Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

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Outlook 2000 is more than just a flexible, robust email client. It is a multidimensional program made up of six powerful components: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal. These components work seamlessly to perform the following functions:

Communicate electronically
Schedule activities and events
Maintain an intelligent address book
Manage and track projects
Save and organize notes
Log and time various activities

To realize the full potential of Outlook 2000, you must understand that Outlook is a database that stores items (e.g., mail messages, addresses, dates, times, notes, etc.) in folders. Regardless of the component, Outlook uses forms as containers to input and display items. Outlook items have properties , such as date, owner, and category, that can be used as selection criteria for Outlook views, which allow you to display, sort, and filter items almost endlessly. You can use predefined views, sorts, and filters, create custom views based on predefined views, or create your own views from scratch. Outlook 2000 provides access to all of its commands via menus and toolbars that are customizable and adaptive, as well as via powerful context menus (launched by right-clicking an area). It provides the Outlook Bar (a container for shortcuts) and the Folder List (a tree-like folder display) to help navigate the program.

The remainder of this chapter covers the Outlook components, providing you with common uses, the command-line syntax, some keyboard shortcuts, and a task list for each component. The task list is a mini-index that points out some of the interesting features of a given component and the page where it is discussed. Think of this chapter as the jumping-off point to the rest of the book; revisit when you want an overview of a component and its capabilities.

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Mail is used more often than any other component, both because email itself is a common task and because other Outlook components use Mail to extend their functionality.

Outlook Mail is very configurable. You may use the default editor or Word to send email using Plain Text, HTML, or MS-RTF. Outlook Mail has myriad other options that are covered in Chapter 5, and Chapter 6. Given the feature richness of Mail, it's no surprise that we devote two chapters to it.

Check the spelling of a mail message before sending it
Create filters to automatically control incoming messages
Use a read receipt to "track" a mail message
Use stationery to jazz up outgoing mail messages
Forward a Task request to several Contacts

To open Outlook with the Inbox folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Inbox

To open a new default mail message without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.note

Create a new mail message: Ctrl+Shift+M
Mark a message as read: Ctrl+Q
Reply to a message: Ctrl+R
Reply to All: Ctrl+Shift+R
Check for new mail: F5

Change default mail editor to Microsoft Word: See Note in Section 1.1.4
Change default font for new mail messages: Section 5.4.1.1
Send a one-time read receipt: Section 5.4.4

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The most obvious function of Calendar is as a graphical, electronic Daytimer®. Calendar is much more than that, however. Calendar is a flexible time-management tool that you can use to track and manage appointments, events, and meetings. Calendar can filter, sort, and display items in various layouts (e.g., by day, week, month, etc.). To help manage this, Calendar contains the Date Navigator (a graphical mini-calendar) and the TaskPad (a miniature view of the Tasks folder). Calendar makes it easy to plan and track meetings, invite attendees, allocate resources, and reschedule activities if necessary.

Track and manage appointments and meetings
Use Recurrence to create Calendar entries for events such as birthdays and anniversaries
View appointments by day, week, or month
Configure different time zones and holidays
Use Free/Busy to publish your schedule to a LAN or Internet server

To open Outlook with the Calendar folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Calendar

To open a new appointment without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.appointment

Create a new appointment: Ctrl+Shift+A
View 1-10 days (0 to 10 for n): Alt+<n>
Move between Calendar, TaskPad, and Folder List: F6
Move selected appointment forward: Alt+Down Arrow
Select next appointment: Tab

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Contacts is a repository for important names, email addresses, locations, telephone numbers, and other information you need to interact. Think of it as an intelligent address book that does the behind-the-scenes work when you want to send out mail, verifying the correct email address and other pertinent information.

Like all Outlook components, Contacts provides many different views that allow you to choose how to find, display, and update information. You can easily drop a vCard (packaged contact information) from another Outlook user's information into Contacts to create a Contact or automatically update an existing one.

