0411 ch06 08.24.03 5:03 pm page 119 inbox to manage...

You can use the Outlook Inbox folder—as wellas the other mail-item folders (Drafts, Outbox,and Sent Items)—to receive, send, and manageemail, and send fax messages. Here’s how thesefolders are normally used:

� Incoming email messages are deliveredto your Inbox by a mail account or by anemail information service.

� While you are composing a message,before you send it, it’s normally stored inthe Drafts folder.

� When you send a message, it’s temporarilystored in the Outbox folder until the nexttime Outlook connects to the mail serverto process outgoing messages, therebysending it to the recipient. Sometimesmessages are transmitted immediatelyand are stored in your Outbox only briefly,because Outlook connects to your mailserver right away to send the outgoingmessage.

� A copy of each message you send is normally stored in your Sent Items folder.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to:

� Receive email messages in your Inbox.

� Read email messages and open or savefile attachments.

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� Use Instant Messaging

� Send email messages

� Send fax messages

� Organize your messages with rules

� Block junk email

✔ Tips

� The instructions in this chapter assumethat you’ve already set up your email andfax accounts or information services, asexplained in Chapter 1, “Setting UpOutlook 2003,” and Appendix A,“Configuring Outlook.”

� The instructions also assume that you’veopened your Inbox or another mail-itemfolder. (Otherwise, you won’t find someof the commands mentioned.)

� The different ways to open folders areexplained in “Opening an Outlook folder”in Chapter 2, “Getting Started UsingOutlook.”. Keep in mind that with the initial Outlook setup, the icons for theInbox , Drafts, Outbox, and Sent Itemsfolders are in the Folder List.

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Receiving EmailMessagesYou can have Outlook automatically receiveyour email messages from one or moreaccounts at specified intervals, or you canmanually receive them at any time. If youdon’t set up automatic receiving, then you’llhave to receive manually.

The procedure for setting up automatic receiving depends upon whether an emailaccount uses a full-time Internet connectionor a dial-up connection. A full-time connec-tion is one that provides access to the Internetat all times, usually through a company local area network (LAN) connected to yourcomputer. A dial-up connection uses amodem in your computer and is typicallymade only when you are actually exchangingemail or accessing an Internet site.

Outlook uses send/receive groups to logicallymanage mail accounts. Send/receive groupsconsist of one or more email accounts in anycombination (Figure 6.1). This sectionexplains how to use send/receive groups toprocess messages. See Chapter 12, “UsingAdvanced Features,” to learn how to create,change, and manage send/receive groups.

✔ Tips

� The different types of connections aredescribed in the section “To add a MailAccount with the Internet ConnectionWizard” in Appendix A.

� When Outlook receives email messages,it might also transmit outgoing emailmessages from your Outbox, as describedlater in the chapter.

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Figure 6.1 Send/receive groups control how and whenmessages are sent.

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To receive email messages automati-cally for all accounts:

1. Choose Tools > Options and click theMail Setup tab in the Options dialog box.

2. Check the Send/Receive button to display the Send/Receive dialog box.

3. In the Send/Receive Groups dialog box,highlight the Group Name you want toconfigure. Check the box Schedule anAutomatic Send/Receive Every “number”Minutes. Enter the desired interval inminutes at which you want Outlook to automatically receive your email messages. Then, click Close.

4. If one or more of your email accountsuses a dial-up connection, check theAutomatically Dial During a BackgroundSend/Receive option (Figure 6.2) in theMail Setup tab. (If you don’t check thisoption, a dial-up account will be skippedwhen Outlook automatically receivesemail.)

5. Click the OK button.

Outlook will then begin receiving youremail messages at the interval you speci-fied (Figure 6.3), automatically dialingyour modem for any account that usesdial-up access. It will place any messagesyou receive in your Inbox folder.

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the Options dialog box to have Outlook automaticallyreceive your email messages (via a full-time or dial-up account).

Figure 6.3 The dialog box that Outlook displays whenit’s receiving and sending email.

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✔ Tips

� Outlook will automatically receive emailonly from accounts that have the IncludeThis Account When Receiving Mail orSynchronizing option checked. To accessthis option, choose Tools > Options, clickthe Mail Setup tab and click Send/Receive.In the Send/Receive Groups dialog box,select the group name and check the boxInclude This Group in Send/Receive (F9).Then click Close (Figure 6.4). (Thisoption is enabled by default.)

