INTRODUCTION TO OUTLOOK MAIL

THE OUTLOOK ENVIRONMENT

THE TASK PANE

WORKING IN YOUR INBOX

WORKING WITH MESSAGES

MANAGING MAIL

SEARCH FEATURES

MANAGING CONTACTS

SPAM FILTERING

CHECKING EMAIL FROM HOME

THE OUTLOOK ENVIRONMENT

·  Menu Bar – Lists the Outlook Menus

·  Quick Help – The ‘Ask A Question’ box provides quick access to help on specific topics

·  Standard Toolbar – Provides quick access to the most frequently used commands

·  Navigation Pane – Provides access to all components of Outlook (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks)

·  Task Pane – This window changes depending on which component of Outlook you are using.  When in Mail it provides a view of all of your mail folders

·  Go Menu – Part of the Navigation Pane that allows you to quickly switch between components

·  Quick Launch Bar – Provides quick access to frequently used components

·  Reading Pane – Displays the contents of the selected message without opening the message.  By default it appears on the right-hand side of the screen, but can also be positioned on the bottom of the screen

THE TASK PANE

When you are in Outlook Mail, the Task Pane shows a view of all of your folders divided into two sections, Favorite Folders and All Mail Folders.  

Under All Mail Folders you will see a section for Personal Folders (which are stored locally on your own computer) and your folders that are stored on the Exchange Server, including your Inbox.  These appear under the heading Mailbox followed by your name.    This is your current inbox. If you see another inbox under Personal Folders, this is a prior inbox which you used under your old email program.  It may be kept for reference or those messages could be ported into another folder.  No new messages will automatically go to that folder.  Please note, you may see Personal Folders twice in the list.  Both areas point to the same set of folders. 

All folders that you see under your username (and the messages within them) are stored on the mail server.  These are the same folders you would see if you were in Webmail.  All of the messages in these folders count toward your email quota.   Messages stored in your Personal Folders on your own computer do not.   

To move a folder into the Favorite Folders area, just click on it and drag it into that window.   To remove it, right-click on the folder and click on ‘Remove from Favorite Folders’.

WORKING IN YOUR INBOX OR OTHER FOLDERS – QUICK TIPS

When you click on your Inbox or any other folder in the Task Pane the header information for those messages will be displayed on the screen.  (From/To, Subject, Received, Size). 

Message indicators:

Message order:

Click on any heading to sort the messages according to that header  (i.e. sort on subject or sender).  Clicking on the same heading a second time will reverse the order.

Reading Pane:

Highlighting any message will display a preview of that message in the Reading Pane without actually opening the message

Moving messages to other folders:

You can single-click on any message and then drag it to another folder to store it elsewhere (Be careful where you drop it!!).

Deleting Messages:

After highlighting the message you can click on the Delete icon   on the toolbar.  The message will then be grayed-out with a line through it.  To permanently delete it, click on ‘Purge Deleted Messages’ in your toolbar.  (If this command is not in your Toolbar, contact Desktop Support and they can tell you how to add it).

Un-deleting Messages

If the message still appears with a line through it, you can un-delete it by clicking on the Edit menu and then selecting Undelete.  If you have already Purged the message it cannot be Undeleted.

WORKING WITH MESSAGES

Open a Message:

Double-click on the message you want to open.

Reply to a Message:      

On the Standard Toolbar, click on the Reply icon.  If you wish to reply to all email addresses in both the To: and CC:  headers, click on  Reply to All.   After adding any additional comments you wish to include, click on .      You can use the Reply options either from the open message or from the Inbox view.

Forward a Message:

You can pass a message along to one or more other email addresses by clicking on the Forward icon on the Toolbar.  Fill in the address(es) to which you want to forward the message on the To: line.   Click the Send icon when done.

Print a Message:

Click on the File menu and select Print.  You can then adjust any printer settings in the Print dialog box.  If you want to use your default print settings you can simply click on the Printer Icon on the Toolbar and the message will go directly to the printer without a dialog box.

Delete a Message:

With the message selected (from the Inbox or other folder) or with the message open, click on the Delete icon  on the Toolbar.   The message will be moved to your Deleted Items folder on the Exchange server.  This folder should be emptied periodically to permanently delete the items in it.

COMPOSING AND SENDING NEW A NEW MESSAGE

Create a New Message 

Click on the New icon on the Toolbar.   You will see the new message form.  You will need to indicate the email address(es) to which the message will be sent, a subject and the content of the message. 

Addressing the Message

You can supply email addresses for all recipients of this message in the To, CC  and BCC  boxes.  

· To indicates the primary recipient or group of recipients. 

· Cc (Carbon Copy) is used for those who should receive a copy of the message

· Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) will send the message to the addresses indicated but their names will not be seen by other recipients.   Bcc does not appear in the message form, but can be accessed by clicking on the Cc button. 