Generate a distribution list to send out a mass mailing.
Store birthday dates for friends, family, and business contacts
Display items from other components using the Activities tab
Verify email addresses when sending Mail
Use Categories to create custom sorts

To open Outlook with the Contacts folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Contacts

To open a new contact entry without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.contact

Create a new Contact: Ctrl+Shift+C
Go to last card in the folder: End
Select or unselect active card: Ctrl+Spacebar
Display last list item without selection: Ctrl+End
Open selected Contact: Enter

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Tasks automate the traditional paper to-do list. Using Tasks, you can enter, edit, track, and display to-do items, reprioritizing and rescheduling them as necessary. Outlook supports three task types: those with no assigned dates, those with a due date, or those with both a start and due date. The real power of Tasks is most apparent in the ways you can sort, filter, and view to-do items. Delegation is another powerful Tasks feature, which allows you to assign tasks to a subordinate via a Task Request, and subsequently track the progress of that task.

Link important Tasks with Contacts
Use table views to look at tasks in many different ways
Track in detail a process with multiple deadlines
Forward a task to a Contact and receive updates of its progress

To open Outlook with the Tasks folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Tasks

To open a new Note without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.task

Create a new Task: Ctrl+Shift+K
Create a Task request: Ctrl+Shift+U
Decline a Task request: Alt+D
Accept a Task request: Alt+C
Perform the action assigned to a button: Spacebar

Create a new Task: Section
Add a reminder for overdue Tasks: Chapter 9
Linking Tasks and Contacts: Link Your Tasks and Contacts

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Notes are small text-only scratch pads that can be used on the fly to store tidbits of information that you don't have time to file properly or that are not of long-term value. A Note can store about 30 KB of text, which allows considerable room for details. Many users either disdain Notes as too simplistic or try to use Notes to do things for which they were not intended. Notes are a powerful and useful feature of Outlook, as long as you don't try to exceed their design limitations.

Record a quick reminder or phone number
Keep a list of interesting URLs to check next time you're surfing
Jot down details of a phone conversation; after you're through, cut and paste the contents into a Journal item or Contact record
Jot down an idea for a project; when time permits, flesh it out, transfer it to email, and forward it to your boss

To open Outlook with the Notes folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Notes

To open a new Note without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.sticknote

Create a new Note: Ctrl+Shift+N
Insert text from the Clipboard to a Note: Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert
Save a Note: Ctrl+S
Save a Note as a separate file: F12
Forward a Note: Ctrl+F

Organize your Notes: Section 3.7
Find information in a Note folder: Section 3.6.1

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For those of us not blessed with a perfect memory, Outlook's Journal component is a lifesaver. With it you can record email messages sent and received, meeting requests, responses, and cancellations, and task requests. In addition, Journal can also track the time spent working in a specific Office document (FrontPage excluded). Journal entries can be manually created, or generated automatically when a specific application is opened or Outlook item created.

Track Activity duration
Create a link between a Contact and a Journal Entry
Forward a Journal entry to a co-worker
Keep track of all email sent to an individual
Log time spent with each client for billing purposes

To open Outlook with the Journal folder displayed:

outlook.exe /select Outlook:Journal

To open a new Journal entry without starting Outlook:

outlook.exe /c ipm.activity

Create a new Note: Ctrl+Shift+J
Move selected item: Ctrl+Shift+V
Open a drop-down list: Alt+Down Arrow
Organize Journal: Alt+Z
Expand a Journal group: Right Arrow

Disable/enable automatic tracking: Journal Options
Create a new Journal entry: Section
Edit the Journal Time field: Figure 11-5
Track activity duration: Figure 11-5

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Outlook's primary raison d'être is connectivity. Whether we're talking connectivity between Outlook's individual components, between its Office cousins, or between your friends and business associates around the world, how you install Outlook will determine the tools and options you have at your disposal, and how they work.

Outlook is not really one program—there are three separate installations to choose from. You can install Outlook as a standalone Personal Information Manager or PIM (No E-mail mode), as a PIM plus an email client for Internet-based messaging (Internet Mail Only or IMO mode), or as a PIM plus an email client for corporate-based messaging ( Corporate or Workgroup or CW mode). This chapter details these three installations: how they differ, how to choose the best one for your needs, and how to configure the installation you've chosen.

Installing Outlook is not necessarily difficult, but it can quickly become confusing due to the array of available options. As you can see from Figure 2-1, the installation process ranges from the simple (Install, Upgrade, Import settings), to the complex (Install, No Outlook upgrade, No other upgrade, Choose a Service Option, and Configure that option). This section provides you with a "big picture" of the various junctures you will encounter while installing Outlook, and where each of these roads leads.

