Using Favorite Folders

Favorite Folders are new to Outlook 2003, replacing the folder shortcuts found on the Outlook bar in older versions. When you view your mail folders using the Mail button at the bottom of the Navigation bar, you'll notice the Favorite Folders group at the top of the screen.

By default, there are four folders already in your Favorite Folders:

• Inbox

• Unread Mail Search Folder

• For Follow Up Search Folder

• Sent Items Search Folder

Each IMAP or HTTP (Hotmail) Inbox in your profile is added to your Favorite Folders by default. Inboxes for your POP3 accounts aren't listed because they share the Personal Folders Inbox folder.

These default folders can be deleted from the Favorites list and you can add your other favorite folders to it (see Figure 9.11). For practical reasons, you don't want to put too many folders on the Favorite Folders list; doing so makes it harder to find the folders you're looking for. Any folder that is visible in the All Mail Folders list, including Search Folders, can be added to the Favorite Folders list, the other Outlook folder types are not supported.

Figure 9.11. Hotmail and IMAP inboxes are included in the Favorite Folders list by default. As you add your own favorites, the Favorite Folders list expands.

The number of favorites in the Favorite Folder group determines the height of the Favorite Folders and All E-mail Folders groups. Once Favorite Folders expands to about two- thirds of the height of the Navigation bar, it begins to scroll. Your monitor resolution and the number of toolbars you display in Outlook control how many Favorite Folders you can see on screen before it begins scrolling.

If you need more space for folder shortcuts, try Shortcuts on the Navigation Pane. You can mix types of folders and shortcuts and use the entire height of your Navigation Pane for shortcuts, reducing the need to scroll.

Managing Favorite Folders

Outlook creates some Favorite Folders for you, but you might have additional folders that you want to use as favorites and you'll need to add those to Favorite Folders yourself.

Select the folder you want added as a favorite from the All Mail Folders portion of the Navigation Pane, left-click, and then drag it to Favorite Folders. Drop it when the cursor includes a plus (+) sign.

You can also select a folder, right-click, and choose Add to Favorite Folders from the context menu that appears.

You can also remove the default folders that Outlook created in the Favorite Folders list: select the folder, right-click, and then choose Remove f rom Favorite Folders. Don't choose D elete unless you want to delete the folder from your message store.

The list of Favorite Folders is stored in an XML file located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook . Each profile has its own XML, which is named for the profile. You can delete the file to reset the Favorite Folders and the Shortcuts lists to their defaults; Outlook creates a new one the next time it runs. Interestingly enough, Outlook creates the XML file when it closes , not when it opens or as you add folders to the list, as it does for many other files it uses.

Outlook also uses the command-line switch /resetnavpane to reset the Navigation Pane. This switch has the same effect as deleting the XML file, and resets the buttons to their default positions . It removes any Shortcuts you added.

To start Outlook using the command line, from the Start Menu, Run dialog, enter OUTLOOK.EXE /resetnavpane or "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE " /resetnavpane and click OK.

More information about starting Outlook using the command line is in Appendix B, "Outlook's Command-Line Switches."

You can remove all the items from the Favorite Folders group, but you cannot remove the Favorite Folders group from the interface.

Although Favorite Folders are for Mail folders only, Exchange Server users can put Public Folders in the Favorite Folders, provided they're already in the Public Folder Favorites and are Mail and Post folders. You can also add secondary Exchange Server mailboxes to Favorite Folders if they're included in your profile. Secondary mailboxes aren't added to Favorite Folders automatically, as Hotmail or IMAP Inboxes are ”you must create the shortcut yourself.

Organizing Favorite Folders

When you drag a folder to Favorite Folders, you can drop it in any position on the folder list. As you drag it over the favorites already in the list, you'll see a dark blue line that indicates the position of the folder at that time. When you select a folder, right-click, and then choose Add t o Favorite Folders, the folder shortcut is always added at the bottom of the list.

Existing folders can be rearranged by selecting them and either dragging to a new position or using the right-click menu and choosing Move U p in List or M ove Down in List.

Included in the menu options when you right-click on a favorite are R ename and D elete. These actions apply to the folder the favorite points to, not just to the shortcut in the Favorite Folders list. If you rename the folder in Favorite Folders, the folder in your message store is also renamed . Likewise, if you choose D elete, the source folder and all of its contents are deleted. Use Remove f rom Favorite Folders when you want to remove the folder from the Favorites list, not D elete.