Where I Look For Outlook Help

As a Microsoft Outlook MVP, you'd think I'd know everything there is to know about Outlook right? WRONG!  I just know how to search really well, and I do my research. I also pay attention to those people I think are very intelligent and knowledgeable when it comes to Microsoft Outlook!

So here are my fave places to research the most accurate Outlook info:

http://www.slipstick.com/
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/outlook
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/outlook-users/
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/8753#tab0

And of course
https://www.google.ca/

I listen closely when other MVP's talk about Outlook and I read their answers on the Outlook forum and Yahoo Group mailing list. They are bright people and well worth my time and effort to hear their advice. 

I am an Outlook sponge!

Customise your Tasks View

In Outlook Tasks, you can find your tasks and view their status with a quick glance. If you choose the appropriate view for your needs, you can save a surprising amount of time. As a quick example, you can prioritise the items that are most critical on your list without scrolling through all the other tasks that are still marked as incomplete. If you prefer to deal with a priority task or if you want to sort your tasks by project, name, or who you assigned it to, the options in Tasks can help you organise your tasks the way that works best for you and the project at hand.

To discover the task view that works best for you in Outlook 2010, in the Navigation pane on the left side of the window click Tasks. On the Ribbon, click the View tab, and then, in the Current View group, click Change View.

For a basic view of your tasks and main details, click Simple List. In this view, you see columns for Task Subject, Due Date, Categories, In Folder, and Sort by: Flag Status.

The Advanced View Settings dialogue box is available for each view. You can use it to add or remove categories, set various filtering parameters, and even adjust type size and font.

To reset a Tasks view that you’ve customised back to its original settings, click the View tab, click Reset View, and then, when the dialogue box asks you if you’re sure you want to reset the view, click Yes.

Try experimenting with different views, options, settings, fonts. If you don’t like the way your tasks appear, you can always reset the view to the default settings or choose a new one. The purpose here is to choose which view helps you sort your tasks so that you aren't digging for information. Create unique views that provide the information you need. This is your chance to customise Outlook to meet your needs.

Outlook 2007 users: The processes for changing or customising your tasks views vary slightly. To find out more about customising views in Outlook 2007, go to Customise Your View.

Things I Love About Outlook

 

• You may choose to use Microsoft Outlook to be in sync with all your personal and business mail accounts. You can configure Exchange, IMAP, POP3 accounts as well as use the Hotmail Connector for Hotmail and now Outlook.com ALL at the same time! You may also opt to use Microsoft Outlook for your personal email account alone or along with your corporate or business needs. To be precise, it is highly customisable to your needs, preferences and requirements. It's a one stop email client.
• It's been around since the 1990's and it integrates with the rest of Microsoft Office.
• It integrates with Windows Desktop Search.
• It has sticky notes you can use as reminders or for lists. You can even drag and drop them onto your desktop. They're very handy! 
• I love the calendar! I can schedule reminders, either one time or with a recurrence so I don't forget to do things like change the back up tapes or take a vitamin pill. I can even invite others to participate, like when it's time to give our dog Dazzle her regular Revolution dose for flea, tick, and heartworm control!



Dazzle

 

• I just invite my husband and when he accepts the request it goes into his calendar and reminds him when the medication is due. I love it's reminder function! I can snooze something I don't need to do right this moment. I also use the calendar to help set goals and time lines for myself.
• If you have a handheld PDA or Smart Phone, you can sync the device with Outlook. Skype talks to Outlook. ACT! talks to Outlook.  
• While it's not quite foolproof (reading some of the questions on the Microsoft Outlook Forum will show anyone that nothing is foolproof), it's mostly pretty straightforward.
• For you Network Administrators/System Administrators, Outlook plays well with Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory plus you get OWA (Outlook Web Access) so you can check your work email from any browser.
• Outlook's superior rules raise the bar. You can sort email, automatically send them into particular folders, and even set automatic responses for some. With newer versions of Outlook with Exchange as the mail server, you can even customise your Out of Office for internal and external users with different messages for each.
• Outlook's improved security features are great. You have to now make a conscious decision to bypass them. It has great junk mail filtering and, as long as you keep Outlook up to date, it will block web bugs, downloaded images, disallows executable attachments, and even prevents ActiveX applets from executing. 
• You can share mailboxes or even assign tasks to others. When you assign a task, you'll even get status updates, too.   
• Voting buttons! You can use them to help facilitate work flow, choose a restaurant, or even with training. Example: we send a link via email monthly to employees to a training presentation. Once they read it, they can use the voting button to say that yes, they have read and understood the training.
• When entering dates, you never have to type in the entire date. Outlook will offer a date for you. You can simply hit enter to accept it. If a date is in the current month, just enter the day and Outlook will enter the rest of the date for you. For instance, if the current month is March and you enter 14, Outlook assumes you mean March 14 of the current year and fills in that date.
• If you use Outlook 2010, you have access to Information Rights Management. Information Rights Management (IRM) allows individuals and administrators to specify access permissions to documents, workbooks, and presentations. This helps prevent sensitive information from being printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorised people. After permission for a file has been restricted by using IRM, the access and usage restrictions are enforced regardless of where the information is, because the permission to a file is stored in the document, workbook, or presentation file itself. In other words, you can prevent someone from forwarding, pasting, or even printing your email.