Microsoft Outlook Tips #8



*1. BACKING UP OUTLOOK 98 FOLDERS--PART 3 OF 3

In the last two tips, we showed you how to back up all or part 
of your Outlook 98 information, assuming this information is 
stored on your hard drive in Personal Folders. To back up all 
of the information, copy your Personal Folders file--typically 
in C:\Windows\Application Data\Outlook\outlook.pst--to your 
location of choice. In the event of a disaster, you can restore 
all of this information to Outlook 98 by copying the backed-up 
outlook.pst file to its original location. To back up only one 
folder (for example, to a floppy disk), use the Export 
Wizard--select File, Import Or Export--to export the contents 
of the folder to a *.pst file.  

Now we'll show you how to import the *.pst file to your Outlook 
folder of choice. To do this, select the destination folder, 
such as Inbox (or create one first, if necessary), and select 
File, Import And Export. Select Import From Another Program Or 
File, then click Next. Select Personal Folder File (.pst), and 
click Next again. With the floppy disk containing the import 
file in your floppy drive, click Browse, select your floppy 
drive, select the *.pst file, and click Open. Click Next, 
select the folder from which to import (in this example, 
Inbox), select Import Items Into The Current Folder, and click 
Finish. Those Inbox messages are right back where they started. 

Note: This tip assumes your Outlook 98 information is stored on 
your hard drive in Personal Folders, not in a mailbox on a 
Microsoft Exchange Server.


*2. ARE YOU BEING SERVED?

The last few tips showed you how to back up all or part of your 
Outlook 98 information, assuming this information is stored on 
your hard drive in Personal Folders: To back up all of the 
information: Copy your Personal Folders file -- typically 
C:\Windows\Application Data\Outlook\outlook.pst--to your 
location of choice. In the event of a disaster, you can restore 
all of this information to Outlook 98 by copying the backed-up 
outlook.pst file to its original location. To back up only one 
folder (for example, to a floppy disk), use the Export 
Wizard--select File, Import Or Export--to export the contents 
of the folder to a *.pst file. You can then use the same wizard 
to import the *.pst file to your Outlook folder of choice. 
(Select the destination folder, select File, Import Or Export, 
and so on.) 

Do you use Outlook 98 with Microsoft Exchange Server? If so, 
your Outlook information may be stored in a mailbox on the 
server--or it could be on your hard drive. Here's how to find 
out where your information is stored. 

Inside Outlook 98, select Tools, Services. Click the Delivery 
tab, and check out the "Deliver new mail to the following 
location" field. If you see the word Mailbox followed by an 
e-mail name, your information is stored on the server. If you 
don't (in which case, you'll probably see the words Personal 
Folder), the information is stored on your hard drive. 

If your Outlook information is stored on a server, chances are 
it's backed up right on the server. Talk to your administrator 
for more details on backing up and restoring this information.


*3. WHERE DID I PUT THAT MESSAGE?--PART 1 OF 3

When you need to find a particular e-mail message in Outlook 
98, it can be tracked down relatively easily as long as you're 
sure of at least one piece of text that appears in the message. 

To find a message, switch to the folder where the message is 
located and click the Find button. Type some text from the 
message--for example, part of the subject line or a person's 
name or even a word that appeared in the message. Select 
"Search all text in the message" (unless you're sure the text 
doesn't appear in the message body), then click Find Now, and 
Outlook goes to work. When you see the word Done next to the 
Find Now button, check the list of messages that appears for 
the one you wanted to find. 

If not, check out tomorrow's tip, where we'll show you how to 
fine-tune your search.


*4. WHERE DID I PUT THAT MESSAGE?--PART 2 OF 3

In our last tip, we showed you how to search any given folder 
for a message: Switch to that folder, click the Find button, 
type some text you know appears in the message, select "Search 
all text in the message," and click Find Now. The resulting 
list includes all messages that meet your search criteria. 

If you still can't find what you're looking for, Outlook 98 
offers advanced search capabilities that will sniff out a 
message based on just about any piece of data you can remember. 

After clicking the Find button, click Advanced Find (in the 
upper-right corner of the Find window). Now fill in the 
information you know about the message. For example, let's 
suppose all you can remember is that you carbon-copied a 
certain someone on the message you're trying to find. In the 
Advanced Find dialog box, click the Advanced tab, then click 
the Field button and select Address Fields, CC. Leave Contains 
selected under Condition; then, in the text box under Value, 
type the e-mail address of the person you carbon-copied. Click 
Add To List, define any other criteria, if desired, then click 
Find Now.  

