Microsoft Support Services and the Microsoft Knowledge Base

The first place to look for help with error messages you encounter with Outlook 2003 is Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS). You can access Microsoft PSS by opening Internet Explorer and navigating to http://support.microsoft.com. From there, you can access the Microsoft Knowledge Base, download software updates, view a list of FAQs, contact Microsoft, or access the Microsoft newsgroups.

Accessing the Microsoft Knowledge Base

The Microsoft Knowledge Base is a searchable database of Microsoft support articles. These articles are a result of bug reports and support calls made to Microsoft as well as testing and reporting by individual testers and large corporations. Click the link for the Microsoft Knowledge Base or navigate directly to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;KBHOWTO to display Figure D.1.

Figure D.1. The Microsoft Knowledge Base enables you to search by product and problem.

To find information about Outlook 2003, use the following steps:

1. Use the first drop-down box to select either Outlook 2003 or Outlook.

2. Enter your error message or short problem description in the Search For box.

3. You can search for all the words entered, any of the words entered, or the exact phrase entered, or you can perform a Boolean search (text entered with either AND or OR).

4. Select the number of articles you want the Knowledge Base to return. The default number of articles is 25; however, I suggest returning at least 50 articles.

5. Select your search type. You can search the full text of the articles, titles only, or by specific article ID. When searching by article ID, enter only the six-digit article ID number.

6. You can also search by a specific date range. If you choose to search a given date range, you'll get only articles published or updated within that date range.

7. Click GO to display your results.

You can click each article title to display the full text of the article and print it. If you know the article number of the article you need, you can access it directly using the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;331866. This link accesses article number 331866.

NOTE

The preceding address will open that article number written in English. Other languages use their own local settings. If your computer uses a language other than English, check the Knowledge Base for the exact URL.

Other Microsoft Support Options

Another option available from the Microsoft PSS Web page is a general FAQ (frequently asked questions) site. Clicking on the FAQ link takes you to the general Microsoft FAQ page. Select Outlook 2003 to display a list of highlights and top issues for Outlook 2003.

If you cannot find your problem listed in the Knowledge Base or the FAQ, you can contact Microsoft PSS via telephone. Every retail product purchase entitles the purchaser to two free support incident calls to Microsoft PSS. To contact PSS, select Help, About Microsoft Outlook from within Outlook and click on the Tech Support button. Outlook will open a help window with instructions for contacting PSS. You'll need your product ID when you call PSS. The product ID can be found on the About Microsoft Outlook screen under the username and company the product is licensed to. You'll also need the exact version number of Outlook you're using, which can be found on the first line of the about Microsoft Outlook screen. It's also helpful to know your operating system version and whether you're using Outlook with an Exchange account or another type of mail account.