Outlook Express Basics for Windows
This document provides basic tips, as well as some advanced
functions for using the email program Outlook Express 4.0 for
Windows effectively.
As email becomes an increasingly important way to communicate, many of
us are beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of
email that finds its way into our "In" boxes. How can we make sure
that nimportant messages reach us, while avoiding the distraction and
wasted time of reading and sorting unimportant messages? And how can
we make it easier to find messages in the vast "compost heap" of old
mail most of us have stored?
The good news is that the latest generation of email programs have
simple and powerful tools that can help you get a handle on the flood
of email hitting your desk. This document will provide you with
instruction on the basic operation of Outlook Express 4.0, a powerful
email program, available as a free download from the Microsoft Website
as a component of Internet Explorer 4.0. We'll also give you some
hints, tips, and tricks to help you make email a powerful tool, rather
than a drowning flood.
Online Help
The most important thing to know about Outlook Express is that there
is lots of online help available when you get stuck. The built-in help
is very good at telling you how to perform common tasks, but not so
good at telling you what to do when things malfunction. You can access
Outlook Express' built-in help at any time, simply by selecting
"Contents and Index" from the Help menu, or by simply pressing the F1
key on your keyboard.
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Setup & Configuration
Outlook Express has lots of options and settings that you can
customize to help you effectively and efficiently manage your
communication needs. Although the program's capabilities can be
complex, we recommend you start with these tips, go slow, and don't
worry too much about what you're missing. As you become more
experienced and comfortable with Outlook Express, you can begin to
explore some of its more sophisticated features.
Basic Email account setup
The first time you run Outlook Express, it will walk you through a
wizard to configure your email account settings. Before you run
Outlook Express, you should have three pieces of information from your
Internet Service Provider:
1. The name of your emailbox (i.e. yourname)
2. The name of your ISP's email server (i.e. mail.onenw.org)
3. Your emailbox password
If you ever need to access your account settings, choose "Accounts"
from the Tools menu.
Default to sending "Plain Text" mail
The only major change that needs to be made to Outlook Express'
default options is to change the default format for outgoing mail from
HTML formatting to plain text formatting. To do this, select "Options"
from the Tools menu. Click on the "Send" tab and set the radio button
for "Mail" to Plain Text.
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Basic operations
Understanding the Mail toolbar
The Inbox toolbar provides quick and easy access to most of Outlook
Express's main features. Here's a quick tour, left to right:
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The Mail toolbar
Compose message
Click here to start composing a new email message.
Reply to Author
Reply will start a new message to the sender of the current message.
Reply to All
Reply to All will reply to the sender and all other recipients.
Forward
Forward allows you to forward the message to another user.
Send and receive
Causes Outlook Express to manually check for new mail and send any
outgoing mail.
Delete button
Deletes the selected item(s). Very useful for managing your mail.
Address Book
Opens your address book.
Checking your email
To check for messages immediately, click the Send and Receive button
on the toolbar. Any messages in your Outbox are sent also. You can
also hit the F5 key to send and receive your email.
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To set up Outlook Express to check for new messages automatically
1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the General tab, select the following check box: Check for new
messages every x minutes.
3. Specify how often you want Outlook Express to check for new
messages
When this check box is selected, Outlook Express also checks for new
messages whenever you start the program. By default, Outlook Express
automatically checks for mail every 30 minutes.
Understanding the Message toolbar
When you open a new email message window, a special set of tools
appears in this window's toolbar:
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A Sample Message
Save
Saves the current message as a mail, plain text or html file.
Print
Prints the current message
Delete
Deletes the current message by moving it to the Deleted Items folder.
Reply to Author
Starts a new message to the author of this message
Reply to All
Starts a new message to the author and all recipients of this message
Forward
Forwards the message to another recipient
Previous Message
Opens the previous message.
Next Message
Opens the next message
Address Book
Opens the address book
Sending email
To begin composing a new email message, click the Compose Message
button. A New Message window will open. In the appropriate spaces,
type the recipient's email address, any other recipients, a subject,
and then the text of your message. When you're finished, click the
Send button at the top of your message. As discussed above, you can
reply to or forward a mail message from the Inbox window simply by
highlighting it and clicking the Reply, Reply to All, or Forward
buttons.
