Microsoft Outlook is a great tool for managing e-mail, contacts, calendars, and tasks, but learning to use it effectively takes time and effort. To help you with this process, we have compiled several articles that focus on Outlook tips, tricks, and shortcuts. Learn to convert multiple e-mail addresses to contacts. Find out how Outlook tasks can save you time. Use signatures to personalize your sent messages and avoid repetitive typing. These are just a sample of the useful information contained within this document. Enjoy!
Setting up multiple user profiles in Outlook 98/2000................................................................................................... 9
Build your Outlook abilities with these five tips
Dec. 4, 2000
Bill Detwiler, MCP
Are you looking for a quick way to strengthen your Outlook
skills? We've got the answer with our Outlook TechMail. This daily message
contains valuable information that can save you time and effort. Below, you'll
find five examples of what the Outlook TechMail has to offer. Get tips on how
to schedule meetings, set up distribution lists, manage multiple e-mail boxes,
and much more all delivered straight to your Inbox—absolutely free. Sign up for
the Outlook TechMail today!
It's all in the Details
Although your users may be familiar with Outlook's Tasks
folder, they may not be taking full advantage of this feature. While the
default information is usually sufficient for a task, users can also enter
helpful information on the task form's Details tab.
Introduce your users to the Details tab, and they can become even more productive. Here's some of the information they can keep track of:
·
Date Completed—This box's default is
None. But when the task is completed, open the drop-down calendar and select
the completion date. When you do so, Outlook automatically sets the Status box
on the Task tab to Completed and the % Complete box to 100 percent.
·
Total Work—Use this box to estimate the
total amount of time required to complete the task.
·
Actual Work—Keep track of the time
actually spent on the task. Over time, you can use the Total Work and the
Actual Work boxes as a resource for comparison.
·
Mileage—This box keeps track of the
number of miles traveled in connection with the task. This can be very helpful
for those who are reimbursed for travel costs.
·
Billing Information—Use this box for
any information related to billing, such as the hourly rate to be charged.
·
Companies—Enter the names of
organizations associated with the task, such as the name of the client for whom
the task is being performed.
Send a task request to a group
Here's another tip about Outlook's task feature to pass on
to your users. If they want to send a task request to a group of people, they
could create identical requests for each person. But that's not very efficient.
A better way is to create a task and save the task as an Outlook template.
To do so, simply create the task request and save it. In the
Save As dialog box, choose Outlook Template (*.oft) from the Save As Type
drop-down list.
Having created the template, your users can now easily
create identical tasks to send to several people. Or, they can create a
distribution list and send the task to the list. Keep in mind that if a task is
sent to more than one person, Outlook cannot update you with each person's
progress.
What are COM add-ins?
If you travel in more advanced Outlook circles—or even if
you've simply explored the Tools | Options | Advanced Options dialog box—you
may be wondering what COM add-ins are. Put simply, Component Object Model
add-ins are programs written by third-party developers, administrators, and
even some sophisticated end users to extend the functionality of Outlook. You
might think of them as heavy-duty macros.
You can write a COM add-in for tasks such as creating new
toolbars or performing mass search-and-replace operations on Contacts items.
With COM add-ins, you can add a wide variety of features to Outlook that it
doesn't have natively. COM add-ins are also versatile: All the Office 2000
applications support them, and many COM add-ins can be run in multiple
applications or across applications. COM add-ins can be created in almost any
development tool environment, such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, and
others. They're registered as executable files (.exe) or dynamic link library
files (.dll) and they're added onto the Office 2000 applications you wish to
use them in.
There are some advantages to using COM add-ins instead of
regular macros. They're easier to deploy to multiple users. You can also
install as many COM add-ins as you like—but only one VBA module. But be
careful: COM add-ins can be fast, but improperly written ones also run the risk
of crashing the host application (i.e., Outlook).
Send your Tasks list to a colleague
A reader recently asked how to send a picture of a Tasks
list to a colleague who isn't running Outlook. The reader was able to create a
sorted, filtered list that was just how she wanted it—but then couldn't figure
out a way to send it.
