Using an Email Template

After you've created a template, you can access your email template or any of the default templates that are installed with Outlook using the following steps:

1. Make sure that you're displaying the Outlook Inbox.

2. Select Tools, Forms, and Choose Form to display the Choose Form dialog box shown in Figure 20.2.

   Figure 20.2. The Choose Form dialog box enables you to select an existing Outlook template or a custom Outlook form.

   

   TIP

   You can also access Figure 20.2 by selecting File, New, Choose Form.

3. Use the Look In drop-down box and select User Templates in File System (see Figure 20.3).

   Figure 20.3. Selecting User Templates in File System displays all of your created templates.

   

4. Select your newly created template and click Open.

5. Fill in any pertinent information in your template and click Send.

You can use the previous steps to create templates based on any type of Outlook item.

Sending Meeting Requests

A typical use of email templates is to send regular meeting requests. If you invite the same people to meetings on a regular basis, you can create a template of a meeting request. Then, you don't have to enter all the same information every time. This is helpful for meetings with no set recurrence pattern that involve the same individuals repeatedly. For example, if you meet every time your company takes on a new client, you probably have a similar agenda and similar attendees. You can't set up this type of appointment as a recurring meeting because you don't know when you'll take on a new client. This is the perfect application of a meeting request template. You can attach a Word document with the agenda and save it with your template.

You can also use a meeting request template if you regularly schedule online meetings with NetMeeting. A number of settings on the standard appointment form may need to be customized for your particular NetMeeting invitations. Creating a standard NetMeeting template can save you time while ensuring that the settings you choose are always correct.

For more information about creating and sending NetMeeting requests, see "Using the Calendar to Schedule a NetMeeting," p. 324.

Creating Multiple Contacts from the Same Company

One of the advanced features of Outlook's Contacts form is the function to create a contact from the same company. However, this might not provide all the functionality you want. Typically, the Company Name, Business Address, Business Telephone Number, Business Fax, and Web Page fields are copied from the original contact to the new contact. If you create numerous contacts from the same company, you might need to duplicate different information. One of the key pieces of information that isn't copied when using Outlook's built-in method are the notes for the contact. If you have detailed notes on the company that you want to store with each contact for the company, you'll have to copy and paste that information between contact records. You might also need additional phone numbers copied between the original contact and the new contact. If you have a large number of contacts to enter for a particular company, and Outlook's built-in features don't copy all the information you need, create a template for that company as shown in Figure 20.4.

Figure 20.4. Create a template to enter multiple contact entries for the same company.

For more information about creating contact records, see "Creating a Contact," p. 189.

Recording Recurring Journal Entries

If you use the Outlook journal, you probably wish there was a quicker way to open a journal item to track a phone call with a contact. If you track a large number of phone calls with a particular contact, you can create a template. To create this type of template, use the following steps:

1. Create a new journal entry within Outlook. The default entry type for a new journal entry is Phone Call.

2. Click the Contacts button at the bottom of the journal entry to display the Select Contacts dialog box.

3. Choose your contact or contacts and click OK.

4. Click the Categories button to display the Categories dialog box and add categories to your journal entry.

5. Choose File, Save As to save the item as an Outlook template.

When you're done creating your template, you can assign your template to a custom toolbar button. To do this

1. Right-click any existing toolbar and choose Customize.

2. On the Commands tab, choose Go from the Categories box.

3. Scroll down within the Commands box until you find the My Documents button. Drag this button to your toolbar.

4. Right-click the My Documents button and change the name to a name you'll recognize for your template.

5. To map your custom button to your new template, click the Assign Hyperlink command and then click Open. In the Address box, type the full path to your template file. The path should be similar to the following:

    C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\<templatename> 

6. Click OK and then Close. Now you can launch your new template with a single button click.

Creating an Auto-Reply Message

If you receive multiple emails that all require the same response, you can create an auto-reply template. For example, a human resources director might create an auto-reply template that's sent to anyone who submits a resume via email. Creating the template once and then creating a rule to reply with the template can save a significant amount of time. To create an email template to serve as an auto-reply, use the following steps:

1. Open a new email message by clicking the New button on the toolbar.

2. Enter a subject and body text for the email.

3. Select File, Save As to save the template to the file system.

4. Open the Rules Wizard by selecting Rules and Alerts from the Tools menu.

5. Click New Rule and choose to Start from a blank rule.

6. Choose to check messages when they arrive and click Next.

7. Select the condition your rule should use. For a response to a job offer, you might want to choose With Specific Words in the Subject or With Specific Words in the Body.

   Choose your condition, specify the words to search for (such as resume or the job title), and click Next.

8. In the Select Action(s) box, check Reply Using a Specific Template. Click the underlined words A Specific Template in the Step 2 box to display the Select a Reply Template dialog box.

9. Use the Look In drop-down list to select User Templates in File System.

10. Select your Resume Response template and click Open.

11. Click Next to configure any exceptions to your rule. Click Next to name your rule (Figure 20.5).

    Figure 20.5. Your auto-reply rule should send your template when an email is received with specific words in the subject.

    

12. Click Finish to return to the Rules and Alerts dialog. Your new rule will run whenever a message meeting the criteria arrives.

Creating a rule to reply with a specific template is an easy way to quickly respond to emails based on their content. You can create multiple auto-reply rules that work with different templates.