Microsoft Outlook Tips #4



*1.  LOOKING FOR MAIL IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES--PART 2 OF 3

March 12th, 1999

In our last tip, we showed you how to add a second (or third or 
more) e-mail account to Outlook Express: Choose Tools + 
Accounts; on the Mail tab, click Add + Mail; follow the 
Internet Connection Wizard; click Close. Once you have multiple 
accounts, clicking Send and Receive (or allowing Outlook 
Express to send and receives messages automatically, as defined 
on the General tab of the Tools + Options dialog box) retrieves 
messages from all accounts. 

When you want to check a single account for messages, 
feel free to pick and choose: 

- 1. Choose Tools + Send and Receive. 
- 2. Select the account you want to check. 

(Tip-in-a-tip: If you plan to check for messages separately all 
the time, disable the Check for New Messages Every XX Minutes 
option on the General tab of the Tools + Options dialog box.) 
  

*2.   LOOKING FOR MAIL IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES--PART 3 OF 3

March 15th, 1999

In the first tip in this series, we showed you how to add 
additional e-mail accounts to Outlook Express: Choose Tools + 
Accounts; on the Mail tab, click Add + Mail; follow the 
Internet Connection Wizard; and click Close. In our last tip, 
we showed you how you can check a single account for messages: 
Choose Tools + Send and Receive and then select the account you 
want to check. 

Now take a look at another scenario: You have one account that 
you use all the time to send and receive messages and another 
you use only rarely. Fortunately, you can deactivate the rarely 
used account without actually removing it from the system: 

- 1. Choose Tools + Accounts. 
- 2. In the Internet Accounts dialog box, select the account 
     you want to deactivate. 
- 3. Click the Properties button. 
- 4. Deselect Include This Account When Doing a Full Send and 
     Receive and click OK. 
- 5. Click Close. 

-From now on, the account remains inactive until you say 
otherwise. If and when you do want to send and receive mail 
from this account, choose Tools + Send and Receive and then 
select the account in the list. 
  

*3.   BUSINESS AND PLEASURE DON'T MIX

March 16th, 1999

In a previous tip, we showed you how to add additional e-mail 
accounts to Outlook Express: Choose Tools + Accounts; on the 
Mail tab, click Add + Mail; follow the Internet Connection 
Wizard; then click Close. If you have multiple accounts, you 
may find that downloading e-mail from the various accounts 
makes it difficult to tell where the messages come from. In 
this case, use the Inbox Assistant to separate the messages 
into different folders, based on the originating account. 
You'll never have to wade through business e-mail to get to 
your personal messages again! 

- 1. If you haven't done so already, create the destination folders for your incoming messages: Choose File + Folder + New Folder, select the parent folder, type a name for the folder, and click OK. (Note: You probably want to direct one account to your Inbox; you don't need to create a new folder for that one.) 
- 2. Choose Tools + Inbox Assistant. 
- 3. Click Add. 
- 4. Click the Account check box and select one of your
     mail accounts. 
- 5. Under Perform the Following Action, select Move To. 
- 6. Click the Folder button, select the folder you want to
     move those messages to, and click OK. 
- 7. Click OK again to return to the Inbox Assistant dialog box. 
- 8. Repeat Steps 2 through 7 for each account you want to
     redirect. (Reminder: If you want the mail from one account
     to end up in your Inbox, don't follow these steps for that
     account.) 
- 9. Click OK to close the Inbox Assistant. 

-From now on, Outlook Express automatically sends new messages 
to the correct folders. What a great mail sorter! 


*4.   IMAGINE IF SOMEONE DELETED ALL YOUR MESSAGES--PART 1 OF 2

March 17th, 1999

M.G. Swift writes, "Lately, I've been backing up my Inbox, Sent 
Items, and other folders, as my system seems to crash with 
regularity. What's the easiest way to restore these backed up 
files to Outlook Express?" 

Let's back up a bit, for those of you who aren't familiar with 
backing up folders. The messages in every Outlook Express 
folder are stored in two files--a *.idx file and a *.mbx 
file--on your system. To back up a folder, simply create a copy 
of the corresponding *.mbx file (for example, Inbox.mbx or Sent 
Items.mbx) in a convenient location, such as a floppy disk: 

To back up a folder, exit Outlook Express, if you haven't 
already, and then follow these steps: 

- 1. Select Start + Find + Files or Folders. 
- 2. Type "*.mbx" (without the quotes) on the Named line. 
- 3. On the Look In line, select your hard drive. 
- 4. Click Find Now. (Typically, on a Windows 98 system, these 
     files are located in the C:\Windows\Application Data\
     Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail folder.) 
- 5. In the resulting list, hold down Ctrl as you click each
     folder you want to back up (or press Ctrl + A to select
     all the folders). 
- 6. To copy the files to a floppy disk, right-click the
     selection and choose Send To + 3 1/2 Floppy (A). To copy
     the files to a folder, right-click and drag the files into
     this folder; then release the key and mouse button and
     select Copy Here from the shortcut menu. 

Note: If you're copying the files to disk, the total size for 
all the folders you're copying can't be over 1.44 MB. If it is, 
you need to either split the files into smaller groups or 
compress the files by using a utility such as WinZip. 

You're officially protected. In our next tip, restoring these 
files should disaster strike. . . . 
 

