Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Product Guide

Each of the eight Navigation pane modules has a unique but consistent user interface that presents the most relevant information in an efficient space. The following eight Navigation pane modules are available.

The Mail pane displays e-mail folders and Search Folders, and also includes a Favorite Folders section at the top for quick access. To create favorites, users drag an e-mail folder or Search Folder to the Favorite Folders area.

The Calendar pane shows the date navigator at the top and under that the list of all calendars to which the user has access, including local calendars, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services calendars, public folder calendars, and other users’ calendars—all in one simple list. Calendars can be individually turned on or off to view them side by side in the Outlook window. Links are also available to open shared calendars and to share the user’s own calendar (or modify permissions).

Like the Calendar pane, the Contacts pane displays all contacts to which the user has access—including local contacts, Windows SharePoint Services contacts, public folder contacts, and other users’ contacts. Users can opt to view contacts in different ways, such as By Company or Address Cards, in addition to any custom views they have created. Links are also available to open shared contacts, share contact information, modify permissions, or modify the options of the Current View.

The Tasks pane shows a list of all tasks folders that the user can open, including local tasks, public folder tasks, and other users’ tasks. The viewing options for Tasks include built-in views such as Overdue Tasks and Next Seven Days, in addition to any views that a user has created. Users can also select links that open shared tasks, share task information, modify permissions, or modify the options of the Current View.

The Notes pane shows a list of the user’s notes, including shared notes. Viewing options for Notes include built-in views such as By Category and Last Seven Days, in addition to any views a user has created. Links are also available to open shared notes, share the user’s own notes, modify permissions, or modify the options of the Current View.

The Folder list is designed to help with data-file management activities such as archiving and copying between mailboxes. All local folders of all types are shown in the Folder list, just like the Folder list in previous versions of Outlook. Convenient links are available to help manage folder sizes and Outlook Data Files.

The Shortcuts pane is a location for shortcuts to nearly anything: Outlook folders, programs, documents on the hard drive, files on a network, shared folders, Web pages, and more. The user can create groups to organize these shortcuts and can collapse and expand these groups to use the space more efficiently. To add a shortcut, users can employ the provided link or just drag and drop items onto the list.

The Journal pane shows a list of all Journal folders that are available to the user, including public and shared Journal folders. As with the Contacts, Tasks, and Notes panes, all available Journal views are shown in this pane and can be customized. Links to share or open shared Journal data are also provided. The Journal pane is off by default, but users can turn it on by using the Navigation pane Options menu or by selecting Journal from the Go menu to use it without adding it to the Navigation pane.

The Go menu is back! The Go menu makes it easy to navigate through Outlook 2003 by using the keyboard. Users can also change their view of the Navigation pane by using the Go menu.

Key functionality

Several customer-requested improvements have been made to the process of addressing, composing, and sending e-mail messages in Outlook 2003. These features are designed to help all users be more productive with their e-mail.

Streamline e-mail creation

Simplified e-mail creation helps with overall efficiency and productivity. Outlook 2003 now offers a simplified Word Mail user interface (using Microsoft Office Word 2003 as the e-mail editor), which is easier to use, is less confusing, and requires less training. Additional new features that help streamline e-mail creation include expandable distribution lists, improved AutoComplete, Unicode support, and Internet faxing.

Expandable distribution lists

Distribution lists can now be expanded to display the names of the people on the list, making it easy to add or remove a few names before sending the message. This eliminates the need to modify the distribution list or start from scratch when addressing an e-mail message to a distribution list.

AutoComplete now matches on just one letter instead of three, and the AutoComplete list is sorted by the most frequently used e-mail addresses instead of alphabetically. In many cases the user can address e-mail by pressing the first letter in that person’s name. Tablet PC users place their cursor into the address line and point to their most commonly used e-mail addresses, choosing the one they want. Users spend less time searching for the correct e-mail addresses and significantly reduce the required number of keystrokes overall.