� If you do not configure an email accountto store your password, Outlook willprompt for the password each time itattempts an automatic send/receive. To fully automate the process, directOutlook to save your password for theaccount when prompted.

� If you are working offline, Outlook willnot automatically receive email from anaccount with full-time Internet access. Itwill, however, continue to automaticallydial up and receive email from anaccount with dial-up access. To switchbetween working online and workingoffline, choose File > Work Offline. Whenyou’re working offline, an Offline iconappears at the right end of the status barand the right end of the System Tray(Figure 6.5).

� If you’re working offline and manuallyreceive email messages (as describednext), Outlook switches you back toworking online temporarily for theSend/Receive process, and then switchesback to working offline.

� You can also open the Send/ReceiveGroups dialog box by choosing Tools >Send/Receive > Send/Receive Settings >Define Send/Receive Groups. You can alsopress Ctrl+Alt+S to open the dialog box.

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Figure 6.4 The Send/Receive Groups dialog box.

Figure 6.5 The Offline icon onthe Status bar indicating thatyou’re working online or offline.

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To receive email messages manually:

� To receive email from all your enabledemail accounts, click the Send/Receivebutton on the Standard toolbar, orchoose Tools > Send/Receive >Send/Receive All, or press F9.

or

To receive email from a specific account(whether or not it’s enabled), chooseTools > Send/Receive and then choosethe name of the Send/Receive groupfrom the submenu (Figure 6.6).

Outlook will then connect with the emailaccount or accounts, and it will place anymessages you receive in your Inbox folder.

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Figure 6.6 Receiving messages from just thetailspintoys.com account.

Figure 6.7 Email messages listed in the Inbox.

A message you’ve replied to

A messagemarked as High

Importance

A file attachment A message flagged for follow-up

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Reading Email MessagesOutlook will deliver your incoming emailmessages from all email accounts to yourInbox (Figure 6.7). You can read any emailmessage it contains either by using theReading pane or by opening the message in a Message form.

To read an email message:

1. Open the Inbox folder and click theemail message to select it.

2. If the Reading pane isn’t currently dis-played, click the Reading Pane button onthe Advanced toolbar or choose View >Reading Pane and select either Right orBottom depending on your preference.You can then view the selected messagein this pane, without having to open it(Figure 6. 8).

or

Double-click the message, or use one ofthe other methods for opening an itemdescribed in “To open an item” inChapter 3. The message will be displayedin a Message form (Figure 6.9).

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Figure 6.8 Reading a message in the Reading pane.

The selected message The Reading pane

Figure 6.9 Reading a message in the Message form.

Message header

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✔ Tips

� In the Outlook window, an unread message is marked with bold formatting(Figure 6.10). You can change the marking of a message by selecting it andchoosing Edit > Mark As Read or Edit >Mark As Unread, or you can choose Edit> Mark All As Read to remove the boldmarking from all messages in the folder.

� If you’ve chosen Word as your email editor, a message will be opened in Wordrather than in the Outlook Message form(unless the message is in HTML format).See “Email editors and formats,” later inthe chapter.

� If you want to flag a message for specialattention, open the message and click theFlag For Follow Up button on the form’stoolbar. Then define the flag in the FlagFor Follow Up dialog box (Figure 6.11).

� You can hide or show the message head-er in the Message form (Figure 6.12) bychoosing View > Message Header. Whenyou hide the header, only the From andSent fields are shown.

� You can set other options for a message by opening the message in a form andchoosing View > Options to open theMessage Options dialog box (Figure 6.13).This dialog box also lets you view the message’s Internet headers, which showtechnical information on the sending androuting of the message. Often, you candetermine the true sender of a message byviewing the header; for example, determin-ing if a message is from someone youknow or from a spammer (someone whosends unsolicited junk mail).

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Figure 6.11 The Flag For Follow Up dialog box.

Figure 6.12 The header removed from the message form.

Figure 6.13 The Message Options dialog box for anincoming message in the Inbox.

Figure 6.10 Unread messages appear in bold.

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To open a file attachment included inan email message:

1. View the message in the Reading pane oropen it in a form, and double-click theicon for the file attachment (Figure 6.14).

or

In the Inbox, right-click on the message,choose View Attachments, and choosethe name of the attachment from thesubmenu (Figure 6.15).