Figure 2-1: Flowchart of Outlook's installation process

The choices you make throughout this process will depend on what you start with on your hard drive, and where you want to end up when all is said and done. The four key points to take note of are:

Installing the program files (component options)
Upgrading options (from a previous version or another email client)

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Installing Outlook is not necessarily difficult, but it can quickly become confusing due to the array of available options. As you can see from Figure 2-1, the installation process ranges from the simple (Install, Upgrade, Import settings), to the complex (Install, No Outlook upgrade, No other upgrade, Choose a Service Option, and Configure that option). This section provides you with a "big picture" of the various junctures you will encounter while installing Outlook, and where each of these roads leads.

Figure 2-1: Flowchart of Outlook's installation process

The choices you make throughout this process will depend on what you start with on your hard drive, and where you want to end up when all is said and done. The four key points to take note of are:

Installing the program files (component options)
Upgrading options (from a previous version or another email client)
Choosing an E-mail Service Option (No E-mail, IMO, or CW)
Configuring your chosen service option

Before we get into these various options and what they entail, we need to take a brief side step and examine the messaging protocols and standards Outlook supports. Understanding these protocols and standards will be important when it comes time to choose an email service, because Outlook's functionality varies according to the service option you select, and service options are primarily formed around messaging protocols.

Loosely defined, a protocol is an agreed upon bi- or multilateral form of behavior. In the world of messaging, protocols provide a framework that ensures both email clients and host servers can interpret each other's commands.

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Running an IMO installation for the first time invokes the Internet Connection Wizard, which helps you configure an email account. If you upgrade a previous Outlook installation or another email client, then Outlook already has the details it needs and will bypass this wizard. Manually creating an account is outlined in Section 2.2.1.

If you are already using server-based message storage, read this warning before continuing unless you want to delete all the messages saved on your server. The Internet Connection Wizard automatically disables the "Leave a copy of messages on server" option for newly created accounts and does not give you access to this option when it is run. To work around this dilemma, configure an account and leave the logon password blank to ensure Outlook cannot connect to this server without your consent. Then choose Tools → Options → Accounts, select the Advanced tab, and mark the "Leave a copy ..." option.

The Internet Connection Wizard requires the following information:

Your Name: This is how your name displays on the "From" line when it arrives in a recipient's mailbox. Anything goes here (full name, nickname, initials), but we suggest that you enter something that will uniquely identify you as the sender of a message.

Internet E-mail Address: Enter the email address assigned to you by your ISP or system administrator, typically of the form yourname@provider.com .

E-mail Server Names: Choose the protocol Outlook will use when checking for new mail (POP3 or IMAP) and then enter the addresses for both your incoming and outgoing mail servers. These addresses typically take the form of

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At the heart of every CW installation is a small configuration file called a profile. This file is so crucial to the operation of CW Outlook that without it the program simply will not run. So before we get into what a profile is and what it contains, if you are presently using CW Outlook, search (Start menu → Find → For Files or Folders) the partition containing your Windows installation for all files ending in the extension .fav. Now copy this file (or files, if you use more than one profile) to a floppy disk and store it somewhere safe. You will understand the importance of this step by the time you are finished reading this section.

What's so crucial about a profile? This file contains a list of the services loaded at startup. These services tell Outlook what messaging protocols the program has available, how to connect to those services, where those services can be found, your user login name and password, where mail from those services is to be sent and delivered, and most important of all, where your data is stored. Outlook requires at least one profile configured before it will start, and that profile must contain—at the very least—the location of your data files. Without an information store to open, Outlook simply refuses to run.

Profiles can be confusing because of the many configuration options they contain and how these options interrelate with each other. To help keep this layered onion in perspective, we refer you to Figure 2-7 which details the relationship between profiles, services, and service options.

Figure 2-7: The relationships between profiles, services, and service options

The first thing to note in this figure is that while Outlook requires at least one profile, nothing keeps you from creating additional profiles, each tailored to a specific connectivity scenario. For example, if you use a notebook you might have one profile for connecting to the Exchange Server at your office, and a separate profile for dialing into your ISP from home.

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A long overdue and welcome addition to Outlook 2000 is the ability to reconfigure mail support after installation. Changing an installed service option reruns Outlook's Startup Wizard, and reconfigures the program to work with a different messaging system.

