Trust Library Services http://www.mtwlibrary.nhs.uk http://mtwweb/cgt/library/default.htm http://mtwlibrary.blogspot.com KNOW HOW: Outlook Using Microsoft Outlook Guide for using E-mail, Contacts, Personal Distribution Lists, Signatures and Archives Updated March 2007
CONTENTS About Microsoft Outlook 3 Getting Started 3 Printing 4 Folder List 5 The Inbox 5 New Mail Message Window 6 Sending and Reading E-mail Messages 6 Deleting Messages 8 Reply, Reply to All and Forward Messages 9 The Drafts Folder 10 Sent Items Folder 10 Attachments 10 Folders 12 The Out of Office Assistant 13 The Message Options Box 14 Signatures 15 Contacts Folder 17 Personal Distribution Lists 18 Flags 19 Archive and Autoarchive 20 2
ABOUT MICROSOFT OUTLOOK Microsoft Outlook can help you create, share, and manage information that's important to you and the people you work with. E-mail is short for electronic mail; basically it means that your computer can talk to any other computer in the world, so long as both of them are linked in some way, usually through phone lines. GETTING STARTED The Trust has set up most PC s so that when you log on with your username and password Outlook opens up immediately. If this is not the case you can open Outlook the following ways: Click on Start, Programs, Microsoft Outlook Double click on the Microsoft Outlook icon on the Desktop. Outlook main toolbar Microsoft Outlook.lnk This toolbar is displayed at the top of the main Outlook window. Button Name Use this to: Up one level Move up one level in the folder directory Show/hide folder list New message Print item Move item Delete item Reply to sender Reply to all original addressees Forward to Address Book Inbox Help Display or hide the list of folders in your mailbox and in the Public folders Start composing a new message Print the selected mail message Move the selected mail message (or folder) into a different folder Delete a message (moves them to the Deleted Items folder) Reply to a message, addressing it to the original sender Reply to a message addressing it to the original sender AND everyone else who received the message. (Those in the To : line and those in the Cc : line) Send a copy of a message on to someone else for information or action. Open the address book to see info on distribution lists, search for names, add internet addresses to your Personal Address Book, or create /edit distribution lists. Display the contents of your Inbox in the folder contents list/check for new mail Get detailed help on any tool (click once on the Help button and then on the tool) or search for help on particular subjects (double-click on the help button). 3
The following screen will appear: Tells you which Folder you are in e.g. Inbox 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Menu grouped in intuitive sections Toolbars most common commands Help section Minimise, Maximise and exit buttons Field Headers Folder List Open envelops and text in normal types shows they have been opened Office Assistant Vertical scroll bar Number of messages in you Folder bold Standard messages have an icon depicting a small envelope in the folder contents list. Messages that you have not read yet are shown in bold in the folder contents list. If a message has a paperclip to the left of it, this means it has a document attached.! If a message has an exclamation mark to the left, the sender has marked it as a high priority message. If a message has a downward pointing arrow to the left, the sender has marked it as low priority. PRINTING To Print an opened e-mail click on the Print icon in the Toolbar. To Print an attachment, open it then click on Print icon in the Toolbar. Note Try NOT to Print an e-mail that has been send to a large number of people (e.g. PCT wide) as a hefty proportion of what will be printed is a list of recipients of the e-mail. 4
FOLDER LIST If the Folder List is not displayed click on View in the Toolbar and click on Folder List. The Folder List will now appear. You can then right click on Office Shortcuts and select Hide Outlook Bar. You can move around Outlook Folders with a single click. All these folders belong to you and you are responsible for using them. Calendar is an electronic version of a diary that you can also print. Contacts is your own personal address box. Deleted Items all deleted items go here when you delete them and remain here until you empty the bin. Drafts - all of your unsent and unfinished messages are stored here until you finish and send them or delete them. Inbox receives and stores your incoming messages. Journal is a diary of all the activities and interactions from your day. Notes use this to jot down immediate thoughts, ideas and observations Outbox stores e-mails that you have sent but Outlook has been unable to send, e.g. the link is down, - you do nothing with this folder as Outlook will continue to try and send e-mail until it successfully does Sent Items - keeps a copy of all the e-mails you have sent until you delete them. Tasks you can create a to-do list. THE INBOX There are various different views you can have select the View option from the Toolbar. AutoPreview - Read the first few lines of a message (in blue) without opening it. Preview Pane - Read the entire contents of a message without opening it. Sorting your Inbox You can click on any of the Field Headers From, Subject, Received, etc] to sort the message list by that field. Clicking a second time alternates the list between ascending and descending order. For example, to sort by sender (A to Z), click the From column heading, and to reverse the order (Z to A) click on it a second time. 5
