to save the exported file.

To import a data file, go back into the Import/Export Wizard, and choose to import a file from another program.  Choose to import a .PST file, and then browse to the location of the file you want to import.  You can choose how you want to handle importing duplicate items, and what folders in the .PST to import from.

Backup and Restore Files

It’s very important to backup your Outlook data files.  If your data file becomes corrupted, you would lose access to all of the emails, tasks, calendar item, notes, and journal items.  Your company may have a backup strategy in place that protects your data files, but if backing up is your responsibility, then you will want to plan to do this regularly. 

To backup your data files, go to the File Menu and choose Data File Management.  Select  the file that you would like to backup, and then click the Open Folder button to go to where the file is located.  Then make a copy of the your data file within Windows, and store the copy in a different location.  It is important to place it on removable storage device like a external disk drive, or burn it to a CD, or place it on a network location.  This ensures the file will be safe if your hard drive were to fail, and allows you to restore the file after your computer is repaired, or to restore to a different computer.

Advanced E-mail Options

This lesson will cover some the options available in Outlook 2007 to customize Outlook for your personal preferences.  Click on the Tools Menu and go to Options.  From the Preferences tab, select Email Options to set preferences for how Outlook handles receiving, replying and forwarding your email.

Click on the Advanced Email Options button to view even more options for customizing your email, including modifying your email desktop alert settings.

Configuring Calendar Options

This lesson discusses the options available for modifying how your Outlook Calendar functions.  Topics included:

• Adjusting your work week view
• Setting your Calendar options
• Adding Holidays to your Calendar

Email Themes

This lesson demonstrates how to choose and use themes within your email to add an attractive appearance to your emails. 

To add themes, look to the Tools menu, choose Options, and then go to the Mail Format tab.  Click the Stationery and Fonts button, and then click the Themes button.  You’ll be able to select themes from the list on the left and preview how the theme will appear.  Click OK to apply a theme, and then go out to open a new email to see your theme in action on your emails.

Customizing the Navigation Pane

Outlook 2007 even lets you customize your Navigation Pane.  This lesson will demonstrated some of the customization options including:

• Hiding the Navigation Pane
• Adding a new shortcut
• Adjusting your Toolbars
• Customizing and adding to your Toolbars
• Creating your own Toolbar

RSS Feeds

Outlook 2007 allows you to receive RSS Feeds directly into a folder in Outlook.  RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, and can be used to get information feeds from websites to provide access to information you may be interested in - for example; news, sports, or your favorite blog.

 To learn about RSS Feeds, click on the RSS Feeds folder in your Navigation Pane, and you’ll find a detailed description of RSS Feeds and how they work in Outlook, as well a links to many examples of RSS Feeds for your use.

• Adding a suggested RSS Feed from within Outlook
• Creating a new RSS Feed from the Internet