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Sunday, June 28, 2009 – Permalink –

30 Days Hath

One Day at a Time

Here's how to add a calendar to your web page.

Publishing Outlook Calendars on the Internet or an Intranet
(From THE definitive Outlook/Exchange site - Slipstick.com.)

Other methods:

Htmlgoodies.com
It's actually just a simple table with a couple of additions. (free)

HTMLCal
HTMLCAL is a Web calendar maker and editor that lets you maintain a group calendar for your Web site or intranet.
This software will let you maintain live calendars on your site that anyone can view or update from any Web browser. ($25)

Htmlcalendar.com
HTML Calendar Maker Pro was designed with ease of use in mind. Now you can type your events quickly and easily and they will be transformed into a customized and professional monthly calendar within seconds. Simply follow the on-screen tutorial to create your calendar and then place the finished web page on your site. It's perfect for planning for the weeks ahead or noting past historic events. ($26.50 +)

All about Calendars by:

Claus Tøndering

[Edited entry from 5/13/2006]

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Labels: Expression Web, FrontPage, HTML, Internet, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:00 AM

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009 – Permalink –

Mail Your MDB-ACDB

Don't let Outlook stop you

There was a lot of frustration with Outlook 200x. If an Access MDB file is received, Outlook expects the worst and blocks the attachment.

The trick has been to ZIP the file or change the extension to something like .DAT.

Here's a registry trick that restores Outlook to the good old days.

Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and Outlook 2000 SP3 allow the user to use a registry key to open up access to blocked attachments. (Always make a backup before editing the registry.) To use this key:
Run Regedit, and go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security 
(change 10.0 to 9.0 for Outlook 2000 SP3,11.0 for Outlook 2003, 12.0 for Outlook 2007)
Under that key, add a new string value named Level1Remove.
For the value for Level1Remove, enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions. For example, entering this:
.mdb;.url
would unblock Microsoft Access files and Internet shortcuts. Note that the use of a leading dot was not previously required, however, new security patches may require it. If you are using "mdb;url" format and extensions are blocked, add a dot to each extension.
Note also that there is not a space between extensions.

If you are using this registry entry, a glance at Help>About Microsoft Outlook will show Security Mode: User Controlled above the license information.
After applying this registry fix or using one of the above tools, the user still has to save the attached file to a system drive before opening it. In effect, the fix rolls the attachment behavior back to Outlook 2000 SR-1, with its included Attachment Security Fix.
An end-user cannot bypass this "save to disk" behavior and open the file directly from the mail message, though an Exchange administrator can.

Slipstick.com:

Opening .exe Attachments

Also see:
Shortcuts for Sending Access Objects via Email

[Edited entry from 5/8/2006]

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Labels: Access, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:27 AM

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009 – Permalink –

Resend on Behalf

Alternate to Forward

Let's say you get a message that you would like to forward, but you don't necessarily want to take "ownership."

Open the message in its own window
Go to Actions>Resend This Message
(Other Actions in 2007)
When you click Send, you will be reminded that you are not the original sender of the message
Click OK

The message will be from you, "on behalf of" the original sender.
IMPORTANT: If the recipient clicks the Reply button, his message will go to the original sender, not to you.

Thanks to Ed Bott for pointing this out,

EdBott.com

[Edited entry from 5/1/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:53 AM

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Tuesday, June 09, 2009 – Permalink –

Netiquette - Etiquette

Why do you need email etiquette?

A company needs to implement etiquette rules for the following three reasons:

Professionalism: by using proper email language your company will convey a professional image.
Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than poorly worded emails.
Protection from liability: employee awareness of email risks will protect your company from costly law suits.

If you need to formulate a policy for your company, here are some suggestions:

32 of the most important email etiquette tips

Netiquette — Yale

Career Planning — About

E-mail Etiquette (Netiquette) — Chris Pirillo

Netiquette — Virginia Shea

Spam Is Not the Worst of It

[Edited entry from 4/23/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:37 AM

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009 – Permalink –

Reading Pain

It's not my glasses, the print's too small!

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen Blog "Thoughts on .Net, Web Services, and Life" had this entry about Outlook:

Changing the Font Size of the Reading Pane in Outlook: Impossible?

"Is it sadder that:

You can only change the font size for the Reading Pane in Outlook 2003 by right clicking the tiny grey border around the Reading Pane.

When you do click the menu item then move to another email, the option switches back to Medium for the next message.

The menu items have no effect (the font sizes don't change) on 90% of corporate mail including RTF and WordMail.

Is this totally broken or am I totally broken?"

I can't find a way to make the change permanent either, but:

Some users prefer the better visibility of a larger font size for reading their messages in the Reading or "preview" pane. You can make the text or font in the pane larger or smaller by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. Using the scroll wheel is the only way you can change the text size, although more options are being considered for a future version of Outlook.

Use the Reading Pane, highlighted in red, to preview your messages without having to open them. Click in the Reading Pane, press CTRL, and roll the scroll wheel. Rolling the wheel away from you makes the text bigger, rolling it towards you makes the text smaller.

Note The text size doesn't persist when you change views. If you go to your Calendar, for example, or another mail folder like Sent Items, the text goes back to the default size.

For information about the OL interface, see Slipstick.com.

Managing the Outlook Interface

[Edited entry from 4/15/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:15 AM

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Saturday, May 16, 2009 – Permalink –

Delete It and Mean It

Turn off the questioning

Deleting an item in Outlook sends it to the Deleted Items folder. If you're sure that you want to eradicate the note, you can hold the Shift key when you delete an item.

You will receive a dialog asking if you are sure you want to permanently delete it.

To avoid the nagging you can turn off "Warn before permanently deleting items" under Tools>Options>Other>Advanced Options.

Be careful because you can delete items that might have benefited from one more moment's consideration.

(If you're using an Exchange server, you can probably get it back)

[Edited entry 3/23/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:42 AM

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Saturday, May 02, 2009 – Permalink –

4-1-9

Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud

The Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) is known internationally as "4-1-9" fraud after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes.
(BTW, it is pronounced 4-1-9, not four-nineteen.)

You've most probably been approached via email to help some poor soul smuggle millions out of some war torn province in return for a generous finder's fee.

"A renowned psychiatrist from UC Irvine was duped into squandering at least $1.3 million of his family's fortune on a Nigeria Internet scam, according to a lawsuit recently filed by his son.

The son, also an Orange County doctor, said his father - Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk - gave as much as $3 million over a 10-year period in response to an Internet plea that promised the doctor a generous cut of a huge sum of cash trapped in African bank accounts in exchange for money advances.

Gottschalk - who at 89 still works at the UCI campus medical plaza that bears his name - said in court papers that the losses were caused by "some bad investments."

Guy Gottschalk is asking a judge to remove his father as administrator of the $8-million family partnership that was set up for tax purposes after the death of his mother in 1993. A hearing is set for March 14.

The suit alleges that Louis Gottschalk destroyed bank records to cover up the amount of his losses.

"While it seems unlikely, even ludicrous, that a highly educated doctor like [Gottschalk] would fall prey to such an obvious con, that is exactly what happened," wrote Guy Gottschalk's attorney in court papers."

LA Times March 2, 2006

If your willing to take the risk, here is a site that baits the scammers.

419Eater.com

[Edited entry from 3/7/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:26 AM

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Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Permalink –

Change Categories

Fit people into the right peg hole

Go to View>Arrange by>Current View and select by Category.
(View>Customize Curent View)

You can create a new Category and then just select Contacts and drag them into the right slot.

This technique works with any Outlook item for many Outlook fields, including Private and Company but won't work on fields that aren't editable. You can use it to add Categories but not remove them.

Make sure at least one item has the new field value.

Create a new view or edit one of the existing group by views to group by the field you want to change

Apply the view.

Select one or more items from the other groups and drag them to the new group and drop.

Slipstick.com:
Group By

[Edited entry from 2/27/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:44 AM

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Friday, April 17, 2009 – Permalink –

Where Do You Store Your Spam?

It's Your Mess, Clean It Up

Previous versions of Outlook can handle PST files just this side of 2 GB (1.82) and Outlook 2003+ can go up to about 20-30 gigs with the new MSUPST format. However, very few administrators are going to allow users to save anywhere near that amount of information.

Outlook does have a tool to managing the size of the mailbox from within Outlook:

Go to the Tools menu
Select "Mailbox Cleanup"

This dialog includes quick links to find large items of a chosen size and items older than a selected number of days. You can view the size of folders, fine tune AutoArchive and empty the deleted items folder. [Edited entry from 2/1219/2006] See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:04 AM

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Thursday, April 09, 2009 – Permalink –

Excel-lent E-Mail

Outlook, Excel, and VBA

Ron de Bruin, Microsoft MVP - Excel, has put together a collection of VBA routines to make Excel e-mail friendly.

See if these topics tempt you:

Example Code for sending mail from Excel

Mail Workbook
Mail one Sheet
Mail more than one Sheet
Mail the Selection or range
Mail Every Worksheet with Address in cell A1
Mail sheet or sheets to one or more people
Mail range or sheet in the body of the mail (Send personalized email)
Mail a message to each person in a range with Outlook
Mail a message to each person in a range with CDO (no security warnings)
Sending a different file to each person in a range with Outlook
Zip the ActiveWorkbook and mail it with Outlook
Security (Prevent displaying the dialog to Send or not Send)

Also Download Addins for Excel e-mail information

Also see:

John Walkenbach:
Sending Personalized Email from Excel

[Edited entry from 2/10/2006]

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Labels: Excel, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:23 AM

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 – Permalink –

Flag That Play

Dog ear your email

With RSS entries, I average 500 or more messages a day. Here's a suggestion about how to tame the problem.

"You clear up one problem and delete the e-mail message -- and meanwhile six others pop up in your Inbox. Microsoft Office Outlook can flag messages with priorities, set reminders, and flag messages for follow-up, so that you can glance quickly at Outlook and know immediately what needs to get done first."

Office.Microsoft.com:
Demo: Organize your e-mail more easily than ever

[Edited entry from 2/3/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:23 AM

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009 – Permalink –

BCC, not your old CC

Avoid header spaghetti

There are three parts to the Address section of an email message:

To:
CC:
BCC:

CC used to stand for Carbon Copy, but no one knows what carbon paper is anymore so it is now referred to as Complimentary Copy. BCC is for a blind copy. Recipients will not see that stringy pasta list of names. Here are a few links to more information.