New Mail Message Window The To box is the main recipients/s of the message. The Cc box is for any other people to whom you want to send a copy of your message. The Bcc box is for sending someone a blind copy, i.e. only the sender and the individual know whom the message has been sent to. When you have finished typing click on Send button Attachment - you can add documents and files to an email Type your message here Options includes Read Receipt, which means an e-mail will be sent to you to tell you when the e-mail has been read. Red Flag - You can flag a message to remind yourself to follow up on an issue. Red Exclamation Mark high importance In the Subject box, type the title of your message (make it meaningful try NOT to leave it blank). SENDING AND READING E-MAIL MESSAGES Sending An E-Mail With the Inbox open, select New Mail Message icon Toolbar. A new message window will appear. on the top left hand side of the Address Book Toolbar If you know a persons e-mail address just type it in make sure you get the spelling and punctuation correct as it will returned to you as being unable to be sent. Click on the To button. This will open up your Global Address List. Names are arranged alphabetically by SURNAME. Just type in the first few letters of a surname e.g. dea and it will take you to the first names with the surname dea if the name does not appear you can add other letters e.g. deacon. When you have found the name you want click on it once and it will turn blue, then click on the To button, the Cc button or the Bcc button and the name you selected will now appear in the selected section, You can now select another name repeating the above process typing a new surname in the box. 6
When you have put in all the names you want click on OK. The names will automatically be put into the boxes in your e-mail message window. Now you have the name/s to whom the message is being sent in the To Cc and/or Bcc click in the Subject box and type in the subject of your e-mail. Try and avoid leaving the subject blank, as it can be time consuming to open a message that is irrelevant to you. Click in the large message section and begin typing your message. Do not worry about indenting for paragraphs; just begin typing at the start of each new line. Although the recipient will know who it is from because your e-mail address will appear it is still nice to put your name at the bottom of the message. When you have finished click on Send. A copy of your e-mail is saved in Sent Items (also page 10). TIP - DO NOT TYPE E-MAILS ALL IN CAPITALS LETTERS AS IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING! Reading Your E-Mails The Read toolbar This toolbar is displayed whenever you are reading a message. Button Name Use this to: Move item Move the selected mail message (or folder) into a different Folder Delete item Reply to sender Reply to all original addressees Forward to Previous Next Next Unread Help Delete a message (moves them to the Deleted Items Folder) Reply to a message, addressing it to the original sender Reply to a message addressing it to the original sender AND everyone else who received the message. (Those in the To line and those in the Cc line) Send a copy of a message on to someone else for information or action. Close the current message and open the previous message (the one above in the folder contents list) Close the current message and open the next message (the one below in the folder contents list) Close the current message and open the next unread message Get detailed help on any tool (click once on the Help button and then on the tool) or search for help on particular subjects (double-click on the help button). As mail is sent to you it goes into the Inbox. Outlook always opens up in the Inbox. Double click on the message you want to read. Outlook will then open a new window with the email message in. Attachments to open this double click on the icon/s. The document will open in another new window. 7