Fortunately, Windows offers a handy trick. Here's what to
do: Open the Tasks list and sort and filter it the way you want it. Maximize
the window and then press the [Print Scrn] button on the keyboard. This copies
an image of the current screen to the clipboard, and you can paste it from
there into a Word document or even an HTML message.
But before you take advantage of this tip, here's something
to keep in mind. There are two reasons why you'll want to make sure you
maximize the Tasks folder before pressing the [Print Scrn] button:
1. If
the list is long, the recipient won't be able to scroll to any items that
didn't fit on the screen at the time you took the picture. Maximizing it
includes as many items as possible in the picture.
2. [Print
Scrn] will grab the entire screen. If you have some embarrassing personal information
in another window at the same time, it will also appear in the image—unless you
maximize the Tasks folder.
Find what you're looking for
In Outlook 97, there was just one Find tool. It was powerful
and flexible, but users complained that it was too complicated. Outlook 98 and
2000, however, offer users a basic Find tool, which is backed up by an Advanced
Find tool for times when the basic tool isn't sufficient for your needs.
Let's take a moment to review some of the basics of how the
Advanced Find tool searches for words.
·
If you type TechRepublic as your search
term, Outlook will find all items that contain the phrase
"TechRepublic."
·
If you type Tech, Republic as your
search term, Outlook will find all items that contain "Tech" or
"Republic."
·
You only need to use quotation marks if
you're searching for a phrase that includes punctuation, such as "Murder,
she wrote."
·
Outlook will automatically find most
plural versions of the words you enter—but it's not always able to find
irregular forms. For example, if you enter tooth, it won't find messages that
include the word "teeth."
Outlook training: Convert multiple e-mail addresses
to Contacts
Sept. 5, 2000
Beth Blakely
If you've ever had to send the same reply to multiple
e-mails, or you've just been lackadaisical about saving new addresses in your
Contacts folder, this trick will brighten your day. And, if you've got a
classroom full of salespeople or other professionals who receive lots of
e-mail, they'll love you for giving them this bit of knowledge.
First, let's set the scene. Suppose you're Fred the widget
salesman whose Web site has generated tons of responses to a sales ad that
mistakenly offered 12 widgets for $1. You now have an Inbox full of e-mails
that you must respond to with the same correction message. Should you send each
one separately? No! Should you copy and paste each address into a new message
window? No!
You could take the time to open each message, right-click on
the sender's address, and choose Add To Contacts. But that would take forever,
and those addresses would become jumbled with the addresses of others who are
already on your Contacts list but don't need to be notified.
Extracting senders' addresses from multiple messages
There is a better solution. To prepare to extract the
addresses from the e-mails, you'll first want to move them into a separate
folder. Once you've moved them, you're ready to perform the steps below.
To export the messages to an Excel spreadsheet using the
Import and Export Wizard:
1. Click
on the File menu and choose Import And Export.
2. Choose
Export To A File and click Next.
3. Choose
Microsoft Excel and click Next.
4. Select
the folder containing the messages and click Next.
5. Click
the Browse button, navigate to where you want to save the exported file, name
it, click OK and click Next.
6. Click
Finish.
At this point, you've successfully transferred the contents
of the folder into an Excel file. It's now an Excel database containing all the
information that was stored in the messages—including names and e-mail
addresses of the senders.
Reincarnated: Creating contacts from exported messages
Now you're ready to move the information back into Outlook,
but this time you'll map the data in the Excel file so that the Name fields and
e-mail address fields are properly stored in the Contacts form. Before you
import the data, you'll want to create a new folder under your Contacts to
store these specific addresses. Then:
1. Click
on the File menu and choose Import And Export.
2. Choose
Import from another program or file and click Next.
3. Choose
Microsoft Excel and click Next.
4. Click
Browse, navigate to the Excel file, click OK, and click Next.
5. Click
on the new Contacts folder you created and click Next.
6. Click
Map Custom Fields.
