Outlook Tips

Tip 550: Junk mail filter stops working

2008-09-23T04:30:00Z

A recent update caused Outlook 2003’s junk mail filter to stop working. While you could uninstall updates, try Detect and Repair first. It many cases it will fix the problem. Restarting Outlook or rebooting the computer may also fix problems caused by updates.

In fact, any time something stops working as expected try Detect and Repair or Office Diagnostics (Outlook 2007) first. You’ll find them on the Help menu.

Tip 549: Save Sent Items

2008-09-22T04:23:00Z

I get quite a few questions from users who have a personal and business email account configured in their profile. They want to store Sent items in different folders based on the account that was used to send the message.

While this is an easy problem to fix, the administrator in me has to mention that its better to use separate Outlook profiles or even a different email client (such as Outlook Express or web mail) for personal email.

If you insist on using one profile, create an “after sending” rule to copy mail sent through the personal account in one folder and mail sent through the business account in another folder. You’ll also need to turn off the option to save sent mail in the Sent folder (Tools, Options, Email options), otherwise you’ll also have a copy in the Sent folder.

Note that there is one flaw with this method – if Outlook can’t find the folder named in the rule, no copy will be saved. This isn’t a problem for PST or cached mode Exchange but can be a problem for IMAP or online Exchange accounts if the network connection is slow or has problems.

Tip 548: Map Addresses

2008-09-18T04:22:00Z

A reader wants to know how to add a map and/or directions to a contact in Office 2007.

You can click the little road sign icon to map the address – then copy and paste the map or directions into the contact (or just paste the url). This will use the Microsoft Live Search map service unless you have MapPoint installed.

There is a live search add-in available for Outlook. This add-in will make it a little easier to get directions but in not necessary. You can save addresses in Live Maps.

Live Search Maps add-in
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a0bce98-eab4-40a3-b7ec-43c09d6ae8cb&displaylang=en

Tip 547: Ultimate Steal

2008-09-16T03:09:00Z

Once again Microsoft is making Office 2007 available at a very affordable price for qualified college students through their Ultimate Steal promotion. It’s currently available for sale in 7 countries, with 6 more coming soon.

Office 2007 Ultimate is available for $60, vista Ultimate for $65 (US prices).

For more information or to order, see
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

Valid through December 31, 2010

Tip 546: Delete Stuck Message

2008-09-09T05:02:00Z

I’ve had a lot of questions lately asking how to delete large message stuck in the Outbox so I thought it was probably time to revisit this subject.

First, try setting Outlook offline (look on the File menu). Wait a few minutes and in most cases the message will delete. If not, restart Outlook. It should start in offline mode and you can delete the message.

A few people have had luck cancelling the Send/Receive, but many others report it doesn’t do anything.

If those methods fail, see
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/stuck_message.htm

Tip 545: Outlook 2007 and Themes

2008-09-08T05:00:00Z

If you use a standalone version of Outlook 2007 you won’t have the use of themes and stationery or some spell and grammar check features.

One workaround is using templates (*.oft) instead. You can copy the template to a folder in Outlook so it’s easy to access.

You can insert HTML stationery into a message using the Attach file button and after selecting the HTML file, click on the Insert dropdown and Insert as text.

Tip 544: Remove RSS Folder

2008-08-29T04:17:00Z

A common question is “Can I remove the RSS folder in Outlook 2007?”

Yes, you can use a group policy to remove RSS capability from Outlook. If you disable RSS before you create your profile, you’ll need to make a new PST to get rid of the folder. While group policy is considered by many to be a ‘corporate’ feature, anyone can change their local group policy.

You’ll need to add this key to the registry – create the keys if they do not exist.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\RSS
DWORD: Disable
Value: 1

If you don’t want to edit the registry yourself or want to see what else you can turn off, download the policy templates from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92d8519a-e143-4aee-8f7a-e4bbaeba13e7&displaylang=en

To use:
1.     After extracting the files, go to Start menu, Run and type MMC
2.     Choose File, Add/Remove Snap-in
3.     Click Add
4.     Select Group Policy and press Add
5.     Press Finish, Close and then OK to return to the MMC
6.     In the left column of the MMC expand Local Computer Policy then right click Administrative Templates in User Configuration and choose Add/Remove Templates
7.     Browse to the location where you extracted the templates to and select OUTLK12.ADM

There are templates for each version of Outlook (and Office) available. Links to all versions of the Office Resource Kits are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/default.aspx - the policy templates are found in the Toolbox.

Tip 543: Save meetings, don’t send updates

2008-08-27T23:19:00Z

I’m seeing a lot of questions that go like this: “After a meeting request was created and sent to all our attendees, I want to add note to that meeting on my calendar but I don't want other attendees to get the note I am saving. In Outlook 2003, it was a breeze. It lets me save the note without forcing me to send update. How do I do it in Outlook 2007?”

If clicking the X to close the form doesn't offer the Save, no updates option, use the following method:

Use the following steps to close and save an updated meeting request without sending the update:

Hit Save.
Choose the ‘Don't save but keep open’ option.
Click X to close.
Choose the Don't Save option.

Open the meeting - it should have your notes saved but no update gets sent. Yes, it is a roundabout way to do what should be a simple task, but it works. And yes, there is clearly a bug in the process since it saves the changes anyway.

Tip 542: Change File As Format

2008-08-23T01:58:00Z

If your contacts use different File As formats and you’d rather have all contact use a single format but changing each contact will take too long, you can use VBA to change the File As format on all contacts within minutes.

Code sample which was tested with Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007 is available at
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/file-as.htm#vba
It only works on contacts in your default Contacts folder.

Tip 541: Activities Tab

2008-08-21T01:51:00Z

The Activities tab on Contacts is a source of confusion for many users – they worry that forwarding the contact includes Activity information from their own computer.

It does not.

Activities uses an Advanced find to show all the Outlook items in your mailbox associated with the contact. If you forward the contact to another user and they have information on the Activities tab, it’s because they have messages or other items in their Mailbox from the contact.