Open A Hyperlink In A Message A text hyperlink is usually coloured blue with blue underlining. A hyperlink lets you jump from one place to another. Click the hyperlink in the e-mail message. It will then open up the Internet and take you to the page the link is from. DELETING MESSAGES Delete A Message Click once on the message you want to delete it will turn blue. You can delete in several ways: - Either click ONCE on the on the Toolbar Or press Delete on the keyboard They will then be put into the Deleted Items Folder or Bin. If you have deleted an e-mail by mistake you can get it back by moving it back to the Inbox. Important Only delete messages with you have finished with them if you want to keep them either leave them in the Inbox or you can create a folder to keep them in (also page 12 on how to create a folder) Delete Multiple Messages You can delete multiple messages as long as they are next to each other by clicking on the first message you want to delete and they by holding down the shift button and using the arrow keys (right side of keyboard by the number pad) until you reach the last message you want to delete they will all be highlighted blue. You can delete Either click ONCE on the on the Toolbar Or press Delete on the keyboard Important all items put into the Deleted Items Folder will stay there until you empty your bin. To Empty Your Deleted Items or Bin The easiest way to empty your Deleted Items or Bin is to RIGHT CLICK on either the word Deleted Items or the icon of the Bin in the Folder List, select Empty Deleted Items Folder. A small window will appear appear asking Are you sure you want to permanently delete the selected items Yes or NO? NO - the message will disappear and no messages will be deleted. YES and all selected messages will be permanently deleted. 8
To delete individual or small groups of items select Deleted Items from the left hand Folder List. Your screen will change from the Inbox to the Deleted Folder screen. For EACH message or group of messages you delete you will be given a message: - Are you sure you want to permanently delete the selected items Yes or NO? REPLY, REPLY TO ALL AND FORWARD MESSAGES Reply To A Message Reply - sends the original e-mail and your response to only the person who actually sent it, so make sure it the message has not been forwarded by someone else and you are replying to the correct person. Open the message you want to reply to. To reply to only the sender of the message, click on the Reply icon on the hand side of the toolbar. Note how a new e-mail message box and the person s e-mail address inserted into the To section. You can now type in your reply. When you have finished click on Send. Reply To All Recipients Reply To All sends the original e-mail plus your response to EVERYONE who received that e-mail. Be very careful about using this option and only use it if you really do want to reply to everyone. Open the message you want to Reply To All to. Select the Reply To All icon on the left hand side of the Toolbar note how this time the address bar To is full and has a scroll bar on as there are so many names entered. You can now type in your reply. When you have finished click on Send. Forward Messages Forward Message sends the original e-mail plus your response to whomever you select i.e. person who did not get the original e-mail and may be relevant to them e.g. a training course. Open the message you want to Forward to someone else. Select the Forward icon on the left hand side of the Toolbar note how this time the address bar To is blank. Click on the To button, this will open up your Global Address Book. Find the name of the person you want to forward it to by typing in the SURNAME, click on the name you want, then click on the To button. When you have all the names you want click on OK. You can now type in your reply and when you have finished click on Send. 9
THE DRAFTS FOLDER At any point during writing a message you can save it to the Drafts Folder. On the File menu, click Save. Unfinished messages are saved in the Drafts Folder and are not sent. Open A Draft Message In the Folder List, click Drafts, and then double click on the message you want to open and then either add more and save as a draft again or finish and Send. SENT ITEMS FOLDER By default Outlook will place a copy of messages that you send in a folder called Sent Items. This folder may grow large quite quickly and therefore needs to be monitored and emptied regularly; you delete items from the Sent Items Folder in the same way as deleting e-mails. Resend A Message You can only resend messages you have sent. In the Folder List, click Sent Items. Open the message you want to resend. On the Actions menu, click Resend This Message, and then click Send. ATTATCHMENTS Attach a File to an E-Mail Message Attachment/s can be added to an e-mail at anytime before you send it, i.e. before you have selected the name/s, subject or written the message. Compose a New Mail Message as normal. To add an attachment click on the Paperclip icon, it will then open up the Insert File window as shown. Select where your file is e.g. on the H drive (My Documents) etc by using the drop down menu. Select the document you want to attach by clicking on it once then click on Insert To add more attachments click on the Paperclip again. When you have finished everything click on Send. 10
Save A File Attachment Open the item that contains the file attachment you want to save. Right-click the icon for the attachment, and then click on Save As. In the File Name box, enter a name for the file, and in the Save As Type list, click a file format. Send A Web Page Or Hyperlink In A Message Go to the Web page that you want to send. Go to the New Mail Message icon on the Toolbar and click on it. You can either choose Send A Link or Send A Web Page. Both will open up a New Mail Message in a new window - you can then enter other information as usual, and then click Send. Example of a Send A Link Example of a Send A Web Page 11
