Personalizing an Electronic Business Card

A new feature in Outlook 2007 is the presentation of contact record information in the form of a graphic that resembles a business card. When you enter a person's contact information in a contact record, basic information including the person's name, company, and job title; work, mobile, and home telephone numbers; and e-mail, postal, Web page, and instant messaging addresses appear in the business card shown in the upper-right corner of the contact window. (Only the first ten lines of information fit on the card.) If the contact record includes an image, the image appears on the left side. You can change the types of information that appear, rearrange the information fields, format the text and background, and add, change, or remove images such as a logo or photograph.

Creating a business card for yourself provides you with an attractive way of presenting your contact information to people you correspond with in e-mail. You can attach your business card to an outgoing e-mail message or include it as part (or all) of your e-mail signature. The recipient of your business card can easily create a contact record for you by saving the business card to his or her Outlook address book.

See Also For information about e-mail signatures, see "Adding Signatures to Messages Automatically" in Chapter 3, "Sending E-Mail Messages."

In this exercise, you will modify the business card associated with your contact record.

USE the 05_FourthCoffee image. This practice file is available in the Chapter02 subfolder under SBS_Outlook2007.

BE SURE TO display the Contacts module in Business Cards view before beginning this exercise.

1. If you haven't already done so, create a contact record for yourself. Include your name, company, job title, business and mobile phone numbers, fax number, and one or more e-mail addresses.

   As you enter your information, it appears in the generic business card displayed in the upper-right corner of the contact window.

   

2. On the Contact tab, in the Options group, click the Business Card button.

   The Edit Business Card dialog box opens.

   

3. In the Card Design area, click the Background Color button.

   You can select from the basic colors or define a custom background color.

4. In the Color dialog box, click a color you like, and then click OK.

   The card preview reflects the new background color.

5. In the Card Design area, click Change.

   The Add Card Picture dialog box opens, displaying the contents of your Pictures folder. You can add a business logo, your photograph, or any other identifying image you would like to appear on your business card.

6. Browse to your Documents\SBS_Outlook2007\Chapter02 folder, click the 05_FourthCoffee image, and then click OK.

   The Fourth Coffee company logo appears on the left side of your business card.

7. In the Image Area box, type or select (by clicking the arrows) 30%.

8. Click the Image Align button, and then in the list, click Center Left.

   The enlarged logo moves to the vertical center of the business card.

   Tip 

   You can add or remove fields from the business card, format the text, and add labels, by using the commands in the Fields and Edit areas.

   

9. Make any other changes to your business card that you want, and then in the Edit Business Card dialog box, click OK.

   Tip 

   You can undo all your changes by clicking the Reset Card button at the bottom of the dialog box.

   The contact window displays your customized business card. Any changes you make to your contact information will be immediately reflected in your business card.

10. In the Actions group, click the Save & Close button.

    The Contacts pane displays your personalized business card.

CLOSE the contact window, saving your changes when prompted to do so.