How to Create and Use Your Email Signature

You can create fun or professional personalized signatures for your email messages that include text, images, your electronic business card, a logo, or even a copy of your handwritten signature (I don't recommend making your signature public).

 Note: This article is written for Microsoft Outlook 2010. This information is also available for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.  Just click on the links to find the information.

Your signature can automatically be added to outgoing messages, or you can manually add the signature to only the messages that you choose. I do not however, recommend that you add it to every email including replies. It becomes redundant and self-indulgent.

Create a signature

1. Open a new message. On the Message tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click Signatures.
2. On the E-mail Signature tab, click New.
3. Type a name for the signature, and then click OK.
4. In the Edit signature box, type the text that you want to include in the signature.
5. To format the text, select the text, and then use the style and formatting buttons to select the options that you want.
6. To add items other than text, click where you want the element to appear, and then do any of the following:

Options	How to
To add an electronic business card	Click Business Card, and then click a contact in the Filed As list. Then click OK
To add a hyperlink	Click Insert Hyperlink, type in the information or browse to a hyperlink, click to select it, and then click OK
To add a picture	Click Picture, browse to a picture, click to select it, and then click OK. Common image file formats for pictures include .bmp, .gif, .jpg, and .png.

7. To finish creating the signature, click OK.

 Note    The signature that you just created or modified won't appear in the open message; it must be inserted into the message.

Add a signature to messages

Signatures can be added automatically to all outgoing messages, or you can choose which messages include a signature.
 Note    Each message can contain only one signature.

Insert a signature automatically

1. On the Message tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click Signatures.

2. Under Choose default signature, in the E-mail account list, click an email account with which you want to associate the signature.
3. In the New messages list, select the signature that you want to include.
4. If you want a signature to be included when you reply to or forward messages, in the Replies/forwards list, select the signature. Again, use this feature judiciously. Otherwise, click (none).

Insert a signature manually

• In a new message, on the Message tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click the signature that you want.

 Tip    To remove a signature from an open message, highlight the signature in the message body, and then press DELETE.

Outlook Keeps Asking for a Password

Many Outlook users over the years have complained that Outlook keeps asking for a (network) password repeatedly. The problem is exacerbated when “Enter Network Password” pop-up message appears every 20-30 seconds - how frustrating! Even after you enter your correct user name and password the pop up keeps flashing and unfortunately, enabling the "Save Password" or "Remember Password" options do not solve the problem.

 

Two possible reasons for this problem:

• You have a corrupted Outlook profile (this is the most common)
• Your registry has incorrect Protected Storage System information (Please do *NOT* attempt this if you are inexperienced or unsure of working in the registry)

Fix your corrupted Outlook profile:

Create a new outlook profile and connect this profile to the .pst file (Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders data file that contains your contacts, emails, calendar, tasks, etc.) of your previous (corrupted) profile:

1. Create new outlook profile: http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm#create 
2. Locate the .pst file used by damaged profile: http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/aboutpst.htm#location 
3. Configure new profile to use .pst file of old, corrupted profile. This can be done by following the given below steps (these steps are for Microsoft Outlook 2010):

1. Open Outlook.
2. File tab -> Info -> click Account Settings (Outlook 2007 Account Settings option is available in Tool menu, in Outlook 2003 and 2002 Tool -> Options).
3. E-mail tab-> click your email account. (in Outlook 2003 and 2002 Mail Setup -> Email Accounts -> View or change existing e-mail accounts - > Next)
4. In the "Account Settings" dialogue box Click "Change Folder".
5. Click New Outlook Data File-> click Office Outlook Personal Folders File-> click OK.
6. Browse and locate the .pst file of old profile-> click OK.

Resolve Your  Incorrect Registry information Problem:

Close all  programs, create a backup copy of the registry

1. Click on Start > Start Search
2. Type in Regedit and hit Enter
3. Locate the folder : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
4. Edit Menu > New > Expandable String Value
5. Name it AppData
6. Double-click the new entry and type in: "%userprofile%\Application Data" (without the quotes) in the "Value data field" box.
7. Click "OK" and close the registry editor.

Note: Before following this solution make sure that you have created a backup copy of registry.

The Duke of Monmouth - A Historical Hottie

Written by 17th Century Historian Andrea Zuvich, this novella is set in the 1600's and written about James Scott the 1st Duke of Monmouth. He was known for leading an unsuccessful rebellion against King James II in 1685 and for his striking good looks.

In 1662, James was installed at court as a favourite of King Charles II and on February 14, 1663, Charles created him duke of Monmouth, earl of Doncaster, and Baron Scott of Tindale and made him a Knight of the Garter. He married Anne Scott, a wealthy Scottish heiress and it was then considered that he might be a possible successor to Charles II.

The novella is concentrated on the loves of James Scott, particularly his mistress and the purported love of his life, Lady Henrietta Wentworth which caused great scandal.

You may of course read more about him by reading Andrea Zuvich's blog:

http://www.andreazuvich.com/history/dashing-doomed-duke-of-monmouth/

You may read His Latest Mistress by Andrea Zuvich as an e-book, to be released this week by Endeavor Press. Here is her light overview of the book:

"This e-book will be published by Endeavour Press, London. "His Last Mistress" spans 1675-1686 and is about the final years of the dashing Duke of Monmouth, and the love of his life. James Crofts, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, was the handsome, heroic, illegitimate son of Charles II. Lost in the excesses of debauchery, he begins to pursue the virtuous Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who, knowing of his flighty reputation with other women, loathes him and tries to resist him. Will she be able to? As this relationship develops, the political climate in England is increasingly dangerous for the Duke. The Exclusion Bill could remove his uncle the Duke of York - a Catholic - from his position as heir to Charles II's throne. It seems rebellion may be the only answer..."