FOLDERS Creating and using folders New folders can be created to help organise your messages. For example, if you are working on a project and your Inbox contains an assortment of messages dealing with this project, you could create a separate folder and place all messages relating to the project in that folder. To create a folder 1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder. 2. In the Name box, enter a name for the folder Move Messages Into a Folder There are several ways of moving messages between folders, for example, using the shortcut menu or dragging and dropping. To move a single message to a folder Right-click on the message you wish to move to display the shortcut menu. Click on Move to Folder to display the Move Items dialog box. Click on the OK button to move the message to the folder. To move multiple messages to a folder Click on the first message you wish to move. Then hold down the Ctrl key whilst clicking on any other messages. When all the messages have been selected, either use drag-and-drop or use the method described above. Move a Folder On the View menu, click Folder List. Click the folder you want to move. On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Move Folder name. In the Move The Selected Folder To The Folder List, click the location where you want to move the folder. Rename a Folder On the View menu, click Folder List. Click the folder you want to rename. On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Rename Folder name. Type a new name for the folder. Delete a Folder On the View menu, click Folder List, click the folder you want to delete. On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Delete Folder name. 12
Automatically Move Messages to a Folder Select a message from the person whose messages you want to automatically move to a folder. Click Organize. Click Using folders. In the second bulleted item, click the options you want. To move messages to a folder not listed, click Other Folder in the Inbox. Click Create. THE OUT OF OFFICE ASSISTANT If you are out of the office for a while you can get the Out Of Office Assistant to send an Auto Reply Message to colleagues (only once to the same person) advising them you are out of the office. 1. From the Inbox, click on Tools Out of Office Assistant to display the Out of Office Assistant dialog box. 2. In the Autoreply Only Once To Each Sender With The Following Text Box, type the information you wish to give to email senders. 3. Click on I'm currently Out of the Office to activate the Out of Office Assistant. 4. Click on the OK button. Turning Off the Out of Office Assistant When you return to the office and start Outlook you are reminded that the Out Of Office Assistant is activated. Select Inbox; go to the Tools menu, select Out of Office Assistant. Turn office the Out of Office Assistant. 13
THE MESSAGE OPTIONS BOX Enables you to alter the settings of a message. They include; changing the importance and sensitivity levels of a message, setting tracking options, To access the Message Options dialog box Create or open a message. Click on the Options button. Setting the importance level of a message Setting the importance level of a message displays a symbol in the recipient s message list indicating that a message is of high, normal or low importance. In the Message Options dialog box, click on the Importance drop-down list and choose High or Low. The importance level is marked and will be displayed next to the message in the recipient's Inbox. Click on the Close button. To be notified when a message has been delivered In the Message Options dialog box, tick the Request A Delivery Receipt For This Message box. Click on the Close button. To be notified when a message has been read In the Message Options dialog box, tick the Request A Read Receipt for this message box. Click on the Close button. 14
SIGNATURES An email signature is usually a small amount of text added to the bottom of an outgoing email message. A signature most often includes a person's name, title, company and contact details although some people choose to add more or less information. You can also use a signature to add a boilerplate paragraph 1. You can create multiple signatures, and select a signature to insert in a message after you have created the message. To create an email signature 1. Click Tools Options Mail Format 2. Click Signatures... 3. In the Create Signature dialog box, click New... 4. Enter a name to identify the signature. Note: This can be your name or some other description of the signature. For example, you might have one signature for internal email and one signature for external email. In such a case, you might name them internal and external to distinguish them. 7. In the Create Signature dialog box, check the Preview:. If you need to make further changes, click on the Edit... button. 