Controlling Your Startup Folder

When you open Outlook, it normally opens to the Inbox folder. You can control which folder Outlook opens to by changing the Start Up In This Folder setting located in T ools, O ptions, Other, Advanced O ptions (see Figure 2.11).

Figure 2.11. New in Outlook 2003: You can select any folder in your profile to use as Outlook's default open folder, including Hotmail or IMAP inboxes. However, you can expect Outlook to open somewhat slower when a Hotmail or IMAP folder is set as the default folder.

You can also create shortcuts on your desktop to open Outlook in a different folder than the one set as the startup folder. Create a shortcut on your desktop with the full path to Outlook.exe and use the /select switch, followed by the folder name :

 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE " /select outlook:Inbox\Mitchell 

To make it easier to enter the correct folder name, especially for nested folders, show the Web toolbar ( V iew, T oolbars), open the folder, and copy the folder name from the address bar.

Look for the complete list of command-line switches in Appendix B, "Outlook's Command-Line Switches."