Table of Contents. 1. Introduction to the Outlook Mail Client

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1 M icrosoft Outlook is the Microsoft s flagship messaging tool for , calendaring and information sharing for Microsoft Exchange Server and is the supported client at. This manual will provide an introduction into some of the common features available and provide a reference point for District employees. Table of Contents 1. Introduction to the Outlook Mail Client Getting Started: Login and the Outlook Interface * Login and Navigation (Active Directory User Account and Mailbox Access) * Middle Pane * Reading Pane (Secure Preview) Sending Mail * Create a new mail message (Word as Editor) * Send to a distribution group Mailbox Maintenance * Rules and Alerts * Deleting Mail and the Deleted Items Folder * Find and Advanced Find [Advanced Topic] 2. The Calendar * New Appointments - The Basics, Public v. Private * Scheduling Resources (Conference Rooms) * Delegating Permissions (Shared Calendars, Inbox, etc.) [Advanced Topic] 3. Contacts * Creating and managing Personal Contacts * Personal Distribution Lists and Caveats 4. Archiving * How to manually archive * PST s (Size Limits) Paaggee 11 oof f 1188

2 Introduction to the Outlook Mail Client Getting Started: Login and the Outlook Interface uses Microsoft s Active Directory to create and maintain user, group and computer objects. A user account in Active Directory has several attributes, such as Name, Address, Telephone Number, etc. An Exchange Server mailbox is just an extension of a user object. The Microsoft Outlook mail client is the supported interface and provides several useful features. When you successfully log into the network, your mailbox is available by default. Launching the Microsoft Office program in the Exchange Server configuration will automatically take you to the Inbox. The Outlook 2003 environment is much richer than previous versions and offers new user interface enhancements based on extensive research. There are three primary areas to note. Paaggee 22 oof f 1188

3 On the left is the Navigation Pane. This pane defaults to displaying folders that contain Mail items and includes an area to assign Favorite Folders. Below the Mail Folders are a several additional buttons for things like Calendar, Contacts, etc. These can be toggled at anytime to get quick access to additional information. At the bottom of the Navigation Pane is a dropdown to Configure buttons which gives the ability to adjust the Navigation display. The middle pane shows the contents of a selected folder. By default, the pane is Arranged by: Date and sorted in groups by Newest on top. The sort order can quickly be adjusted to display the items in order of To:, From:, Size, Subject, Importance, etc. and can be further customized using advanced sorting and filtering. Groups can also be expanded and collapsed, individually or collectively, to more readily find items of interest. In addition, Groups can be processed like individual items in that they can be moved or deleted, assigned categories, marked as read or unread. This can be quite convenient, especially when performing mailbox maintenance functions. On the right is the Reading Pane which presents the full text of the message. For standard formatting, messages will appear completely, however if the message contains pictures, attachments or other active content, those parts would be blocked. This is due to the increased security settings in the Outlook client. For example, one technique spammers use Paaggee 33 oof f 1188

4 are HTML formatted messages which contain inline images that are downloaded from a server. When the image is downloaded, a log is created and the recipient can be verified without one replying to the message. Outlook 2003 addresses issues like this by blocking content by default and requiring the end-user to make a decision to view the content. This can be done on a per-message basis, by downloading the pictures, or by adding the sender to the Safe Senders list. Right-clicking on the blocked content should bring up a context menu with the appropriate options available. Sending Mail The primary function of Outlook is . To create a new message, select the New Mail Message button from the toolbar. (Note: The buttons are context-sensitive and will change as one navigates through the Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, etc.) Paaggee 44 oof f 1188

5 An Untitled Message window should appear. Mouse over the To button and select it. A Select Names window displaying the Address Book should appear and default to the Global Address List. Paaggee 55 oof f 1188

