Tuesday 29 May 2012

Microsoft Outlook Views

The two main views I'm going to cover today are the Outlook Bar and the Folder List.

  • Outlook Bar: The column on the left side of the Outlook window that includes groups such as Outlook Shortcuts or My Shortcuts, and the shortcuts within each group. Click a group to show the shortcuts contained within it. Click a shortcut to quickly access that particular component of Outlook.

  • By default, Outlook displays folders under the Outlook Bar for each of the following item types: Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. It also provides the following folders: Drafts (stores unfinished emails you are working on), Sent Items (copies of emails you sent to other people), Deleted Items (stores temporarily deleted items until you permanently delete them. The Deleted Items folder is NOT a storage folder.

  • In Microsoft Outlook, you store information in folders, the same way you store documents in Windows Explorer or even a file cabinet. You use a variety of folders based on the type of Outlook item you're working with and the type of email account you have. The Folder List is the most complete list of all the components and information held within Outlook.

  • The Folder List is not displayed by default. To make the Folder List appear, perform the following steps: In Outlook, click on the View Menu at the top of the screen. Click on Folder List in the menu. If "Folder List" does not immediately appear as an option, single click the double down arros at the bottom of the menu list to see the full menu.


Friday 25 May 2012

Email Attachment Handling for the Visually Impaired

I want to credit Karen McCall for the following information. She's a Microsoft Word MVP in Canada and her contributions to Microsoft accessibility are invaluable. I will include her information at the end of this blog.

A note if you're using adaptive technology:

First go into Word and turn off Screen Reading Layout or Reading Layout as this is an inaccessible view of documents when using adaptive technology.

In both Outlook 2007 & 2010 if you press Alt + F for the File Menu, Office Button or File/Backstage area (it has changed over the past iterations of Office but can be accessed using the same keyboard command) you’ll see “Save Attachments.”

If you are saving Office documents through Outlook 2010, once you open them they are in Preview mode so you need to press Alt + F, letter I for File/Backstage area, Info and then turn on editing by then pressing E.

Here are the steps for Outlook 2010 from when an email arrives:

1. Press Enter to open an e-mail with an attachment.
2. Your cursor will be on the first line of the message.
3. Press Shift + Tab to move to the attachments area of the e-mail.
4. You can then use the Arrow keys to move among attachments.
5. Press Enter on an attachment you want to open.
6. If it is an Office document, you’ll then have to press Alt + F, letter I, E once the document opens as it will be in Protected view.
7. Press Escape on the e-mail post to close the post and return to Outlook.

You can choose to press the AppKey (located to the immediate left of the Ctrl key on the right side of the main keyboard area…has two little square applications on it) or Shift + F10 would also work I think. This gives you the option to open or save as without going through the Office Button/File menu in Outlook 2007 or the File/Backstage area of 2010.

You can use Shift + Tab when a post is open to move to the BCC, CC or To field, press the AppKey/right mouse button and perform actions on addresses in those fields. Tab would move you forward through these fields.

You can choose to go to the File Menu, Office button or File/Backstage area (depending on your version of Outlook) and choose Save Attachments. This will let you save all attachments to a location on your computer or storage device. As with the other method of saving attachments, if it is an Office document you’ll have to turn off Preview mode.

I haven’t found a way to open or work with attachments in the Reading Pane (this happens in emails received in Rich Text Format). At one time F6 and Shift + F6 would move you forward or backward through the larger pieces of Outlook like the list of messages to the Reading Pane to the To Do Bar to the Status Bar and so forth and using Tab or Shift + Tab would move you forward or backward through the pieces of each larger chunk….the Reading Pane for example. This would let you navigate to the reading Pane using F6 and then use Shift + Tab to move to the Attachments area and work with attachments but this does not work consistently so working with attachments in the Reading Pane is not possible, you have to open the message or use the Save Attachments tool.

If someone is blind and using the JAWS  screen reader, JAWS 13 announces it when you come across an attachment in Outlook 2010.

 A person using JAWS will hear that there is an attachment as long as the Attachments Colum in the mail folder is visible. This is the little paper clip next to a message. Pressing the JAWS command for listing objects, Ctrl + Shift + letter O will give you a list of the attachments which in this case are objects.