The experience of creating a new e-mail message has been vastly simplified. Commands have been consolidated into a single toolbar called E-mail, which is positioned directly above the text of the message. As a result, the number of buttons on the screen has been reduced by more than half, making it easier for users to find what they need and leaving more room for the message.

Outlook 2003 supports Unicode for Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Tasks, and Notes. Users can view and edit text within Outlook 2003 in any language and any script that is installed and is supported by the operating system. Unlimited support for Multilingual User Interface enables IT administrators to switch the user interface and Help files to different languages based on the user’s needs.

With Internet faxing, faxes can be sent and received directly from a desktop computer, eliminating the challenges that can accompany using a fax modem, such as tying up the telephone line, incurring long-distance charges, and having to redial or manually confirm that the fax arrived.

Office 2003 Editions integrate Internet faxing with its programs, including Outlook 2003. Some new faxing features include fax numbers made available in Contacts, a rich preview tool, the ability to calculate the cost of the fax before sending it, cover pages that are editable in Word 2003, and even the ability to sign your name using a Tablet PC.

Internet faxing in the Office 2003 Editions require users to sign up with one of the faxing services that partner with Microsoft Office. (For a list of Microsoft Office fax partners, see Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com.)

Organize and prioritize e-mail

Users are now faced with an increasing volume of incoming e-mail messages. This influx of messages requires more intuitive and efficient organizational tools.

Studies of customers using Outlook found that most people do one of three things with nearly every e-mail message:

1. Respond to it immediately.

2. Delete or file it immediately.

3. Save the message in some way as to indicate that a follow-up action is required. Because they lack the time or information that is required to take action right away, they decide to follow up on it later.

There are almost as many approaches to the third option as there are users—mark the message as unread, move it to an e-mail folder named To Do, make a task out of it, delete or file all messages that don’t require a response, and so on. While these strategies may work for a particular individual, they are makeshift responses to an ever-increasing volume of e-mail for which earlier versions of Outlook were not designed.

Outlook 2003 offers Quick Flags as a simple solution to this problem. Activated by a single click, Quick Flags provide a means for users to “flag” messages for follow-up action or later reference.

To assign a Quick Flag to a particular message, a user clicks the flag icon on an e-mail message from any folder in Outlook 2003. Each marked or "flagged" message has one of several colored flags (as chosen by the user) visible next to it so that it is easy to find at-a-glance. Users can choose colors that work best for them, such as red for high priority or blue for personal to-do items.

Items marked with a Quick Flag are automatically stored in the For Follow Up folder, which becomes an automated, virtual to-do list in Outlook. The For Follow Up folder shows all flagged items at-a-glance and enables users to work with and organize items by color. For more information about the For Follow Up folder, see the following section.





Click the gray flag icon to Quick Flag an e-mail item. Click the icon again to mark it complete. The Insert key can also be used to add or complete a Quick Flag.



Users can also select one of six different colors from a right-click menu to categorize their follow-up items easily.

Using the For Follow Up folder

To make finding messages even easier, a special Search Folder called For Follow Up exists. This folder always contains an up-to-date list of all messages that have been marked with a Quick Flag for every folder in the Inbox. A user who is ready to take action on these messages can open the For Follow Up folder and find every message that has been marked. When finished with a message, the user single-clicks again to mark it as Complete, and the message is stamped with the date/time it was completed. The For Follow Up folder is a default folder that is located in the Favorite Folders section.

Search Folders help users spend less time filing and finding e-mail messages. Search Folders are actually live search results that look like traditional e-mail folders but differ because they do not store e-mail messages. They are virtual folders that contain views of all e-mail items matching specific search criteria. Search Folders display the results of previously defined search queries, but all e-mail messages remain in their original Outlook folder. By using Search Folders, users can easily group and browse through all items relating to a subject, person, task, or other criteria, without physically moving messages or folders.

