What s in This Book

What's in This Book

Beginning with an introduction to Outlook, you'll discover the features new to Outlook 2003, including the Navigation Pane, the Reading Pane, Search Folders, and Quick Flags. You'll learn the best way to set up your accounts and customize Outlook. Views comprise one of the best power user features in Outlook, I'll show you how to use the views that Outlook includes and help you create your own custom views. Managing your email is easier when you use Quick Flags, Search Folders, and rules.

Outlook is first and foremost an email client. It's very powerful when you know how to harness its power. Outlook is unlike any other email program. It supports a wide range of email protocols, from corporate email hosted on Exchange Server to free Hotmail accounts.

Although Outlook has its own email editor, you can work faster when you compose your messages in a familiar editor: Microsoft Word. You'll learn how to use stationery to send prettier messages and learn when it's better not to use formatted messages. You'll discover other features in Outlook that make it the most powerful messaging client available, including voting and delayed send.

Security is important in any email client ”Microsoft made security its number one priority. Outlook protects you from snooping spammers who include Web beacons in HTML messages to track who reads the message. I'll show you how to make the most of Outlook's security, giving you the greatest level of protection with the fewest hassles.

Outlook automatically removes much of the spam you receive from your Inbox as it's downloaded, thanks to the new Junk E-mail filter. The accuracy rate is very high, eliminating much of the spam that fills your Inbox. The Junk E-mail filter even works on all accounts, including Hotmail.

Although Outlook is "just an email program" to many users, it's also a feature-filled personal information manager (PIM). You'll learn how to use these features to their fullest. Learn how to customize your contact forms, use categories to organize your contacts and calendar, and use your contacts in a mail merge.

No PIM is complete without a journal to record your activities. Use Outlook's journal to automatically record phone calls and email sent to your contacts and create journal entries for many activities.

After you get a handle on Outlook's basic features, you can move on to the advanced features, including designing custom forms, working with VBA, and creating custom toolbars . You'll learn what files Outlook uses and which ones to back up on a regular basis.

Integration with other Office programs and online services is important to many users. Use Outlook with MSN and SharePoint Services or use Outlook's contacts as a data source in Word. It's all covered in this book.