2. If Outlook displays the Opening MailAttachment dialog box (Figure 6.16),select Open and click the OK button.

The file attachment will then be opened in theappropriate program. For example, if you haveMicrosoft Word installed, a file attachmentwith the .doc extension will be opened in Word.

✔ Tips

� Don’t open a file attachment in a messagefrom an unknown source! Certain types of attachments can contain viruses, andopening an attachment might allow avirus to harm your computer.

� Outlook blocks certain types of attach-ments, preventing you from openingthem. Outlook refers to these as Level 1Attachments. You can find a list of theseattachment types by opening Help andopening the following Help documentfrom the Table of Contents: Security andPrivacy\Security\Attachment file typesblocked by Outlook. If you need access toa particular blocked attachment, exportthe message to Outlook Express and readit there, or forward it to a Web-basedemail account such as Hotmail, where youwill be able to download the attachment.

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Figure 6.14 Double-clicking a file attachment icon toopen the file.

Figure 6.15 Opening a file attachment byusing the drop-down menu.

Right-click here to open the menu

Figure 6.16 Choosing to open a file attachment inthe Opening Mail Attachment dialog box.

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� Exchange Server supports Level 2 attach-ments, which Outlook does not allow youto open directly, but which you can saveto disk from Outlook in order to open. An Exchange Server administrator mustconfigure Level 2 attachments on theExchange Server—you cannot controlthese attachment types from Outlook. Ifyou remove attachment types from theLevel 1 list (see previous tips), Outlooktreats them as Level 2 attachments.

To save a file attachment in a disk file:

1. In the Outlook window, select the mes-sage that has the attachment you wantto save.

2. Choose File > Save Attachments, andthen from the submenu choose the nameof the individual attachment you want tosave (Figure 6.17), or choose AllAttachments to save all in one step.

3. In the Save Attachment dialog box(Figure 6.18), select the disk locationwhere you want to save the file.

If you wish, you can change the name ofthe file by typing a new name in the FileName text box.

4. Click the Save button.

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Figure 6.17 Saving the Chapter 2.doc fileattachment.

Figure 6.18 Selecting a disk location for a fileattachment in the Save Attachment dialog box.

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✔ Tips

� If a message has more than one fileattachment, you can save several attach-ments at once by choosing File > SaveAttachments > All Attachments in step 2and then selecting the specific attach-ments you want to save in the Save AllAttachments dialog box (Figure 6.19).

� If a message is open in a form, you cansave one or more attachments by choos-ing File > Save Attachments.

� If a message is displayed in the Readingpane or opened in a form, you can save asingle file attachment by right-clickingthe attachment’s icon and choosing SaveAs from the pop-up menu (Figure 6.20).

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Figure 6.19 The Save All Attachmentsdialog box.

Figure 6.20 Saving an attachment from a pop-up menu.

Right-click the attachment

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Sending Email MessagesSending email normally consists of the following two main steps:

1. Create the email message. You create anemail message in the Message form. Youcan either create a new message or reply toor forward a message that you’ve received.

When you click the Send button in theform, the message is initially stored inyour Outbox folder. In the following twocases, however, a message is stored inyour Outbox for only a few seconds,making it appear as if the message neverreached your Outbox:� If the Send Immediately When

Connected option is checked, and if a message is sent via a full-time con-nection or a dial-up connection that’salready connected, the message will besent immediately. You access this optionby choosing Tools > Options, and click-ing the Mail Setup tab (Figure 6.21).

� With an Exchange Server accountworking in online mode, messages aredelivered immediately to the server,remaining in the Outbox only briefly.

2. Transmit your email messages from theOutbox to their recipients.

Outlook makes a copy of each transmittedmessage in your Sent Items folder, providedthat the Save Copies of Messages in SentItems Folder option is checked. You accessthis option by choosing Tools > Options andclicking the E-mail Options button on thePreferences tab (Figure 6.22).

The instructions for completing these twosteps are given in the following sections.

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Check this option

Figure 6.21 Having Outlook immediately transmitmessages as soon as you click the Send button in theMessage form.

Figure 6.22 Having Outlook save a copy of eachtransmitted message in your Sent Items folder.

Check this option

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To create a new email message:

1. Open a mail-item folder such as Inboxand click the New button on theStandard toolbar, or choose Actions >New > Mail Message, or press Ctrl+N.

or

Press Ctrl+Shift+M. (Any folder can be open.)

