Using E-Mail to Communicate Project Information

Microsoft Project can freely access e-mail address books available through the messaging application you are using—for example, your Outlook Contact’s folder. To use Project’s workgroup features and send e-mail messages to a resource, the resource must be listed in one of your active address books, or you must enter their Internet e-mail address directly in the Resource Information dialog box.
(See Chapter 9 for more about the Resource Information dialog box.)

Accessing E-Mail Addresses

To verify that Project can access your e-mail address books, follow these steps:

  1. Open your project’s Resource Sheet (View Ø Resource Sheet).

  2. Double-click the name of a resource who should be in one of your e-mail address books. This opens the Resource Information dialog box, shown in Figure 15.1.

    If the message handler does not recognize the name, it asks you to verify the name or enter a new contact according to the process of the e-mail messaging application you are using.

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    Figure 15.1: Click the Details button to display more information about the resource.

  3. Select the General tab and then click the Details button. This opens an Outlook contact form, a Microsoft Exchange Server Properties sheet similar to the one shown in Figure 15.2, or the address book form of the MAPI-32 compliant e-mail system you are running. Click OK to close the address book form.

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    Figure 15.2: The contact’s Properties sheet

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Mastering the Opportunities: Making Your Outlook Contacts Folders Look Like Address Books

Outlook’s main Contacts folder does not automatically appear as an e-mail address book. You have to instruct Outlook to make it one. If it is not already set up as an Outlook address book, you can set it up by following these steps:

  1. Open Outlook.

  2. Right-click on the Contacts icon on the Outlook bar or on Contacts in the folder list; choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

  3. When the Contacts Properties dialog box appears, select the Outlook Address Book tab; then click the Show This Folder As an E-mail Address Book check box.

  4. Enter the name you want to assign to the address book in the Name of the Address Book box, and click OK.

If you want Project to access an additional address book, for example, a subfolder of contacts you create in Outlook to store project resources, you must add it to the list of folders that Outlook checks when it checks a name by doing the following:

  1. From within Outlook, choose Tools Ø E-mail Accounts.

  2. When the E-mail Accounts window appears, check Add a New Directory or Address Book and then click Next.

  3. When the Directory or Address Book Type screen appears, check Additional Address Books; then click Next.

  4. When the Other Address Book Types screen appears, select Personal Address Book and then click Next.

  5. When the Personal Address Book dialog box appears, enter the name and path of the address book you’re adding; then click OK. The new contacts folder is now available to use in Project.

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When Microsoft Outlook Doesn’t Recognize a Name

If Microsoft Outlook is your e-mail messaging application, Project turns the reins over to Outlook to manage contact information and addresses. Assuming that all the resources you plan to use on a project are available in your Outlook Contact’s folder or another address book, Outlook uses that information to respond to requests for information from Project.

When you click the Details button of Project’s Resource Information dialog box and Outlook recognizes a name, an Outlook address book opens; however, if Outlook does not recognize the resource name, a Check Names dialog box opens, asking what you’d like to do. From here you can create a new contact, or you can choose find the name in a current address book for Outlook. To create a new contact:

  1. From the Check Names dialog box, select Create a New Address For and then click OK.

  2. When the New Entry dialog box appears, choose New Contact and then click OK.

  3. Outlook opens a Contact form for you to complete. When you finish entering the contact information, click Save and Close on the Contact form’s toolbar to save the contact.

It’s possible that Outlook may not recognize a name that is listed in your address book. It might not have been recognized because you spelled it differently, used a nickname, or put the name in a different order (First Name, Last Name versus Last Name, First Name). To find an address that Outlook does not recognize:

  1. From the Check Names dialog box, click the Show More Names button to open the Address Book dialog box.

  2. Scroll through the list, or begin typing the name in the order it appears in the address book.

  3. Select the name and then click OK to verify the name for Outlook.

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How Name Order Affects Recognition

When you enter a resource name into Project, Outlook searches for the name as entered. If you enter a name as First Name, Last Name, Outlook looks for that exact name. If Outlook is set to store names in the Address Book as First Name, Last Name, it has no trouble finding the name; however, if you enter a resource name First Name, Last Name and the Outlook Address Book is set up for Last Name, First Name, Outlook will not recognize the name. You must follow the Check Names procedure outlined earlier in this chapter to locate the name. You can change the order in which Outlook organizes names in the Address Book by following these steps:

  1. Open Outlook.

  2. Choose Tools Ø E-mail Accounts to display the E-mail Accounts window.

  3. Check View, Change Existing Directories, or Address Books; then click Next.

  4. When the Directories and Address Books screen appears, select Outlook Address Book and then click the Change button.

  5. When the next dialog box appears, choose the Show Names By option that you prefer, and click Close.

  6. Click Finish to close the E-mail Accounts dialog box.

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Mastering Microsoft Project 2002
Mastering Microsoft Project 2002
ISBN: 0782141471
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 241

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