7. Click
and drag the FromName field from the From Microsoft Excel box on the left to
the Name field in the To Microsoft Outlook box on the right.
8. Click
and drag the FromAddress field from the From Microsoft Excel box on the left to
the e-mail field in the To Microsoft Outlook box on the right.
9. Click
OK and click Finish.
By mapping the FromName field in the Excel document to the
Name field in the To Microsoft Outlook area, you're letting Outlook know that
the Name information is stored in a field of a different name in the incoming
information. That's where it will pull that information out of the Excel
database you created when you exported the information.
You should find new contacts of the messages' senders are
stored in the new Contacts folder. You can now open a new mail message, click
the To: button, and choose New Contact List (or whatever you named your new
Contacts folder) in the Show Names From The: drop-down list. It will be listed
below your default Contacts folder. Then click the first name on the list, hold
down the Shift key, and click the last name on the list. This should highlight
all the names. You can then click the To button to address the message to all
the contacts. If you want them all to receive the message, but not be able to
view one another's e-mail addresses, click the Bcc button instead to send blind
carbon copies.
Once you've mastered this technique, you'll find more
practical ways to use the Import and Export Wizard as well as the Map Custom
Fields function to save time and cut down on repetitive tasks.
Outlook training: Use Rules to get organized fast
Aug. 22, 2000
Beth Blakely
Wouldn't it be great if we could establish exact rules of
behavior for common occurrences in our lives? For example, "Let the cat
out every night at 10:00 P.M.," or "Feed fish at noon and 6:00
P.M." Unfortunately, we can't program the real world to work that way.
Outlook, however, offers us a taste of that carefree organization with its
Rules feature.
Wouldn't your students like to automatically flag messages
from their boss for follow-up; redirect messages to a group of committee
members; or move messages to a particular folder based on who sent them? Rules
allow users to do these things as messages arrive in their mailboxes. A rule is
a set of actions, conditions, and exceptions that process and organize
messages.
Each
rule consists of three elements:
·
One or more conditions that specify the
message that the rule is supposed to apply to.
·
One or more actions that specify what
should be done with the qualifying messages.
·
One or more exceptions that specify
which messages won't be affected by the rule.
The following is a list of ways to use Rules as suggested by Outlook's help files. When you create Rules, you can specify that Outlook apply them either as messages arrive or when you send a message. You can also have Outlook apply Rules to messages already in your Inbox or other folders.
Examples
of rules you can create:
·
Assign categories to messages based on
the contents of the messages.
·
Set up a notification, such as a
message or a sound, when important messages arrive.
·
Move messages to a particular folder
based on who sent them.
·
Delete messages in a conversation.
·
Flag messages from a particular person.
·
Assign categories to your sent messages
based on the contents of the messages.
·
Delay delivery of messages by a
specified amount of time.
·
Redirect a message to a person or
distribution list.
·
Ask the server to automatically reply
to a certain type of message by using a message you’ve created.
·
Start an application.
How to get started
Perhaps the easiest way to create a rule is to use a message
as a sort of template. You can then create a rule based on the properties of
that message by doing the following:
1. Click
on a received message in your Inbox (do not open it).
2. Click
the Organize button on the Advanced toolbar.
3. Select
Using Folders.
4. Verify
that the name of the sender's address is correct in the Create A Rule To Move
Messages From line.
5. Choose
the folder into which you want to move messages from that recipient.
6. Click
Create.
Create rules using the Rules Wizard
You also may create a rule based on a message by using the
Rules Wizard. To access the Wizard, you may:
·
Open the message the rule will be based
on.
·
Click the Actions menu and choose
Create Rule.
·
Follow the instructions in the Rules
Wizard, checking all boxes next to the parameters that apply to each question.
Be careful not to choose unnecessary or conflicting
parameters, as that will cause the rule to fail. A message must meet all the
criteria you set for it in order for the rule to work.
If you'd like to run the rule on the messages in your Inbox,
select the Run This Rule Now On The Messages Already In check box in the last
dialog box of the Rules Wizard.