We strongly recommend closing all other running programs and backing up your Outlook files before reconfiguring a service option.

The following sections describe how to reconfigure a service option.

To switch your existing No E-mail service to an IMO service simply go to the Internet Accounts dialog (Tools → Accounts) and add a mail account as described in Section 2.2.

You cannot change your service option directly from No E-mail to CW. You can, however, reconfigure your installation to IMO, and then go from IMO to CW.

To change your service option from IMO to CW, go to Tools → Options and select the Mail Delivery tab. At the bottom of the dialog is a button labeled Reconfigure Mail Support. This displays the option dialog shown in Figure 2-21.

Figure 2-21: Reconfiguring an E-mail Service Options dialog

To switch from CW to IMO, follow the same steps outlined in the previous section. The only difference here is a cosmetic one: the option tab (Tools → Options) in a CW installation is labeled Mail Services instead of Mail Delivery.

There is no automatic reconfiguration option to go from a CW or IMO service to a No E-mail service; you must uninstall Outlook completely, and then reinstall the program again.

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The following section outlines the many options for starting Outlook beyond the obvious icons on your desktop.

Outlook's installation routine automatically creates two program shortcuts: one on the Desktop, and one in the Quick Launch bar. Selecting either one will start Outlook and display a folder view based on how the program was installed.

A new IMO installation opens Outlook in the Outlook Today view (see Section 3.4.6.2 in Chapter 3).
A new CW installation prompts you for a profile to open Outlook with. Once a profile is provided, the program opens in the Inbox folder.
An upgraded Outlook installation (IMO or CW) starts in the same view the previous version was configured to start in.

The following sections explain how to change these default startup options globally or as a separate program instance.

Outlook can be configured to open in one of seven predefined folders: Outlook Today, Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Journal, or Notes. To change your startup folder, go to Tools → Options → Other and click on the "Advanced Options" button. Under the General Settings section, select a folder from the drop-down list provided (see Figure 2-22).

Figure 2-22: Choosing a startup folder from the Advanced Option dialog

To start Outlook in a folder view not displayed on this list, create a custom shortcut as described later in Section 2.5.4.

Many people find it convenient to have Outlook start automatically every time they turn on their computer. To do this, add a program shortcut to your Windows Startup folder as follows:

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If you use Outlook long enough and hard enough, eventually you are going to end up breaking something vital, and either the program will not run at all, or it will start to act like it is possessed. This behavior can result from a long list of possibilities, including: damaged or corrupted configuration files, damaged or corrupted information stores (PSTs or OSTs), a damaged DLL, or an overwritten Registry key. The list is long, but the point here is that the problem could be in any number of places, perhaps even more than one.

Given the complexities of today's software, it is often not practical—from a time perspective—to look too deeply for the problem. Sometimes it is quicker to just reinstall from your original CD. You could easily spend an hour scouring through Registry keys and configuration files and come up empty-handed; on the other hand, a reinstallation typically takes less than 20 minutes.

Here are the steps to follow if you are asked to do an exorcism on Outlook:

Reboot your system. You'd be amazed at how many gremlins you can chase away by simply rebooting a system and clearing the cobwebs from memory.
Locate and run scanpst.exe (typically located in \Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\1033\NT), to scan the PST or OST file for errors.
Make sure all your configuration information is copied down, and then delete all your mail accounts. Reboot your system, and re-enter this information via the Mail applet found under Control Panel (before you start Outlook). When Outlook's mail settings are corrupted, not only will the program hang (or possibly lock) on a Send/Receive command, but other components totally unrelated to mail (for example, Contacts or Notes) become sluggish or unresponsive as well.
Try rebuilding Outlook's default Registry keys using the command

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This chapter looks at the underlying structures and program interfaces of Outlook. Much of the material here addresses cross-component tools and features that are independent of the installation method you've chosen or the connectivity features you've configured. With few exceptions, everything discussed in this chapter is available whether you are running under IMO Outlook (see Chapter 2), connecting to an Exchange Server, or using the program as a standalone Personal Information Manager.

In the pages to follow, you are going to read about Information Stores,Address Books, items, folders, and properties. These are the fundamental building blocks of Outlook. In order to understand the program and use it effectively, it is very important to grasp how these terms relate to the data you create and the tools Outlook provides to manipulate and view that data.

