Chapter 12: Customizing and Configuring Outlook

Overview

Chapter at a Glance

Make favorite Outlook commands easily accessible, page 298
Create rules to process messages, page 307
Block unwanted messages, page 323

A host of configuration and customization options are available to help you take advantage of everything that Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 has to offer. In addition to customizing the program's interface to your personal working style (which we discussed in "Personalizing Your Outlook Workspace" in Chapter 1, "Getting Started with Outlook 2007"), you can put frequently used commands at your fingertips by adding them to the Quick Access Toolbar. To more easily manage the information you receive through e-mail, you can specify how messages are processed and where they are stored. Most importantly, you can take advantage of the many security features built into Outlook 2007 to keep your outgoing communications secure and to protect your computer system from spam, viruses, Web beacons, and other modern electronic threats.

In this chapter, you will learn how to maintain your information in Outlook in a secure and organized fashion. First you will learn where to find commands that aren't available on the Outlook 2007 item window Ribbon, and how to make those (or other favorite commands) conveniently available by adding them to the Quick Access Toolbar, either for one document or all documents. Then you will learn ways of controlling incoming messages by using rules and by properly managing junk messages, as well as ways of ensuring that your e-mail communications are secure. You will create personal folders and address books to store and transport information, and finally, take a quick look at the additional ways you can configure Outlook to handle messages that you create, send, and receive.

See Also Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries on pages xxxvii–lxv.

Important 

No practice files are required to complete the exercises in this chapter. For more information about practice files, see "Using the Book's CD" on page xxv.

Troubleshooting 

Graphics and operating system-related instructions in this book reflect the Windows Vista user interface. If your computer is running Microsoft Windows XP and you experience trouble following the instructions as written, please refer to the "Information for Readers Running Windows XP" section at the beginning of this book.