The UsefulTechnology Blog : Outlook

The End: this blog leaps over to Windows Live Spaces

Allister_Frost — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:00:00 GMT

I've decided to move my blog to a new home on Windows Live Spaces. I hope you'll move with me.

My new blog URL is http://usefultechnologyblog.spaces.live.com/.

To subscribe to the new RSS feed, simply click this link: http://usefultechnologyblog.spaces.live.com/feed.rss.

Thanks for being with me on TechNet. See you on the other side.

My Blogcasts on Soapbox

Allister_Frost — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:36:00 GMT

I've been playing with the new Soapbox on MSN Video service. It's pretty cool. I never really got into YouTube but I can see how useful it will be to be able to restrict access to my videos on Soapbox based on my existing Windows Live Messenger contact lists. I've uploaded 5 of my Outlook 2003 blogcasts as a test. You can find them by searching on Soapbox for "UsefulTechnology". Or by clicking any of the links that follow:

I've also embedded a player for the first blogcast below to make life easy. Let me know what you think.

Video: Outlook 2003 General Tips

The Joy of Finding Big Things (in Outlook 2007)

Allister_Frost — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:42:00 GMT

My former boss, Bruce Lynn, asked me this weekend how he could locate all the large (>200kb) entries in his Outlook calendar so he could delete them to free up some space in his mailstore. He couldn't figure out how to do this but knew it must be easy. If you find your mailstore is running short on space it's well worth doing this every once in a while, even if just to delete any large attachments that are no longer needed inside historical calendar appointments.

To do this in Outlook 2003 you need to customise your calendar view as follows:

In your calendar, VIEW > CURRENT VIEW > ALL APPOINTMENTS
Right click on the column header row (where you see Subject, Location etc...) and choose Customize current view
Now add a filter where size is greater than 200 (under the more choices tab)
Optional: Add another filter if you want to see only appointments in the past (Advanced tab > End / on or before / today)
Click OK
Now delete what you don’t want
To return to your normal view choose VIEW > CURRENT VIEW > DAY/WEEK/MONTH

It's wonderfully simple in Outlook 2007 though:

In your calendar, type size:>200000 in the quick search box
Delete what you don’t want

Just one example of the power of the new search capabilities in the 2007 Office system. And, of course, this works in all views (mail, tasks, calendar etc) and is a beautifully simple way to cleanse your mailbox of unwanted big stuff.

Add some hyperlink action to your emails

Allister_Frost — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 02:14:00 GMT

Bloggers know how important it is to include relevant hyperlinks in their posts ;-)

They can come in pretty handy in emails too. Instead of pasting a lengthy and ugly URL into an email you can add a hyperlink to any part of your email text.

So, instead of this:

The UsefulTechnology blog (http://blogs.technet.com/UsefulTechnology/) is really quite useful.

...you can do this:

The UsefulTechnology blog is really quite useful.

Much neater. And it's fast too. Especially if you know the magic keyboard shortcut: CTRL+K. Just highlight your text (or place your cursor anywhere on a word you'd like to turn into a hyperlink) and press CTRL+K. Type your URL in the Address field, then press OK. Easy as pie.

Append a post to an email in Outlook

Allister_Frost — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 14:19:00 GMT

Sometimes even the most disciplined time management gurus cannot cope with sheer volume of emails flooding into their Outlook Inbox. And while it's good practice to keep your Inbox as empty as possible (converting all those 'things to do' into tasks) there are some smaller jobs that are best left in the Inbox until they are completed.

To make this easier, there's a very simple way to append a post to any items in your Inbox. Simply make sure your Inbox is Arranged By Conversation, click on the email to which you wish to append a post and press CTRL+T. Outlook will create a new post containing the body copy and conversation header of your chosen email, to which you can add any notes about the outstanding things you must do relating to this email. And because your Inbox is arranged by conversation, your new post is effectively glued to its related email. Simple, eh?

Achieving your career goals with Outlook

Allister_Frost — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:00:00 GMT

Here at Microsoft, all full time employees have to sign up to personal commitments for their job. At the end of each financial year these are reviewed in a Performance Review on which all sorts of things depend including bonuses and promotion prospects. Some companies have similar schemes called MBOs (Management By Objectives), Personal Goals or simply Job Descriptions which outline what a specific job entails.