I used the ability to create random text in Word/Outlook to create the surrounding text as many people just plunk objects into e-mail. The keyboard  command is =rand(3). This will put three paragraphs of text from the \Office Help files into a document. Each paragraph will have a default number of 3 sentences. If you type (4, 5) and press Enter you’ll get 4 paragraphs each with 5 sentences. I include this in case you didn’t know…

Anyway, I can either use the Up and Down Arrow keys on their own or with the screen reader and the objects can also be found.

Even if the attachment is indented on a line….is not at the left margin which is where most adaptive technology recognizes objects, JAWS 13 in Outlook 2010 found it and told me it was there. So once I knew it was there, or if you actually can see the attachment, select it by placing your cursor just before it and press the Shift key + right Arrow.

You can then press the AppKey/right mouse button to access the context menu.

There are lots of clues that the post contains an attachment and using the keyboard you can choose which ones to open or save, even print. If you need all attachments, it is still better to go through the Alt + F, Save Attachments method.

In case you might need these, I have a page for Office 2007 accessibility including an Excel workbook with all the Ribbon, Sub-Ribbon and Non-Ribbon commands for Office 2007.

http://karlencommunications.com/MicrosoftOfficeAccessibility.html

And a page for Office 2010 with some resources:

http://karlencommunications.com/MicrosoftOfficeAccessibility2010.html

There is a book on each page about how to use OneNote from the Keyboard.

Karen McCall, M.Ed.
Microsoft MVP/Most Valued Professional for Word (2009-2011)
Canadian delegate to the ISO/TC 171 committee
Member of PDF/UA Universal Access working group
Member of G3ICT
Karlen Communications
Paris ON Canada

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Organizing Your Inbox - Colour Code With Automatic Formatting

Whether you have lots of email or just a few messages, you can use colour to help you quickly determine what you have. You can use the Automatic Formatting feature to quickly organize your email with colour. For example, you can see messages from your boss in one colour, and messages from your spouse in another!

Use Automatic Formatting to make specific messages stand out in the colour of your choice so that even if you have thousands of emails, messages from your boss stand out and catch your eye.

Select an email message. Click on the Organize command on the Tools menu. You'll find the Organize option when you click on Tools > Organize. Next click "Using Colours." Set the rule for colour coding, then apply it.

Outlook creates an Automatic Formatting rule and shows you the details in the Automatic Formatting dialogue box. If you want to see the rule, click the Automatic Formatting button in the Organize pane.

You can use this feature to colour code:

  • Mail from any specific person of your choosing
  • Mail to any email distribution list that you belong to
  • Mail regarding any specific subject that you choose
Don't forget to test this out. Try turning colour coding off and on, or even change the colour. Delete and recreate the rule.

In review, you may use colour coding to help you organize your inbox by making certain emails stand out visually.

Monday 14 May 2012

Ergonomics

Today, a departure from discussing anything Microsoft Outlook! Instead, we're going to cover ergonomics to ensure that you're comfortable at your desk and stay healthy and battle fatigue. We're going to make your workspace as comfortable as possible.

Monitor and Keyboard Placement

  • Adjust the monitor height so that the top of the screen is at or slightly below eye level. Your eyes should look slightly downward when viewing the middle of the screen.
  • Position the screen no closer than 508 mm (that's 20 inches for you Americans) from your eyes. A good rule of thumb is an arm's length distance. The larger your screen, the more distance you will want.
  • Adjust the screen position to eliminate glare from windows and overhead lights.
  • If lighting conditions permit, tilt the screen back 10 - 20 degrees. This will maintain the same distance between your eyes and the screen as you scan it from top to bottom.
  • EXCEPTION: if you're wearing bifocals, lower the monitor below eye level and turn the screen upwards, tilting it back 30 - 45 degrees. 
  • The centre line of the keyboard should be level with the height of your elbows.
  • Tilt the keyboard back 10 degrees so that your wrists remain flat.
More Tips for Comfortable Computing

  • Use an adjustable chair. Get comfortable with its features and adjust them regularly.
  • Rest your eyes periodically by focusing on an object no less than 20 feet away.
  • Stand and stretch your arms and back from time to time.
  • Position whatever you're looking at most of the time (computer monitor, reference materials, telephone, etc.) directly in front of you so that you minimise turning your head.
  • Remember that even if your workstation is set up properly, you can still suffer fatigue from being in the same position too long. Be sure to regularly adjust your monitor, keyboard, and chair to stay flexible. Don't forget to get up, stretch, and walk around.
Improve Your Posture