Available for download later this week from Endeavour Press: http://www.endeavourpress.com/

Here is a review of the novella: http://sarahshistoryblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/his-last-mistress/ 

Microsoft Outlook Calendar: Recurring Meetings

Set end dates and limit the number of occurrences

With Outlook, it is SO easy to schedule a meeting that has multiple occurrences on a regular basis. That being said, I would *always* recommend that you:

1) always set an end date
2) limit the recurring series to a specific number of occurrences.

This is because recurring meetings are going to require modifications at one point or another. Over time attendees change, locations or times change for various reasons (vacations, unforeseen circumstances, hirings/firings/quittings, etc.). Outlook saves each of these unique changes as a meeting exception. Meetings with a very large number of exceptions result in a meeting series that is difficult to manage. Not surprisingly, it can introduce unexpected behaviour. You can always create a new meeting series when the current one ends. When thinking about the number of occurrences, consider the frequency. In the period of a year, a twice a week meeting will have about 90 more occurrences than a monthly meeting during that same period.

End a recurring meeting before the original end date

Rather than cancelling a recurring meeting, your best bet is to change the end date for the series. This allows you and your attendees to keep a record of the meetings that occurred in the past. If you cancel the recurring meeting for good, you're going to lose the history. Instead, set a new end date and send the update to all attendees. This ends the meeting series early, but still keeps your history intact.

Note If you end the meeting series early, exceptions associated with the recurring meeting are lost, To learn more about exceptions, see the “Set end dates and limit the number of occurrences” section.
For more information about cancelling all future meetings in a series, see: Cancel all future meetings in a series

Microsoft Outlook Calendar: Meeting Forward Notifications

Today I'm blogging about the Microsoft Outlook Calendar. I covered it briefly here:

http://kathleenorlandoutlookmvp.blogspot.ca/2012/05/welcome-to-microsoft-outlook.html

But it was a very simplified overview. I think it's time now to cover a bit more of an in depth look at one of the calendar functions in Microsoft Outlook.

I recommend that you use at least Microsoft Office 2007, patched to SP3. SP3 provided many enhancements to the Outlook Calendar. This blog is going to cover the Calendar specifically for Outlook 2007 SP3 or later.

If you use an older version of Outlook, please refer to:

Outlook Meeting Requests Do's and Don'ts

First, this blog is for Exchange users. If you have an Exchange mailbox you are likely at a school, university, or in the workplace. If you connect to Microsoft Exchange 2007 or later with Microsoft Outlook 2007 SP3 or later, you've been introduced to Meeting Forward Notifications.

If you are not aware of them, what happens is that when some meetings are very important, important enough for the meeting notice to be forwarded to additional participants, if you are the person who originated the meeting you are then notified each time the meeting is forwarded to someone new who wasn't originally invited as an attendee. So basically, you send an important meeting request to Users A, B, and C. If one of them decides that Users D and E need to attend and they forward the meeting request to them, you are notified.

This is of course subject to Exchange settings. Meeting Forward Notifications to remote users not on your Exchange server may be disabled, as it might be to people outside your organisation.

NOTE: Delegates do not receive Meeting Forward Notifications.

Microsoft Outlook Rules

In Outlook, it is often in your best interests to create rules that will send specific emails or types of emails into folders so that you can view them later. It helps to keep your Inbox clean and free of clutter, and groups emails of a like nature together for easy access and reading.

You can easily create a rule, either from a template or from scratch. For example, if you are a member of the popular mailing list Freecycle you may want to make sure all of your Freecycle emails end up in one folder together. It's as easy as adding the Freecycle email to your contacts, and then creating a rule in a few clicks:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/outlook-help/create-a-rule-HP005242897.aspx

Managing your email by using rules has been around as long as Outlook has been. Outlook can easily help you to stay organized and up to date.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/outlook-help/manage-email-messages-by-using-rules-HA010355682.aspx

If you can't find the assistance you need in Outlook by pressing F1 (help), Microsoft themselves are extremely helpful:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291608

Additionally, there is tons of help just a quick Google entry away:

http://voices.yahoo.com/understanding-outlook-rules-create-edit-and-492780.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Manage-Email-Using-Microsoft-Outlook-Rules
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000781.htm
http://www.cba.org/bc/practice_resources/main/outlook.aspx (you may find this one especially helpful as it's written for lawyers, so even a child of five could understand this [law humour] - someone fetch me a child of five!)
http://smarterware.org/4057/three-microsoft-outlook-rules-that-prioritize-your-email

And if you overdo your rules, create rules that conflict, create so many that they can't run, they're very easy to disable.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/outlook-help/turn-on-or-off-a-rule-HP005242975.aspx

If you ever want to get rid of all rules at once and start over, it's this simple:

Windows XP and older: Start > Run > outlook.exe /cleanrules
(note the space between outlook.exe and /cleanrules)

Windows Vista and newer: Start > Start Search > outlook.exe /cleanrules
(note the space between outlook.exe and /cleanrules)

And as always, you can always ask me here or on Facebook, Twitter, or even LinkedIn.

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