#1: Show more months

The default calendar view shows you many things: The appointments you have scheduled for the day(s) you have selected, your task list, and a date picker that shows one or more months on the calendar.

If you want to show more months on the date picker, just increase the size of that space by moving the main view to the left, or by moving the taskpad down. I keep it with about 4 months visible, so that I can quickly look ahead to see what the days of the week are.

#2: Go To Today

Another quick trick for the calendar: The "Today" button on the standard toolbar will change the view back to showing today, so that if you are browsing ahead and quickly want to get back to the current day, just click that button on the toolbar, press Alt+O, or right click in the view and choose Today.

#3: Color-Coded Custom Calendar Appointments (shucks, couldn't think of another "C" word for appointments)

Create an appointment and in the "Label" drop down, select a color. When saved, the appointment will then be shaded with that color in the view.

Outlook ships with a suggested list of what those colors might mean (red is important, blue is business, green is personal, etc), but that can be customized. Select the Calendar folder, and select the icon on the standard toolbar that looks like a grid of blue/red/green boxes. Then select Edit Labels. Give the colors any name you want, and the next time you look at the Labels drop-down on an item, your custom text will be one of the options next to the color.