Starting Outlook for the First Time | Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

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Outlook 2003 supports e-mail accounts that work with a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server or a computer set up as an Internet mail server. This topic discusses these two types of accounts and explains what you might expect to see the first time you start Outlook.

If you are connected to a local area network (LAN) that includes a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server, you send and receive e-mail both internally (within your organization) and externally (over the Internet) using that server. Your network or system administrator will supply the information you need to set up an Exchange e-mail account. With Outlook 2003, you can connect to your Exchange Server from anywhere you can connect to the Internet.

If you are working on a stand-alone computer or on a network that does not have its own mail server, using Internet mail requires that you have an e-mail account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). You connect to the ISP using a modem and a phone line, a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable, or through a LAN, as follows:

If you are using a modem, you can manually establish a connection when you need it, or you can set up dial-up networking to automatically connect whenever you start Outlook. Your ISP can provide the phone number, modem settings, and any other special information you need for both types of connection.
If you are connected to a LAN, it must be configured to provide access to your ISP from your computer. Your network or system administrator can provide you with the appropriate information to gain access to Internet mail through the LAN.

Regardless of how you connect to your ISP, to send and receive Internet mail, you will need to know the names of your incoming and outgoing e-mail servers, your account name, and your password.

Different Types of Internet Mail Accounts

Outlook 2003 supports three types of Internet mail accounts-POP3, IMAP, and HTTP.

Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) is a type of e-mail account commonly provided by ISPs. With a POP3 account, you connect to an e-mail server, and download your messages to your local computer.
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is similar to POP3 except that your messages are stored on the e-mail server. You connect to the server to read the message headers, and select which messages you want to download to your local computer.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used whenever you access Web pages from the Internet. When HTTP is used as an e-mail protocol, messages are stored, retrieved, and displayed as individual Web pages. Hotmail is an example of an HTTP e-mail account.

When you start Outlook 2003 for the first time, what you see depends on whether you have upgraded to Outlook 2003 from a previous version or are using it on your computer for the first time:

Upgrading to Outlook 2003. If you have used a previous version of Outlook on your computer, you already have an Outlook profile. This profile is a collec tion of all the data necessary to access one or more e-mail accounts and address books. In this case, Outlook 2003 picks up your existing profile settings, and you don't have to re-set them.
Using Outlook for the first time. If this is the first time you are using Outlook on your computer, you will be asked to create a profile. To complete this step, you will need specific information about your e-mail account, including your account name, your password, and the names of the incoming and outgoing e-mail servers that handle your account. Your system administrator or ISP can provide you with this information.

If you are using Outlook for the first time on your computer, follow these steps to set up your Outlook profile.

BE SURE TO install and activate Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 before beginning this exercise.

Click the Start button, point to All Programs, then Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.

Outlook starts and displays the Outlook 2003 Startup Wizard.
Click Next.

The Account Configuration dialog box appears with the Yes option selected.
Click Next.

The Server Type dialog box appears.
Select the option that corresponds to your e-mail account, and click Next.

An account settings dialog box appears. The content of this dialog box is determined by the type of e-mail account you selected in the Server Type dialog box.
Complete the wizard by entering the information provided by your system adminis trator or ISP.

When you finish the wizard, the Outlook program window appears.

If this is the first time you've started a Microsoft Office program on your computer, you are prompted to enter your full name and initials in the User Name dialog box. This information is used to identify and track changes that you make within Office documents. Enter the requested information, and click OK.

Important

If you upgraded to Outlook 2003 from an earlier version, any custom settings you made for your old version of the program carry over to the new version. As a result, as you work your way through the exercises in this book, some of the instructions might not work quite the same way for you, and your screen might not look the same as the book's graphics. The instructions and graphics are based on a default installation of Outlook on a networked computer with an Exchange e-mail account. If you are not working on a network or you have changed the default settings, don't worry. You will still be able to follow along with the exercises, but you might occasionally have to reverse a setting or skip a step. (For example, if AutoPreview is already active on your screen, you would skip the step to turn on AutoPreview.)

The Navigation Pane

New in Office 2003-Navigation Pane The new Navigation Pane replaces the Outlook Bar from previous versions of Outlook. The Navigation Pane provides quick access to Outlook's components and folders. It can display the Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Journal or Shortcuts pane or the Folder List, which includes Search Folders and Public Folders. The Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal panes include easy-to-use links to share your folders or open other Outlooks users' shared folders.

To hide or show the Navigation Pane:

On the View menu, click Navigation Pane.

To make the Navigation Pane taller or shorter:
Point to the top of the Navigation Pane so that the cursor becomes a double- headed arrow and drag up or down.

Navigation Pane items are displayed in order, as large buttons in the upper rows of the pane, and then as small buttons on the bottom row. Any buttons the Navi gation Pane is not big enough to display are available on the 'Configure buttons' button's shortcut menu.

To change which buttons the Navigation Pane displays and their order:

Click the Configure buttons button, and on the shortcut menu, click Navigation Pane Options.
To add or remove a button, select or clear its check box.
To change the position of a button, click its name and then click the Move Up or Move Down button until the buttons are in the order you want.

See Also
For more information about customizing navigation in Outlook, see Chapter 9, 'Customizing and Configuring Outlook.'

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