Microsoft Outlook Tips #12



*1. USE AUTOPREVIEW TO PREVIEW MESSAGES

If you happen to be the popular, in-demand type of person who 
receives lots of e-mail messages, there's an easy way to scan 
through them to determine which you should read first (and 
which you should dump immediately). It's called AutoPreview. 

Select View, AutoPreview, and the first three lines of each 
message appear in the message list. Most of the time, that's 
all you'd read before giving a message the old heave-ho anyway! 

(Tip: To turn AutoPreview off, just select View, AutoPreview 
again.)


*2. AUTOPREVIEW ONLY UNREAD MESSAGES

In our previous tip, we showed you a quick way to preview 
messages, right in your message list: Select View, 
AutoPreview. Do you use this feature to determine whether 
new messages are worth reading in full? Ask AutoPreview to 
show you only those messages you haven't read yet. (No point 
previewing messages you've already read, right?) 

Pull down the View menu and select Current View, Customize 
Current View. Click Other Settings, and under AutoPreview, 
select Preview Unread Items. Click OK, and from now on, 
messages you've read will take up only one line, while those 
that are new will display the three-line preview.


*3. CHANGING THE APPEARANCE OF AUTOPREVIEW TEXT

In a previous tip, we showed you a quick way to preview 
messages, right in your message list: Select View, AutoPreview. 
Wish the preview text appeared in your favorite color? Or that 
it was a bit larger? You can easily change the color, font, or 
point size of the preview text. 

Pull down the View menu and select Current View, Customize 
Current View. Click Other Settings, and under AutoPreview, 
click the Font button. Use the resulting dialog box to change 
the appearance of your text, as desired, then click OK three 
times (to close all dialog boxes).


*4. MARK PREVIEWED MESSAGES AS READ

If you want to know which inbox messages you've read and which 
you haven't, all you need to do is look at the text in the 
message list. Messages that haven't been read appear in bold 
while messages you've read don't appear in bold. Great. The 
only problem with this setting is that it's determined by 
whether or not a message has been opened in a separate window. 
So if you tend to read messages in the preview pane only, they 
all remain bold. 

To resolve this confusion, you can instruct Outlook to mark any 
message previewed for a certain amount of time as read. Just 
select Tools, Options and click the Other tab. Next, click the 
Preview Pane button, select Mark Messages As Read In Preview 
Window, then set the number of seconds a message needs to be 
previewed before it's marked as read. Finally, click OK twice. 
The next time you select an unread message and leave it 
displayed in the preview pane for the specified amount of time, 
Outlook will mark it as read.


*5. SEND A TASK REQUEST

Do you and the people who work for you all use Outlook for 
e-mail? (If you answered no, ask yourself, "Why doesn't 
everyone use Outlook?" Well, we can't all be enlightened now, 
can we?) The next time you need to delegate tasks, stay right 
where you are, in front of your computer. The Tasks feature 
makes it a snap to assign tasks right through the mail. 

To create a task request, press Ctrl-Shift-U (or select File, 
New, Task Request). Type the recipient's address on the To 
line, or if he or she is already in your address book, click 
the To button, double-click the recipient, and click OK. Now 
just complete the remaining fields: Type a subject, select a 
due date and start date, and so on. Enter any instructions in 
the big white box at the bottom. 

When you've finished creating the task, click the Send button, 
and off it goes. Way to delegate. 

Just receive a task request? In our next tip, we'll show you 
how to accept it or--and this is much more fun--reject it...


*6. RECEIVING A TASK REQUEST               
      
In our previous tip, we showed you how to create a task request 
or assign someone a task: Select File, New, Task Request (or 
press Ctrl-Shift-U), fill out the resulting dialog box, and 
click the Send button. If you happen to be on the receiving end 
of a task, you have two choices: Accept it or reject it (we 
know what we all want to do, right?). 

Open the message containing the task and click Accept or 
Decline. Click Send The Response Now, then click Send. Or if 
you have something to say about this task, (like, "Are you 
kidding?"), click Edit The Response Before Sending, type your 
message, and click Send. Keep in mind that rejecting tasks is 
much more fun, but it can be detrimental too...


*7. REASSIGN A TASK

In a previous tip, we showed you how to create a task request 
or assign someone a task: Select File, New, Task Request (or 
press Ctrl-Shift-U), fill out the resulting dialog box, and 
click the Send button. Then, in our last tip, we showed you how 
to accept or decline that task on the receiving end: Open the 
message with the particular task, click Accept or Decline, 
and so on. 

Don't feel like completing a task but don't want to be so bold 
as to decline it? Assuming you have the power to do so, you can 
always assign it to someone else. Simply open the message that 
contains the task request and select Actions, Assign Task. Type 
the address of the desired recipient on the To line, then click 
Send. Go ahead--flex those seniority muscles.


*8. RECOVER DELETED MESSAGE               
      
Now let's see... select the message, click Delete, and--d'oh! 
I didn't mean to do that! 

Don't panic. In any given work session, you can get any deleted 
message back. By default, Outlook stores deleted messages in 
the Deleted Items folder--that is, until you empty the folder 
manually or until you exit Outlook (if you've set the option to 
empty the Deleted Items folder automatically upon exiting). 

Switch to the Deleted Items folder and locate the message you 
deleted by mistake. Right-click it, select Move To Folder, 
choose the destination folder, and click OK. See? No worries.


*9. FLAG MESSAGES FOR FOLLOW-UP

Wish you could highlight certain messages to help you remember 
to follow up on them? Outlook offers something even better: 
flags. 

Right-click any message that requires follow-up action and 
select Flag For Follow Up. (You could also select the message, 
then choose Actions, Flag For Follow Up.) Select a follow-up 
action, such as Reply or Call, in the drop-down list next to 
Flag To, then click OK. Back in the message list, you'll see a 
red flag next to that message. 

In our next tip, we'll show you what to do with the flag when 
you complete that follow-up action...


*10. REMOVING A FOLLOW-UP FLAG (OR MARKING IT COMPLETE)

In our previous tip, we showed you how to flag a message for 
follow-up: Right-click the message, select Flag For Follow Up, 
select a follow-up action next to Flag To, then click OK. 

All done following up? To remove the flag from the message 
altogether, open the Flag For Follow Up dialog box by 
right-clicking the message and selecting Flag For Follow Up. 
Then, click the Clear Flag button. To leave the flag there but 
change its color to white (so you'll know for sure you've 
followed up on that message), open the same dialog box but 
select the Completed check box. Either way, finish by 
clicking OK.