The New Message window
The New Message window has a toolbar of its own. The top toolbar
allows you to send the message, cut copy and paste from the clipboard,
open the address book and attach files (among other things). The New
Message menu bar gives you access to additional options.
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Printing messages
To print a message, just click on the Print button, which appears in
virtually all of Outlook Express's toolbars.
Advanced operations
The Address Book
The Address Book can be a very useful resource for you: it allows
you to easily store and retrieve not only your colleagues' email
addresses, but also their street addresses, phone numbers, and other
pertinent facts. You can also create your own personal "email lists"
of folks you regularly communicate with as a group.
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To add a contact to the Address Book
* In the Address Book, click the New Contact button on the toolbar.
* Type the first and last names for the contact.
* A display name is required for each contact. If you enter a first,
middle, or last name, nickname, or company name, a display name is
created for you.
* On each of the tabs, add the information you want.
To add contacts to your address book from messages you've received
When you receive e-mail, you can add the sender's name and e-mail
address to your address book from within Outlook Express.
* Open the message, right-click the name you want to add, and then
click Add to Address Book.
You can also set up Outlook Express so that people whose messages you
reply to are automatically added to your address book.
* In Outlook Express, click the Tools menu, and then click Options.
On the General tab, click Automatically put people I reply to in
my Address Book.
To add names from e-mail messages
You can set up Outlook Express so that when you reply to messages, the
people you reply to are automatically added to your address book. Or,
any time you send a message in Outlook Express, you can add the
recipient's name to your address book.
To add all message recipients (replies only) to your address book
* In Outlook Express, click the Tools menu, and then click Options.
* On the General tab, select the option Automatically put people I
reply to in my Address Book.
To add an individual name to your address book from Outlook Express
* In the message you are composing or viewing, right-click the
person's name, and then click Add to Address Book.
Creating Simple Distribution Lists (outgoing messages only)
If you have a group of people you regularly send information to or
communicate with, you can easily create a mailing group (or "alias")
containing their names. Then, you just type the group name in the To
box when you send messages. You can create multiple groups, and
contacts can belong to more than one group.
1. In the Address Book, click the New Group button on the toolbar.
2. In the Group Name box, type the name of the group.
3. Click Select Members, and then click a name from the Address Book
list.
4. To find people using directory services, click the Find button on
the Select Group Members dialog box, select a directory service to
search, and then enter your search criteria. When you find the
person, click Add to Address Book.
5. To add the selected name(s) to the group, click Select.
6. Click OK, and then click OK to close the group properties dialog
box.
Notes
* To view a list of your groups separately from the address book
listings, click the View menu, and then make sure that Groups List
is selected.
* When you add contacts to your address book from a directory
service, the properties that are listed in the directory service
(such as address and e-mail address) are automatically added to
your address book.
To add a contact to an existing group
1. In the address book list, double-click the group you want.
2. If the contact is already in your address book, click Select
Members. Otherwise, click New Contact.
3. If you are adding names from your address book, select one or more
names from the list, and then click Select.
4. If you're adding new names, fill in the appropriate information.
5. Click OK, and then click OK to close the group properties dialog
box.
Note: This method of creating your own email list is very different
from the email discussion lists hosted by ONE/Northwest. For
information on these very powerful tools, send us an email, or see our
document "Establishing an Email List."
File Attachments
Attaching a file to an outgoing email message
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To attach a file to an email message, click on the File Attachment
button in the New Message toolbar. A dialog box will open, allowing
you to choose a file to attach. Select the file, click on the "OK"
button, and the file will appear as an icon in your message.
File attachments can be a source of unreadable email. We strongly
recommend that you read our document "Sending and Receiving Email
Attachments" before using file attachments; it contains a number of
tips to help you make sure that you're sending attachments that can be
easily read by other users.
.
To view a file attachment
* At the bottom of the message window, double-click the file
attachment icon.
or
* In the preview pane, click the file attachment icon in the message
header, and then click the file name.