I've just completed writing up my personal commitments, and a mighty scary list it is too. The trouble with commitments is that they're easy to make and much harder to fulfil. So I was wondering how I could use Outlook to help me stay on top of my commitments and continually remind me of the things I should be doing to succeed in my job. Here's a tip I shared with some colleagues last week. I've had so much positive feedback that I thought I'd also share it here:

By now, most people should have their FY07 Personal Commitments in place. So here’s a quick Outlook tip to help you achieve them and allocate time to the things that are most important to you and your job.

TIP: Use the improved colour categories feature in Outlook 2007 to create a category for each item in your Commitment Execution Plan against which you will dedicate time. For instance if, like me, you have committed to spending more time with customer/partners, create a category called something like ‘Externally Facing’. Here’s how:

1.     To On the toolbar, click Categorize .

2.     Click All Categories.

3.     In the Name list, click the name of a colour category, and then click Rename.

4.     In the Name list, type the new name for the colour category, e.g. Externally Facing.

Now when you book time in your calendar for an activity like this, just categorise it as ‘Externally facing’ and Outlook will colour code it accordingly. Do this for all activities that relate directly to the major focus areas in your Personal Commitments and you can instantly see how you are spending your time to achieve them.

What’s more when it comes to your Annual Performance Review you can simply create a new calendar view that instantly shows you all the activities you did which related to each commitment. Cut and paste it into your review form and the job’s done! Bingo!

The real beauty of this approach is that now, every time I categorise something in Outlook, I see my personal commitments staring back at me. It's a good way to remind myself what I really should be doing so I stay focussed and increase my chances of a good Performance Review.

To flag or not to flag in Outlook

Allister_Frost — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:02:00 GMT

Outlook has always provided an amazing amount of customisation, and it's never been better than in Outlook 2007. One area that I've personally chosen to customise is the default Inbox view. The default view now shows both the new colour category and the flag status fields against each item in the Inbox. And things can get a bit, er, colourful if you make use of both of these features.

Unfortunately, the flag status field is locked to the right hand side of the Inbox column so you can't move it around. And, as I've not yet found a use for the Flag Status field (I'm a die-hard SHIFT+CTRL+V, move to tasks guy), I've opted to remove this from the Inbox view. Here's how to do this:

In Outlook, click on the View menu, point to Current View, and then click Customize Current View.
Click Fields.
In the Available fields list, select Flag Status, and then click Remove.

To return the flag status to its default location simply do steps 1 and 2 above, then click on Flag Status then Add->.

If you make a complete pig's ear of things, just do step 1 above and press Reset Current View. Normality is restored! Phew!

Instant search in Outlook 2007

Allister_Frost — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:34:00 GMT

[POST UPDATED - SEE COMMENTS FOR THE LATEST!] Those with ageing memories have long enjoyed the powerful search capabilities in Outlook using add-ons like Lookout or Windows Desktop Search. I'm loving the latest beta of Outlook 2007 (I'm running the Beta 2 Technical Refresh) and the search seems quicker than ever. In fact I'd describe it as "Instant". Which is handy because the all-important keyboard shortcut you need to remember is ALT+i to activate the instant search in your current Outlook view. Trust me, you'll be using ALT+i a lot so commit it to memory before you forget!

Office 2007 - new look icons

Allister_Frost — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:47:00 GMT

While I sit waiting for the 2007 Office system Beta 2 Technical Refresh to finish installing, I thought I'd share this blog posting of some of the new icon sets included in Build 4228 of the Beta. Of course, there's no guarantee that these icons will make it into the final build ;-) but it's nice to see the new look starting to be unveiled.

Understanding Outlook Icons

Allister_Frost — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:17:00 GMT

This isn't a new webpage, but a question from a colleague reminded me that I really should mention this on the UsefulTechnology blog. For the definitive view of every icon in Outlook 2003 check out this page. Now, what's the betting on Blake being the first to do something similar for the 2007 release?!

