Tips & Tricks: Outlook 2007

Posted on 01-08-2008

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Outlook 2007 is the latest version of popular PIM application from Microsoft and comes bundled with Office 2007. This email client is versatile, powerful and is omni-present on 80 per cent of the desktops running Windows platform. Below are some tips that will enable you to exploit its features in the best possible manner.

Colour Categories

Once you have hundreds of mails in your Inbox, sorting them using regular methods become a pain and that’s when Color categories come handy. To set a colour category, click in the blank checkbox next to each mail under the Category column. A default colour will be set to the mail. To change this colour, right-click on a mail, click categories and choose a colour. Select a colour and left-click on all the mails you want to set the colour to.

To create shortcuts to colour categories, Right-click on a mail and choose Categorize > All Categories. Select the colours you’d like to use. Click on each of the colours, and choose a shortcut for each colour from the drop-down menu on the right. Now you can simply select one or more mails and use the shortcut you’ve chosen for the colour to assign the colour category to the selection.

Creating A Search Folder

Similar to a favourites folder, Outlook 2007 has something similar called as the Search folder; it will filter mails according to some set criteria. To create a search folder, Right-click on the Search Folders icon in the left pane. Click “New Search Folder” scroll down and select the “Create a custom Search Folder” option and click Choose. Start by given a name to the Search Folder. Click on the Criteria button to add keywords. Enter the necessary details and click Ok. Click Ok twice and your search folder will be created. For searching the mails you just access the search folder and don’t have to search them manually.

Changing The Time Period For Tasks

When you create new tasks using the text field in the Task window, the task is set for a default time and date. To extend the task period from the default amount of time, you can always double-click the task and make all the necessary changes there. An easier and interactive alternative is available. First switch to the Day/Week/Month view by selecting View > Current View. Here, you will see tasks as highlighted blocks. Click the outer edges of the blocks and drag it till the time you want the task or appointment to be set.

Setting Up Multiple Signatures

Sometimes you require to use different signatures for different purposes. Outlook allows you to create and switch between signatures with a couple of clicks. Click on the Insert tab on the Ribbon, and click on the Signature button. Here, click on the signature of your choice. If you have no signatures created, click on “Signatures…” Click the New button to create a new one. Give a name to the signature and then enter the signature details, and use the formatting tools made available. Once done, click Save, and click New again to create more signatures. Click OK to save them and return to the mail composing window.

Avoid Repeating Text

You probably have our own little ways of saying Hello or Goodbye, or maybe a casual signature, which you follow when you compose mails. Knowing that you use that same set of sentences over and over again, Outlook 2007 has a feature called Quick Parts, which lets you save such sentences so you can use them later. While writing a mail, highlight the text you want to save. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon. Click on Quick Parts and click “Save selection to Quick Parts gallery”. To access any of the selections you saved, click on the Quick Parts button again and choose a selection.

Showing All The Navigation Pane Buttons

The navigation pane at the left is the easiest way to access the various components of Outlook 2007. By default, the number of items is limited to only the two or three prominent features. To show all the features buttons, click on the drop-down icon in the Navigation Pane at the left. Click on “Show more buttons”, and an item will appear on the Navigation Pane. Follow the steps over and over till all the items you need are added.

Hide Panels

Outlook has traditionally been short of working space due to all the features. Outlook 2007 combats that by allowing you to quickly hide panels that are not required. The To-Do bar and the Navigation panel, which take most of the space, can slide away to a minimal bar with just icons when you click the Minimize arrow icon on each pane. All the features can still be accessed by clicking the little icons in the pane. Clicking the headings for the panes now only brings the panels out temporarily; they automatically go back when you click on something else.

Import And Export News Feeds

Click on the RSS Feeds folder in the left pane. A Web page will load with some recommended feeds. You can click on the links to add any of these feeds to Outlook. To add your own feeds, right-click on the RSS Feeds folder, and click “Add a New RSS feed”. Enter the URL for the feed and click Add. If you’ve been using other RSS feed readers and want to get those feeds into Outlook, first export the feed list to the OPML format using your usual RSS feed reader. In Outlook, right-click on the RSS Feeds folder and click “Import an OPML file”. Click Choose and point to the OPML file. Click Next, and choose the feeds you wish to import into Outlook. Click Next again and then Finish to finish the import process.