Outlook will open an empty Messageform (Figure 6.23).

2. Complete the Message form and sendthe message, as explained in “To com-plete the Message form,” later in thechapter.

To reply to or forward an email message:

1. Open the folder containing the incomingmessage you want to reply to, or forwardand select the message.

or

Open the incoming message in theMessage form.

2. Click one of the following buttons on theStandard toolbar in the Outlook windowor in the form:� Reply. The new message will be

addressed to the sender of the incomingmessage, and its subject will contain thesubject from the incoming message,prefaced with RE: (Figure 6.24).

� Reply to All. The new message will beaddressed to the sender of the incomingmessage, and copies of the message willbe sent to everyone who originallyreceived a copy of the incoming message(that is, their addresses will be insertedin the Cc field, which you’ll learn aboutlater). The new message’s subject willcontain the subject from the incomingmessage, prefaced with RE:.


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Figure 6.23 A blank Message form for creating a newoutgoing email message.

Figure 6.24 The Message form that is opened whenyou reply to an incoming email message.

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� Forward. The new message’s subjectwill contain the subject from theincoming message, prefaced with FW:(Figure 6.25).Whichever button you click, the newmessage body (the large text box) willcontain the header and text from theincoming message.

3. Complete the Message form and sendthe message, as explained in “To com-plete the Message form,” below. If you’rereplying to a message, type your replyabove the original text. If you’re forward-ing a message, you can type a commentor explanation, if you wish, above theoriginal text.

✔ Tip

� You can modify the way Outlook formatsthe original text in a reply or in a forwardedmessage by choosing Tools > Options,clicking the E-mail Options button on thePreferences tab, and selecting options inthe On Replies and Forwards area of the E-mail Options dialog box (Figure 6.26).

To complete the Message form:

1. Enter the message recipient or recipientsin the To text box. For details on how todo this, see “To address a message” laterin the chapter.

Figures 6.23 through 6.25 show severalMessage forms, before new informationhas been entered.

2. If you want to send a copy of the mes-sage to one or more other people, enterthem in the Cc text box. For details on how to do this, see “To address a message” later in the chapter.

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Figure 6.25 The Message form that is opened whenyou forward an incoming email message.

Figure 6.26 Modifying the way Outlook formats theoriginal text in replies and forwarded messages.

Select options here to modify the wayOutlook formats the original text itinserts in replies or forwarded messages

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3. Type a message subject in the Subjecttext box. The recipient will see this textin his or her email program before open-ing the message.

4. Type the body of the message in the largetext box. See the section “Editing Items”in Chapter 3 for information on entering,editing, and formatting the text.

5. If you want to attach a file to the mes-sage, click the Insert File button on theform’s Standard toolbar, or choose Insert> File. Then, in the Insert File dialog box,select the file and click the Insert button(Figure 6.27).

6. To select options for the message, clickthe Options button on the Standard tool-bar, or choose View > Options. Thenselect the desired options in the MessageOptions dialog box (Figure 6.28) andclick the Close button.

Figure 6.29 shows a completed Message form.


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Figure 6.27 Inserting a file into an email message.

Figure 6.28 Selecting message options.

Figure 6.29 A completed message, ready to send.

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7. Click the Send button on the form’sStandard toolbar.

At this point, Outlook will normallyplace the message in your Outbox, andyou’ll need to transmit it to the recipient,as explained later in the chapter. (See theexceptions that were discussed at thebeginning of “Sending Email Messages,”earlier in the chapter.)

✔ Tips

� If you have more than one email account,you can specify the account that will beused to send the message by clicking theAccounts button adjacent to the Sendbutton on the form’s Standard toolbar andchoosing the name of the account fromthe drop-down menu (Figure 6.30). (Ifyou just click the Send button, the mes-sage will be sent using your default emailaccount.) This applies to new messages as well as replies and forwards.

� The header for a message in your Outboxthat’s ready to transmit is formatted initalics (Figure 6.31). If you reopen themessage before it’s transmitted, be sure to click the Send button again. Otherwise,the message won’t be transmitted (asindicated by its non-italic formatting).

� The forms and dialog boxes shown in thissection are those displayed when you’reusing Word as your email editor. They aresomewhat different if you use Outlookemail editor and the Microsoft OutlookRich Text format or select another emailformat. See “To change your email editoror format,” later in the chapter.