8. In the Options dialog box, the signature will be automatically selected as the Signature for new messages: 9. To finish, click OK 5. Choose Start With A Blank Signature and click on Next > 6. Enter the information you would like to appear at the bottom of your messages and click on Finish Changing the Default Signature for New Messages, Forwards and Replies Once a signature is created, it is automatically set as the default signature for new messages. No signature is added to replies and forwards. To change the default signature settings Click Tools Options Mail Format. Select the signature you would like added to new messages from the drop down list (Note: The signature must be created before you can select it from the drop down list). Select the signature you would like added to replies and forwards from the drop down list (Note: Selecting the <None> option means no signature will be attached to your messages.) 1 A boilerplate is a unit of writing that can be reused over and over without change 15
Manually Adding a Signature Outlook allows you to have multiple signatures. Create a new message and compose your email. Click Insert Signature and select the signature you want to add Change a Signature On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab. In the Send In This Message Format box, click the message format the signature is used with. Click Signature Picker. In the Signature box, click the signature you want to change, and then click Edit. In the Signature Text box, make changes. To change the paragraph or font format, select the text, click Font or Paragraph, and then select the options you want. These options are not available if you use plain text as your message format. Note To change a signature for a single message only, make your changes directly to the signature in the message. Stop Using an Automatic Signature On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab. To stop using a signature, in the Use This Signature By Default box, click <None>. To turn off a signature for messages you reply to or forward, select the Don't Use When Replying Or Forwarding check box. Notes To remove a signature from a single message only, select the signature in the message, and then press DELETE. 16
THE CONTACTS FOLDER This is your e-mail address book; use it to store the e-mail address, address, phone numbers, etc. From a contact in your contact list, you can create: - Personal Distribution Lists Create distribution lists of selected contacts New Message To Contact, New Meeting With Contact, New Task For Contact To display Contacts - Click on the Contacts button in the Folder List. Create a New Contact From the Folder List select Contacts. Select New Contact (top left) and a blank contact will appear. This is your personal contact list so you can enter as much or as little information as you want. It is worth putting in the first and last name, and e- mail address. Click on Save. It will then be added alphabetically into your Contact list. Create a Message to a Contact From the Folder List select Contacts. Select the contact you want to e-mail by clicking on it once. Click the Actions menu, and then click New Message to Contact. In the Subject box, type the subject of the message. In the text box, type the message. Click Send. Change a Contacts Details Click Contacts. Select the contact(s) you want to open by double on it The contact then opens; you can then amend contact details. Then click on the Save and Close button. Delete a Contact Click Contacts. Select the contact(s) you want to delete by right clicking on it once. Click Delete 17
PERSONAL DISTRIBUTION LISTS A Personal Distribution List is a collection of Contacts and is stored in the Contacts Folder. It provides an easy way to send messages to a group of people. You can easily add and delete names from a distribution list. Create a Personal Distribution List Select Contacts from the Folder List. On the File menu, Select Actions, and then click Distribution List. In the Name box, type a name for the List. The Distribution List is saved in your Contacts folder by the name you give it. Click Select Members. In the Show Names From The list, click the address book that contains the e-mail addresses you want in your distribution list (e.g. Global Address List). In the Type Name Or Select From List box, type a name you want to include by surname. In the list below, select the name, and then click Add. Repeat process until all contacts you want have been added in. Click Save and Close. Finished Distribution List Add a Name to a Personal Distribution List Click Contacts Open the distribution list in your Contacts folder. Do one of the following: o To add an address from an address book or a Contacts Folder, click Select Members. o To add an address that is not in a Contacts Folder or an address book, click Add New. Remove a Name from a Personal Distribution List Click Contacts Open the distribution list in your Contacts Folder. In your Contacts Folder, distribution lists look like this Click on the name you want to remove. Click Remove. 18