  • Know the warning signs of back pain caused by poor ergonomics and posture. Back pain may be the result of poor ergonomics and posture if back pain is worse at certain times of the day or week. An example may be after a long day of sitting at the computer, but not during weekends. Pain that starts in the neck and moves downward into the upper back, lower back, and extremities; pain that goes away after switching positions while sitting or standing; sudden back pain that is experienced with a new job, a new chair, or new car; back pain that comes and goes for months.
  • Get up and move! As muscles tire, slouching, slumping, and other poor postures become likely. This in turn puts extra pressure on the neck and back. In order to maintain a relaxed yet supported posture, change positions frequently. One way is to take a break from sitting in your chair every half hour for about two minutes to get up and stretch, stand, or walk.
Your Mother Was Right, STOP Slouching!

  • Keep your body in alignment while sitting in an office chair or standing. Distribute your body weight to the front, back, and sides of your feet when standing. While sitting, take advantage of your chair's features. Sit up straight and align the ears, shoulders, and hips in one vertical line. Any single position, even a good one, will become tiring. Leaning forward with a straight back can alternate with sitting back, using the back support of your chair to ease the work of your back muscles. Also, be aware of and avoid doing things that unbalance your posture like crossing your legs, leaning to one side, hunching the shoulders forward, or tilting your head.
Use Props

  • Use posture-friendly props and ergonomic chairs when sitting. They can help take the strain and load off the spine. A chair with an adjustable back support, a foot rest, portable lumbar support, or even a towel or pillow can be used while sitting in a chair or driving.
  • Use purses, bags, and backpacks designed to minimise back strain.
  • Proper corrective eye wear and positioning the screen to your natural, resting eye position can also help you to avoid leaning or straining your neck by tilting your head forward or to the side.
Be Aware of Your Surroundings

  • Increase your awareness of posture and ergonomics in your everyday surroundings. Being away of ergonomics at home, at work, and at play is a vital step towards instilling good posture and ergonomic techniques. This includes making conscious connections between episodes of back pain and specific situations where poor posture and/or ergonomics may be the root cause of the pain.
Exercise

  • You don't have to exercise like Arnold! Even walking around helps.
  • Use exercise to help promote good posture and prevent injury. Regular exercise such as biking, swimming, or walking will help the body stay aerobically conditioned, while specific strengthening exercises will help the muscles surrounding the back to stay strong. The benefits of exercise promote good posture which will in turn further help to condition muscles and prevent injury.
  • There are also specific exercises that will help maintain good posture. In particular, a balance of trunk strength with back muscles about 30% stronger than abdominal muscles is essential to help support the upper body and maintain good posture.
It's All About the Shoes

  • Wear supportive footwear when standing. Avoid regularly wearing high-heeled shoes which can affect the body's centre of gravity and change the alignment of your body. This negatively affects back support and posture. When standing for long periods of time, placing a rubber mat on the floor can improve comfort.
Poultry In Motion

  • Remember good posture and ergonomics when in motion. Walking, lifting heavy materials, holding a telephone, and typing are all moving activities that require attention to posture and ergonomics.
  • It is important to maintain good posture even while moving to avoid injury. Back injuries are especially common when twisting and/or lifting and often occur because of awkward movement and control of the upper body weight alone.
Create Your Environment

  • Create ergonomic physical environments and work spaces, such as for sitting in an office chair at a computer.
  • It does require a small investment of time to personalize the workspace, home, and car but the payoff is well worth it. Undue strain will be placed on the spine unless the office chair, desk, keyboard, monitor, etc. are correctly positioned.
Don't Bubble wrap Yourself

  • Avoid over-protecting your posture. Remember that it is important to maintain an overall relaxed posture to avoid restricting movements by clenching muscles and adopting an unnatural, stiff posture.
  • For individuals who already have some back pain, it is a natural tendency to try to limit movements to avoid the potential pain associated with movement. However, unless there is a fracture or other serious problem, the structures in the spine are designed for movement and any limitation over a long period of time creates more pain and a downward cycle of less motion and more pain.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Welcome to Microsoft Outlook

What is Microsoft Outlook?

Outlook is an information and communication manager that primarily handles messaging, calendaring, and contacts.

