Lose your Outlook 2007 Virginity

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is a powerful e-mail program that allows you to manage your time and information efficiently and thus increases the productivity. It operates as a personal information manager and is comprised of the following three components:

• Mail – This component allows you to send, receive and organize your e-mails.
• Contacts- This component allows you to store the phone, address and other personal details of your contacts.
• Calendar- This component allows you to schedule meetings and keep track of your appointments.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 has the following features:

• Task Management
• To-Do Bar
• Color Categories
• Views
• Search folder
• Internet Calendar
• Gmail Integration

Task Management

Microsoft Outlook helps you to create and manage your tasks. Using tasks you can prioritize your work and also track your progress. Outlook helps you in creating recurring tasks that occur at regular intervals. You can also assign tasks to other Outlook users, set options to monitor the status of the delegated task and send you a status report on completion of the task. Outlook also gives the recipients of the task, options to accept or reject the delegated task.

Perform the following steps to create a new task using Microsoft Outlook 2007:

1. Click File, select New, and then click Task.
2. Enter a name for the task in the Subject box.
3. In the Status, Priority, and % Complete boxes, enter appropriate values so that you can track your progress.
4. Select the Reminder check box to set reminder for your task. You can also set the date and time for your reminder.
5. Click Save and Close, to save your task.

To-Do Bar

The To-Do bar presents a consolidated view of your tasks, upcoming appointments, messages flagged for follow up and your calendar information. The To-Do Bar is displayed at the right side of the screen. Whenever you create a task or flag an e-mail message a to-do item is created automatically. The To-Do bar also lets you to access the calendar, create new tasks, categorize and modify the dates of your task

Color Categories

Categories help you to classify your messages. They can be considered similar to labels used to sort, find or filter your messages. You can categorize any object in Outlook such as an email, calendar events, tasks or notes. Moreover, Outlook allows you to also create your own categories and assign colors to them in order to help you identify the status of your project.

Perform the following steps to change the color of a category:

1. Click Categories, and then select All Categories to display the Color Categories dialog box.

2. Select the category to which you wish to assign a new color.

3. Click Color and select the color you wish to assign.

4. Click OK.

Views

Views are basically layouts that provide you with different information. A view is composed of a view type, fields, title, and colors that give you different ways to look at items in a folder. You can create new views or modify the existing ones.

Perform the following steps to create a custom view:

1. From the View menu, select Arrange by, then Current View and then Define Views.
2. In the Custom View Organizer dialog box, click New and enter a name in the name of new view box.
3. Select the View type and an option under which it can be used.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Customize View: New view dialog box, select the options that you want to use and click OK.

Search Folders

Search folder is an advanced feature present in Microsoft Outlook. It is used to organize your e-mail messages that match a specific criterion in folders. Outlook contains three Search folders: Unread Mail, Follow up, and Large Mail, you can create additional folders based on your needs.

Perform the following steps to create a search folder:

1. Click File, then New and then Search Folder. Alternatively you can also use the Ctrl+Shift+P shortcut key.
2. In New Search Folder screen, select Create a Custom Search Folder, and then click Choose to specify your criteria.
3. Enter a name for your folder in the Name box.
4. Click Criteria specify the criteria for your custom search folder.
5. Click Browse to specify which folders to include in your custom search folder, and then click OK to proceed.
6. Click OK to update the changes.

Internet Calendar

Internet Calendar is a calendar that is shared through the internet. Microsoft Outlook 2007 supports the Internet Calendar or iCal format which allows you to send, receive or subscribe to internet calendars. For example, you can view your Google Calendar from Outlook by performing the following steps:

1. Log on to your Google Calendar account.
2. Select Calendar settings.
3. Under Private Address, click ICAL to display your private calendar address.
4. Open Outlook, and select Account Settings from the Tools menu.
5. Choose the Internet Calendars tab, click on New to enter your private calendar address and then click Add.
6. On the Subscription Options screen. Enter a name and description for the calendar and click OK.

Gmail Integration

You can use Microsoft Outlook 2007 to send and receive e-mail messages from your Google Gmail account.

Note: To enable Gmail integration in Outlook, you need to make sure your Gmail account is set up to enable POP (Post Office Protocol).

Perform the following steps to integrate your Gmail account with Microsoft Outlook 2007:

1. Open Outlook, from the Tools menu, and then select Account Settings.
2. On the Account Settings screen, select the E-mail tab and click New.
3. On the Choose E-mail Service screen, make sure that the POP3 option is selected and then click Next.
4. On the Auto Account Setup screen, enter your name in the Your Name box.
5. Enter your Gmail address, in the E-mail Address box.
6. Enter your Gmail password in the Password box.
7. Enter your Gmail password again in the Retype Password box, and then click Next.

Note: Make sure you do not select the Manually configure server settings option.

8. Click Finish to complete your configuration.