6 Type or Select a Name or a Distribution Group from the Address Book and click OK. It will appear in your To field. If you wish to Carbon Copy additional users, you may add them as additional Message Recipients or, alternatively, repeat the process by selecting the Cc button and inserting additional names. Type a Subject: for the message. Subjects are very useful, especially when looking for older items a later date and can help ensure that important does not go unnoticed or ignored. (Note: The Title Bar will change to reflect the Subject when you move out of the field.) You may compose a message in the Message Body area. If you wish to add an attachment, select the Insert File button. An Insert File window will appear and should default to the My Documents folder. You may browse for the file in a different location by changing the folder from the drop down. Paaggee 66 oof f 1188

7 When you are done with your message, you may click Send to submit your message to the server. Mailbox Maintenance Rules and Alerts Rules are a very useful feature in Outlook and the Rules and Alerts wizard is very helpful. In Outlook from the menu bar, choose Tools Rules and Alerts. Paaggee 77 oof f 1188

8 The Rules and Alerts main window will appear. Select the New Rule button to make a rule. The Rules Wizard will run and default to Start creating a rule from a template. One can also choose to create custom rules from a blank template. The most common use is to move messages based on content to a different folder. Paaggee 88 oof f 1188

9 Deleting Mail and the Deleted Items Folder With several thousand users, ACIT maintains a quota on mailbox and attachment size. Most standard accounts are capped at 250 MB with some specialized accounts having reduced limits. Attachments are limited to 5 MB. Mailbox limits include items in the Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, et al. To that end, it is imperative that users maintain their mailboxes to avoid unnecessary interruption of service. The Office of the Executive Director, can provide additional information. Outlook profiles should be configured to Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting. This can be confirmed by selecting Tools Options and then selecting the Other tab and verifying the check box is enabled. Find and Advanced Find [Advanced Topic] Another helpful feature Outlook offers is Find. This tool allows you to quickly search folders for items based on keyword. This could be a name or any word that might appear in the message body. Paaggee 99 oof f 1188

10 Select the Find button from the menu bar. By default, your initial Search In location will be your Inbox, however, you can click on the drop down and change the location to All Mail Folders, Mail I Received, Mail I Sent or you can customize your search by selecting the Choose Folders option. If you require a much more exhaustive search, Advanced Find is available by clicking on the Find Options drop down or by pressing the Ctrl+Shift+F keys. You may tailor a search on virtually anything using increasingly granular elements like Message Size or Flags or Attachments or other criteria. By default, the tool is set to Look for: Messages but can quickly be modified to search for any item in your mailbox. This feature can be especially helpful when dealing with searching through large archives or when looking for non-mail items like appointments, contacts and tasks, etc. Paaggee 1100 oof f 1188

11 The Calendar New Appointments - The Basics, Public v. Private The second most frequently used function of Outlook is the Calendar. From the Navigation Pane, select the Calendar button. You will see that the Navigation Pane is context-sensitive and will change along with the toolbar to reflect Calendar-related options. The Calendar displays the current date and shows dates with existing appointments in bold. The Reading Pane is not available for the Calendar. Instead, the main pane displays the day in one hour increments. Notice that the working hours defined for the Calendar appear a slightly different shade than those of after-hours. To create a new appointment, select the New Appointment button. An Untitled Appointment window will appear and provide several requisite fields necessary to complete scheduling. Paaggee 1111 oof f 1188

12 The Subject: field should be self-explanatory. Location is user-defined, e.g. N101 Conference Room. The Label drop down allows you to color an appointment entry to help clarify the status. The Show time as: drop down gives four options to your meeting availability. These are Free, Tentative, Busy and Out of Office. (If the appointment is Personal or otherwise Confidential, you must mark the Private check box in the lower right corner to avoid the details being made available to Delegates. A Private Appointment will be noted, however.) If this is an individual appointment, click Save and Close to commit it to your Calendar. Otherwise, select the Scheduling tab. Paaggee 1122 oof f 1188