Basic Outlook Overview

  • The mail component lets you send, receive, and manage email messages. Messages can be sent to other email users with a valid email address and can include file attachments and hyperlinks to webpages.
  • The calendar is used to keep track of appointments and plan meetings with other email users. On a personal level, it can be used to record appointments, events, and other important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. You can even use it to remind you to do a task every day. On a group level it can be used to schedule and track meetings with others at a time convenient to all.
  • Contacts are used to maintain address, phone, FAX information, etc.
Outlook's Additional Components

  • Tasks provide to-do lists comprising jobs that can be assigned to other Outlook users, tracked and scheduled in your calendar. You can check the status of a task and set tasks that recur at specific intervals.
  • Outlook can also be used to record notes for any textual information. Notes can be posted on your desktop as constant reminders and can be forwarded to other users or even included in Word processing documents.
Your Outlook View

  • You can customize your Outlook View
  • To manage Outlook it's often easiest to view two toolbars (standard and advanced), the Outlook bar, and the folder view.
  • You should also view mails in your Inbox without the preview pane as a security measure but include the following fields: importance, icon, flag, attachment, From, Subject, Size, and Date.
Outlook Options

  • Outlook options are where you set your signature, how you read your email, what format you use, how you choose to empty your Deleted Items folder, spellcheck, etc.
  • Options are the way you can customize some Outlook behavior.
  • Located under Tools on the Menu Bar, using options allows you to set some email preferences, format, spelling, and many other items.
Outlook Format

  • The Outlook format, while found under Options, should be identified separately since incorrectly formatted emails may lead to several avoidable problems.
  • The default format on older versions of Outlook (95 - 2002) is Rich Text. Rich Text format is Outlook specific, that is to say that email recipients not using Outlook may not be able to read this format. They may even receive blank emails and if you include an attachment, they probably won't receive it since improper formatting may strip it out.
  • The format I recommend is either plain text or HTML.
Outlook Signature

  • A signature goes out at the bottom of all of your emails. It should tell the recipient your name, title, telephone number including extensions if applicable, and your website if you have one. There is no need to include your email address since every email you send includes it already.
  • Don't make your signature too long or people will ignore it. If it's too cute, people may not take you seriously.
  • Keep the font simple and legible. Don't use all capitalized letters.
  • Your signature should not be sent on replies and forwards.
Outlook Organization - Folders and Rules

  • To organize your mail and keep your Inbox uncluttered, create folders to hold common emails.  For example, if you receive mail from Microsoft on a regular basis create a Microsoft folder.
  • To further keep your Inbox clean, create rules that make Outlook automatically move emails into your important folders. Make sure you keep the folders up to date and delete anything not required (example: Merry Christmas from your boss in 1999 is not required).
Outlook Size

  • If you are in an Exchange environment (at work or at many schools), you may face a mailbox cap. When you are close to your limit you will receive email notifications from the System Administrator. If you ignore the warnings and exceed your limit, you will be unable to send email. If you continue to ignore the warnings, eventually you will not be able to receive email.
  • Outlook itself does not have a cap, depending on which version you use and what type of mail account you have created. For a home user, older versions of Outlook (2002 and older) do have a Personal Folders maximum size of 2 GB though it can become pretty flakey at around 1.6 GB. In Outlook 2003, they did away with this cap by changing the format from ANSI (American National Standards Institute) to Unicode. This allowed the PST file in Outlook 2003 & 2007 to become a maximum size of 20 GB (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830336).
  • To determine how much mail you have, view the properties of Outlook Today in the folder view. This will show you what you have and where the bulk of your mail is stored.
Outlook Deleted Items

  • Emptying your Deleted Items folder regularly helps to maintain your mailbox or PST size. It is not to be used as a filing system.
  • To this end, if you delete an email and discover later that you need it, if you're in an Exchange environment you may be able to recover by clicking on Tools > Recover Deleted Items. If Deleted Item Retention is turned on, you have a chance of getting your email back depending upon how long it's been since you deleted it.
  • If you delete an email and you have a POP3 or IMAP account, you can try the following but it is unpredictable at best if you are not trying to recover a deleted email immediately: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/restoredeleteditemsfromanoutlookpst.htm 
Outlook PST (Personal Folders)