About.com:
Sending an Email to Multiple Recipients - Cc: and Bcc:

Hamra.net:
Use BCC field when addressing mass mail

Actrix.co.nz:
Using the CC and BCC Fields in E-mail

While the recipients can't see the Bcc list, you can see the list in messages you SENT:

"To see the Bcc addresses for messages that you sent, open the message from the Sent Items folder, then choose Actions>Resend This Message. If you don't see the Bcc box, choose Find>Bcc Field to display it. Another method you can use in the Sent Items folder, is to choose View>Show Fields and add the Bcc field to the current view. You may not be able to see all Bcc recipients that way if the list was a long one.

Slipstick.com:
To view Bcc addresses for sent messages

[Edited entry from 1/26/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:23 AM

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Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Permalink –

Email Headers

How to read the code

Spam is as ubiquitous in email as it is in an Hawaiian restaurant.

These links may help you distinguish pork shoulder from the other stuff.

"This document is intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to the behavior of email headers.

It is primarily intended to help victims of unsolicited email ("email spam") attempting to determine the real source of the (generally forged) email that plagues them; it should also help in attempts to understand any other forged email.
It may also be beneficial to readers interested in a general-purpose introduction to mail transfer on the Internet. "

StopSpam.org:
E-mail Headers

"The ability to read and decipher email headers is a useful skill to learn for tracing messages to their original source and diagnosing many other problems. Headers may contain a lot of information but the most important information will always be contained in every email header."

[Edited entry from 1/16/2006]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:51 AM

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Friday, February 27, 2009 – Permalink –

Yeah, Sure, That's My Email

A lie will set you free

Dodgeit.com allows you to create throwaway email addresses. It then delivers the email that comes into the resulting mailbox as an RSS feed that you and everyone else who can guess at your throwaway email address can read.

Pick a throwaway address, say: NotMyAddress@dodgeit.com Give that address out to inconsequential sites.

Check NotMyAddress from homepage of Dodgeit.com.

Subscribe to an RSS feed to keep an eye on the mailbox.

Also see:
Protect Your Address

[Edited entry from 12/25/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:23 AM

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Thursday, February 19, 2009 – Permalink –

Protect Your Address

Keep the bots at bay

"Spam is an incredible problem and it is getting worse - your e-mail address is a commodity and if you put it on a web page, it WILL eventually be found, spammed and sold to other spammers. The problem is that you have a web page and you need to make it possible for people to send you e-mail from your page but you don't want to get bombarded with spam - what can you do?

First you need to understand what is likely to happen. The most likely scenario is that an e-mail harvesting robot will find your page and look though it trying to find e-mail addresses. This robot may be programmed to look for a particular list of possible characters on either side of the @ in your e-mail address or it may look for the "mailto:" in your e-mail link or any number of other tricks."

MailMe
PHP Form Mailer With Spam Blocking

<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- Begin user = "myaddress"; domain = "mydomain"; document.write('<a href="\">');
document.write(user + '@' + domain + '</a>');
// End -->
</script>
<noscript>
Here goes some text that can be seen if Javascript is disabled.
</noscript>

Also:

Mailto script
a simple little Mailto: script that allows you to choose who you want to email from a pull down menu
(View source for code)

Software Listing: Mailto
Mailcrawlers and protectors

[Edited entry from 12/16/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:02 AM

Comments:

The following website creates a script for you to encode your email address. It is called the enoder.

http://hivelogic.com/enkoder/form

# posted by

Kevin H. Stecyk : 2/19/2009

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Thursday, February 12, 2009 – Permalink –

Digitally Sign

Messages

If you have a need to protect the contents of your email messages, these links should point you in the right direction.

Outlook supports the following features for cryptographic messaging:
Digitally sign an e-mail message. Digital signing provides nonrepudiation and verification of contents (the message contains what the person sent, with no changes).

Encrypt an e-mail message. Encryption helps to ensure privacy by making the message unreadable to anyone other than the intended recipient.

There are additional features that can be configured for Outlook 2003 for security-enhanced messaging, if your organization chooses to provide support for them, including:

Sending an e-mail message with an S/MIME receipt request. This helps to verify that the recipient is validating your digital signature (the certificate you applied to a message).

Adding a security label to an e-mail message. Your organization can create a customized S/MIME V3 security policy which can add labels to messages. An S/MIME V3 security policy is code that you add to Outlook that runs automatically to add information to the message header about the sensitivity of the message content. For example, an Internal Use Only label might be applied to mail that should not be sent or forwarded outside of your company.

Overview of Cryptography in Outlook 2003

Free digital ids

Slipstick.com:
Encryption and Message Security Tools

TheTechGap.com:
Digital IDs in Outlook

Verisign:
Digital IDs

[Edited entry from 12/8/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:02 AM

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Sunday, February 01, 2009 – Permalink –

MailTo Shortcut

Just a quick note

You can create a shortcut on your desk top that will start or switch to your default email application. You can also fill in parts of the message if you want.

Right-click an empty spot on the desktop and choose New>Shortcut.
In the box that says "Type the location of the item", enter something like:

mailto:All@Once.com.

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has some other entries you may want to try. They are intended as HTML hyperlink references, but some of them work as shortcuts too.
MailTo

Outfront.net also has some information:
Getting More From 'mailto'

[Edited entry from 11/30/2005]

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Labels: Expression Web, FrontPage, HTML, Outlook, Vista, Windows

<Doug Klippert@ 3:50 AM

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Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Permalink –

Email Icons

Foil the spoilers

If you include an email address it can be read be the evil robot of the web.
Nexodyne.com will create a free email icon graphic to be used in place of a mail hyperlink.

You could also use this piece of Javascript to avoid R2D2.

(user in this case would be "MyJunkMail.Place"
mydomain would be "Gmail.com")

<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- Begin
user = "myaddress";
domain = "mydomain";
document.write('<a href=\"mai' + 'lto:' + user + '@' + domain + '\">');
document.write(user + '@' + domain + '</a>');
// End -->
</script>
<noscript>
Here goes some text that can be seen if Javascript is disabled.
</noscript>

(from SB Projects.com)

[Edited enty from 11/22/2005]

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Labels: Expression Web, FrontPage, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:35 AM

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Sunday, January 11, 2009 – Permalink –

PayPal - Phishing

A tutorial

As part of a series on Identity Protection Resources, PayPal has a section on Spoofing or Phishing.

"Many spoof emails look very real. While there are some telltale signs, it can often be difficult to identify fake emails. Whenever you get an email about your PayPal account, the safest and easiest course of action is to open your browser and log in to your PayPal account directly without clicking any links in the email.

Warning signs that an email about your PayPal account are fake include a generic greeting, a false sense of urgency, and links that don't include "https://www.paypal.com" immediately before the first "/".

Spoof Tutorial

[Edited entry from 11/7/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:07 AM

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008 – Permalink –

Spam - A How to Guide

Why let the sleaze balls have all the fun?

We've traded garbage cans full of unsolicited mail for full blocked or deleted bins.

Here is a site that has information on stopping the bad guys, including information from their perspective.

Spam Archives

"A number of far-sighted people have been saving all their spam and have put it online. This is a valuable resource for anyone writing Bayesian filters."
How to Spam

"The links on this page are to companies that provide the infrastructure of spam. It's fairly disgusting reading, but a quick scan will give you some ideas about filtering."
Spammers' Stories

"These articles about spammers are very helpful in understanding how to stop spam. For example, complaining to the ISPs that spammers use does seem to inconvenience them.

And best of all, so does filtering. In one article below, a spammer complains that filters have increased his costs 1,000-fold. That's exactly what we want to hear. New laws and policies may stop spam. Making it unprofitable certainly will."
Better Bayesian Filtering
Filters that Fight Back
Will Filters Kill Spam?
Filters vs. Blacklists
Filtering Research
Spam Resources
Spam Links

PaulGraham.com: Anti Spam (Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and programming language designer) [Edited entry from 10/28/2005] See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:44 AM

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Friday, December 26, 2008 – Permalink –

Icons - Itsy Bitsy Indicators

Icons — Itsy Bitsy Indicators

What those little graphics mean

There's not much room in an Outlook icon to communicate information.

Robert Sparnaaij, MVP-Outlook, has put together a legend of these tiny pictures with their meanings.

Such as:

What Do The Icons Mean?
For more information see his web site:
How to Outlook

[Edited entry from 10/20/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:42 AM

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Monday, December 22, 2008 – Permalink –

Shipping Status

Track UPS and FedEx

With eBay and Amazon, packages are flying across the country 24 hours a day, locating a shipment can be important.
This free Outlook add-in combines with Outlook's calendar to follow the path of an order.

"Parcel Tracker is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook that automatically synchronizes an appointment item with a shipping service enabling you to track your package delivery / status directly from the Outlook's calendar.

Parcel Tracer tracks the status and delivery of UPS and FedEx shipments using the Outlook calendar.

On a timed interval, Parcel Tracker will automatically update the status AND placement of the delivery appointment in your calendar using tracking information retrieved directly from the selected shipping service. You can track your package via its schedule delivery date OR the most recent activity.

Parcel Tracker
By David Levinson

[Edited entry from 10/13/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:32 AM

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Sunday, December 07, 2008 – Permalink –

Match Template to Account

Set your identity

If you have multiple email accounts you can use a different template for each account.

After creating the template, assigning it to an account and saving it, you can assign the template to a button.

Click the button and the selected template will appear using the assigned account to send the message.

Slipstick provides screenshots and detailed instructions.

Create a Template With the Account Selected

[Edited entry from 9/26/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:56 AM

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Friday, November 28, 2008 – Permalink –

Dynamic Distribution Lists

Group the contacts

If you want to send an email to a list, but omit a few of its members, Click on the plus sign next to the distribution name. Click OK to expand the list and remove members who you do not want to receive the email.

Rather than creating and updating a distribution list as a list of names, you could use Categories.

To add or remove names from a mailing list, just add the category or remove it from the contacts form. If an email address changes, only the contact form, not the distribution lists needs to be updated.

Send a message or meeting request to the group or create appointments or tasks, by opening the Contacts folder and use the Group By Category view and select the desired group.

Choose the desired action from the Actions menu.

The drawback here is that all of the names will be displayed on the To: line. They can, of course be cut and pasted to the BBC: line.

From Diane Poremsky's Outlook Tips website

[Edited entry from 9/13/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:37 AM

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Thursday, November 20, 2008 – Permalink –

Calendar on the Web

Exchange not required

Outlook has made it possible to share your calendar on the Internet as a web page.