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Figure 6.30 Choosing aspecific account for sendinga message.

Select an account

Figure 6.31 A message in the Outbox that’s ready totransmit.

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To address a message:

� In the Message form, type the recipient’sexact Internet email address directly inthe To or Cc text box. If you want toenter several addresses in a single textbox, separate them with semicolons(Figure 6.32).or

If the recipient’s email address is in yourContacts folder (or if you want to searchfor it using an Internet directory service),type part or all of the person’s name as itappears in Contacts in the To or Cc textbox. When you exit the field, Outlookautomatically looks for the name inContacts. Then:� If Outlook finds a unique match, it

completes the name (if necessary)and underlines it with a solid blackline to indicate that the name hasbeen verified (Figure 6.33). Outlookwill use the email address (if any)associated with the contact to addressyour message.

� If Outlook finds more than one con-tact matching the name you typed, itunderlines the name with a wavy redline. Right-click the name and choosethe person you want from the pop-upmenu (Figures 6.34 and 6.35).

� If Outlook finds more than one contactmatching the name you typed, but youpreviously typed the same name andchose a name from the pop-up menu, it displays your previous choice andunderlines it with a dashed green line.You can right-click the name andchoose another name if you want.

� If Outlook doesn’t find a match, itleaves the name as is, and you’ll haveto type another name or use one ofthe other addressing methods.


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Figure 6.32 Two email addresses typed directly in theTo text box.

Figure 6.33 After I typed Fred in the To text box,Outlook found a unique matching name in my Contactsfolder. It then completed and underlined the name.

Figure 6.34 After I typed james in the To text box,Outlook found two matching contacts and underlinedthe name with a red wavy line. I right-clicked thename and chose the recipient I wanted, James Cooper,from the pop-up menu.

Figure 6.35 The result of choosing the name from thepop-up menu shown in Figure 6.34.

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or

Click the To or Cc button in the messageheader, or click the Address Book buttonon the form’s Standard toolbar, or pressCtrl+Shift+B. Outlook will open theSelect Names dialog box (Figure 6.36),which lets you transfer names to the To,Cc, and Bcc message fields from yourContacts folder or from an Internetdirectory service. Outlook will use theemail address associated with each nameyou transfer. You work with this dialogbox as follows:� Select a name in the list of contacts

and then click the To, Cc, or Bcc buttonto copy the name to the To, Cc, or Bccfield in your message.

� To quickly locate a name in a long listof contacts, type the start of the namein the Type Name or Select from Listtext box at the top of the dialog box.

� If you have more than one contact-item folder, you can view the items ina particular one by selecting it in thelist box.

� To look up an email address using anInternet directory service, select thedirectory service in the Show NamesFrom The list box. Click the Advancedbutton and select Find from the menu.In the Find dialog box (Figure 6.37),type the person’s name in the DisplayName text box, and click the OKbutton. If matches are found, they aredisplayed at the bottom of the dialogbox, and you can select the name youwant and click the To, Cc, or Bcc buttonto copy the name and address to thecorresponding field in your message.

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Figure 6.36 The Select Names dialog box.

Select an alternative contact-itemfolder or address list here

Figure 6.37 The Find dialog box.

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✔ Tips

� The Find box in directory services(Figure 6.37) allows searching with morefields than just a name. Use the Containsand Begins With options to specify howthe information you enter is matched byOutlook against the LDAP server.

� If you enter an address in the Bcc messagefield, a copy of the message will be sent tothat address, but other message recipientswon’t see the address. (An address that’sentered in the Cc field is generallyrevealed to all message recipients.) To display a text box for the Bcc field withOutlook as your email editor (Figure6.38), choose View > Bcc Field. To displaythe Bcc field with Word as your email editor (Figure 6.39), choose the downarrow on the right of the Options buttonand choose Bcc from the menu.

� To have Outlook automatically checknames in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields, theAutomatic Name Checking option mustbe checked. You access this option bychoosing Tools > Options, clicking the E-mail Options button on the Preferencestab, and then clicking the Advanced E-mail Options button (Figure 6.40).

� If automatic name checking is turned off,you can check names manually by click-ing the Check Names button on theform’s Standard toolbar.