*5.   IMAGINE IF SOMEONE DELETED ALL YOUR MESSAGES--PART 2 OF 2

March 18th, 1999

In our last tip, we showed you how to back up your Outlook 
Express message folders: Choose Start + Find + Files or 
Folders; locate all the *.mbx files on your system; copy the 
files to a safe location, such as a floppy disk (or another 
folder on the same system, if you dare). Today, we show you how 
to restore this information to Outlook Express in the event of 
a disaster: 

- 1. Exit Outlook Express, if you haven't already. 
- 2. In an Explorer window, navigate your way to the folder that
     contains your Outlook Express *.mbx files. (Typically, on a
     Windows 98 system, these files are located in the
     C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail
     folder. If you aren't sure, use Find to locate them.) 
- 3. Rename the *.idx and *.mbx files that correspond to the
     folders you're about to restore. For example, if you plan
     to restore the Inbox folder, rename Inbox.idx to
     Inbox.idx.bak and Inbox.mbx to Inbox.mbx.bak. 
- 4. Copy the backed-up *.mbx files to the Mail folder. 
- 5. Delete the file folders.nch from the Mail folder. The
     folders.nch file contains a list of the current folder
     names.

Restoration complete. Launch Outlook Express, and your messages 
should be right back where they belong. (Note: Feel free to 
delete the renamed *.idx and *.mbx files once you're sure the 
operation was a success.) 


*6.   YOUR FOLDERS ARE NUMBERED, BUD

March 19th, 1999

R. O. asks, "Why does Explorer show Folder10, Folder11, etc., 
instead of the folder names I've assigned within 
Outlook Express?" 

As you may remember from our last tip, whenever you copy 
message folders (*.mbx files) into your Mail folder (typically, 
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail), 
you have to delete or rename the folders.nch file folder so 
that Outlook Express creates a new one. According to Microsoft, 
"When you rename the Folders.nch file, your current non-default 
folders are named Folder1, Folder2, Folder3, and so on. The 
Folders.nch file contains a list of the folder names. When you 
rename it, Outlook Express cannot find the list so it must 
re-create the folder names using default names." (However, 
confusingly enough, the correct names do appear inside 
Outlook Express.)


*7.   IT'S NOT YOUR DEFAULT

March 22nd, 1999

M. Marziotto writes, "I use Outlook Express as my default mail 
reader. When I follow a link attached to an e-mail, such as the 
link to Tip World, Outlook Express launches Netscape Navigator 
instead of using Internet Explorer. I looked in the Options 
menu under Tools in IE but could not find a place to select the 
default browser. Any ideas?" 

Actually, your default browser is set through Windows or within 
Internet Explorer. To change the default to Internet Explorer, 
follow these steps: 

- 1. Open the Control Panel and double-click Internet (or
     launch Internet Explorer and choose Edit + Internet
     Options). 
- 2. Click the Programs tab, select Internet Explorer Should
     Check to See Whether It Is the Default Browser,
     and click OK. 
- 3. Restart Internet Explorer. 
- 4. When you see a dialog box asking whether you want Internet
     Explorer to be your default browser, click Yes. 

-From now on, clicking an URL inside an Outlook Express message 
launches Internet Explorer.


*8. IT'S NOT YOUR DEFAULT               
      
J. Palmer writes: 

"When I click a URL in an e-mail message, Netscape Navigator 
launches. I'd prefer to use Internet Explorer. How do I change 
this default?" 

Actually, your default browser is set at the Windows 
level--inside Internet Explorer. Open the Control Panel and 
double-click Internet (or launch Internet Explorer and select 
Edit, Internet Options; or right-click your desktop's Internet 
Explorer icon and select Properties). Click the Programs tab, 
select "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the 
default browser," and click OK. If and when you see a dialog 
box asking whether you want Internet Explorer to be your 
default browser (this will probably happen the next time you 
open IE), click Yes. From now on, clicking a URL inside an 
Outlook 98 message launches Internet Explorer.


*9.   NO, I DON'T WANT TO BE DISCONNECTED!

March 23rd, 1999

R. G. asks, "How do you get rid of the 'Would you like to 
disconnect from the Internet?' prompt when exiting IE or 
Outlook Express?" 

According to Microsoft, this message should go away if you 
disable Internet Explorer's Auto Disconnect feature: 

- 1. Open the Control Panel and double-click Internet (or
     launch Internet Explorer and select Edit + Internet
     Options). 
- 2. Click the Connection tab; then click Settings. 
- 3. Deselect the Disconnect If Idle for XX Minutes option. 
- 4. Click OK. 

Remember: Now you need to disconnect from the Internet 
manually--for example, by right-clicking the Dial-up icon in 
the tray of your Taskbar and selecting Disconnect.


*10.   FOR THOSE TIMES WHEN YOU'RE OE-LESS

March 24th, 1999

Would you like to be able to access your e-mail--for free--from 
any computer connected to the Internet? Do you plan to switch 
e-mail providers or quit your job in the near future? For a 
permanent e-mail address, accessible from anywhere, try Hotmail. 

-From inside Outlook Express, just choose Go + Hotmail and 
follow the instructions to set up an account. From then on, you 
can access your e-mail from inside any browser window by typing 
the following address in the browser's address bar: 

http://www.hotmail.com


*11.   NOW THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

March 25th, 1999

Do you frequently receive multiple pictures as e-mail 
attachments? Ask Outlook Express to present the pictures as a 
slide show: 

- 1. Choose Tools + Options and click the Read tab. 
- 2. Select Show multiple picture attachments as slide-show. 
- 3. Make sure that Automatically show picture attachments in
     messages is also selected. If it's not, select it. 
- 4. Click OK to close the Options dialogue box. The next time
     you receive more than one picture in a message, you see 
     the first picture; Previous, Play, and Next buttons; and an
     Outlook Express Slide Show banner.

-To view the pictures at your leisure, use the Next and 
Previous buttons. 
-For a true slide show, click the Play button. Outlook Express 
rotates through the pictures continuously (two to three seconds 
each) until you click Stop.
