In this lesson we will look at how to complete some basic tasks in Outlook 2003.  In many cases I will compare Outlook to Eudora, since this is the program many of you used before switching to Outlook.  I will assume that you have imported your settings, mail, and address book as directed in the earlier Import Eudora to Outlook lesson.  Some of the features I describe may not be available to you if you are using a version of Outlook that is older than 2003. If you find that your version of Outlook does not work the same way or lacks one of these features, you may wish to upgrade to the 2003 buy upgrading your Microsoft Office Suite.

Now that the introductory information is out of the way let's get to using Outlook 2003.  We will start with receiving and viewing your mail, then go on to sending a message, and finally we will discuss some settings that make the program easier to use.

So, let's get that mail.  As with most Microsoft products there are many ways to do the same thing, so pick the one you like best and use that.  In the toolbar at the top of the window you will see a Send/Receive button; you can click that to check for new messages.  This button also sends any queued messages you may have waiting to be sent.  You can also press the F9 key on your keyboard to do the same thing.  Lastly, you can select the Tools menu, click on Send/Receive, then Select Send/Receive All.

Once you have your mail you can view it by clicking on the Inbox folder in the leftmost column in Outlook.  (Eudora user tip: Folders in Outlook are pretty much the same as mailboxes in Eudora.  The only real difference is you can nest folders in Outlook, much the same way you could put mailboxes in folders in Eudora.)   The contents of your Inbox will now appear in the middle column with a preview pane to the right or below your mail.  To change the location of the preview or turn it off, select the View menu, Reading Pane, then choose Right, Bottom, or Off.  Double click on a message to open it (necessary if the preview window is off).  You can reply to or forward a message by clicking the Reply or Forward buttons in the menu or by selecting the Actions menu and selecting Reply or Forward. Lastly you can use Ctrl+R and Ctrl+F to reply and Forward messages as well.

To send a new message you can either click the New button in the toolbar, or select the File menu, then New, then Mail Message, or lastly use Crtl+N.  This will open a new window where you can create a new message.  Fill in the To: and Subject: fields and add your message text (you can use Tab to move between fields).  Click the Send button and your message is sent or queued, depending on your settings.  To attach a file to a message either click the paperclip in the toolbar or select the Insert menu and select File.  If you use BCC, click the down arrow next to the Options button in the toolbar and select BCC from the dropdown list that appears or click on View and select BBC from the dropdown list and BCC will be available for all new messages. 

Here are a few of tips to make Outlook a little easier to use:

If Outlook does not start with your Inbox open, follow these steps: Tools - Options - the Other tab - Advanced Options button. Set the Startup in this folder setting to Inbox by clicking the Browse button and choosing Inbox from the list.

In the left pane, you can drag down the horizontal divider that separates the folders from the tasks (mail, calendar, contacts, etc.) to give yourself more room to see your folders.

To remove the "group" markers, such as "Today," "Yesterday," "Last Week," etc. from you mailbox view, follow these steps: Go to the View Menu, select Arrange By, then unselect Show in Groups.

The numbers in blue next to a mailbox name indicate the number of unread messages in the mailbox. But since you imported your mail from another program it might not be accurate for your older mail.

The Unread Mail folder isn't really a separate folder. It just indicates, in one place, all of your unread mail from all of your mail folders.

When you have questions, get into the habit of going to the Help menu and selecting "Microsoft Office Outlook Help." Then do a search for information you need.

Attachments with certain file extensions -- exe, .bat, .scr, and .js -- are blocked by Outlook because they have the potential to contain viruses. They are also blocked by the campus filters. If you want to send or receive one of those file types, change the file type (or "file extension") to an unrestricted type (e.g., .ucd or .doc) and then re-send the message. 

Microsoft also has a few tutorials on using Outlook on their website.  Some of these lessons have audio components as well as text.  There are 16 lessons on this site covering a variety of Outlook features.  If you want to know more than the basics listed here this website is a great place to start:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011161381033.aspx