� In the main Outlook window, you canopen the Address Book dialog box(Figure 6.41) by choosing Tools >Address Book or pressing Ctrl+Shift+B.Like the Select Names dialog box, it letsyou access the items in your Contactsfolder or search for people using any ofyour address lists


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Figure 6.38 Click to show theBcc field.

Figure 6.39 Show the Bcc fieldfor only the current message.

Figure 6.40 Turning on automaticname checking.

Check this option

Figure 6.41 The Address Book dialog box.

Click tosearch for aperson usingan Internetdirectoryservice orotheraddress list

Type a name to locate in the address book

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� Rather than selecting an individual namefrom your Contacts folder, you can selecta distribution list, which sends the mes-sage to an entire group of people. Forinformation on defining distributionlists, see “Creating Contact Items” inChapter 8, “Using the Contacts Folder.”

� If you have more than one email infor-mation service, the particular servicethat will be used to transmit the messagedepends upon which account is set asthe default account (Figure 6.42). Tochange the default account, highlight thedesired account and select Set as Default(Figure 6.43). That account is then displayed at the top of the order list.

or

Choose Move Up or Move Down to setthe order of processing for the accounts.The account at the top automaticallybecomes the Default account.

� To send a message from a specific serviceaccount, click on the Accounts buttonand choose the account desired (Figure6.44). The email item will then be sentfrom that account.

� Rather than selecting an individualaddress from your Contacts address list,you can select a distribution list, whichsends the message to an entire group ofpeople. For information on defining dis-tribution lists in the Contacts folder, see“Creating Contact Items” in Chapter 8.

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Figure 6.42 The top account sends outgoingmessages by default.

Figure 6.43 Setting a different default mail account.

Figure 6.44 Selecting theoutgoing account whilecomposing the message.

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Email Editors and FormatsYou can use either of the following two editorsto read or send email messages:

� The built-in Outlook editor, which isused in the standard Message form. TheOutlook editor is fast and probably hasall the features you need (Figure 6.45).

� The figures presented so far in this chap-ter have shown the Word editor and theadvanced Message form. Although it’sslower starting, it provides many sophisti-cated features not available in the Outlookeditor—for example, alternative docu-ment views; formatting styles; automaticinsertion, correction, and formatting oftext; and checking of spelling as you type.

Whichever editor you employ, you can useany of the following basic formats for the newemail messages you create:

� Plain text doesn’t let you format text oradd graphics, but it can be read by virtuallyany recipient. If you use this format, the formatting and graphics commands in theMessage form are disabled. Deceptively, inWord you can use the formatting or graph-ics commands, but formatting and graphicsare removed when you save or send themessage.

� Rich Text lets you format text—changefonts, italicize, indent paragraphs, and soon—and insert graphics. Many recipients,however, won’t be able to view the format-ting. With this format, you can use the formatting commands described in thesection “Formatting Text” in Chapter 3.


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Figure 6.45 Using the Outlook editor to compose amessage.

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� HTML (hypertext markup language, the format used for Web pages), lets youformat text, insert pictures, assign stylesto text (such as Heading 1 or BulletedList), apply a background picture or colorto the message, insert horizontal dividinglines, and get a head start in creatingattractive messages by using predesignedstationery. Many recipients, however,won’t be able to view these HTML features. Figure 6.46 shows some of the additional commands available in theMessage form with the HTML format.

✔ Tips

� When you reply to or forward an emailmessage, Outlook matches the format ofthe incoming message.

� If a recipient’s email service or programdoesn’t transmit or display Rich Text orHTML, a plain text version of the messagewill generally be displayed. But you canavoid wasted effort by not sending format-ted or graphical messages to such users.

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Figure 6.46 Commands available in the Message form only when youuse the HTML format. Not shown are the Insert menu commands forinserting a horizontal line, a picture, or a hyperlink.

Background picture

Add background graphicsto the message…

…or a background color

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To change your email editor or format:

1. Choose Tools > Options and open theMail Format tab in the Options dialogbox (Figure 6.47).

2. Select options as desired:� Choose the email format you wish to

use in the Compose in This MessageFormat list box.

� If you want to use Word as your emaileditor, check Use Microsoft Word toEdit E-Mail Messages. In this case,none of the options described in theremainder of this list will be available.You’ll have to select the desiredoptions within Word itself.

� To select the default fonts used in yourmessages, click the Fonts button andselect options in the Fonts dialog box.