Double jeopardy: What rules apply first?
If you've created several rules and a particular message
meets the criteria for two or more rules, you may wonder which will be applied
first. The answer is, "The one that comes first." But which is that?
To find out, first click on the Tools menu and choose Rules Wizard. You'll see
a list of all the rules you've created.
To change the order in which the rules are applied, move
them up or down in the list by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. Rules
that are marked Client Only are applied after all other rules (no matter where
they are in the list) and are only active when Outlook is running. An example
of a Client Only rule is one that plays a particular sound when a message from
your boss arrives.
Rules at your beck and call
From the Rules Wizard, you can also specify whether the rule
runs automatically or manually. For the most part, you'll want to run your
rules automatically so you won't even have to think about them. But the
advantage of running rules manually is that you can apply them to messages
already delivered to your Inbox or to another folder.
To
run rules manually:
1. Click
the Inbox icon in the folder list or the Outlook bar.
2. Click
the Tools menu and choose Rules Wizard.
3. Click
the Run Now button.
4. Select
each rule you wish to run now by clicking the check box next to it.
5. Click
the Browse button to change the folder you're running the rules on.
6. Check
the Include Subfolders box if you want to include folders within your selected
folder.
7. Click
the Apply Rules To list, and select All, Unread, or Read to indicate the type
of messages on which you want to run the rules.
8. Click
the Run Now button.
No rule is just right: Modifying or deleting rules
It's easy to change an existing rule. Simply access the
Rules Wizard from the Tools menu or the Rules Wizard button on the Advanced
toolbar, click on the rule you want to change, and click Modify. From that
point, you can follow the Wizard as you did when you created the rule, changing
any part you wish.
It's equally easy to delete a rule. Simply reopen the Rules
Wizard, select the rule you wish to delete, and click the Delete button.
If you don't want to delete a rule, but you want to turn it
off for a while, simply clear the check box next to the rule in the Rules
Wizard dialog box. It will remain inactive until you replace the check mark.
Sharing rules with other Outlook users
It is possible to import or export rules just as you would
with Outlook's Contacts. This can be useful when helping a new employee or
teaching fellow workers about Outlook's features.
When you import rules, they are added to the end of the list
of rules in the Rules Wizard, where you can modify them if necessary. When you
export rules, they are saved with an .rwz file extension. For more information
about importing or exporting rules, search Outlook's help files or visit
Microsoft's Web site to find out “How to: Export a set of rules to a file in
Outlook 2000” (http://support.microsoft.com/support/ServiceWare/Outlook/Out2000/E9ZUM2LFO.ASP)
or “How to: Import a set of rules in Outlook 2000” (http://support.microsoft.com/support/ServiceWare/Outlook/Out2000/E9ZUM3243.ASP).
Ready for greater challenges?
If you've mastered the basics of the Rules Wizard, or you
want to create a rule that it simply can't support, read “How to Create a
Custom Rule Using Visual Basic for Applications” (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q235/8/52.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=1)
from the Microsoft Web site. The article describes how to get started by
setting up a simple rule.
If you're using Outlook 98 or an even earlier version, you
may also need to use Visual Basic for Applications to create rules whose
actions are supported only in Outlook 2000. Those actions include:
·
Redirecting an e-mail message to a
person or a distribution list.
·
Forwarding the message as an attachment
in another message.
·
Asking the server to reply to a certain
type of message by using a message you've created.
·
Printing a message.
·
Starting a program.
·
Deleting items permanently.
Setting up multiple user profiles in Outlook 98/2000
May 18, 2000
Bill Detwiler, MCP
What's become the biggest reason to install a PC in most
organizations? E-mail. A problem with e-mail, however, is that in some
instances, more than one user accesses the network using the same PC. This
dilemma can be remedied by setting up multiple user profiles within Outlook
98/2000, and with a little planning and preparation, it can be done easier than
one, two, three.