You Need to Get Out More

Allister_Frost — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:22:00 GMT

It's Friday. And Steve Clayton writes today about how his Out of Office message has taken on a personality all of its own. Mine has too. We all get so many "OOFs" that the very least you can do is inject a little life into your own message. In the spirit of sharing, my most recent OOF is below. I received several blank emails from people just wanting to read my OOF. Weirdos. Some people really should get our more often ;-)

Hot diggety dog! I'm now out of the office until 14th August sheltering under a brolly at the Great British Seaside. I'll do my best not to check emails on my Windows Mobile Pocket PC but I cannot promise I won't have the occasional lapse. You'll have to wait until I'm back to join my wife in telling me I shouldn't read work emails while on holiday.

Who else might be able to help? LK's my right hand woman (email her at [email removed]) and for all other queries "The Other Superwoman" NT ([email removed]) is a goldmine of information. Bill Gates (billg@microsoft.com) probably also knows the answer to your question but he sometimes gets a bit busy so is unlikely to reply before I'm back.

BLATANT BLOG PLUG: Are you struggling to cope with multiple out of office replies? Enjoy one of my blog tips with my compliments! Get it here.

Warning: This Out Of Office message may contain nuts.

What will your next OOF say about you?

From Zero to Hero with Outlook

Allister_Frost — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:30:00 GMT

I have my annual performance review in half an hour. This reminds me of a great little non-technical tip that may help you get even more value out of Microsoft Outlook.

Every time you receive an email thanking or praising you for some work that you have done, save it in a special folder called (something like) "Hero". When the time comes round to review your performance, or perhaps when you simply need a motivational boost, take a look in that folder to remind yourself of all the great things that you've done. It's surprising how many things you do that make a big difference to someone else's life. And if you don't save these reminders, chances are that you'll forget all about them.

And remember, giving some love is even more fun than receiving it. So, if your Hero folder is looking a little bare, take 5 minutes now to email a quick thank you to someone who has made your life easier. And, before you know it, you might have something extra in return to file in your own Hero folder.

Known Issues in Outlook 2007 Beta 2

Allister_Frost — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:01:00 GMT

Slipstick features a comprehensive article detailing the latest known issues that people encounter while testing Outlook 2007 Beta 2. The most common problems I hear about are caused by incompatible add-ins which can be disabled in the new Tools > Trust Center window. If Outlook crashes while you are trying to disable an add-in (this is known as Sod's Law) you can edit the Load Behaviour for questionable add-ins in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins. Change the Load Behaviour value from 3 (active) to 2 (inactive). Any add-ins you see with a load behaviour of 9 have already been fully disabled.

Disclaimer Thingy: As always, Beta software should only be used for testing purposes and I don't recommend you use this on a production computer (i.e. a PC that you rely on!). Here at Microsoft we "eat our own dogfood" and experience firsthand the joys of using pre-release software on our day-to-day work machines. Having tens of thousands of colleagues complaining about a not-yet-perfect feature provides a pretty compelling incentive to the developers to fix things fast! Oh, and editing the registry should only be done if you really know what you're doing and have the necessary safety net (i.e. a backup) and protective underwear in place.

Start RSSing Around

Allister_Frost — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:55:00 GMT

If you still don't know your RSS from your elbow it's about time you made use of this very useful techno gizmo. Eileen Brown tells all in this blog posting from many moons ago.

And life's even simpler if you're using the shiny new Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 or Outlook 2007 as they have a free built-in RSS reader. Simply click the RSS link on supported websites and these clever applications will do the rest.

The Mysterious World of Extend Mode in Word and Outlook

Allister_Frost — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:11:00 GMT

The Extend Mode in Microsoft Word is an artefact of the early computing era before the mouse was invented (and the natural evolution of that gunky stuff that builds up on your mouse's bottom). Few computer users make use of this feature today because they've learned how to scoot around their documents with the mouse and on-screen scroll bars. But the Extend Mode can still come in handy every once in a while when you need to select sections of text.

This works in both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook (if you use Word as your email editor). To enable the Extend Mode, press F8. Now try moving the cursor using the cursor control keys (not the mouse) and you'll see a selection appear from the point where you first activated the Extend Mode. If you wanted, for example, to select all the text from your current cursor position to the word "catapult" you would turn on Extend Mode by pressing F8 then press CTRL+F (for Find) then type in the word Catapult then press Enter. Finally press Cancel to close the Find box and your text is selected. To turn off Extend Mode simply press the Esc key.

Using the Extend Mode can feel a bit clanky at first but with practice it can be a useful extension (sorry...) to your keyboard and mouse navigation tools. Give it a try.