There is also considerable material in this chapter on views and forms. Views are the mechanism used to display the items contained in a folder. Outlook installs with a preconfigured set of views, and as you will soon discover, these default views are customizable in a dizzying number of ways. Forms are the structural containers used to input and display individual data records. When you open a Note or Calendar entry, it opens in a form; when you create a contact record, you enter the details in a form.

All in all, there is a lot of very densely packed material in this chapter. It is a functional necessity, however, to understand how to nail two pieces of wood together before you can build a house. And before you can build a house, you need a foundation to attach everything to. So first up is a discussion of Outlook's very foundation: Information Stores.

Outlook saves records in a flat-file (nonrelational) database called an Information Store . Every installation has one or more information stores, and, depending on how Outlook is installed and what features are configured, these stores can be one of several "flavors."

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Outlook saves records in a flat-file (nonrelational) database called an Information Store . Every installation has one or more information stores, and, depending on how Outlook is installed and what features are configured, these stores can be one of several "flavors."

Personal Folder Files (PST, or Personal Store): PSTs are the default information stores used by IMO Outlook and, optionally, by CW. PSTs are created with a predefined set of system folders (see Chapter 2) when configured as the delivery location for email messages. Outlook supports one, and only one, delivery location. You can, however, use multiple PSTs to organize and store your Outlook items. Creating and using multiple PSTs is discussed in Chapter 13.

Exchange Mailboxes: If you use Outlook as an Exchange client, information stores can also be located on the server in the form of a user mailbox. Exchange mailboxes are structurally similar to PSTs and can contain all the same folders a PST does (Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Contacts, etc.).

Offline Folder Files (OST, or Offline Store): Offline Folders are only available under CW Outlook and are local replicas of a user's Exchange mailbox. Offline folders are used when you do not have a persistent connection to Exchange: for example, when your working system is a notebook. You can have only one OST file on your system, and this OST is always defined as the default delivery location for messages. (See Chapter 17 for details on using Offline Folders.)

An OST file and a PST file can coexist on a system should you find it necessary to keep an archive of records apart from your "working" information store.

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In simple terms, an address book is where Outlook stores contact information. Address Books are a messy topic because:

There can potentially be more than one, confusing users no end. Quickly now, what's the difference between the Outlook Address Book, a Personal Address Book, the Global Address Book, and the Windows Address Book?
The name suggests a separate, discrete entity. And in some situations, this is indeed the case (the Personal Address Book, for example). In other situations, the term address book refers to an interface that collects and synchronizes contact information.
Address Book dialogs are both visually and organizationally different than the form displayed when a contact record is opened from the Outlook Contacts folder. Because of this, the relationship between the Address Book and the Outlook Contacts folder is not readily apparent.

Let's try to clear this topic up as clearly and as concisely as possible. Depending on your Outlook installation, you can have one or more of the following Address Books on your system:

Outlook Address Book (OAB)—IMO: OK, this is the toughest nut to crack, so we might as well do it first—everything else is relatively easy after this. IMO Outlook saves contact information to the Outlook Address Book. The Outlook Address Book is a property assigned to a source of contact information. This source can be the Outlook Contacts folder or the data store used by Outlook Express.

The data store used by Outlook is automatically selected as an OAB: you cannot configure this. The default information store used by Outlook must contain a folder called Contacts. This folder is also automatically given the property of OAB. You have no say in this either. You can, however, create additional contacts folders within this (or another) information store and optionally assign one or more of them the property of Outlook Address Book.

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Information stores provide a structure and container for your data; forms are predefined "boxes" used to input and view that data. When you open a record, Outlook retrieves the required information from the store and displays it in a form. Forms are also customizable in a variety of ways, and, in combination with VBA and VBS (see Chapter 18), allow you to create custom applications that leverage Outlook's existing data structures. Later in the section we'll show you how to build a template using a form.

Figure 3-7 shows a typical form. Recognize it? That's correct, the default Outlook email editor is actually a form. Forms are also what you see when you open a record in Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal.

Figure 3-7: A typical Outlook form

In addition to letting you enter/view data, the fields on a form may contain formatting rules. The name, address, and phone fields on the General page of a Contact form, for example, have parsing capabilities to help you fill in names and addresses correctly. These capabilities are built in to the Outlook executable, so you won't see the rules in the control's properties sheet. When you save an entry, the form simply hands off all its fields to Outlook, which then stores this data dutifully away—in the format provided—in your database.