For any of these options, you can type in the full address of the person to whom you are sending the email, or you can use the Address Book.  

Autocomplete

As you type an address, Outlook will suggest other addresses you have used in the past that begin with the same letters.  At any point you can simply click on any of the listed addresses and Outlook will auto-complete it for you without further typing.

You can also look up addresses in the Global Address List (GAL) which includes all Wesleyan faculty, staff and students.  To use this feature, begin tying the address and then click on the Check Names icon.

You will be presented with a list of email addresses that match the letters you have typed and you can select the one you want. 

The Address Book

The Address Book is a collection of address lists that you can use to find and select names, email addresses and distribution lists.   In most cases, since you already have access to Wesleyan email addresses, your address book will consist primarily of non-Wesleyan contacts or your personal distribution lists. 

The easiest way to use the contact information in your address book is to click on the To or Cc buttons and the Select Names dialog box will appear.  You may have multiple address books and can choose from among them.  You may begin to type the desired address to select or scroll through the names on the list, highlight the one you want and then click the To->  Cc->  or Bcc->  buttons to indicate where you want to put it.

We will discuss the creation and maintenance of Address Books later in this document.

Creating the Body of the Message

This procedure is very much the same as in Eudora or other email programs.  Type the information or copy and paste text in if desired.  Various formatting options are available in the Toolbar.  Spell checking is also available.

Spell Check a Message

To check spelling, click on the Tools menu and select Spelling or press the F7 key.

The Autocorrect Feature

The autocorrect feature is turned on by default and will automatically correct some common mistakes in spelling and capitalization as you type. This can be turned off by clicking on Tools and selecting Autocorrect Options.

Uncheck any options you do not want. 

Attachments

If you wish to include a separate file with your message, you can send that file along with your message as an attachment.   To attach a file, click on the paperclip icon on the Toolbar.  You will see the Insert File dialog box.   In the Look in: drop-down box, indicate the folder in which your file is stored.   Once the files in that folder are displayed, select the file you want to include with your message and click the Insert button.

The name of the document will then appear on a new line in the message form below the other headers.

MANAGING MAIL

Saving Attachments

When you receive a message with attachments, they will be listed at the top of the message just below the headers.

To view an attachment, double click on it and it will open in the corresponding program.  Once open, click on the File menu and select Save As.   You DO NOT want to save it back to the same folder it is currently in.  Outlook attachments are stored in a hidden folder many levels down in your directory structure and are very difficult to find if you lose track of the original message.    You should select a folder on your hard disk or on a network share.    Indicate the folder in the Save in: drop-down box and click Save.

Flagging Messages

When looking at the messages listed in your Inbox, you sometimes want one of more to stand out so that you can follow up on some issues related to it.   Right-click on the message and a pop-up menu will appear.  Select Follow Up.   You can then select the color of the flag you want to appear with this message.  Once we activate calendar functions for Outlook users, there will be further options available. 

To remove a flag, simply click on it.   To mark it as completed, right-click on the flag and select Follow Up and then select Flag Complete.

CREATING AND MANAGING FOLDERS

You probably already have a number of folders which were transferred to Outlook along with all of your Eudora mail, but you may wish to create new ones. 

Create a new mail folder

Click on the drop-down arrow next to the New icon on your Toolbar.

Click on Folder

You will see the Create New Folder dialog box.

Type in the Name for the new folder, then select where you want that folder to be stored.

If you click on Personal Folders, the folder will be stored on your own hard disk.

If you click on Mailbox it will be stored on the mail server.

Click OK to complete the operation.

Moving/Copying Messages to a Folder

You may want to organize your mail by moving messages into categorized folders.  If a message contains information appropriate to more than one folder, you may want to copy to multiple forlders.

Select the message you want to move or copy and then click on the Edit menu. 

Select either Move to Folder or Copy to Folder

You will see either the Move Items or Copy Items dialog box.

Click on the folder in which you want to deposit the message and click OK.

Delete a Folder

In the All Mail Folders pane, select the folder you want to delete.

On the Standard Toolbar, click the Delete icon.

In the message box, click Yes to confirm deletion of the selected folder.

SEARCH FEATURES

Finding Messages

To search for specific messages, click on the Tools menu and select Find and then select Find again.

This will open the Find Bar just under your Toolbar.

Components of the Find Bar

Using Advanced Find Options

If the basic Find feature is not adequate to find the messages you need, you may need to use the Advanced Find feature.

On the Find Bar, click on the arrow beside Options and then click on Advanced Find  or, if the Find Bar is not open, click on the Tools menu, click on Find and then click on Advanced Find.

You will see the Advanced Find dialog box.

The options in this box allow you to search on any aspect of an email messages and allow you to specify multiple criteria.    It includes several drop-down boxes with additional options you may select.