� If you selected the HTML format, youcan choose default stationery to beused for your new messages in theUse This Stationery by Default listbox. Or you can click the StationeryPicker button to preview each type of stationery in the Stationery Pickerdialog box (Figure 6.48) and selectthe one you want. Using stationery tocreate a message adds a backgroundpicture and initial text to give you ahead start in creating an attractivemessage for a particular purpose(such as a party invitation, formalannouncement, or holiday card).


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Figure 6.47 The Mail Format tab of the Options dialog box.

Figure 6.48 The Stationery picker dialog box.

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� You can have Outlook automaticallyinsert a signature at the end of theemail messages you create for eachaccount. Select the account desiredfrom the Select the Signatures to Usewith the Following Account list box(Figure 6.49). Choose the signaturefrom the Signature for New Messagesand/or Signature for Replies andForwards list box. A signature is ablock of text that usually containsyour name, profession, address, Webpage, or other information. If youhaven’t yet created a signature, you’llneed to click the Signatures buttonand then click the New button in theCreate Signature dialog box (Figure6.50) to compose a signature.

3. Click the OK button.

✔ Tips

� You can create a new message using anyemail format, overriding the default, bychoosing Actions > New Mail MessageUsing and then choosing a format on thesubmenu (Figure 6.51).

� If you’re using the Outlook editor bydefault, you can create a single messagein Word—using the current default emailformat—by choosing Actions > NewMail Message Using > Microsoft Word(Format), where Format is the name ofthe current default email format (PlainText, Rich Text, or HTML).

� If the recipient’s email program does notsupport or accept HTML messages, thebackground does not appear in the mes-sage but (depending on the program) willbe attached to the message as a file.

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Figure 6.49 Selecting an account to assigna signature.

Figure 6.50 The Create Signature dialogbox lets you view, edit, or create a signature.

Figure 6.51 Creating a new email messagewith a specific format, overriding thedefault format.

HTML without stationery Rich text

HTML with default stationeryPlain text

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To transmit messages from yourOutbox:

� To transmit all messages in your Outbox,without receiving email, choose Tools >Send/Receive > Send All.

� To transmit all messages in your Outboxand to receive email from all enabledaccounts or email information services,click the Send/Receive button on theStandard toolbar, or choose Tools >Send/Receive > Send/Receive All, orpress F9. (For instructions on enablingspecific accounts or information servicesfor receiving email, see the earlier section“To receive email messages manually.”

� To transmit only messages that are to besent using a particular account or informa-tion service and to receive messages fromthat account or information service only,choose Tools > Send/Receive and thenchoose the account or information servicename from the submenu (Figure 6.52).

Outlook will transmit each messageusing the appropriate mail account orinformation service.

✔ Tips

� If you want to resend a message—perhaps as a friendly reminder if therecipient hasn’t yet replied—open themessage (it will normally be stored inyour Sent Items folder) and in the formchoose Actions > Resend This Message.

� You can send a fax message using a faxmodem. To send an outgoing fax fromOutlook, you must add the Fax Transportservice to your profile (choose Tools > E-mail Accounts, click Add a New EmailAccount, Next, Additional Server Types)or use a third-party fax service. You canalso print a document to the Fax Printer,which Windows adds automaticallywhen you add a fax modem. However,faxing is not covered in this book.

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Figure 6.52 Sending and receiving messages using aspecific email account.

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Organizing YourMessages with RulesYou can organize your email messages usingthe general techniques presented in Chapters3 and 4. For example, those chapters showhow you can create new folders for storingmessages and how you can copy or movemessages from one folder to another.

Chapter 3 (the section “Using the OrganizePage”) explained in general how to use theOrganize Page to organize your Outlook items.In a mail-item folder, the Organize Page(Figure 6.53) provides several unique featuresfor organizing and managing messages:

� You can have Outlook move a message to a specified folder.

� You can have Outlook color-code mes-sages from or to a particular person. Themessages will be displayed in your Inboxusing the color you specify.

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Figure 6.53 Displaying the Organize Page in the Inbox folder.

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✔ Tips

� When you’re done using the OrganizePage, you can remove it by clicking theClose Organize button in the upper-rightcorner of the page.

� The Rules Wizard provides much greaterflexibility for creating rules than theOrganize Page, but the Organize Page is generally easier for novices to use tocreate rules. See the section, “Using theRules Wizard to have Outlook sort adult-content email,” later in this chapter tolearn more about the Rules Wizard.