13 On the left, under All Attendees, the Meeting Organizer will be the user that is setting up the appointment. Below that is an empty field with light text indicating Click here to add a name. Enter the alias of the user you wish to invite and press Tab or Enter. The field should be populated with the requested user and the availability should appear to the right. When all attendees have been selected, choose Send from the toolbar. Scheduling Resources (Conference Rooms) Commonly, you will want to schedule a meeting in a known conference room. Resources are setup by ACIT and configured to accept appointments. The only caveat is that you must book the resource in order for it to block out the time. Select the Resource Account, i.e. Conference Room, and change the Attendee Status to Resource (Room or Equipment) to reserve the room. Paaggee 1133 oof f 1188

14 Delegating Permissions (Shared Calendars, Inbox, etc.) [Advanced Topic] In Outlook 2003, giving shared access to a Calendar is exceptionally easy. In the Navigation Pane under My Calendars, simply choose Share My Calendar to bring up the Calendar Properties permissions window. Choose the Add button to bring up the Add Users window and select a user, users or group that you wish to delegate permissions. Click OK to return to the Calendar Properties window. Assign the appropriate Permission Level: for each user or group. For example, a Reviewer can only read your Calendar while an Author could Create and Delete their own items in your Calendar. Additional rights may also be granted to the Inbox, Tasks, Contacts, Notes and Journal, but you must grant those via Tools Options - Delegates. *Note: You may also grant access to Private items, however this must be done through Delegates option. Paaggee 1144 oof f 1188

15 Contacts Creating and managing Personal Contacts Personal Contacts should be those accounts which do not already exist on a published Global Address List. These are typically external users who may be friends, family, and other acquaintances. In a Personal Contact file, you can record all manner of relevant information including multiple phone numbers and addresses, for example. Your Personal Contacts are stored on the server in your profile and be accessed and managed globally by you via Outlook and Outlook Web Access. To create a Personal Contact, select New Contact from the toolbar while in the Contacts folder. Populate the entry with the pertinent information and choose Save and Close when you are done to complete the Contact. Personal Distribution Lists and Caveats Personal Distribution Lists are a great way to quickly manage frequent mailings by grouping users in custom DLs that may not be available or published in the Active Directory. PDL s do have some limitations on numbers of recipients and other possible restrictions. Please check with the Office of the Executive Director, for clarifications. To create a Personal Distribution List, select New Distribution List from the toolbar or press the Ctrl+Shift+L keys while in the Contacts folder. Paaggee 1155 oof f 1188

16 Assign a name to your list and either Select Members from existing Contacts or the Address Book or choose Add New to create a new entry. When you are done, choose Save and Close to commit the changes. Your Contacts are stored in your profile on the server and can be accessed both internally and externally. Archiving How to manually archive Archiving is an important way to help manage your mailbox size while preserving legacy data that is of some import. Archiving preserves your mail in a format that is easily retrievable and reusable by Outlook. Select File Archive from the menu bar to begin a manual archive. Paaggee 1166 oof f 1188

17 The Archive dialog box will open and prompt you to Archive this folder and all subfolders: and should default to your Inbox. This is the most common action. You can specify the date to begin from, whether or not to include items marked Do not AutoArchive and specify a location and or filename different than the default. If you do so, please note that location so that you may reference your backup more easily. To open an existing archive, choose File Open Outlook Data File from the toolbar. This will bring up the Open Outlook Data File window and should default to the last place you saved your PST backup. Paaggee 1177 oof f 1188

18 PST s (Size Limits) PST s are Personal Folder Information Stores and are the format used in Outlook to archive messages. In Windows XP, the archive.pst is the default name used and is stored in your local profile. You can rename the file as a different.pst and still view the contents in Outlook. PST s have a file size limit of 2 GB. Upon exceeding this limit, the PST will become immediately corrupt. It is possible for corruption to occur before exceeding the 2 GB limit, though. While there are some tools available, data recovery is not guaranteed. In the event you suspect data corruption, please contact ACIT via the help line, x4357. The preferred solution is to manage backups as you would online data. Preserve only the data that is critical. ACIT will be making additional PST backup tools available at a future date. Please contact the help line or the Office of the Executive Director, Academic Computing & Information Technology for additional information. eof Paaggee 1188 oof f 1188