Send an E-mail to a Personal Distribution List In the Contacts Folder, click on the Distribution List you wish to send an email to. Click on the New Message to Contact button to display a new message, automatically addressed to the Distribution List you selected. Continue with your email message in the normal way. FLAGS You can flag a message or contact to remind yourself to follow up on an issue, or you can flag an outgoing message with a request for someone else. Flag a Message or Contact for Follow Up Select the message or contact you want to flag. On the Actions menu, click Flag for Follow Up. In the Flag to box, click the flag you want, or type your own. Enter a date in the Due by box. Flag a Message or Contact As Completed Select the message or contact you want to flag as completed. On the Actions menu, click Flag for Follow Up. Select the Completed check box. Clear a Flag Select the message or contact you want to clear flags for. On the Actions menu, click Flag for Follow Up. Click Clear Flag. 19
ARCHIVE AND AUTOARCHIVE Your Outlook mailbox grows as items are created in the same way that papers pile up on your desk. You may need to contact the IT Department to set up Archives. You can manually transfer old items to a storage file by clicking Archive on the File menu, or you can have old items automatically transferred by using AutoArchive. Items are considered old when they reach the age you specify. With AutoArchive, you can either delete or move old items. Outlook can archive all types of items, but it can only locate files that are stored in an e-mail folder (such as a Excel t or Word documents attached to an e-mail message). A file that is not stored in an e-mail folder cannot be archived. Note: your email archive should be stored in your personal area (H Drive) of the network and NOT the C Drive of your PC. AutoArchive AutoArchive is a two-step process. 1. First, you turn on AutoArchive. On the Tools menu, click Options, click the Other tab, and then click AutoArchive. Select Run AutoArchive every. day/s and set the frequency for AutoArchiving in days. In the Move Old Items To: area set the location in which you want to store your archive file (personal folder file with the extension.pst) If you want all folders to use the default archiving setting then click Apply These Settings To All Folders Now. 2. Second, you check the AutoArchive properties for each folder that you want archived. View the Folder List and Right-click on the Folder you want to set AutoArchive properties for and choose Properties from the Shortcut menu. Click the AutoArchive tab and select the Clean Out Items Older Than box. Then set an age limit for items in this folder. Check the location that the personal folder file (the archive.pst file) will be stored in or Browse to a different location. Click Apply and then OK. 20
Turn Off AutoArchive On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab. Click AutoArchive. Clear the AutoArchive every check box. Archive or Delete Old Items You can have Outlook automatically remove items of a specified age and transfer them to an archive file. Right-click the folder that contains the items you want to delete automatically, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. Click the AutoArchive tab. To enable automatic archiving of this folder, select the Clean Out Items Older Than check box. To specify when items should be deleted, enter a number in the Months box. To have items automatically deleted, click Permanently Delete Old Items. Set AutoArchive Properties for a Folder Right-click the folder you want to AutoArchive, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. Click the AutoArchive tab. To enable automatic archiving of this folder, select the Clean Out Items Older Than check box. To specify when items should be automatically transferred to your archive file, enter a number in the Months box. To specify a file for the archived items to be transferred to, click Move Old Items To. In the Move Old Items To box, type a file name for the archived items, or click Browse to select from a list. Note To activate AutoArchive, on the Tools menu, click Options, click the Other tab, and then click AutoArchive. Retrieve Archived Items You can retrieve items from an archive file either by importing the archive file or by opening the archive file. If you import the archive file, you move all the archived items back into your mailbox, into the folders from which they were archived. You can also choose to import the archived items into a new folder. If you open the archive folder, it is added to your folder list, and you can manually copy items into the appropriate folders. Open a Personal Folder File 1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Personal Folders File (.pst). Click the.pst file you want to open. 2. The.pst file is added to your Folder List. For example, if you opened your AutoArchive folder file, it appears in the file list as a folder with the name Auto Folders. Archive folders displayed in your folder list do not count toward the Outlook mailbox quota. 3. When you have finished viewing the Archive items you can right-click on the directory and click Close Archive Folder. 21