Exploring the Default Display for Command Bars

When Outlook is first started, you'll see the Menu Bar at the top of the window and the Standard toolbar immediately under it. At the far right of the Menu Bar is the Ask a Question box. Along with the Standard toolbar, all Outlook items have an Advanced toolbar, as shown in Figure 5.1. The Advanced toolbar is not shown by default, but I recommend showing it because it contains several useful tools. If you want to save screen space, the Standard and Advanced toolbars can share a row.

Figure 5.1. The default command bars for mail folders contain the basic commands you need to work with email. Each folder type has a different set of default tools.

graphics/05fig01.jpg

NOTE

If you upgraded from a previous version of Outlook, your previous toolbar settings should be retained.


The buttons and menus shown by default vary depending on the folder type, with the basic commands used by the item type available on the default toolbars. All Outlook folders and forms also include Advanced and Web toolbars, which are not shown by default.

Each Outlook item type uses a different set of toolbars containing the tools Microsoft thinks you'll use the most for that item type. Notes are the exception there are no toolbars or menus on the Note form. The toolbars you'll see when you open or create a message depend on whether you're using Word or Outlook's native editor for email.

Outlook has only one Menu Bar, but you can create as many toolbars as you'd like and put the menus on it. You can also put toolbar buttons on the Menu Bar. Although you can't disable the Menu Bar, you can remove menus from it and replace them with other tool buttons, if desired.

The Menu Bar and toolbars are positioned at the top of the screen by default, but you can dock them on any edge of the Outlook window, including on the left or right side in a vertical position, or have the toolbars float on the screen.

When you right-click on a toolbar and choose Customize, you can show or hide toolbars, add or remove commands, and reset the toolbars to their default display. You can also access the Customize dialog box using Tools, Customize.

All command bar settings are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.dat. You might want to make a copy of this file if you make a lot of changes to your command bars. If you need to reinstall Outlook, you can easily restore your customized command bars by replacing the file with your copy. You can copy outcmd.dat to other computers instead of re-creating the customizations again.

If you make changes to the command bars and want to quickly restore the default settings, you can delete or rename outcmd.dat. The next time you open Outlook, it creates a new outcmd.dat file and all the toolbars are reset to their default settings.

TIP

outcmd.dat is often the cause when Outlook crashes or hangs, so your first troubleshooting step should be to rename it and restart Outlook. Unfortunately, you'll lose all customizations and must re-create all your custom toolbars.




Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
ISBN: 0789729563
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 426

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