Before beginning, there is information you will need to
know, and this will depend on how your e-mail system works. Because my
organization uses Microsoft Exchange servers, I've based the following tips on
that system. Your system may require different information, but the basic setup
process is the same. To properly configure Outlook profiles, you must know the
user's Microsoft Exchange server and the user's mailbox name. With this
information in hand, you're ready to go.
The
wizard knows
To begin, open the Microsoft Outlook Setup Wizard by clicking on Start, choose
Settings, select Control Panel, and double-click Mail. If you're working on a
machine with no current Outlook profile, the setup wizard, shown in Figure A, will appear automatically. If
the machine already has Outlook profile(s) set up, you'll need to click Show
Profiles and Add from the Properties window that appears. You may bypass these
multiple clicks by right-clicking on the Microsoft Outlook desktop icon and
clicking Properties. However, this will only work if the desktop icon is not a
shortcut. An Outlook icon is usually placed on the desktop during installation,
but not always.
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Figure A: You configure multiple user
profiles with Outlook's Setup Wizard. |
Place a check mark next to Microsoft Exchange Server and
click Next. Enter an appropriate Profile Name and click Next again. The Profile
Name can be anything the user wants, but I would recommend using a standard
format throughout your organization. (We try to make a user's profile name
match the mailbox name.)
Enter the user's Microsoft Exchange server and Mailbox, as
shown in Figure B. When you click
Next, the wizard will ask if the user travels with the PC. This option is used
for configuring offline access to Outlook. Since most users don't travel with
their PCs, we always select No. (Offline access can always be configured later
if needed.)
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Figure B: You'll have to know the names of
your Microsoft Exchange server and the user's mailbox. |
Click Next and then Finish to close the Setup Wizard. You
should be returned to the Mail setup window. At this point, highlight the
profile name you just created and click Properties. Click Properties again.
Click the Advanced tab and look at the Logon Network Security: setting. Change
this option to "None," as shown in Figure C.
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Figure C: Setting Logon Network Security to
"None" is an important detail when two or more users share a PC
that is rarely powered off. |
|
With this change in place, the system will prompt each user
for his or her NT logon ID and password when starting Outlook. This detail is
important when multiple people share a common PC that is rarely powered off.
The PC may have a shared ID or the user wanting to open Outlook may not be
logged on to the PC. Click OK, then OK again, and you should be returned to the
Mail setup window. Click Close, and you've just finished adding a new Outlook
profile. To add more profiles, simply repeat this process for each new user.
Finally, you must set up Outlook to prompt for a profile
when starting. Open Outlook with the default profile. To find this setting,
click Start, select Settings, choose Control Panel, and select Show Profiles
under Mail. Once in Outlook with the Inbox open, open the Tools menu, choose
Options, and then select the Mail Services tab. You'll see the Startup Settings
shown in Figure D. On my machine, I
activate the Always Use This Profile option because no one else uses my PC. For
your machines that will be used by two or more people, make sure Prompt For A
Profile To Be Used is selected and click OK. Exit Outlook, and the next time
the application is launched, the user will be prompted to choose a profile.
Multiple users can now work from a single PC on your network.
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Figure D: Under Startup Settings, be sure to
select the Prompt For A Profile To Be Used option. |
Save time and keystrokes by using Outlook's signatures
Jeff Davis
I'm a fanatic about doing things the fastest and most efficient way possible. So, I was embarrassed when I recently realized I've been wasting lots of time when I send or reply to e-mail messages: I'd been typing my closing salutation from scratch! Now, I use Outlook's Signature feature to sign my messages. If you and your users aren't already taking advantage of this feature, you'll want to get the word out and let the timesaving begin.
Sign
off automatically or on demand
I
usually end my e-mail messages by typing this basic signature:
Sincerely,
Jeff Davis
Community Editor
SupportRepublic
If I'm replying to e-mail sent to Support@TechRepublic.com,
I add "SupportReply" to the bottom of that signature. I have a mail
rule that places a copy of messages containing that term in the Support
mailbox's Sent folder. (See "Pop Quiz Solution: How to automatically file
sent messages" [http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=/tip/r00319990827jed06.htm].)