Click Calendar.
On the File menu, click Save as Web Page.
Under Duration, set the Start date and End date.
Under Options, set the options you want.
(Show appointment details, use a background graphic)
Under Save as, type the calendar name, and then specify the Web page file name and the path where you want to place the calendar.
Click Save.

Add an Outlook calendar to a Web page

Here's a step by step pictorial:

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center:
Publishing an Outlook Calendar to the Web

Also:
Sliptick.com:
Publishing Outlook Calendars on the Internet or an Intranet

[Edited entry from 9/1/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:15 AM

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008 – Permalink –

Security Prompt

Avoid the warning

"A program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your behalf. Do you want to allow this?"

or:

This is the result of a security update in Outlook 2000+.

Here's how to get out of the problem:

Express ClickYes

. . ."a tiny program that sits in the taskbar and clicks the Yes button on behalf of you, when Outlook's Security Guard opens prompt dialog saying that a program is trying to send an email with Outlook or access its address book. You can suspend/resume it by double-clicking its taskbar icon. Developers can automate its behavior by sending special messages."

Also see:

Automation Security from Slipstick.com

Outlook Email Security

Administrative Options for the Outlook E-mail Security Update

[Edited entry from 8/21/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:25 AM

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Friday, October 31, 2008 – Permalink –

Desktop Alert

Fix the timing

You can set the length of time a desktop alert appears, by going to:

Tools>Options menu
Email Options
Advanced
Desktop Alerts Setting

How to Use the Desktop Alert Feature

The maximum time is 30 seconds. If, for some reason, you want the alert to stay up longer, you can edit the registry.

Run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\DesktopAlerts

Add a TimeOn DWORD key (if not already present) and set a value in milliseconds, up to 4 billion worth (50 days.)
One day is 86,400,000.

This hint comes from OutlookTips.net:
Daily Tips

[Edited entry from 8/5/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:04 AM

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Saturday, October 25, 2008 – Permalink –

Fix the PST

Free toolkit

"If you can't open your Personal Folders file (.pst) or your Offline Folder file (.ost), or you suspect that your .pst or .ost data file is corrupt, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe), to diagnose and repair errors in the file.

Quit Microsoft Outlook if it's running.

Double-click Scanpst.exe, located at drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\LocaleID folder - where LocaleID is the locale identifier (LCID) for the installation of Microsoft Office. The LCID for English - United States is 1033.

In the Enter the name of the file you want to scan box, enter the name of the .pst or .ost file that you want to check, or click Browse to look for the file.

To specify scan log options, click Options, and then click the option you want.

Click Start.

When the scanning is completed, and if errors were found, you will be prompted to start the repair process.

To change the name or location of the backup file created during the repair process, in the Enter name of backup file box, enter a new name, or click Browse to look for the file.

Click Repair.

Start Outlook using the profile that contains the .pst file that you tried to repair.

On the Go menu, click Folder List.

In the Folder List, you may see a Recovered Personal Folders folder containing default Outlook folders or a Lost and Found folder. The recovered folders are usually empty, because this is a rebuilt .pst file. The Lost and Found folder contains folders and items that the Inbox Repair tool recovered. Items that are missing from the Lost and Found folder cannot be repaired.

If you see a Recovered Personal Folders folder, you can create a new .pst file, and then drag the items in the Lost and Found folder into the new .pst file. When you have finished moving all items, you can remove the Recovered Personal Folders (.pst) file, including the Lost and Found folder, from your profile."

Use the Inbox Repair tool

Recover e-mail messages in Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007

Slipstick.com:
To repair a damaged Personal Folders PST file

[Edited entry from 7/26/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 4:46 AM

Comments:

I heard a popular Outlook recovery tool called Advanced Outlook Repair is also availabe for repairing your PST file. It is a powerful tool to recover messages, folders and other objects from corrupt or damaged Microsoft Outlook PST files.

# posted by

zwr : 10/30/2008

Try-repair microsoft Outlook,because this tool helped me in similar situations,and yet is free as how as i know,program recovering lost Microsoft Outlook data is a sequence of operations involving scanning, identifying and saving such Microsoft Outlook items as messages, contacts, notes, reminders, journals, meetings, etc, recover data when a *.pst file completely or partially stops functioning, for example, it becomes completely or partially unreadable because of other applications, antivirus software or power failures,it scans, identifies and saves data from the pst file without modifying or indexing the source pst file,can save various Microsoft Outlook items as separate files with the .eml, .vcf and .txt extensions,reading data from files created in Microsoft Outlook versions 97, 98, 2000, XP, 2002, 2003, 2007 and saving recovered data in the format of Microsoft Outlook versions 97, 98, 2000, XP, 2002, 2003, 2007.

# posted by

Alex : 12/03/2008

Post a Comment

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 – Permalink –

Survey Forms

Questionnaires and queries

You don't necessarily need special survey software to put out inquires.
These add-ins will let you produce an email survey.

RSVME.com :

"RSVME is a free application that integrates with Outlook and other email packages, and makes obtaining feedback from people a snap! You can quickly and easily put together a questionnaire on any subject, from the best time for soccer practice to who's bringing what food to a party. Then select names out of your address book you want to send the questionnaire to, and send. It's that simple! As your friends get your email and answer your questionnaire, you get the response back in one simple-to-read report"

OutlookCode.com:
Survey Sample Form

"This Microsoft Outlook sample message form by Scott Bradley makes it easy to create surveys. Instead of building a different form for each survey you need to conduct, you can use this single form to create many different types of surveys. It supports five different types of questions:
Simple text
Yes/No
Five-level agree scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree
1 to 10 (user enters a number)
Multiple choice (up to five choices)

When the user receives the survey, the form uses a wizard-like format to display the questions one at a time and allow the user to go back and change answers. The form returns responses to the sender in both Q&A and comma-delimited formats and then deletes the survey item."

Easy Survey :
(This one is shareware. I included it because it integrates Outlook and Access)

"Easy Survey uses Microsoft Access for its form creation. It allows the user to make the survey form quickly and simply. All you have to do is create the essential tables in Microsoft Access and then the Form for the survey based on these tables. After that the Easy Survey Wizard will help you to make a "Survey Project" which you can use in Microsoft Outlook."

Also see:

Custom Forms

How to Simulate More Than Two Form Interfaces

Troubleshooting forms [Outlook 2003 Forms Help]

One free web based survey site is PollHost.com

[Edited entry from 7/19/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:48 AM

Comments:

Not sure if it's OK to post non-Office stuff here, so please delete this if I am overstepping. But the Alpha Five database makes it REALLY easy to do e-mail or Web-based surveys, and it uses the Office 2003 user interface. If you know Excel, you'll find ALpha Five really easy to use. Trial version is free to use for 30 days, and provides all features.
Thanks.
Richard Rabins
Alpha Software
http://blog.alphasoftware.com

# posted by

Richard Rabins : 10/21/2008

Post a Comment

Thursday, October 16, 2008 – Permalink –

Custom Dictionary

Spell it the way you want to!

Although Office has its own dictionary, it probably does not contain all the words and jargon that you use. If this is the case, you can add your own frequently used terms, and names to the dictionary.

Open Word
From the Tools menu, click Options
(See link below for 2007)
Select the Spelling and Grammar tab
Click the Custom Dictionaries button
Place a check beside the dictionary you want to modify
Click the Modify button
In the Word field, type in the word you want to add to the dictionary and click the Add button Click OK
Click OK to close the Custom Dictionaries dialog box
Click OK to close the Options dialog box

If you want to remove a word from the dictionary, complete steps 1 through 7. Select the word you want to remove and click the Delete button.

The Custom.dic file is a text file. You can create it or edit it using notepad.

Multiple dictionaries can be created for special purposes, like a list of employee names.

The Custom.dic file is used by all of the Office applications that do Spell checking.

How to add a custom dictionary in Word

About.com:

Working With Dictionaries in Word

Microsoft.com

How to create an exclude dictionary in Word

Copy the Custom Dictionary to a Floppy Disk and Use It on Other Computers

Error when you add a word to the custom dictionary

[Edited entry from 7/11/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 1:42 AM

Comments:

Wow, really cool post. Keep us updated!

# posted by

Microsoft Word free download fan : 10/16/2008

Post a Comment

Monday, October 13, 2008 – Permalink –

Attachment Virus

Get over the attachment

"Many of the most common computer viruses and other malicious software are spread through e-mail attachments. If a file attached to an e-mail message contains a virus, it's often launched when you open the file attachment. No matter what e-mail program you use or what version of Windows you're running, you can help avoid some viruses by following a few basic rules. If you use the latest version of Outlook or Outlook Express and if you use the latest version of Windows, there are a few unique enhancements and default settings to help keep you from accidentally infecting your computer with a virus.
5 tips for dealing with e-mail attachments
Dealing with e-mail attachments in Microsoft Outlook
Dealing with e-mail attachments in Outlook Express"

Help avoid computer viruses that spread through e-mail

Also:

Microsoft video:
Defending against viruses and worms

Slipstick.com:
Protecting Microsoft Outlook against Viruses
Viruses Affecting Microsoft Outlook

[Edited entry from 7/12/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:41 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, September 27, 2008 – Permalink –

Forward My Mail

Let it follow you around

By using a rule that you create, Outlook can examine each message that you receive for certain characteristics and then automatically forward or redirect any message that matches the characteristics to another e-mail account.

There are a couple of ways of doing it: forwarding and redirecting.

Message forwarding: When a rule automatically forwards a message you receive, it leaves a copy of the message in your Inbox or in the folder to which the message was originally delivered. The rule then adds the designation "FW:" to the beginning of the Subject line, changes the message formatting, and then forwards the message to the account specified by the rule. The recipient represented by the account also sees that the message came from you.
Message redirection: When a rule automatically redirects a message you receive, it also leaves a copy in your Inbox or in the folder to which the message was originally delivered. The rule then sends the message, unchanged, to the account specified by the rule. To the recipient, the message appears as though it came directly from the original sender. There is no indication that the message was delivered by way of your account.

Indiana University:
Automatically forward all of my mail to another address

Also:

Office.Microsoft.com:
Automatically forward messages to another e-mail account

James S. Huggins' Refrigerator Door has this information:
Creating Another Email Address

Slipstick.com:
Automatic Message Processing Tools

[Edited entry from 6/19/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:58 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, September 20, 2008 – Permalink –

Spam Definitions

and Other E-mail Pests

The Very Basics:

Keep your e-mail address private.
Never reply to spam.
Use great caution in complaining.
Never buy products advertised in spam.
Don't forward chain mail.
Your bank never asks you to "confirm" your account!