Much of Outlook's functionality for collaboration centers on exchanging data as email or attachments to email. When Outlook exchanges a message with another email client, that data is bundled in a combination of text and a proprietary binary attachment (typically, winmail.dat); inside this binary attachment are the specifications for the form Outlook wants to use to display the data. The email client on the receiving end opens the message, reads the text, and tries to decipher the form Outlook wants the data displayed in.

This explains why some messages are not always translated as intended. When another email client (sometimes another Outlook email client using a different message format) receives a message and it does not understand the attached

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Views are one of the key program elements of Outlook. Views display the contents of a folder in a defined way. There are five basic view styles; some are graphical layouts (for example, Calendar's Day/Week/Month views); others are structured as tables in the traditional row and column format. Print Styles are a close cousin to views, and define how an individual item, or the contents of a folder, is printed.

Understanding views is important. Using the right view for a given data set allows you to focus on the records you need to see, in an order that brings important details to the surface, in a format or layout that's conducive to what you're trying to accomplish. And when you can't find an appropriate view for the task at hand, understanding the options available for a view allows you to create a new, customized view that displays the information you need to see, how you need to see it.

Table 3-1 lists Outlook's default views, the folder type they are associated with, and the print styles that can be used from a given view. These are Outlook's out-of-box defaults. Within certain limitations, all views and print styles can be customized.

We use the terms "default" and "preconfigured" synonymously when referring to views. When Outlook is first installed, a default or preconfigured set of views is created for each item type. These default views can then be customized to suit user preferences and work style. A customized default view can be reset to its original state; a view created from scratch (that is, not modified from an existing view), cannot, as there is no default state.

Table 3-1: Outlook's Default Views and Print Styles
Outlook Folder Type	Default Views

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A category is a keyword or phrase you associate with an Outlook item. You can then use this category as a way to sort, group, or filter a view, to find a lost item, or to organize a group of records, related by topic, but scattered across a diversity of item types. Outlook's categories are unique in today's world of software features—they're simple, powerful, and flexible.

There is one key to categories—you have to use them.

Using Categories is much like investing in a compound interest savings account. At first, the money you put there doesn't seem significant or even all that useful. But as time goes on, and your investment grows, the day arrives when your discipline and efforts are rewarded many times over. Think of your data as an investment and categories as the tool that leverages its growth. The analogy here is to start small and simple—categorize all the records you create that have long-term potential. As your investment in categories grows, you'll soon be using them to manipulate data in ways you never expected. For example:

Categories allow you to sort and view related items stored in the same folder. You can track business and personal tasks in the same folder and use the Business and Personal categories to sort, group, or filter your view. Every Outlook component has a View → By Category command specifically for this purpose.
When you start a new project, create a category for it. Assign this category the people, meetings, appointments, notes, tasks, and journal entries you make as your work progresses. At any point in time, you can gather together, in one screen (hint: Advanced Find), all entries related to your project.
Items can be assigned to more than one category. This has particular relevance when working with contacts that do not fit neatly into one clearly defined group. This allows you to assign an important customer to three distinct categories: Key Customer, Business, and Christmas Card List.

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Some days, it seems like "stuff" was designed to be lost. So it goes with Outlook items as well. Even if you systematically sort and file your records in a well-designed folder structure, there are still days when you simply cannot see the forest for trees. Enter Outlook's Find commands.

There are two implementations of the Find command in Outlook. The first, a simple search, is accessed either from the standard toolbar, or from the Tools → Find command. A Find pane opens above the current view, using a predefined set of search parameters. Type a search phrase in the "Look for" field, and click the Find Now button. Figure 3-41 shows a search on the "Yellow Dog, General" folder; the search phrase is cable modem. The results replace the contents of the current view.

Figure 3-41: Simple Find command, showing open Find pane

Note the following regarding the Find command:

You must have at least a general idea where to begin your search. The basic Find command operates on the folder selected and only searches that folder.
The search parameters are predefined depending on the folder type. The folder searched in Figure 3-41 contains message items, and for this folder type the basic Find command searches the fields From and Subject only. You also have the option (which is enabled by default) of searching all text in the message as well. Table 3-2 shows the search criteria used for a simple search based on folder type. Searching all message text can take a long time if some or all of the following are true: your computer is slow; the folder you are searching contains many messages; the messages are large; or the search string is long.
The search results are displayed using the folder's current view. Changing this view after a completed search discards the search results. Hint: pick the view your want your results displayed under (for example, Messages, By Conversation Topic, Sent to, etc.) before beginning a search.