Now, I've configured Outlook to automatically insert my
basic signature when I create new messages. In addition, I've defined a special
signature that I insert on an as-needed basis when I reply to a message in the
Support Inbox. Here's how to create your own custom e-mail signatures.
Creating a new signature
1. In
Outlook, open the Tools menu and choose Options.
2. When
the Options dialog box appears, click the Mail Format tab.
3. Click
Signature Picker as shown in Figure E.
4. When
the Signature Picker dialog box appears, click New.
5. When
the Create New Signature dialog box appears, enter a name for the signature.
For instance, as Figure F shows, I
named my standard reply "SincerelyJeff." Click Next to continue.
6. The
next step is to enter and format the text for your signature. Start by entering
the basic text, as shown in Figure G.
You can use the Edit Signature dialog box's Font button to create a fancy,
multicolor, multifont e-mail signature. Click Finish to save this signature.
7. When
the Signature Picker dialog box appears again, you'll see the icon for the
signature you just created, as shown in Figure
H. Click OK to close this dialog box.
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Figure E: In the Mail Format tab, click
Signature Picker to get started. |
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Figure F: You can create and store multiple
signatures, so you'll need to give each signature a meaningful name. |
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Figure G: You can enter plain text or use the
Font button (or an external editor) to customize your signature with special
colors or fonts. |
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Figure H: Once you've formatted the
signature, you can use this dialog box to edit it, remove it, or add a new
signature. |
Automating
the signature
You can decide whether Outlook automatically inserts one of
your signatures. Just select Options from Outlook's Tools menu, click the Mail
Format tab, and pick one of the options in the Use This Signature By Default
drop-down list. Figure I shows the
options on my system after I created a second signature, SupportReply. If you
select the <None> option, you'll have to insert your signatures manually.
Figure J shows what a new message
looks like when Outlook inserts a signature automatically.
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Figure I: If you want to insert a signature
automatically when you create a new message, choose it from the Signature
list. Otherwise, select <None>. (The Don't Use When Replying Or
Forwarding check box lets you decide whether Outlook inserts the signature
when you reply to a message or forward it.) |
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Figure J: Here's what a new message looks
like when you've configured Outlook to insert a signature by default. |
Manually
inserting a signature
If you decide you don't want to automatically insert a signature
under any circumstance, you can still save keystrokes by inserting a signature
on an as-needed basis. To do so, just open the Insert menu and choose the
Signature option. When you do, you'll see a list of existing signatures like
the one shown in Figure K.
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Figure K: The Insert menu's Signature option
lets you add one of your predefined signatures on a case-by-case basis. |
Save time by converting an Outlook note to a task request
Oct. 20, 1999
Jeff Davis
Do you and your users keep Outlook running throughout your
work day? If so, you probably use the handy Notes feature to write reminders to
yourself or to document the telephone calls you receive.
But suppose that, as you're typing the note to yourself, you
decide you really need to convert the note to a task request. In those cases,
you'll want to use this tip to save valuable time.
Drop the note onto Tasks
This tip is straightforward. To convert any note to a task
request, just drag the note onto the Tasks icon. Outlook will copy the first
line of the note into the Subject field of the task request.
Here's how it works. Figure
L shows a sample message I created to document a telephone call from my
manager. (To create a note, press [Ctrl][Shift]N, or open the Notes folder and
click the New icon, or open Outlook's File menu, select New, and then choose
Note.) Figure M shows what the note
looks like after I closed it.
Using the Notes feature to keep a record of conversations is
one thing, but I like putting my action items in task requests. Assuming you've
activated Outlook's Folders view, you convert a note to a task request by
dragging it onto the Tasks folder.
Figure
N shows the task request that Outlook automatically
generated. The nice thing about creating a task request in this manner is that
you don't have to retype any of the text—it flows directly from the note into
the task request. All you have to do is fill in the other important details
about the task request, such as date and time due, priority, and so on.
