Tips: How to make Outlook work for you

• Outlook does not recognize a comma as an e-mail address separator.
  (from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/820868 )
• Symptoms
• You try to send an email to multiple recipients separated by commas but Outlook complains and gives you an error.
• Cause
• This problem occurs because, by default, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 do not recognize the comma as an e-mail address separator.
• Resolution
• Follow these steps to configure Outlook to recognize the comma as a valid e-mail address separator:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click E-Mail Options, and then click Advanced E-Mail Options.
3. Under When sending a message, click to select the Allow comma as address separator check box.
   
   
• Look up a name in the University's directory – Outlook can (almost) automatically look up names in the university LDAP directory directly from your message window.  Follow these instructions to configure and use this feature.
  (from http://www.cmu.edu/computing/documentation/outlook_use/outlook_use.html )
• Check Address Book Order – In order to properly search for contacts, you must first configure Outlook to check your address books in a certain order.  
  1. Select Tools > Address Book. The Address Book dialog box appears.
  2. Select Tools > Options. The Addressing dialog box appears.
  3. In the "When sending mail, check names using these address lists in the following order": field, use the arrow keys to arrange your address books like the image to the right -->
  4. You may also want to change “Show this address list first” to Outlook Address Book > Contacts.

• Searching or Completing Addresses – Follow these steps to complete an address in the “To”, “Cc”, or “Bcc” fields.
1. Select File > New Message.
2. The New Message dialog box appears. Enter the first or last name of the person you want to send email to, then do any of the following:

• click the Check Names icon on the New Message toolbar
• select Tools > Check Names
• press Ctrl + K
  

3. The Check Names dialog box appears. Select the name of the person you want to send email to, then click OK.
   
   
• Create a template – In Outlook, you can create an email message and save it as a template so that you can use it over and over again.  Here’s how:
  (from http://lis.dickinson.edu/Technology/Training/Tutorials/Email/outlooktemp.pdf )
1. Disable Word – Prior to creating the template, you must disable the option that uses Word as your email editor. To do this:
1. Select Tools > Options > Mail Format.
2. De-select “Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages”
3. Click Apply, then OK.
2. Create and save your template – For each template you would like to create, do the following:
1. From the Outlook menu, select File > New > Mail Message.
2. Complete the Subject portion of the message and type any desired text in the body of the message, making sure to attach the appropriate signature (signatures will not automatically be added later).
3. If you will be sending the email to the same individuals on a regular basis, you might also want to complete the To portion of the email.
4. From the email message menu, select File > Save As.
5. In the Save As dialog box, select “Outlook Template” in the “Save As File Type” box.
6. Name the template anything you wish and select Save. NOTE: If “Outlook Template” is not an option, it is because you did not de-select the option to use Word as your email editor.
7. Close the template. Respond Yes if you are asked to save changes.
3. Re-enable Word – Once you have completed creating your templates, you will want to re-enable Word for composing messages.
1. Select Tools > Options > Mail Format.
2. Select “Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages”
3. Click Apply, then OK.
4. Use your template – Now that they’re made, you’ll want to start using your templates.
1. Using the down arrow next to the “New” Toolbar icon or under File > New, select “Choose Form”.
2. From the “Look In” drop down box, select “User Templates in File System”
3. Select the template, and click Open.
4. Add or revise text in the email as needed.
5. Send the email.
5. Assign the Template a Toolbar Button - If you want, you can assign the template to a button on your Outlook toolbar. To do so:
1. Select Tools > Customize from the Outlook Inbox menu.
2. Select the Commands Tab.
3. Select any button in the Commands section of the dialog box, and drag and drop it on your Outlook toolbar. When you release the mouse button, right click on the toolbar button you have added.
4. Select Change Button Image from the drop down menu and select a new image for the button.
5. Right click on the button and select “Assign Hyperlink” from the drop down menu that displays. Click Open. Browse to the email template.
   NOTE: In most cases, the template will be located in: C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Application Data\Microsoft\Template
6. Select the template, click OK and close all dialog boxes.
6. Edit Your Template - If you wish to edit your template after saving it, do the following:
1. Disable Word using I.1-3 above.
2. Open your template using IV.1-4 above.
3. If an additional signature is added to your message, remove it.
4. Make any other necessary modifications to your message.
5. Save your message using instructions II.4-7 above.
6. Re-enable Word, as above.
   
   
• Disable “Reading Layout View” when opening attachments – When you open a Microsoft Word document that you have received as an e-mail attachment, Word automatically switches to reading layout view.  This view is almost never useful, so you can follow these directions to turn it off.

• Open Word.
• On the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, and then clear the Allow starting in Reading Layout check box.
• Close Word and view your attachments as usual.