Getting Rid of "Spam", a Spam Primer
by Randy Cassingham
The basics of spam, how they got your address in the first place, and what to do now.

Cassingham also publishes This is True and The Stella Awards .
(The name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases )

Also:
Spam Abuse.net

Spam Laws.com
David E. Sorkin

United States
European Union
Other countries

The Spam Weblog

Federal Trade Commission:
Operation Spam Zombies

[Edited entry from 6/11/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:54 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, September 07, 2008 – Permalink –

Appointment to Email

Drag and drop

When you receive a message about an upcoming meeting, you don't have to copy the address and time and then open Calendar and then open a new appointment dialog box.

Just drag the message onto the Calendar icon. A new appointment form will open up with the body of the email. You can then adjust the location and time if needed.

Also see:
Microsoft support:
How to use vCalendar in Outlook

"Microsoft Outlook supports vCalendar, a powerful approach to electronic Personal Data Interchange (PDI). PDI occurs every time individuals communicate, in either a business or personal context. These interchanges frequently include the exchange of information, such as business cards, telephone numbers, addresses, dates and times of appointments, and such. The vCard and vCalendar features facilitate PDI electronically.
This article discusses:
How to create a vCalendar file
How to distribute a vCalendar file
How to automatically process a vCalendar file
How to manually process a vCalendar file as a text file"

And:
The Internet Mail Consortium:
vCard and vCalendar

Also See:
Meeting Methods

[Edited entry from 5/25/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:02 AM

Comments:

Nice information. You list the tips for set the vCalender with Outlook. it is helpful for set the vCalender. Thanks.......

# posted by

Outlook Support : 9/07/2008

Post a Comment

Monday, September 01, 2008 – Permalink –

Calendar Help and Tips

Stop Auto Fill-in

Do your own

Here's how to stop Outlook from automatically filling in the e-mail address when typing the name of a contact in the To: field.

Outlook's Suggest Names feature helps speed up routine e-mail activities. However you may want to get rid of it when, for instance, you have two or more e-mail addresses that are similar and Outlook keeps choosing the wrong one.

To turn this feature off:

Select Options from Outlook's Tools menu
Click on the Preferences tab
Clickthe E-mail Options button
Click the Advanced E-mail Options button
Uncheck the box, near the bottom of the dialog, labeled:
"Suggest names while completing To, Cc, and Bcc fields"

Also see:

Office Clues:
Lambton College
Sarnia, Ontario
Using Outlook's AutoComplete feature

From Slipstick.com:
Suggest names doesn't work?

If Auto Suggest and name checking is not working, rename the *.NK2 file. Outlook will create a new one. You can rename or delete the NK2 file if you want to get rid of all addresses in your autocomplete file.

[Edited entry from 5/14/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 1:34 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, August 10, 2008 – Permalink –

Holidays

Invent your own

Microsoft Outlook has a built-in feature to add holidays from different countries and religions to your default Calendar folder. You can add holidays to your Calendar folder by following these steps:

Choose Tools>Options, then click Calendar Options
On the Calendar Options dialog box, click Add Holidays
In the Add Holidays to Calendar dialog box, check the countries or religions whose holidays you want to add, then click OK

For Outlook 2000 and earlier versions, the list of holidays is stored in a text file named Outlook.txt, found in the language specific subfolders of the Office folder.
Starting with Outlook 2002, the file is named Outlook.hol.

If you are setting up a company-wide deployment of Outlook, you may want to edit this file in Notepad to add your own holidays, remove lists that you don't want users to import, or correct dates that Microsoft got wrong.

For more information about Outlook holidays and an updated file for holidays through 2007, see:

Slipstick.com:
Microsoft Outlook Holiday Issues
Calendar Tools for Outlook

[Edited entry from 4/24/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 4:35 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – Permalink –

Countdown to Appointment

Seven days till vacation

You could use brute force to enter data in an Outlook calendar that would count down to an event. Creating separate entries rapidly becomes tedious.

Outlook MVP Diane Poremsky demonstrates a way to quickly combine a list in Excel (or other CSV type formats) with calendar entries in Outlook.

It boils down to creating a list and importing into an Outlook calendar.

Here are the instructions including screenshots:

From Outlook-tips.net
Create Countdown Calendar Items

[Edited entry from 4/7/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:50 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, July 12, 2008 – Permalink –

Leave on Server?

Why does it do that?

"All the e-mail messages that you receive go through an e-mail server for your e-mail account. Depending on the type of e-mail account that you use, your e-mail messages are processed in one or more of the following ways.
Messages remain on the server. Outlook connects to the server, and you can read or delete your messages.
Messages are downloaded to a local data file called a Personal Folders file (.pst). Outlook connects to the local .pst file so that you can read and delete your messages.
Copies of messages are downloaded and synchronized with messages on the e-mail server. Microsoft Exchange Server accounts provide this functionality by creating a local Offline Folder file (.ost). This file is used for working offline when you can't connect or don't want to connect to the e-mail server. This file is also used by the Cached Exchange Mode feature in Outlook 2003.

E-mail account types differ in how e-mail messages are saved and synchronized with the e-mail server. For example, by default POP3 e-mail accounts delete e-mail messages from the e-mail server when downloaded into Outlook. However, you can customize how e-mail messages are retrieved and saved."

For information regarding how different e-mail accounts handle e-mail message, see the following:

POP3 e-mail accounts: When you retrieve e-mail messages from a POP3 ( Post Office Protocol. A common protocol that is used to retrieve e-mail messages from an Internet e-mail server.) e-mail account, the messages are deleted from the e-mail server by default after they are downloaded to your computer. For many people, this works great.

However, if you want to check your e-mail from multiple computers, you must configure Outlook to not delete the messages on your e-mail server. This scenario is most common for people who want to check their home Internet service provider (ISP) e-mail account from work and download the messages for permanent storage on their home computer.

When you leave messages on your e-mail server, you can choose from several options to delete your messages. To make your choice, you need to consider several factors about your e-mail usage, such as how long you want the messages to be accessible from multiple computers and the storage limits imposed by your e-mail server administrator. If you exceed your storage limit, you might be unable to receive new messages or might be charged additional fees. Typically, it is best to have one computer set to the default setting that doesn't leave e-mail messages on the e-mail server. When you use the computer to retrieve your e-mail messages, they are downloaded and deleted from the e-mail server. If you choose not to do this, Outlook allows you to select a time duration for leaving e-mail messages on the server.

Also:
Wikipedia.com:
POP3
IMAP e-mail accounts: When you access an IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) e-mail account, your messages are copied locally. However, the messages also remain on the e-mail server until you mark them for deletion and use the Purge Deleted Items command.

Also:
HTTP e-mail accounts: When you access an HTTP e-mail account, such as MSN Hotmail, your messages are saved on the e-mail server until you delete them.

Also:
Free email providers
Exchange Server e-mail accounts: When you access an Exchange Server e-mail account, your messages are saved on the e-mail server until you delete them.
Also:
Slipstick.com:
Exchange Server
MS Exchange.org

For more information see this Microsoft Support article:
Leave e-mail messages on your e-mail server

[Edited entry from 3/18/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:36 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, July 05, 2008 – Permalink –

Outlook Does Not Respond

Don't Alt-Tab

In the heat of the moment it is natural to want to just Alt-Tab between applications. You may be working in Word and feel the overwhelming need to check your mail. Alt-Tab brings Outlook to the fore, so you Alt-Tab again to get back to your prose.

Doing this can cause Outlook to slow down and even stop. Outlook is still active, just waiting in the background. The suggestion is to minimize Outlook between peeks.

Slipstick.com:

"Get in the habit of minimizing Outlook 2003 rather than just using Alt-Tab or a Windows task bar button to switch to another program. If you leave the full Outlook 2003 window active, it may use so much memory that it stops responding"

Microsoft KnowledgeBase 827310:
Outlook 2003 stops responding after a long period of use

"While Outlook 2003 is running, it periodically pages memory in and out of the process address space. When the memory that is free is large, Outlook 2003 is permitted to have more pages in memory. This increases the memory that is being used by Outlook 2003. If another application requires memory, Outlook will release memory.

When you minimize the Outlook 2003 program window, the pages are switched so that the pages that are not required for user interaction are switched out of memory. When you maximize the Outlook 2003 program window again, the pages that are used for user interaction are switched in to memory, and the memory usage begins to increase again.

This could happen when working with a large .pst or .ost file as well as other actions within Outlook."

[Edited entry from 3/10/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:26 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, June 26, 2008 – Permalink –

Troubleshooting Outlook

When all else fails

How to troubleshoot error messages
in Outlook and in Outlook Express

Confirm that your e-mail server settings are correct
Examine the configuration of your firewall software
Check your antivirus vendor's Web site for additional suggestions
Determine whether your modem is functioning correctly
Verify the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size that is set on your router
Remove and then reinstall Outlook Express
Create a new e-mail profile
Delete suspicious messages from your mailbox

G4TV.com:
Troubleshoot Microsoft Outlook Problems
written by Chris Pirillo

Microsoft TechNet:
Troubleshooting Outlook Web Access

Microsoft Office Online:
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Slipstick.com:
Mail Issues with Microsoft Outlook

[Edited entry from 3/2/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 4:16 AM

Comments:

It is very nice information for all the outlook users. Thanks for inform all the error about Outlook.ziwmkfty

# posted by

Outlook Support : 6/26/2008

I heard about not bad application-outlook express troubleshooting, can safely open the file of dbx format and extract messages,troubleshoot Outlook Express with all versions of Microsoft Windows operating system, starting from Windows 98, troubleshoot also supports all versions of Outlook Express.

# posted by

Alex : 8/26/2008

Post a Comment

Thursday, June 19, 2008 – Permalink –

Global Area Code Changer

Fix Contacts

Telephone area codes sometimes run out of numbers and need to be split. Slipstick.com's Outlook Contacts Tools page offers some suggestions including:

Slovak Technical Services:
Phone Changer

After a reorganization or buyout, have you ever needed to replace domain portion of e-mail addresses in a Contacts folder?

Here's a macro from Woody Leonard's WOPR forum.

Global Change of email addresses

(If you use it, you might want to comment out some of the MSGBOX entries. )

[Edited entry from 2/22/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 4:52 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Saturday, June 14, 2008 – Permalink –

Address Layout

Custom layout

When you use the Outlook as a source for addresses, you can customize the display to suit your own needs.

When you use the Insert Address button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box it does not use the same format as the Insert Address button.