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Figure L: Here's a typical note I wrote to
remind myself of a phone conversation. |
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Figure M: The closed note looks like this in
the Notes folder's small icon view. |
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Figure N: When you drop a note onto the Tasks
folder, Outlook converts the first line of the note to the subject for the
new task request. |
The quick and easy way to save Outlook messages in a file
Feb. 28, 2000
Jeff Davis
You have 22 e-mail messages from customers and your manager
wants you to assemble those messages in a single document. What do you do?
Open each message individually and copy and paste the text?
Nope. Fire up the Import/Export Wizard? Think again. Here's a quick and easy
tip for putting those messages directly into a text file.
It's Save As to the rescue
I'll demonstrate this tip using Outlook 98. Here's how it
works. Pick any folder and start selecting the messages you want to save in a
file. If all of the messages are in a row, you can hold down the [Shift] key
while you press [Down Arrow] to select the messages. If the messages aren't all
in a row, hold down the [Ctrl] key while you click on the messages you want to
process. When you've selected your messages, your Outlook folder will look like
the one in Figure O.
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Figure O: The first step is to select the
messages you want to save in a file. |
Next, open the File menu and choose the Save As option. When
you do, the Save As dialog box will open and prompt you to enter a filename.
There's only one option for the file type (.txt). Click Save, and Outlook saves
the messages you'd selected in a text file. Use Word (or any other text editor)
to open that file, and you'll see results like those shown in Figure P.
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Figure P: Here's what the messages look like
when you open the text file. |
Solving the mystery of disappearing messages in Outlook 98/2000 under Exchange Server
Jan. 27, 2000
Bill Detwiler, MCP
If you've experienced disappearing e-mail in Outlook
98/2000, you are not alone. Recently, several users in my organization noticed
they were losing e-mail messages from their Outlook Inboxes.
At first, I thought this problem was an Exchange Server
issue, but after careful scrutiny, the Exchange administrators could find
nothing unusual. I was tempted to conclude that this problem was just another
mysterious Outlook 98/2000 "feature." Once I took a closer look at
what these worried users had in common, however, another explanation emerged.
It's all in the profile
The users who were losing messages had one thing in common:
Each had just created a new Outlook profile on a secondary PC. These profiles
would be used to remotely access their Outlook accounts and had been configured
while these secondary computers were not connected to the LAN. This scenario
caused Outlook to configure the Delivery Location for new messages to the
default Private Folders option, as shown in Figure Q. (To get to this dialog box with Outlook 98 running, open
the Tools menu and choose Services.)
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Figure Q: If the delivery option is set to
Private Folders, some remote users may wind up missing some of their messages. |
To properly receive mail, the Delivery Location should have
been configured for the user's Exchange mailbox. When a user opens an Exchange
mailbox with the Private Folders delivery location enabled, all Inbox mail
located on the server is transferred to the PC's hard drive. That configuration
causes the mail to disappear from the user's Inbox when the user logs on from
his or her primary PC—even though that system is configured correctly.
Change the profile before launching Outlook
The remedy for this problem was pretty straightforward. The
users accessed the network from their secondary PCs and then—before starting
Outlook—changed the Delivery Location to use their Exchange mailbox.
But how do you change your mail settings without launching
Outlook? There are two ways:
·
Right-click on the Outlook desktop icon
(not a shortcut to Outlook, but the program's icon itself). Choose Properties
from the context menu.
·
Open the Control Panel and select Mail.
Each option displays the Mailbox Properties dialog box, like
the one shown in Figure R. After my
users specified their personal folders as the delivery location, they were then
able to open their Outlook Inboxes both locally and remotely with no problems.
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Figure R: Users must change the delivery
location for new mail before they launch Outlook. |
Three ways to count specific messages in an Outlook Inbox
Oct. 13, 1999
Jeff Davis
Do your users submit requests by e-mail for nonemergency tech support needs? If so, you probably maintain a single Inbox for all those requests. Keeping all those messages is a great way to document the activities of the tech support staff. That Inbox contains information such as which users are making the most requests and which problems are reported the most often—but how do you get that information out?