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Outlook's Organize feature (Actions → Organize) is similar to Find. It opens a pane above the current view, and acts on the contents of the folder displayed. Instead of finding items, it allows you to organize them in preconfigured ways, using a combination of drop-down lists and text fields. Figure 3-47 shows the Organize pane open for the Inbox.

Figure 3-47: Outlook's Organize feature, invoked from the Inbox

Depending on the Outlook folder type displayed, two or more option groups are listed at the left of the Organize pane (Using Folders, Using Categories, Using Colors, Using Views, and Junk E-Mail):

Move message: Moves the selected item (or items) to the folder selected in the drop-down list. This is the same MRU (Most Recently Used) list displayed by the Move to Folder command found on the standard toolbar. The New Folder button at the top-right of the pane allows you to create a folder.

Create a rule: The predefined rule created is to move new messages from [the item selected] into [folder list]. The Rules Wizard button opens the Rules Wizard dialog. See Chapter 6 for details on creating and managing Mail rules.

Add [item type]: Assigns the category selected from the drop-down list to the items selected in the view. The list displayed is the user's Master Category List.

Create a new category

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Even advanced users need help with Outlook at times. The program is just too complex for anyone to fully grasp. Luckily, Outlook has been around long enough and enough people use it that if you have a question there is probably an answer. Like all things computerish, you just have to know where to look. In order of usefulness, here is a list of resources to turn to when Outlook leaves you stumped:

A colleague who has experience with Outlook
Internet web sites and Newsgroups (see the Preface for a list of useful web resources)
Other publications like this one
Outlook's online helpless system

Unfortunately, Outlook's online help is generally clueless. It (sometimes) gives cursory answers to basic queries and tells you how to modify program options, but is silent about why you might want to use a given feature or the consequences of changing setting A to B. It is usually unable to provide any information about common "How do I ..." questions, and often returns answers that are entirely unrelated to the question.

It doesn't hurt to ask "Clippit" or "The Dot" a question when you're stuck—you never can tell what these annoying little creatures might come up with. And while the answers they provide may not go anywhere toward solving your problem, Microsoft's Office Assistants are nonetheless entertaining.

The Office Assistant (OA) is actually the interface to Outlook's online help system. Pressing F1 or selecting Help from the menu no longer opens a Help window; it opens a balloon above the animation where you can choose from list of topics, or type a phrase to search the help index on. This balloon dialog is shown in Figure 3-48.

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Once upon a time, menus were simple devices. They provided the user with an easy way to display a list of program commands. Then along came toolbars that contained a fixed selection of button-images to quickly access frequently used commands. These days, the situation is very different. In Outlook 2000 we now have menus that are customizable and adaptive; toolbars that are customizable, selectable, and adaptive; and a dizzying array of context menus. Some of these features are fully automatic, while others display a complex mix of automatic and manually configured behavior. This chapter attempts to bring some order to using and customizing Outlook's navigational tools.

Normally, menus and toolbars don't get a lot of attention—that is, until you either cannot find a command, the command you eventually find is not where you expected it, or something does not work as advertised. For these frustrating scenarios, help is at hand. By the time you've finished with this chapter, you should be able to find those missing or vanishing commands, build custom menus and toolbars, or simply rearrange an existing menu or toolbar to better suit your work habits.

In addition to menus and toolbars, Outlook also provides two tools that can be utilized as navigational aids, but also function as indispensable file management tools: the Outlook Bar and the Folder List. Both of these tools are discussed later in this chapter.

We begin this chapter with a look at the concept of adaptive menus and toolbars. As you read the following section, keep in mind the difference between the terms adaptive and context. Adaptive refers to the ability of a menu or toolbar to learn and remember the commands you use most often; this is a feature in Outlook that can be turned on or off. Context defines what commands are available when working in a given component or in a specific region (pane) of a component. For example, the commands displayed on a menu or toolbar under Outlook's Journal component will be different than the commands available when viewing a Note.

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