Here's the location to put the Address book on the Quick Access Toolbar in 2007:

Here's the work around:
Insert Address Button Does Not Use AddressLayout AutoText Entry

MacroButton; scroll down to Insert Address from Outlook>

Here are two sources with directions about how to reformat the AutoText entry: "AddressLayout".

Slipstick.com
Inserting Addresses into Microsoft Word Documents

Microsoft Knowlegebase:
HOW TO: Modify the Layout of an Address Book Entry

[Edited entry from 2/15/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 7:07 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 – Permalink –

Auto Link

Outlook Contacts in Access

Automatically set up links to data outside of Access.
It still works in Access/Outlook '07.

Try this:

Choose File >Open from the menu bar.
(Office button>Open in 2007)
Under Files Of Type choose Outlook().
Locate your Outlook PST files.
Choose Contacts, or if you have set up separate files for different groups choose an appropriate one.
The wizard walks you through the process of creating an Access database with a linked Contact table.

The changes made in Access will be reflected in Outlook and vice versa.

If you want to create a new database that will link to other data that isn't in an Access format, you can do it quickly.

The classic way is to use the File>Get External Data >Link Tables method.

However you can simply choose File >Open from the menu bar.

Select the appropriate data format from the Files Of Type dropdown list
(such as Microsoft Excel (*.xls)).

Open the file and Access will automatically create an MDB file with the same name as the data source you selected and will set up links to the data.

From there you can develop forms, queries and reports.

[Edited entry from 2/11/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Access, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:45 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, June 09, 2008 – Permalink –

Low Vision

Screen-magnification or zoom

Creating a Web site that accommodates people with low vision should be a goal of designers. Accessibility laws require it in some cases.

The online magazine AListApart.com, has some interesting articles:

Big, Stark & Chunky

"[Participants] told us that they often copied and pasted material into Word where they could enlarge the font even more and make it bold, thus rendering it easier for them to see."

"We have not done a good job of catering to these screen-magnification or zoom users. Using CSS, it's easy to do, as we shall soon see. And moreover, using CSS to develop zoom layouts is almost exactly what developers of handheld and PDA browsers are doing in their quest for small-screen rendering of wide, multicolumn web pages."

Also:

Web Accessibility

[Edited entry from 2/10/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 8:07 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, May 26, 2008 – Permalink –

View Pictures

All at once

This article walks you through the process of using VBA to develop a form that will allow you to open all e-mail picture attachments at one time.

Office Developer Center:

Viewing Multiple Picture Attachments in Outlook 2003
By Eric Legault (Outlook MVP)

It helps to have some experience with VBA coding, but the instructions are clear and no other applications are needed other than the Visual Basic editor that is built into Outlook.

Eric Legault is also a blog contributor at Office Zealot.com
The source code for the MSDN article can be downloaded there. It includes the complete form as well as the code modules.

... "image viewers that use a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) are best suited as a custom viewer. It's better to have one application handle several open image windows than individual windows cluttering your Taskbar! A perfect application for this scenario is the Microsoft Office Photo Editor, but it is no longer bundled with Office 2003."

Microsoft has replaced Photo Editor with a new photo editing and cataloging program in Office 2003 and 2007: Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Here is how to reinstall Photo Editor from your Office XP CD:
Photo Editor is removed when you install Office 2003 or Office 2007

[Edited entry from 1/28/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:00 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, May 19, 2008 – Permalink –

Outlook/Exchange Newsletter

Words from the wise

Here is a 13-year archive of articles about Outlook and Exchange. From both a user's and administrator's perspective.

Exchange Messaging Outlook

The suggestions come from Slipstick.com, so you know they're good.

The publication is available both as an e-mail newsletter and with RSS distribution.

[Edited entry from 1/20/2005]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:26 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, May 12, 2008 – Permalink –

Crime and Outlook

Investigative techniques

Email Headers

ForensicExams.org

Outlook-Tips.net:
Recovering Deleted E-mail

HTCIA.org

"The High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) is designed to encourage, promote, aid and effect the voluntary interchange of data, information, experience, ideas and knowledge about methods, processes, and techniques relating to investigations and security in advanced technologies among its membership."

[Edited entry from 1/12/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:21 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, May 06, 2008 – Permalink –

OutlookPower Magazine

Source site

One of the locations for information about Outlook and Exchange is OutlookPower.com.

Also available as a news letter, it contains a number of suggestions such as this one dealing with printing the notes area on the calendar:

Printing Contact notes
By Francine Otterson

"How you can print the comments contained in your Outlook Calendar.

Outlook Calendar has various printing options to choose from that provide some editing capabilities.

With the Calendar Details printing style, the notes area would be printed along, with all of the other Calendar details. Plus, this style will allow you to choose a range of dates to print, and gives you the option of printing each day on separate pages or continuously.

To change the printing style, select Print under the File menu. Next, select the print style you would like to use e.g. Calendar Details style. If you would like to edit this print style, select Define Style then Edit."

The headlines can also be added to your web site:
Outlook

[Edited entry from 1/4/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:39 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 – Permalink –

Link Browser?

Error warning

You may see a warning about browser selection. It happened to me after playing with Firefox and then coming back home again.

Try going to Start>Run and entering:

regsvr32 Urlmon.dll

Here are other ways to do it:

In the following selections, you should know that The URL:Mailto Protocol is located at the top of the list proceeded by (None), not at the bottom with the other U's.

Microsoft KB;
The Locate Link Browser dialog box
appears when you open a Web link in an e-mail message in Outlook 2003

To resolve this problem, follow these steps to clear the Use DDE check box:

Double-click My Computer.
On the View menu, click Folder Options (or Tools>Folder Options).
On the File Types tab, click URL:MailTo Protocol in the Registered File Types list, and then click Edit.
In the Actions box, click Open, and then click Edit.
Click to remove the Use DDE check box, and then click OK.
Click Close two times.

OutlookMVPS.org:
Clicking a link opens the Locate Link dialog box (Firefox)

OpenExplorer
Select Tools and then Folder Options
Select the File Types tab
Select Extension: (NONE), File Type: URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol
Click Advanced toward the bottom of the window
In the Edit File Type window, select open and click Edit
Clear the check for DDE above the DDE message box (which should contain "%1" or similar)
Click OK, Click OK

Repeat for File Type: HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy and FTP

In the "Locate Link Browser" box, go to C:/Disk/Program Files/Internet Explorer/iexplorer.exe.
Select the application and click "OK."

Or

In the "Locate Link Browser" box, go to C Disk/programs/Mozilla/Firefox.exe. Select the application and click "OK."

[Edited entry from 12/21/2004]

See all Topics

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:38 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 – Permalink –

Outlook Express

Troubleshoot

Outlook Express is not Outlook Lite. It's a separate free program included with Windows. Its claim to fame has been that it could be used to read newsgroups. Most groups are now available in HTML, and Blogs, so that is not as important anymore. Some people prefer Express because it has less baggage than the Outlook that is part of the Office suite.

Inside Outlook Express
Help, tips and technical information for Microsoft Outlook Express

Outlook Express
E-mail and Newsgroup Reader

Learn how to use Outlook Express to stay in touch with friends and family, and share information in newsgroups with other users like you.

Outlook Query Builder

Find it

Another way to retrieve information in Outlook.
Outlook 2002 through 2007 has an option for filtering dialog called QueryBuilder.

To use it you just need to add the QueryBuilder key to the registry:

Use Regedit to go to the appropriate location.
Right click and choose to add a new Key.
Name it QueryBuilder.

There aren't any other entries that need to be made.

Outlook2002:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

Outlook 2003:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

The next time you go to Tools>Advanced Find, there will be a new tab for the Query Builder.

Now you can create an AND/OR query using the Filter dialog in Search Folders, Define Views, Automatic Formatting, or Advanced Find.

With Outlook 2007:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\QueryBuilder

Go to Tools>Instant Search>Advanced Find.
The shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+F.

For more information, see:

Sliptick.com:
Using the Query Builder

Microsoft KB:
How to Use the Query Builder for View Filters and Advanced Searches

See all Topics

New software has just made converting pdf to text simple!
A pdf server is all you need to manage your pdf files.
You can convert pdf to word and many other files with a pdf converter!

[Edited entry from 11/10/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:30 AM

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Friday, April 11, 2008 – Permalink –

I'll let you see mine

Share it nicely

"Many home users and small businesses don't use Exchange. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to share your e-mail, appointments, contacts, tasks, and notes with other Outlook users."

Here is one of the clearest expositions of multiple users' cooperative use of Outlook, even in a very small environment.

Sharing your Outlook information
By EricLegault

For up to date information on Outlook, SharePoint, and very little about waffles, see
Eric Legault My Eggo blog.

Also see:

Slipstick.com:
Sharing Microsoft Outlook Calendar and Contacts

Sharing Microsoft Outlook on One PC

[Edited entry from 11/18/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:16 AM

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Wednesday, April 02, 2008 – Permalink –

List Your Addresses

When I find the time

Here's a simple suggestion that sounds silly to begin with, but may come in handy in the future.
Write down your email addresses!
How many do you have?

Created by an ISP when setting up an Internet connection.
Work email accounts
Club or hobby related
From any domain you’ve purchased
Email aliases created on your behalf.
Web based email addresses with Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or many others.

Remember your old AOL/CompuServe addresses?

Office-Watch.com

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Labels: Internet, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:10 AM

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Sunday, March 23, 2008 – Permalink –

Reminder - Task - E-mail

Sent from Access

A great web site for Office information is Woody Leonard's WOPR.com.

There are a couple of newsletters associated with the site including:
Woody's ACCESS Watch

A recent issue has information about sending reminders to Outlook from Access.

"If you have a table that contains a date field, and you want to make sure that something happens on that date, one way is to create an Outlook task with a reminder that will pop up on the specified date; you can even use the Outlook reminder to create an email message that will be sent on the specified date.

This article will show how to create an Outlook task from Access VBA code, and send an email message when the task's reminder fires."

The file is located on Helen Feddema's site.
Access Archon
Scroll down to #126

The zip file contains the WAW article, in Word format, plus the supporting file.

Helen Feddema has been working with Word since v. 1.1, Access since the beta of v. 1.0, and Outlook since the beta of v. 8.0 (that's where Outlook started its version numbering).

[Edited entry from 12/22/2004]

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Labels: Access, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:46 AM

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Saturday, March 22, 2008 – Permalink –

Default Save

Choose your own location

When you choose to save most Office files, the Save dialog box defaults to the Documents or My Documents folder.