Outlook 98 searches for your message and lists any matches.


*5. WHERE DID I PUT THAT MESSAGE?--PART 3 OF 3

Two tips ago, we showed you how to search any given folder for 
a message: Switch to that folder, click the Find button, type 
some text you know appears in the message, select "Search all 
text in the message," and click Find Now. If you still can't 
find that missing message, you can try some of Outlook 98's 
advanced search capabilities. 

For example, in our last tip, we showed you how to track down a 
sent message by the person you carbon-copied on that message: 
Click Advanced Find, then the Advanced tab. Click the Field 
button. Select Address Fields, CC and leave Contains selected 
under Condition. In the text box under Value, type the e-mail 
address of the person you carbon-copied. Click Add To List and 
click Find Now. 

You can also search for a message where you were one of many 
people carbon-copied on it. After clicking the Find button, 
click Advanced Find (in the upper-right corner of the Find 
window). On the Messages tab, select Where I Am, then click the 
down arrow in the field next to that option and select "On the 
CC line with other people." Click Find Now, and Outlook tracks 
down all messages that meet that criterion.


*6. SEARCH YOUR STICKIES

If you're looking for an item you wrote in a note, but can't 
remember where you put it, use Outlook 98's Find feature to 
track it down. 

Switch to your Notes folder and click the Find button. Type any 
text you know appears in the note, click Find Now, and Outlook 
presents you with a list of all notes that include this text. 

Still can't find the note? Try an advanced search. Click 
Advanced Find (in the upper-right corner of the Find window), 
then use the options on the resulting three tabs to define your 
search further. For example, if you know you modified the note 
last Friday, click the down arrow next to Time (on the Notes 
tab) and select Modified. In the next field to the right, click 
the down arrow and select Last Week. Click Find Now, and 
Outlook hunts down all notes modified the previous week.


*7. ONLY (ABOUT) 27 WEEKS UNTIL 2000

Are you dying to know how many more weeks are left before the 
start of the next millennium? Or perhaps you work in a field 
where it's important to know week numbers. You can ask Outlook 
to display week numbers in the Date Navigator--the mini 
calendars to the right of the current day or week in 
Outlook's Calendar. 

To do this, select Tools, Options and click the Calendar 
Options button. Under Calendar options, select "Show week 
numbers in the Date Navigator," then click OK twice. Now switch 
to Calendar, if you aren't there already, and you'll see week 
numbers along the left edge of each month in the Date 
Navigator. Subtract any number from 52 to start your year 
2000 countdown.


*8. IS YOUR RIGHT-MOUSE ON VACATION?

Did you ever try to right-click an item in your folder list and 
find that nothing happens? Don't worry, you haven't broken 
anything. If you don't have your folder list showing 
permanently (in other words, you have to click on the current 
folder's name to display the folder list, which then disappears 
after you select a folder), these commands don't work. 

If you want right-mouse control over your folder list, you'll 
need to stick it to the screen: Either select View, Folder 
List, or click the Pushpin icon at the top-right corner of 
the list. 


*9. SPELLING COUNTS--PART 1 OF 2

When you send an e-mail loaded with typos, you don't make the 
best impression. If you don't have time to look your messages 
over before sending them (or even if you do, but you aren't the 
best speller in the world), ask Outlook 98 to check your 
spelling for you.  

In the open message window, select Tools, Spelling (or press 
F7). The spelling checker stops at the first misspelling. 
Inside the Spelling dialog box, select a Suggestion (or type a 
correction on the Change To line), then click the Change 
button. Or if you disagree that the word is misspelled, click 
Ignore. When the spelling checker finishes, send your message 
as always. 

In our next tip, we'll show you how to make Outlook check all 
outgoing messages automatically.


*10. SPELLING COUNTS--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to check an individual 
message for spelling errors: In the open message window, select 
Tools, Spelling (or press F7). If the checker finds any 
misspellings, select a Suggestion (or type a correction on the 
Change To line), then click the Change button. Or if you 
disagree that the word is misspelled, click Ignore. 

If you frequently forget to check spelling in your messages you 
can ask Outlook 98 to do it for you whenever you send a 
message. Select Tools, Options and click the Spelling tab. 
Select "Always check spelling before sending" and click OK. The 
next time you send a message, the spelling checker kicks in as 
if you had pressed F7. When the checker finishes, Outlook sends 
the message.