  • These can be helpful in an Exchange environment if you have a mailbox cap but should be used with caution. The Outlook PST is created automatically in a non-Exchange environment (say you're a home user and you create a POP3 for your ISP email).
  • If you're in an Exchange environment, all email moved to Personal Folders removes it from the Exchange mail server. This means it reduces your mailbox size but it is not being backed up anymore.
  • Whether you're a home user or in an Exchange environment, it is in your best interests to regularly back up your PST (aka Personal Folders). The procedure is easy, with Outlook closed, simply copy your PST to another location that is not on your C drive (on a network you can use your User or Home drive, if you're at home you can put it on a CD or USB key or on your D drive - away from your operating system drive which is usually C).
  • How to find your Personal Folders: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm#Locating_the_pst-file 
  • How to back up and restore your Personal Folders: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm 
Outgoing Email Requests

  • Request a delivery receipt to verify it was delivered to the email address that you specified.
  • Request a read receipt to verify that an email has been read by the recipient. Use this with caution. A recipient may deny this read receipt or their email server can.
  • Voting buttons
  • Delayed delivery
  • Filing outgoing mail
  • Recall an outgoing email that you wish to revise or delete (this usually only works in an Exchange environment and only if the recipieint has not read the email).
The Outlook Calendar

  • Use the calendar to schedule meetings, reminders, events.
  • All scheduled items can be single instance (once) or recurring.
  • Invite others to your meetings.
  • As the recipient of a meeting request, you can accept/decline/tentative.
  • Use the calendar to schedule with people ahead of time. Don't surprise them at the last minute. Give people time to prepare!
Attachments

  • If you're in an organization, sending a document by email eats up everyone's mailbox space. Share the document, spreadsheet, PDF, presentation, etc. on the network in a common location that everyone can access. Instead of including the attachment in your email, insert a hyperlink to the location of the attachment.
  • Often, incoming and outgoing attachment size is limited. Take note of the size of the attachment size that you wish to send. Sending a huge file can also tie up your own outgoing email.
Email Etiquette

  • I am covering email etiquette for several reasons; professionalism, courtesy, efficiency, and liability.
  • By using proper language and correct spelling, we portray an image of professionalism.
  • Emails that get to the point are much more efficient than poorly-worded ones.
  • Since text-based communication has no tone of voice or body language to associate with it, take extra care to be courteous.
  • Awareness of email risks protects you from lawsuits.
What Are the Rules?

  • Be concise and to the point.
  • Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions.
  • Use proper spelling, grammer, and punctuation.
  • Make it personal.
  • Do not attach unnecessary files.
  • Don't type in all capitalized letters.
  • Add a signature to your outgoing email.
  • Read and re-read your email before you send it.
  • Double-check that you're sending to the correct recipient.
  • Do not forward chain emails and hoaxes.
  • Don't use email to discuss confidential information.
Outlook Caution

  • Never send or forward emails that contain libelous, defamatory, offensive, obscene, or racist remarks.
  • Use the Reply to All button only when all recipients require the information you convey.
  • Don't reply to SPAM.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Troubleshooting Microsoft Outlook

It doesn't matter which version you use, though it is hoped you've upgraded to Office 2003 at the very oldest, you will come across problems with Outlook that you won't understand or know how to deal with. This is where troubleshooting comes into play, and you have many options!

You can research for yourself and here are my two favourite websites to use:

Robert Spaarnaij's Microsoft Outlook Help Site

Diane Poremsky's Slipstick Solutions Centre for Microsoft Outlook

Both websites will cover all of your basic questions and problems if you search through them. I would even advise you to bookmark them.

Both are written and maintained by Microsoft Outlook MVP's. MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional. This is a coveted designation offered by Microsoft at their invitation only. That is, you can't write an exam to get this. Microsoft invites you to become an MVP based on your expertise!

If you have a Yahoo! account, you can join the outlook-users group and post or email questions:
Outlook Users Yahoo! Group

You can also join and ask questions in the Microsoft Answers Outlook forum, all you need is a Live or Hotmail account to do so.

Microsoft Answers Forum

The forum is not frequented by Outlook developers but Outlook users and of course all of the Outlook MVP's who are experts in their field.

And of course, Microsoft offers Outlook Help and How-to as well:
Microsoft Office Help

This is just a start to help you troubleshoot any Outlook problems you might have.

If you have suggestions for further Microsoft Outlook blog topics, don't hesitate to let me know!