(The following directions work in 2007, but you need to click on the Office button in the upper left corner of the Window)

Word: you can change the default location by going to Tools>Options. On the "File Locations" tab you can modify the storage location.
Excel: Tools>Options. On the "General" tab change the default location.
PowerPoint: uses Tools>Options and the "Save" tab.
Access: Tools>Options and the "General" tab for Databases and Projects
Publisher: Tools>Options "General".
Outlook: will make you take an underground tour into the Registry to change the location to save e-mail attachments.
FrontPage/Expression Web: appears to require the same sort of spelunking.

Change the folder where e-mail messages and attachments are saved

Also:
D.C. Everest school district Weston, WI:
Office Default Paths

If you don't want to change the default, but would like to be able to quickly go to an alternate site, open the Save or Save Attachment dialog box. On the left side of the box is the Places Navigation bar. If you click the Desktop icon, that location will be used to save the file.

You can add spots to the bar. Browse to the specific folder. Highlight the folder and click the down arrow beside the Tools option. Select "Add to My Places."

The file or e-mail attachment can then be saved where you want.

[Edited entry from 11/05/2004]

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Labels: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 7:42 AM

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 – Permalink –

Crime on the Web

What does it look like?

PC World has an article on e-mail cyber crime, with examples of the notes.

Cyber Crime

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:16 AM

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Monday, March 03, 2008 – Permalink –

Live.com Addresses

Choose your own

Tired of Hotmail, MSN, AOL, Gmail.com domain names for email addresses?

You can pick up a new address; such as MyName@Live.com.

First come etc.

Live.com email

Register Live.com

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Labels: Internet, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:10 AM

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Sunday, February 24, 2008 – Permalink –

New Windows in Outlook

How to open Multiple Windows

If you want more than one window open in Outlook (for example the InBox and Calendar), Right-click on an item on the Outlook bar and select "Open in New Window" from the context menu.

Choose Tasks and Calendar or any other combination.

You can now easily cut and paste between Outlook applications

Right click an empty area on the taskbar and select how the windows should be arranged.

[Edited entry from 12/12/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 8:55 AM

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Saturday, February 16, 2008 – Permalink –

Address Map

Display a map to an Outlook contact's address

If a contact item has an address in the United States, you can use your Internet connection and Outlook to create a map to the address. You must be connected to the Internet for this feature to work.

Open the contact item.

Next to the Address text box, click on the down arrow and select the address you want to map (Business, Home, or Other).

Then choose Actions/Display Map Of Address from the menu bar or click the Display Map Of Address button.

Your default browser opens and the map is created using Microsoft Expedia Maps.

In Outlook 2007, the Map button is on the Contact tab on the right side of the Communicate group. 2007 uses Maps.Live.com.

Outlook tips:
Outlook MVP Diane Poremsky
Customize Outlook's Map link
You can edit the registry to enable another web-based mapping service.

[Edited entry from 12/4/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 8:27 AM

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Friday, February 08, 2008 – Permalink –

Calendar Blanche

Empty days

Outlook allows you to print out your calendars.

If you just want to print a blank calendar over a specified period, here are the directions:

Blank calendar

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:27 AM

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008 – Permalink –

E-mail Access Form

Question and collection

Access 2007 has a wizard that will walk you through the process of sending an information gathering form through Outlook. The wizard is on the External Data tab in the Collect Data group.

"You begin with the Collect Data Through E-mail Messages Wizard, which guides you through the steps of creating a form.

The form is sent through Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to your recipients, with your request for new or updated information.

When the recipients reply to your message, Access automatically enters their data into your database.

Collect data by using e-mail

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Labels: Access, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:15 AM

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008 – Permalink –

Mail Your Calendar

Save a calendar as an iCalendar file

In Calendar, select a calendar to make it the active calendar in the view.
On the File menu, click Save As.
Type a name for the iCalendar file in the File name text box.
A summary of the calendar name, date range, and detail level appears next to More Options.
From the Date Range list, choose the amount of calendar data to include in the iCalendar file, or click Specify dates to enter a custom date range.
From the Detail list, choose the amount of detail to show the recipients.
Optionally, click Show to see Advanced options.
Click OK, and then click Save.

E-Mail Calendar

Share a calendar

Share Outlook

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:12 AM

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Monday, January 14, 2008 – Permalink –

Is Phishing Phat?

Hand over the keys

The scofflaws of the world are littering e-mail boxes with fake messages that look like the real thing. They're fishing for your bank account keys.

A company named MailFrontier.com has an anti-spam/anti-phishing product. They also have a collection of Phish mail with instructions about how to respond.

Email Threat Info Center

Take a phishing IQ test at SonicWALL Phishing IQ Test

(These are BabyPhat socks. As far as I know they're both real and pfat)

[Edited entry from 11/2/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:53 AM

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Sunday, December 30, 2007 – Permalink –

Meeting Methods

HEADING

More than name tags

Outlook (the big guy, not Express) has tools to facilitate
Appointments, Meetings, and Events

Here are a few of the 31 suggestions:

Turn a message into a meeting request
Update a meeting request
Automatically process requests and responses
Counter-proposals for Meeting Times
Cancel meeting if you are an attendee
Troubleshoot meetings

One of the subjects is:
Outlook meeting requests:
Essential do's and don'ts

Here are a few of the items:

If you change it, update it:: After modifying one of your own meeting requests, remember to click Send Update to send the updated request to all recipients.
Don't move meeting requests:: Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar.

Soon after a meeting request arrives in your Inbox, a piece of Outlook code -- nicknamed the "sniffer" -- automatically adds the meeting to your calendar and marks it as tentative. This is a fail-safe to keep you from missing the meeting in case you don't see the request in your Inbox. However, the sniffer doesn't reply to the meeting organizer. You still need to do that by accepting, accepting as tentative, or declining the request.

If you or a rule that you create moves an incoming meeting request from your Inbox before the sniffer can process the request, the meeting never appears in your calendar, and you might miss the meeting.
Get a fresh start:: If a meeting series requires several changes -- a new organizer, a different frequency or time slot, the addition or removal of attendees -- just cancel the series and create a new one. Don't try to modify the original meeting request.

Also:

Slipstick.com:
Scheduling Resources

Meeting Name tags

[Edited entry from 10/26/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:57 AM

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Friday, December 21, 2007 – Permalink –

Cannot Default to Outlook

Possible Vista trouble

Sometimes when Vista is installed over XP and Office 2003, there is a problem setting Outlook as the email system.

Vista wants to use Microsoft Mail.

One solution is to reinstall Office 2003, but first try this:

Make sure that Outlook is not running.
Click Start, type %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office11 in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
Locate and then right-click Outlook.exe, and then click Run as Administrator.
Click Yes to set Outlook as the default e-mail client.
Exit Outlook.

Cannot set Outlook 2003 as default e-mail

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:49 AM

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Sunday, December 16, 2007 – Permalink –

Office VBA tricks

Video + Free code

Quick tips VBA Video

"Learn tips and use sample code for several Office applications. These tips can help you to be more productive and can also be a starting point for developing your own tools, utilities and techniques."

Update Word Document Statistics in the Title Bar
Create Outlook Rules Programmatically
Delete Repeated Text Throughout a Word Document
Run Macros Based on the Value of One or More Excel Spreadsheet Cells
Disable Related Controls on a PowerPoint Slide After a User Clicks an Input Control
Display Reminder Information When a User Opens an Office Document
Synchronize an Access Main Form to a Subform and Vice Versa
Log Worksheet Changes to an XML File
Merge Body Text from Multiple Outlook E-mail Messages to a Word Document
Use the Office Assistant as an Alternative to Displaying and Retrieving User Input

Ten Tips for Office VBA Developers

[Edited entry from 10/22/2004]

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Labels: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 5:00 AM

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Thursday, December 13, 2007 – Permalink –

Info on the Desktop

Free gadget

If you use the Windows Live sidebar, this might come in handy.

Outlook Info shows information from MS Outlook; Number of emails, upcoming appointments, and tasks.

You can choose one of the build-in skins or create your own skin!

Possible to choose a folder to monitor.

Outlook Info

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 3:38 AM

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Friday, December 07, 2007 – Permalink –

Free Contact Templates

Free electronic business cards

Microsoft has 41 business card templates that can be used in Outlook.

Just download the file and edit the information.

Contact Cards

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:01 AM

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Thursday, November 29, 2007 – Permalink –

Efficient Use

Best practices

Here are some tips on improving your Outlook experience.

There's more than just email.

Tips for Outlook

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:20 AM

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Sunday, November 25, 2007 – Permalink –

Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts

Good Strokes


Check names--------------------------------------Ctrl + K or Alt + K
Check spelling-----------------------------------F7
Choose the account from which to send
  a message(with focus on the To line)
  and then TAB to the Accounts button------------Ctrl + TAB
Convert an HTML or RTF message to plain text-----Ctrl + Shift +O
Delete a mail message----------------------------Delete or Ctrl + D
Display the Address Book-------------------------Ctrl + Shift + B
Find a message ----------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + F
Find text----------------------------------------F3
Forward a message--------------------------------Ctrl + F
Go to folder-------------------------------------Ctrl + Y
Go to next mail message--------------------------Down or Up arrow
Insert signature---------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + S
Mark a message as read---------------------------Ctrl + Enter or Ctrl + Q
Move between the Folders list and message list---Tab
Open or post a new message-----------------------Ctrl + N
Open the Address Book----------------------------Ctrl + Shift + B
Open the Inbox-----------------------------------Ctrl + I
Open the Outbox----------------------------------Ctrl + O
Open the selected message------------------------Ctrl + O or Enter
Post to a folder---------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + S
Print the selected message-----------------------Ctrl + P
Reply to a message-------------------------------Ctrl + R
Reply to all-------------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + R
Send (post) a message----------------------------Ctrl + Enter or Alt + S
Send and receive mail----------------------------Ctrl + M or F5
Switch among Edit, Source, and Preview tabs------Ctrl + Tab
Switch to Inbox----------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + I
Switch to Outbox---------------------------------Ctrl + Shift + O

KC Lemson [MS]:
Outlook keyboard shortcuts

Royal National Institute of the Blind:
Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts

[Edited entry from 10/16/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:43 AM

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 – Permalink –

Mailbox Diet

Prune the fat

Microsoft provides a tutorial on the mechanics of Outlook 2007 mailboxes.

Learning how to manage your Microsoft Outlook 2007 Mailbox and keep it within a specific size limitation.

After completing this course you will be able to:

View the size of your mailbox and its folders.