� To quickly create a rule from an existingmessage, right-click the message andchoose Create Rule. Outlook displays aCreate Rule dialog box in which youspecify the conditions for the rule andthe action you want the rule to take.This method provides a limited numberof conditions and actions, but is great for quickly creating rules to move ornotify you about messages that fit thespecified conditions.

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To move a message:

1. In a mail-item folder, select a messageyou want Outlook to move.

2. Choose Tools > Organize to open theOrganize Page.

3. Click Using Folders to display the folderoptions (Figure 6.54).

4. Select a message and click Move (Figure 6.55).

To have Outlook color-code messagesfor a particular person:

1. In a mail-item folder, select a messagefrom or to the person whose messagesyou want Outlook to color-code.

You must open a mail-item folder, butselecting a message is optional, becauseyou can later type the name.

2. Choose Tools > Organize to open theOrganize Page.

3. Click Using Colors to display the color-coding options (Figure 6.56).

4. Use the Color Messages fields to describethe color-coding you want Outlook toperform (Figure 6.56).

Figure 6.54 The folder options on the Organize Page.

Figure 6.55 Moving a message.

Select the destination folder Click Move

Figure 6.56 The color-coding options on the Organize Page.

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Blocking Junk EmailOutlook’s built-in junk email filter blocksmessages using two methods: the Junk E-Mail Lists and a new feature that deter-mines whether an email is junk based on the message structure and other properties.This new filter is enabled by default.

To view and modify junk email settings:

1. Choose Tools > Options, and click theJunk E-mail button.

The Junk E-mail Options dialog boxappears.

2. Click the Options tab. Select the level of protection desired, or turn it off completely by choosing No Protection(Figure 6.57).

3. Click the Safe Senders tab. Click the Add button and type the email addressor domain name of the senders whosemessages you do not want to be filteredas junk email.

You can also remove a selection from theSafe Senders list by selecting an entryand clicking Remove (Figure 6.58).

4. Click the Safe Recipients tab. Click theAdd button and type the target emailaddress or domain for messages you donot want to be filtered as junk email.

In other words, the Safe Recipients tablets you identify acceptable messagesbased on the address or domain to whichthey are sent. You can also remove aselection from the Safe Recipients list by choosing Remove.

5. Click the Blocked Senders tab and clickAdd to add individual addresses ordomains whose messages you want toexplicitly block.

6. Click OK to close the Junk E-MailOptions dialog box.

Figure 6.57 The Junk E-mail Options dialog box.

Figure 6.58 Configuring the Trusted Senders list.

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✔ Tips

� Although advanced, the Junk E-Mail filter is not 100% effective. Periodicallycheck the messages that are filtered toensure that the filter is working properly.

� The Safe Senders list serves as a whitelistthat identifies messages that should notbe treated as junk, based on the addressor domain of the sender. Use this list toallow incoming messages from knownsenders or domains, regardless of themessage content. If you specify a domain,Outlook accepts all messages from thatdomain regardless of the sender.

� The Safe Recipients list serves as awhitelist that identifies messages thatshould not be treated as junk, based onthe address to which the message is sent(or the domain of the address to which itis sent). Use this list to allow incomingmessages that are not addressed specifi-cally to you, such as messages sent to adiscussion list in which you participate.

� The Blocked Senders list is a blacklistthat explicitly identifies individualsenders or domains whose messages you want Outlook to block.

� You can import or export a standard textfile into the Safe Senders, Safe Recipients,or Blocked Senders list to share the listwith other users or move it to anothercomputer. To export a list, click Exportto File in the Junk E-mail Options dialogbox, specify the file path and name, andclick Save. To import a list, click Importfrom File in the Junk E-mail Options dialog box. You see the Import BlockedSenders dialog box (Figure 6.59).Browse to the text file location, select it,and click Open. Outlook will import itinto the list (Figure 6.60).

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Figure 6.59 Importing addresses in the Blocked Senders list.

Figure 6.60 Configuring the Blocked Senders list.

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� When Outlook receives a message itidentifies as junk mail, it displays a warning message (Figure 6.61). ClickOpen Junk E-mail folder to view the junkemail contents or Junk E-mail Options to view the filter configuration settings.Click Close to close the dialog box with-out taking any action.

Figure 6.61 Outlook warning about a junk message.

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