When you have specified all of your criteria, click Find Now to begin the search.

Other Advanced Find Options

Outlook offers two additional find options under the Tools menu:  Find Related Messages and Messages from Sender.  Both choices will open the Advanced Find dialog box and automatically populate some of the fields necessary for the find operation.

MANAGING CONTACTS

The Outlook Address Book consists of the Global Address List (GAL) which contains all Wesleyan email addresses and your own Contacts List.

A Contact is a person with whom you communicate on a business or personal level and whose personal or business information is stored in the Outlook Contacts folder.

Adding a Contact

Click on the Tools menu and select Address Book.

Click on the New Contact icon  .

Click on New Contact

You will see the New Contact form.

You can add as much or as little information as you want about each contact, but you will need at least the full name and email address. 

Click Save and Close when done.

Change Contact Information.

Click on the Tools menu and select Address Book.

You will see the Address book listings

Type the name of the entry you want to modify or find it in the list and click on it.

Make your modifications and then click on Save and Close

Delete Contact

Same as above, but once highlighted, click the Delete icon or press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Respond Yes to the prompt asking if you are sure you want to remove the selected user(s)

Create Distribution List

If you frequently need to send email to a collection of individuals, you can save that set of addresses as a Distribution List.

Click on the Tools menu and select Address Book.

Click on the New Contact icon  .

Click on New Distribution List

If the individuals you want to include are already in your Contact list, click Select Members.  Highlight the individuals you want to include.  You can select multiple entries by holding down the Ctrl key while you click on each of them.

If the individuals are not in your Contact list, click Add New and enter the name and email information for that person and click OK.

Proceed until the list is complete then click Save and Close.

Sharing Contacts

You can share your contacts with others by doing the following:

In the Navigation Bar, click on Contacts

In the middle of the Navigation Bar, click on Share My Contacts

Select the account with whom you wish to share your Contacts and click the Add-> button

Click OK

Click the drop-down menu next to Permission Level and select the permissions you wish to grant.

Click OK

Opening Another User's Contact List

On the Navigation Bar click on Contacts

On the Navigation bar click on Open Shared Contacts

Type in the name of the account whose contacts you have been granted permissions to and click OK

The contacts will appear on your screen. 

Sharing a Distribution List

You can email a distribution list to any other Outlook user so they can include it in their own Contacts list.

Open a new email and address it to the person you will be sending the list to

Open your Contacts and drag the distribution list into the message.  It will appear as an attachment. 

Send the email

The recipient then drags that attachment into his or her own Contacts list.

SPAM FILTERING

Outlook has spam filtering capabilities similar to those in Eudora, but our experience has been that it tends to result in too many false positives to be relied upon.

Once we complete the migration to the Exchange server, additional spam screening options will be put in place.

For the time being we recommend the use of Spam Assassin.  If those settings do not effectively reduce your spam to a reasonable level, your Desktop Support Specialist can work with you to fine-tune the Outlook options.

SPAM ASSASSIN

SpamAssassin allows you to set thresholds for the both the labeling of messages as spam and the score at which something should be done with the mail.

CHECKING EMAIL FROM HOME

Now that you are on Outlook, you have been configured to read your mail directly from the Exchange server rather than downloading it to your computer.   This means that if you use any other email program that downloads mail you may run into problems.

There are four possible scenarios for accessing your email at home:

1.  Wesleyan Laptop

 If you have a Wesleyan laptop configured with Outlook and you have high-speed Internet at home (DSL or Cable Modem), it will function exactly the same from home as it does on campus 

2.  Outlook Web Access (OWA)  **  RECOMMENDED **

Instructions below

3.  Remote Desktop

You can use Remote Desktop to control your office computer from home.  This also requires a high-speed Internet connection and will require assistance from your Desktop Support Specialist for the initial setup

4.  Outlook Client

If you already use Outlook on your home computer, you can reconfigure it to access the Wesleyan Exchange server.

Using the Outlook Web Client  ** RECOMMENDED **

Open Internet Explorer

(Note:  other browsers can be used, but full functionality is ONLY available with Internet Explorer)

In the address box, type:   owa.wesleyan.edu

Log in with your username and password.

The layout of the screen is very similar to your standard Outlook client and should be usable by anyone familiar with the standard Outlook client.  

Configuring Outlook for Home Use

If you already use Outlook at home to check your Wesleyan email, you can reconfigure it to access your email on Exchange. 

• Open Outlook

• Click on the Tools menu

• Select E-Mail Accounts

• Make sure the button in front of "View or change existing e-mail accounts" is turned on

• Click Next

• In the Email Accounts dialog box, click Add

• Click on the Microsoft Exchange Server button and click Next

• Type in the name of the Microsoft Exchange Server:  exchangewes1.wesleyan.edu

• Type in your username

• Click Next

• Click Finish