Understand what makes an e-mail message big and find the size of any message.

Set up some simple processes and use tools built into Outlook to prevent e-mail pileup from happening in the first place.

Battle mailbox size

Performance problems with a large .pst file

Manage with Mailbox Cleanup

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:07 AM

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 – Permalink –

Last Name First

Phonebook style

Sort the Contacts list by the File as field.

To do this, use one of the following methods depending on the version of Outlook that you are using.

In Outlook 2007, follow these steps:

1. Start Outlook 2007.

a. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

b. Click the Address Books tab, and click Change.

c. Under Microsoft Office Outlook Address Books, click the address book that you want to change the contact display format for.

For example, Contacts: Mailbox - Personal Folders, and then click File As (Smith, John).

In Outlook 2003, follow these steps:

1 Start Outlook 2003.

a. On the Tools menu, click E-mail accounts.

b. Click View or change directories or address books, and then click Next.

c. Click Outlook Address Book, and then click Change.

d. Under Outlook Address Books, click the address book that you want to change the contact display format for. For example, Contacts: Personal Folders, and then click File As (Smith, John).

e Click Close, and then click Finish.

2. Quit and restart Outlook.

3. Verify that the newly created contacts are sorted in the LastName, FirstName format. To do this:

a. On the Tools menu, click Options.

b. Click the Preferences tab, and then click Contact Options.

c. In the Contacts Options box, click Last, First in the Default File As order list.

d. Click OK two times.

4. Edit the properties of any contacts that have the File as option configured individually. This setting overrides the setting that you made in step 1.

a. Double-click any contact that does not appear in the LastName, FirstName format in your Contacts list.

b. Click the General tab, click the down arrow next to File as, and then click Lastname, Firstname, where Lastname, Firstname is the name of the contact.

Lastname first

[Edited entry from 4/5/2005]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:07 AM

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Monday, November 05, 2007 – Permalink –

Desktop Calendar

Stare at the day

Outlook on the Desktop places your Microsoft Outlook Calendar on your desktop.

You can adjust its appearance. You can switch to Inbox, Tasks, Contacts, or Notes as well.

Double-click any item on the calendar to open in Outlook.

It works with all versions of Outlook from 2000 SR-1 forward; it also works with Vista and it's free.

Outlook on your desktop

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:05 AM

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Saturday, November 03, 2007 – Permalink –

Automation - VBA - Help File

Office Wide

"Automation (formerly known as OLE Automation) is a feature of the Component Object Model (COM), an industry-standard technology that applications use to expose their objects, methods, and properties to development tools, macro languages, and other applications.
For example, a spreadsheet application might expose a worksheet, chart, cell, or range of cells--each as a different type of object. A word processor might expose objects such as an application, document, paragraph, bookmark, or sentence.

When an application supports Automation, the objects that the application exposes can be accessed through Visual Basic. You can use Visual Basic to manipulate the objects by invoking methods or by getting and setting properties of the objects."

Here's an example:

Inserting Data into a Microsoft Word Document

With Automation code, you can open a Microsoft Word document and move to a bookmark location in the document. The following example opens a Microsoft Word document and inserts text after a bookmark.

This example assumes that you have Microsoft Word on your computer, that you have an existing document called C:\My Documents\WordTest.doc, and that the document contains a pre-defined bookmark named City.


Sub FindBMark()

   Dim wordApp As Word.Application
   Dim wordDoc As Word.Document
   Dim wordRange As Word.Range

   Set wordApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
   Set wordDoc = wordApp.Documents.Open("C:\My Documents\Wordtest.doc")

   wordApp.Visible = True

   ' Go to the bookmark named "City".
   Set wordRange = wordDoc.Goto(What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="City")
   wordRange.InsertAfter "Los Angeles"

   ' Print the document.
   wordDoc.PrintOut Background:=False

   ' Save the modified document.
   wordDoc.Save

   ' Quit Word without saving changes to the document.
   wordApp.Quit SaveChanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges

   Set wordApp = Nothing

End Sub

Microsoft Support provides an entire Help file to assist you. It includes theory and examples.

The file is called XPAutomation.chm.

Download it and then double click on the file to run it. You could also set up a shortcut on the desk top, if it will be used frequently.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 302460

This was aimed at Office 2002 but it can be used with later versions:

Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word

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Labels: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 6:45 AM

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Sunday, October 28, 2007 – Permalink –

Edit Subject line

Organization trick

By editing the subject lines of messages you receive, you can organize your mail. If you get faxes or voicemail sent to you automatically via email, you can change the subject to something that makes sense to you.

Open the message, edit the subject line, close the message and, when prompted, save the changes. The trick with this is the subject line does not look editable because it is on a grey background, but it works nevertheless.

Turn on in-cell editing and you can change the subject line without having to open the email and re-save it at all. This works best if you have the Preview Pane turned on:

Outlook 2000/2002:

From the View Menu select
Current View > Customize Current View
View Summary > Other Settings
Rows, enable the Allow In-cell Editing option.

Outlook 2003-7:

From the View Menu select
Current View
Customize Current View > Other Settings
and enable Allow In-cell Editing.

Slipstick.com:
To change the subject of an incoming message or fax

[Edited entry from 10/10/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:13 AM

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Friday, October 12, 2007 – Permalink –

Make Your Calendar Your Own

Match your own schedule

". . . did you know that the views in your calendar are fully customizable? For example, you can view your days and weeks in increments of 5 minutes, 60 minutes, and a variety of periods in between.

You can adjust the view of your calendar according to your work week and work day; for instance, you can display Sunday through Thursday and show a normal day as being 11 in the morning to 7 in the evening if you like.

Use different color schemes, and show more or less detail in your calendar. Watch the demo to see how to do all this and more."

Customize your O'o7calendar

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:35 AM

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Sunday, October 07, 2007 – Permalink –

Nickname List

Call me Ishmael

How to Reset the Nickname and Automatic Completion Cache

Microsoft Outlook maintains a nickname list that is used by both the automatic name checking and the automatic completion features. The nickname list is automatically generated as you use Outlook.
If the nickname cache is corrupted, Outlook may not be able to identify recipients, may offer incorrect recipients when automatically completing the e-mail address, or may send the message to the wrong person. You may also, just want to reset the whole list.

Quit Outlook.
Start Windows Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
Under Advanced Settings, click to select the Show hidden files and folders check box.
Click OK.
Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
In the Search for Files or Folders box, type *.NK2 in the File Name box.
In the Look In box, click to select your local hard disk.
Click Search Now.
Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile that you want to reset, and then click Rename.
Rename the file to yourname.bak, and then press ENTER.
Quit Windows Explorer.
Restart Outlook.

Outlook will generate a new nickname cache.

Knowlegebase Article 287623

Slipstick.com:
Name Resolution

Microsoft KB:
How to remove corrupted names in nickname list in Outlook.
Microsoft Outlook 2000, 98, 97

[Edited entry 10/1/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:23 AM

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Friday, September 21, 2007 – Permalink –

Getting Started in Outlook '07

Command hunter

Elsewhere we showed the links to an interactive page that shows where to find '03 commands in 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint:
Getting Started with 07.

Here is a similar one for Outlook. It's not as robust and it does not install a new tab, but it's a start.
Getting Started with Outlook 2007

Reference locations in 2007

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:22 AM

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Monday, September 10, 2007 – Permalink –

Outlook Instant Search

Search all your mail

"If you're buried in e-mail (and who isn't?), Instant Search in Outlook 2007 can save the day for you - every day. The new Instant Search helps you quickly find e-mail messages, appointments, contacts, or any Outlook item. You don't even need to know which folder the item is in. Watch the demo to see how to use this fast search feature, and start finding what you want instantly."

Instant Search Demo

More Instant Search

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 8:45 AM

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Friday, August 24, 2007 – Permalink –

Print Calendars

Good looking printouts

The standard calendar print out is dull:

The new free Calendar Assistant makes it more fun.

The Calendar Printing Assistant for Office Outlook 2007

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:50 AM

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Thursday, August 16, 2007 – Permalink –

Replace Today

Weather or not

Replace MSNBC's Outlook Today page

"For the past several years, MSNBC provided a customized Outlook Today page that added news, weather, and stocks to the Outlook Today page. They recently discontinued the service and provided instructions to uninstall it.

Not all is lost however. You can replace their news, weather, and stock feeds with feeds of your own. FrontPage offers replacement applets in the Insert, Web components menu or you can find scripts or applets on the Internet to use.

Here is a replacement page available for download. You will need to enter your own zip code or ICAO code for local weather, instructions are here. Instructions are in the HTML to change the news to feed to international or to provide sports news etc."

[Edited entry from 9/24/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:37 AM

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Tuesday, August 07, 2007 – Permalink –

Piggyback on Gmail

An added tool

Google's Gmail is free and offers some features you can use in conjunction with your email program.

Send email to Gmail
Forwarding
Gmail spam control
Centralized Email
Additional email storage

"As well as a backup, it means you can easily access your messages via Internet terminal or mobile phone. Gmail is easily searched online or indexed offline using Google Desktop Search."

Here's the article from Office Watch:
Gmail as your spam filter

Here's GMail's Fetch gadget:
How to set up Mail Fetcher

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:52 AM

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Thursday, July 19, 2007 – Permalink –

HTML Email

Formatting

Here are some guidelines for creating HTML formatted emails.

It includes suggestions on the use of inline CSS and tables.

There are also links to other sources

HTML-formatted mail message

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Labels: HTML, Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:56 AM

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Friday, July 06, 2007 – Permalink –

MS RSS feeds

Eavesdrop on the experts

RSS feeds can give you a flow of new information.

Microsoft knows the value of these web casts and provides a list of links from Access to SharePoint Server:

RSS Feeds on Microsoft Office

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Labels: Access, Addendum, Excel, Expression Web, Internet, Outlook, PowerPoint, Vista, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 7:18 AM

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007 – Permalink –

Where'da go?

Sent mail vanishes

Trying to find out why an email message does not arrive at its intended location can be difficult.

This tip is from Office-Watch.com. Look into their weekly newsletter.

Here are some suggestions:

Where could that message be?

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:54 AM

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 – Permalink –

Open to Contacts

Your choice

To create a shortcut for your Outlook Contacts folder on the desktop

Right click on an open area of the desktop
Select New / Shortcut
Enter in the path to your outlook program followed by outlook:contacts. Note the quotes are necessary:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE outlook:contacts

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:29 AM

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Friday, June 15, 2007 – Permalink –

Color Code Appointments

Red letter day

Outlook 2002+ allows you to assign colors to appointments and meetings.
To format a single appointment:

Simply right click on the event
Select Label
From here you can select from a variety of pre-selected colors

Appointments can also be Automatically formatted.