Three Search Folders are created for users by default, so even beginners can take advantage of this new tool:

After using the default Search Folders, intermediate users will want to create their own folders for customized searches. To make this as easy as possible, Outlook 2003 offers a template gallery that includes 13 ready-made templates for common Search Folders. These templates make it possible to create a wide range of Search Folders with just a few clicks. The following are some key Search Folders that can be created from templates:

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  Important Mail. This provides a central location for all e-mail messages that are marked as having high importance.
  
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  Mail from and to a specific person. This helps users stay current with customer and personal relationships. For example, it can help answer questions such as “Do I owe Janet a message?” or “Where is that e-mail conversation I had with Marc?”
  
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  Old Mail. This is helpful in locating old messages for archiving.
  

Users can also create a custom Search Folder by choosing the last template, “Create a custom Search Folder.” Under Customize Search Folder, users click Choose and type a name for their customized Search Folder. After selecting the search criteria for the customized folder, users can select and search the folders they want to browse.

By using Find or Advanced Find, users can save any search that was created with Outlook 2003 as a Search Folder or use any of the templates that are provided to create a customized Search Folder. In both cases, the user can specify not only the search criteria but also which folders Outlook 2003 searches to create the Search Folder. Search Folders can be easily customized at any time. Users can even perform another search within the contents of a Search Folder to refine their results further.

Outlook 2003 offers a new desktop alert to replace the previous new e-mail message alert. The New Mail Desktop Alert fades in subtly with the name, subject, and a short text preview. It appears just long enough that users can immediately see whether the new message is urgent, should be marked for follow-up, or can be safely ignored without interrupting the current task. The alert contains quick buttons to open, flag, or delete the e-mail message, and if ignored, fades out just as subtly as it appeared. This is completely configurable by the user.

The improved Personal Folders File (*.pst) stores up to 20 GB of data by default (administrators can specify a larger folder if they choose) and supports multilingual Unicode data. The new Outlook Personal Folders File will not work with earlier versions of Outlook. Outlook 2003 still supports Outlook 97 through Outlook 2002 Personal Folders Files, which are limited to about 2 GB of data. These improvements are also leveraged for the Offline Folders Files (*.ost).

Prevent unwanted e-mail

Unfortunately, in addition to an increasing volume of e-mail, users are being inundated with junk e-mail. These e-mail messages can be bothersome and distracting, but they can also have a more serious impact by taking up valuable storage space.

Block external content

By default, Outlook 2003 helps protect the privacy of its users and provides them with more control over the information in their Inbox. This protection is enabled through a new feature called Block External Content.

HTML-formatted messages often contain pictures that are not included in the actual e-mail message but are instead downloaded from a Web server when the e-mail message is opened. Junk e-mail senders have used this capability to their advantage by including something called a “Web beacon” in these messages. A Web beacon notifies the Web server when a user reads the junk message, validating the e-mail address. If an e-mail message tries to connect automatically to a Web server on the Internet, Outlook 2003 blocks that connection until the user decides to view the content, which takes only one click. The user can turn off this feature.

Giving users control over external content has several advantages:

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  Automatic connections to arbitrary Web servers on the Internet are no longer allowed, cutting off the unwanted flow of information to e-mail solicitors.
  
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  Because pictures are not shown unless requested, offensive messages can be deleted without the user being subjected to its images.
  
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  Users on a low bandwidth connection can choose whether an image is valuable enough to warrant the time and bandwidth to download it.
  

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  Content creators who want to send richly formatted HTML e-mail to their customers can still do so by including the pictures in the body of the e-mail message.
  
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  Pictures that are inserted into e-mail by using Outlook or Outlook Express already use the MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate HTML documents (MHTML) standard by default and include the pictures in the message, so they are not affected.
  
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  Any e-mail that includes references to images or content on the Intranet or on Trusted sites (defined by the Intranet and Trusted zones of Internet Explorer) will not be affected.
  
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  Any e-mail messages that were sent from someone on a defined list of trusted senders will not be affected. Users can easily add e-mail addresses to this list (which includes the corporate directory and the user's local contact folder by default).