Tip
* To save a file attachment, click the File menu, point to Save
Attachments, and then click the file name. To save the attachment
from the preview pane, press and hold down the CTRL key while
clicking the file name
Managing your email
With ever increasing use of email as an efficient and effective
communication tool, activists must watch out for the problem of
"information overload." One of the best methods we've found for
managing this influx is by customizing your email programs by using
Folders and Rules. Folders in Outlook Express are almost exactly the
same as the folders on your hard drive or in your file cabinet;
they're places to categorize and store messages. Rules allow you to
automatically file specified messages, such as email sent to a
particular list or from a certain person, into an appropriate folder.
Folders
Creating folders for your messages allows you to organize your email
into an electronic equivalent of file folders in your filing cabinet.
Your many email messages are easier to retrieve, less confusing, and
much more manageable when placed in their own subject area (folder)
than having them all unsorted in your "In" box. You can even create
"nested" folders to more fully organize your email library.
The Folder List
The Folder List is a hierarchical list of all of the folders in your
Outlook Express mailbox file. Folders that contain subfolders have
little symbols next to them. Click on these symbols (not the folders
themselves) to show and hide the folder hierarchy.
You can click directly on the folders to show their contents in the
right half of the window.
Creating folders
There are two ways to create a new mail folder in your Personal
Folder:
1. From the "File" menu, choose Folder>New Folder.
2. Right-click on "Outlook Express" in the Folder List (or a folder
within it) and choose "New Folder" from the context menu that pops
up. A new folder will be created within the folder you
right-clicked on.
When deciding how to organize your folders, think first in broad
terms: are there certain people that send you only "personal" email?
Are you subscribed to different email lists? Does your organization's
staff and board send you email? These are all excellent subjects for
separate folders. For example, if you receive email from members of
your family, you can create a folder called "personal," to which you
can transfer all emails from your brother. As you determine your
folder needs over time, you can create more specific folders, rename
them as topics change, and delete those that are no longer of use to
you.
Moving messages and folders
* To move folders in the Folder List, simply drag them within the
Folder List.
* To move messages between folders, open the folder they're in, and
drag the messages into the destination folder in the Folder List.
Creating Rules for automatically filtering your email
One of the most powerful features of Outlook Express is its ability to
automatically filter your incoming email. Outlook Express can
automatically examine the headers of incoming messages and take
actions based on what it finds there.
The most common use of Rules is to automatically move messages from
particular people or email lists to a designated folder. For example,
if you are subscribed to ONEList, ONE/Northwest's email newsletter,
you will probably want to filter ONEList articles into a "ONEList"
folder, so that you can read it at your leisure without it cluttering
up your inbox. You may also wish to create folder/rule pairs for
particular people, other email lists or what have you.
When deciding how to filter your messages, think about the folders you
created, the types of emails you receive, and what keywords and/or
parameters the filters should look for when transferring your messages
to folders. This may take some tweaking after seeing how Outlook
Express interprets your Rules and in what order your messages are
filtered. It's easy to fine-tune your Rules by following the
instructions that follow.
Outlook Express manages Rules through a feature called the Inbox
Assistant. To open the Inbox Assistant, go to the Tools menu and
choose "Inbox Assistant..."
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To create a new rule, click on the "Add..." button in the Inbox
Assistant dialog box. The Properties box for the rule will open,. In
which you can define the criteria for the rule, and the actions you
want the Rule to take.
Signatures
A signature is a brief message that can be automatically added to the
end of outgoing messages. It can include your name, address, telephone
number, web address, or whatever you like. We highly recommend you use
a signature file in emails to discussion lists or to people with whom
you communicate on a professional basis - it gives folks other ways of
contacting you. It also gives your emails a sense of authenticity. You
should, however, keep your signature file short (not more than 4 or 5
lines), and avoid the clever "drawings" you sometimes see people using
in their emails.
1. On the Tools menu, click Stationery.
2. On the Mail tab, click the Signature button.
3. Type your signature information (your name, job title,
organization, phone and fax number, and Web site address) in the
box at the top of the screen.
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12/18/98
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