Managing Contacts


As your contact list grows, you will probably want to get rid of old contacts and organize your contact list so it is easier to use. In this topic, we ll look first at how to keep the list up to date and then at the organizational options that are most relevant to the Contacts component.

Deleting a Contact

To keep a contact list up to date, you not only need to edit information as it changes, but once in a while, you need to delete an address card entirely. Follow these steps:

  1. If your contact list includes a Welcome to Contacts card, click its header to select it, and then on the toolbar, click the Delete button.

  2. Delete any other contacts you don t want, but be sure to leave the five you just entered.

    Your contact list now looks something like the one shown in this graphic:

    click to expand

Creating a New Category

Suppose that some of the contacts in your list are not only clients but also members of a professional organization you belong to. You want to fine-tune the categories available for your address cards so that you can display a list of contacts who are organization members . Let s add some additional contacts (so you have more to work with), and then create a new category for them:

  1. Click the New button on the toolbar to display the Contact window shown earlier.

  2. Enter the contact information at the top of the next page, clicking the Save and New button to start a new address card and clicking the Save and Close button after the last entry.

    Name

    Suzan Fine

    Garrett Vargas

    Paul West

    Job Title

    President

    Business Manager

    Operations Manager

    Company

    West Coast Sales

    The Wine Cellar

    Consolidated Messenger

    Bus. Phone

    4255550161

    4255550187

    4255550154

    Bus. Fax

    4255550162

    4255550188

    4255550155

    Address

    2468 70th Avenue

    Redmond, WA 98052

    1432 NE Cleveland Street

    Redmond, WA 98052

    101 Barclay Square

    Redmond, WA 98052

    E-Mail

    suzanf

    garrettv

    paulw

    Address

    @wcs.tld

    @cellar.tld

    @conmess.tld

    Web Site

    www.wcs.tld

    www.cellar.tld

    w.conmess.tld

  3. Double-click Fine, Suzan , and then in the Contact window, click the Categories button.

  4. Click in the Item(s) belong to these categories box at the top of the Categories dialog box, type BusNet , and click Add to List .

    Outlook adds the new category to the Available categories list and puts a check mark in its check box.

    New categories you create in the Categories dialog box are added to the master category list. You can add several categories at once by clicking the Master Category List button, typing entries in the New category box, and clicking Add. You can delete any categories you have created, and you can reset the master category list to include only those categories originally supplied by Outlook.

  5. Click OK to return to the Contact window, and then click Save and Close to save your changes.

  6. Double-click Vargas, Garrett , click the Categories button, select BusNet , click OK , and then click Save and Close .

  7. Repeat step 6 for Paul West.

Switching the Contact List View

By default, Outlook displays the contact list in Address Cards view, where some of the pertinent information about your contacts appears on index cards that are sorted alphabetically . Because your list is small, you can see all the cards. However, as your contact list grows, viewing the list in a different way might be more efficient. Let s explore the other views available in the Contacts component:

  1. On the View menu, click Current View and then Detailed Address Cards .

    The address cards now look like the ones shown here:

    click to expand

    In this view, Outlook displays all the information you entered on the General tab of the Contact window for each of your contacts.

  2. Display the Current View drop-down list, and then click Phone List .

    Outlook displays your contacts as shown in this graphic:

    click to expand

    This view displays identifying information for each contact, as well as four phone columns (which might or might not contain numbers ), a Journal column, and a Categories column. (To add a contact in this view, click the Click here to add a new Contact placeholder, and type the information.) In a table view, you can see that the contact list is really a database, where the information about a particular contact is stored in a record (row), and an individual item of information is stored in a field (column).

    To sort the information in a table view, click the header at the top of the column by which you want to sort . An arrow appears in the header, pointing up if the column is sorted in ascending order or down if it is sorted in descending order. Click the header again to reverse the order.

  3. Try each of the remaining table views and then switch to Address Cards view.

Using the Contacts List with E-Mail

Let s send an e-mail message, this time using the contact list to speed up the process. Try this:

  1. First add an address card for yourself to your contact list, entering just your name and e-mail address.

  2. Right-click your address card in the Contacts workspace, and then click New Message to Contact on the shortcut menu.

    Outlook displays a Message window with the contact s e-mail address already entered in the To box.

  3. Complete the other boxes in the Message window, type the message, and then click the Send button to send the message.

If you are connected to your mail server, you will soon see (1) next to the Inbox icon on the Outlook bar, announcing the arrival of your message.

Information about  

Creating address cards, page 296

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Custom contact forms

To ensure that your contact list includes precisely the fields you want, you can develop a custom contact form. On the toolbar, click the New button to display a blank Contact window. On the window s Tools menu, click Forms and then Design This Form. On the Form menu, click Rename Page, type a name, and click OK. In the Field Chooser dialog box, click the New button. Create and add the new fields to the form. (After you have added the fields, you can move and size the fields and field labels. You can also add objects such as text boxes, labels, option buttons , check boxes, graphics, and frames to a custom form using the Toolbox, which is displayed when you click the Control Toolbox button on the Design toolbar. (Check the Help feature for details about these tools.) To save a new form, click the Publish Form button on the Design toolbar, enter a name in the Display Name text box, verify that Outlook Folders is displayed in the Look In box and that Contacts is displayed in the header above the empty list box, and click Publish. To edit an existing custom form, open it by clicking its name on the Actions menu. Switch to Design view, make your edits, and click the Publish Form button to save your changes. To fill in a custom form, click the name of the form on the Actions menu and complete the form s tabs as usual. To delete a custom contact form, right-click the Contacts icon on the Outlook bar, click Properties, click the Forms tab, and then click the Manage button. In the Forms Manager dialog box, select the form you want to remove, and click the Delete button. Click Yes to confirm the deletion, and close the dialog boxes.

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Tracking Contacts

We ll finish up this chapter by showing you how Outlook tracks your activities with each contact. Follow these steps:

  1. In your contact list, double-click the header for your own address card, and then click the Activities tab to display these options:

    click to expand

    Outlook has recorded all your activities during this session, including that you sent messages to yourself. (Both the sent messages and the received messages have been logged.)

  2. Click the Show box s down arrow to display a drop-down list of all the activities Outlook logs for each contact.

    You can filter the list of activities by selecting an option from this list to see, for example, only your e-mail correspondence with this contact.

  3. Press Esc to close the drop-down list, and then close the Contact window.

If you want to take a break, close Outlook. However, bear in mind that some of the program s features ”such as message notification ”can work only when Outlook is running. If you are working on a network, you might want to start Outlook and then minimize it at the beginning of each work session, quitting the program only when you re ready to quit for the day.




Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Office XP
Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Office XP
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 116

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