Right-click a meeting entry and choose Automatic Formatting...
Click on Add and name the Rule.
Next, click Condition and set up a Filter such as having the word "Dr" in the subject or note field.

Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:21 AM

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Sunday, June 10, 2007 – Permalink –

Spies in the Mailbox

Who'd read my mail?

"Espionage and email: as the Pentagon discovered, the two often go hand in hand. Following the arrests of two U.S. servicemen suspected of spying, the Pentagon is broadening its investigation of possible espionage activities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to CNN, at least one of the security cases has involved suspicious emails that were discovered as part of a routine monitoring process."

OutlookPower magazine has an article on the problem:

Espionage and email: tips for managing your own email archives
By Ann James

Also:
Who Owns Your Company's E-Mail?

[Edited entry from 8/13/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:42 AM

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Thursday, May 24, 2007 – Permalink –

Attachment Default Save

Set the solution

Here's how to set the default location that Outlook will use to save attachments:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

In Registry Editor, locate the following subkey in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options

On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.

Type DefaultPath, and then press ENTER.
Double-click the DefaultPath value.
In the Edit String dialog box, in the Value data box, type the path, including the drive letter, to the folder that you want to use for your Outlook saved items, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.

Office.Microsoft.com

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:04 AM

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007 – Permalink –

Custom Forms

Template collection

"At one time, Microsoft had a pretty nice collection of custom Outlook forms anyone could download. While a number of the forms are no longer available from Microsoft, a sizable collection remains. You can use these as-is or as a basis for your own custom forms."

See Slipstick.com - Sample Forms for the forms that are available.

Calendar Corporate Calendar
Expense Report
Help Desk
Holiday Card List
Job Candidates
Purchase Order Request
Real Estate Listings
Software Inventory Form
Student Attendance
Technical Repair Request
Time Card
Travel Request
Vacation Request
Web Site Listing

While they were all designed for Outlook in the Outlook 97/98 time frame, every one I've tried works with all versions of Outlook. However, the self-installers may not work due to security settings and you'll need to publish the form yourself. If you need step-by-step help to publish a form, see Outlook.net - Publish Form

.
OutlookCode.com - Send Form

OutlookCode.com - Microsoft Outlook Custom Forms

Creating and distributing custom forms with Outlook

[Edited entry from 8/4/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:06 AM

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007 – Permalink –

New Folder

Organize

If you are involved with a project, or you do a lot of work in a specific area, you may wish to create separate folders for e-mail related to that assignment.

You do not have to limit yourself to creating folders for e-mail; you can also create new Calendars or collections of Contacts.

One way to do this is to go to View>Folder list.

Select the "Root" of the directory tree, or choose a folder to create a sub-directory.

Right click the location and choose New Folder ...

Give it a name and then choose what information that folder should contain.

You can have a Contacts folder with names from a single company, or your personal list.

This way they will not be intermingled with your main collection.

You can do the same thing with personal Calendars.

Managing Outlook Folders in Office 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 from Que publishing

Microsoft Office Online:
Using Folders

[Edited entry from 7/24/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:38 AM

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Tuesday, May 01, 2007 – Permalink –

Email Fontcology

Comic vs. Arial

Does the font used in an email message color the perception of the reader?

"Summary: This study investigated the effect that a font has on the reader's perception of an email. Based on a previous study by Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox (2006), a sample email message was presented in three fonts (Calibri, Comic Sans, and Gigi). The three chosen fonts represented a high, medium, and low level of congruency for email messages.

The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email

Also:

The Personality of Fonts

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Labels: Outlook, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 7:24 AM

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007 – Permalink –

Resend Again

Send the same message

Here's how to resend a message. The intended recipient might have accidently deleted it or would just like to see it again.

Open the message. Now you'll see the correct menus:

In Outlook 2003 – look on the Actions menu.

In 2007 it's under Other Actions

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:03 AM

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Saturday, April 07, 2007 – Permalink –

Word Calendar Template

Take control

You can print a copy of your calendar in Outlook, but you don't have much control over its formatting.

Here's a solution:
Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007

Also:

"Customizable Word template for generating and printing Outlook weekly and monthly calendars.
Print any Outlook calendar that you have access to, including calendars from other users' mailboxes and Public Folders.
Add color coding by category or by type of item (one-day event, multiple-day event, etc.)
Specify time and date formats and the title for the calendar.
Freeware.

Office 2000/2002 +

See more at Slipstick.com

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 7:41 AM

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Saturday, March 31, 2007 – Permalink –

Comment Code

Edit toolbar

You'll many times want to change blocks of code to comments in VBA modules; temporarily convert a block of VBA code to comments so that it's ignored during a trial run. Inserting an apostrophe before each line of code is a bother. Office 2000+ simplifies this task by letting you convert a block of code to comments with a click of a button.

Open any module in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), and then choose View>Toolbars and choose Edit from the menu bar to display the Edit toolbar.

Select the lines of code that you want to turn into comments. Then, click the Comment Block button on the Edit toolbar (it's the sixth button in from the RIGHT end of the toolbar).
Each line of the selected code is now preceded with an apostrophe.

To convert the comments back to executable code, select the appropriate lines and click the Uncomment Block button, which is immediately to the right of the Comment Block button.
This, of course, works in any application that uses the VBE.

Ross, suggested that two or three apostrophes (sometimes called inverted commas) be placed around existing comments. When the Comment Block is used, the original comments will not be removed.

[Edited entry from 7/19/2004]

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Labels: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

<Doug Klippert@ 6:58 AM

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Friday, March 30, 2007 – Permalink –

PDF Viewer for Outlook

In situ

You can preview Office 2007 files in Outlook 2007. Now there is an add-in that will allow you to look at PDF files as well.

It also works with explorer in Windows Vista.

PDF Preview Handler for Outlook/Vista

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 5:56 AM

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Thursday, March 22, 2007 – Permalink –

Changes in 2007

Not too many

There may be some comfort in Outlook 2007. Except for composing E-mail messages, Outlook '07 uses the familier toolbar/menu UI we're used to.

There are some changes, however, and this link to MSDN explains why they were updated.

For instance:

Personal Address Book

Description: The Personal Address Book, an ANSI address book that is part of Outlook 96, is removed. The Personal Address Book was replaced by Outlook Contacts in Outlook 97. Personal Address Book entries were stored in the local computer files with the extension .pab.
Office Outlook 2007 does not support .pab files. During configuration, all contacts in the Personal Address Book are migrated to the default Outlook Contacts folder. Customers can choose to move their contacts to a different folder, or to cancel the migration and import the .pab file later.
The .pab file continues to exist in the file system, but the Personal Address Book is not accessible from Outlook. Customers cannot re-add the Personal Address Book, because Outlook does not provide this as an option in the E-mail Accounts configuration.

Reason for change: Outlook Contacts provides more functionality than .pab files.

Migration path: Office Outlook 2007 migrates the .pab file during configuration.

Changes in Outlook 2007

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:47 AM

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007 – Permalink –

vCards

Pick a card

If you wish to share information about yourself and your company when networking with others a handy solution is electronic business cards, called vCards (virtual business cards), which can be sent using Outlook 2000+.

To send a vCard to an individual, open the contact and on the Actions menu, click "Forward as vCard". Outlook attaches the contact information in a vCard file called .vcf

Note You can automatically include a vCard every time you send a message. Just add the vCard to your signature!

If you want to be able to insert a vCard in a message that you have already started, save the file for that vCard to a convenient location where you can access it.

Open the contact, on the File menu, click "Export to vCard". Specify the location where you want to save the file, and then click Save. When you want to insert the file in an item that you have opened, on the Insert menu in the item, click File, and then select the .vcf file.

In the message that contains the vCard you received, double-click the vCard attachment.
Add any other information you want about the contact, and then on the File menu, click "Save and Close".

How to Use vCard in Outlook

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: Outlook's Signature and vCard Features

Sharing Microsoft Outlook Calendar and Contacts

[Edited entry from 7/9/2004]

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:21 AM

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Tuesday, March 06, 2007 – Permalink –

Hotmail/Outlook 2003/IE7

A Solution

Some are having problems with using Outlook 2003 to access Hotmail accounts using the HTTP protocol.

It keeps asking for your password.

If you have recently upgraded to Internet Explorer version 7, here is an article that should help. Scroll to the bottom to find the Windows XP download.

Authentication fails when you use Outlook to log on to a HTTP-based mail server if you use Internet Explorer version 7.0

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Labels: Outlook

<Doug Klippert@ 6:43 AM

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30 Days Hath

One Day at a Time

Mail Your MDB-ACDB

Don't let Outlook stop you

Resend on Behalf

Alternate to Forward

Netiquette - Etiquette

Why do you need email etiquette?

Reading Pain

It's not my glasses, the print's too small!

Delete It and Mean It

Turn off the questioning

4-1-9

Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud

Change Categories

Fit people into the right peg hole

Where Do You Store Your Spam?

It's Your Mess, Clean It Up

Excel-lent E-Mail

Outlook, Excel, and VBA

Flag That Play

Dog ear your email

BCC, not your old CC

Avoid header spaghetti

Email Headers

How to read the code

Yeah, Sure, That's My Email

A lie will set you free

Protect Your Address

Keep the bots at bay

Digitally Sign

Messages

MailTo Shortcut

Just a quick note

Email Icons

Foil the spoilers

PayPal - Phishing

A tutorial

Spam - A How to Guide

Why let the sleaze balls have all the fun?

Icons - Itsy Bitsy Indicators

Icons — Itsy Bitsy Indicators

Shipping Status

Track UPS and FedEx

Match Template to Account

Set your identity

Dynamic Distribution Lists

Group the contacts

Calendar on the Web

Exchange not required

Security Prompt

Avoid the warning

Desktop Alert

Fix the timing

Fix the PST

Free toolkit

Survey Forms

Questionnaires and queries

Custom Dictionary

Spell it the way you want to!

Attachment Virus

Get over the attachment

Forward My Mail

Let it follow you around

Spam Definitions

and Other E-mail Pests

Appointment to Email

Drag and drop

Calendar Help and Tips

More answers

Stop Auto Fill-in

Do your own

Holidays

Invent your own

Countdown to Appointment

Seven days till vacation

Leave on Server?

Why does it do that?

Outlook Does Not Respond

Don't Alt-Tab