Here at TechRepublic, I'm responsible for replying to
messages sent to support@techrepublic.com. The majority of those messages come
from people submitting their solutions to our weekly Pop Quiz. Recently, my
manager asked me which quiz topic has generated the most messages.
I came up with a few ways to generate those numbers.
However, if you know of a better way, please e-mail me and tell me all about
it.
Consistent subjects make it easy to count messages
It's easy to count the messages in an Inbox from a
particular sender because you can sort the messages by the From column.
However, sorting and counting messages by subject is a little trickier because
it requires consistent entries in the Subject field. When our customers click
the Submit Your Solution link in our Pop Quiz articles, we embed in the e-mail
message a subject that identifies that particular quiz, which makes it easy to
find and count those messages later. (To embed a subject in a mailto link, use
the format: mailto:recipient@address.com?subject=Embedded%20subject. Most e-mail programs will recognize the ?subject= code
and create a new message with "Embedded subject" in the subject
field. The code %20 returns a space.) One way to make your tech support e-mail
requests easier to manage is to instruct your clients to enter subjects from a
specific list, such as Software, Monitor, CPU, Keyboard, Mouse, E-mail, or
Other. Then, you can count the number of times your users requested help with a
particular component.
The sort-and-count approach
The first approach I tried was to sort the messages in the
Support Inbox by the Subject field and count them manually on-screen. For
instance, I wanted to know how many messages contained the subject "Disk
drive quiz," so I sorted the messages on the Subject field as shown in Figure S. Then, I started counting and
pressing [Down] until I got to the last message whose subject was "Disk
drive quiz."
That's an admittedly very low-tech way to do it. But it gave
me the number I needed and it didn't take forever.
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Figure S: One way to determine specific
records is to sort them and count them manually. |
The sort-and-copy-to-a-new-folder approach
If you don't like the idea of manually counting records, you
can always copy certain records into a new "dummy" or work folder.
When you select that folder, the number of items it contains will appear in
Outlook's status bar.
It's easy to create a new dummy folder. Just right-click on
any folder and choose New. Then, name the new folder "Dummy" or
"Work." Next, sort the records in the source folder by the From or
Subject field. Click once on the first message you want to copy, scroll down to
the last message you want to copy, and hold down the [Shift] key while you
click on that message. Outlook will select all the messages in between.
Press [Ctrl]C to copy those messages, then open the dummy
folder and press [Ctrl]V to paste those messages into that folder. At that
point, the number of items in that folder will appear in the Outlook status
bar. This low-tech approach only lets you count one batch of messages at a
time. However, sometimes you'll want to store a batch of messages in a separate
public folder to allow others in your organization to find them.
The export-to-an-Excel-sheet approach
Here's the approach I like best. I use Outlook's Export
feature to create an Excel file that contains the fields from the messages in
the Inbox. Then, I use spreadsheet tools to analyze the data. Here's how it
works:
·
In Outlook, open the File menu and
select Import And Export to launch the Import And Export Wizard.
·
Select Export To A File and click Next.
·
Choose Microsoft Excel (or whatever
data format you want to use) and click Next.
·
Navigate to the Outlook folder that
contains the messages you want to export.
·
Accept and note the default name for
the output file or specify a new name, then click Next.
·
When the final screen appears, click
Finish to complete the export process.
At this point, open the spreadsheet and delete any columns
that you don't care about. In this case, I deleted all the columns except
Subject. To generate subtotals by subject, start by sorting the Subject column
alphabetically. Next, copy the value 1 into each cell in the adjacent column,
as shown in Figure T.
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Figure T: Once you've exported your messages
into a format such as Microsoft Excel, you're free to delete any columns you
don't need and add new ones. |
With this setup, I opened the Data menu, selected Subtotals,
and subtotaled the Counts column—the column that contains the 1s—based on the
entries in the Subject column. As Figure
U shows, you can tell at a glance how many messages we've received for a
given quiz topic.
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Figure U: The Data menu's Subtotals feature
makes it easy to subtotal messages by subject. |
