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| An Express Outlook On E-mail |
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E-Mail Basics July 2000 • Vol.8 Issue 7 Page(s) 80-81 in print issue |
An Express Outlook On E-mail Set Up Microsoft Outlook Express | ||
 Chances are you have Microsoft Outlook Express on your computer even if you don't recall installing it. It is included with most new computers as part of the Internet Explorer installation, and if you've installed a version of Microsoft Internet Explorer yourself, you will probably find that Outlook Express was installed at the same time. While their names sound similar, Outlook and Outlook Express are two different programs with different commands and options. However, even if you prefer using Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000, you'll be forced to use Outlook Express to subscribe to newsgroups because Outlook 2000 does not feature newsgroup support. That alone should be incentive for not removing Outlook Express from your computer. Outlook Express is a very powerful e-mail client that includes an address book, which can double as a rudimentary contact management system. It also lets you have multiple identities so you can share the software with other family members and still keep most of your information separate. You'll find the Outlook Express icon on your Desktop or Taskbar; click the icon to load the program. If you've not used Outlook before, you'll be prompted to make it your default e-mail client. If Outlook Express is the e-mail software you'll be using, select Yes and disable the Always Perform This Check When Starting Outlook Express checkbox. If you're not sure, select No and leave the checkbox selected, and you'll get the same choice every time you open Outlook Express.  Setting Up An Account. Your first step will be to set up your mail account so you can start sending and receiving mail. To do this, choose Tools, Accounts; click Add; and choose Mail. The Internet Connection Wizard starts up, and you should first type a name for your account and click Next. Now choose to set up an existing mail account, or if you don't have an email account, choose the option to sign up for a new Hotmail account (this is a free Web-based e-mail account that you can use with Outlook Express). If you have an existing mail account, you'll need your e-mail address, your account name and password, the type of account (HTTP, POP3 or IMAP), and the Incoming and Outgoing mail server addresses (for IMAP and POP3 accounts). You should have received all this information when you signed up for the account. If not, contact your e-mail provider and ask for it. Enter each piece of information in the dialog boxes when requested. You can opt for Outlook Express to remember your password by selecting the option in the Internet Mail Logon step and clicking Finish when you are done.
File Menu Setup Options. The Folder option under the File menu lets you create folders for your e-mail so you can store personal and work e-mail in separate folders rather than having them all together in the Inbox. Later you'll see how you can create rules so your e-mail is automatically routed to the correct folders as it is received. Use File, Folder, New to create a new folder and choose the existing folder in which it will be contained. Also on the file menu are options for importing and exporting different types of data files. The Import and Export selections let you import address books; e-mail and account details; and news account details from other programs such as Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Outlook. If you've been using other e-mail software in the past, use these options to copy all your existing information to Outlook Express so it's all in one place. It is unlikely that you'll need to use the Export options, as these save your address book and messages in a format you can use in other programs such as Outlook or Microsoft Exchange. The Identities option lets you set up Outlook Express so that more than one person can use it. People can have their own e-mail accounts, folders, and personal setup preferences. However, details about a person's contacts are not private. To set up a second user, choose File, Identities, Add New Identity and type a name for the second user and a password (if you want). Outlook Express will ask you if you want to switch to this user, so select OK and set up e-mail accounts for the new user. You will also need to set up the folder hierarchy, which the new user can use to store e-mail. If this person has a preference for how the Outlook screen is set up, this can be set too. To switch from one identity to another at any time, choose File, Switch Identity; select the identity to which you want to switch; and click OK. Edit Menu Options. The options on the edit menu let you manage your e-mail. For example, choose Delete to delete the selected message or choose Copy to Folder (or Move to Folder) to rearrange your messages. The Find lets you search for a message in your folders or search all the messages in a particular folder for a piece of text. These options are useful when you know you have a message, but you can't locate it easily. View Menu Options. The View menu controls what you see on the Outlook screen. What you have available when you choose View, Current View depends on what folder you have selected at the time. For example, if you have the Inbox open, choose View, Current View, and you can choose from four pre-existing views that let you hide or show read message, amongst other things. In addition, you'll have the choice of defining your own view or editing the current one. This lets you filter the items to be displayed in your various folders.
The Layout option controls the entire Outlook Express interface. From the Layout dialog box, you can choose what parts of Outlook Express are displayed or hidden, including the Folder, Status, Outlook and Views Bars and what Preview options are displayed. From here you can also customize the Outlook Express toolbar to add buttons to it or remove unused buttons. Tools Menu Options. The Message Rules option on the Tools menu lets you create rules for filtering your incoming e-mail, including adding a sender to the Blocked Senders list. Filtering your e-mail lets you move messages automatically to special folders as you receive them. For example, if you have created a folder called Work, you can move incoming e-mail from everyone at work to it automatically. To do this, choose Tools, Message Rules, Mail, New. From the conditions list, choose Where The From Line Contains People. In the Rule Description area, click Contains People and type the e-mail addresses of everyone at work from whom you receive e-mail. You can optionally select e-mail addresses from your Address Book and click Add. Click OK when you are done. From the Select Actions For Your Rule list, choose Move It To The Specified Folder and then click the word "Specified," choose the Work folder, and click OK. Type a new name for your rule and click OK once more. You can create multiple rules for your incoming e-mail, and you can apply a rule at any time by choosing Tools, Message Rules, Mail tab and clicking Apply Now. Next, step through the options of selecting the rule(s) to apply and the folders to which they should be applied. Choosing Options on the Tools menu lets you fine-tune how Outlook Express behaves. For example, you can determine how often it downloads e-mail and set other options for sending and receiving e-mail and maintaining your data. In particular, you'll probably want to create a signature to add to your outgoing e-mail. To do this, select the Signatures tab and click New. Type the text of your signature in the Edit Signature area, click Rename to give it a more descriptive name, and click Apply to save it. Once you have one signature created, you can select the Add Signatures To All Outgoing Messages checkbox, and the signature will then appear whenever you choose to send a new e-mail. If you pay by the hour for your Internet access, check out the Connections tab in the Options area. This choice lets you specify that Outlook Express hangs up the line when it has finished sending and receiving e-mail so you won't incur extra charges. Set Up A News Account. As we mentioned, Outlook Express can be used to subscribe to newsgroups, and it is the recommended newsreader for Outlook users. To set up a News account, choose Tools, Accounts, Add, New and enter the details into the Internet Connection Wizard. In particular, you'll need the name of your NNTP (Internet News server), which your ISP should provide you with. Once you have added the news service, you'll be prompted to download the list of newsgroups available on the news server. This will take some time because there are thousands of groups. When the download is complete, you can determine which newsgroups you want to subscribe to from the list. From time to time new groups will be added and you will be given the option to subscribe.  by Helen Bradley |
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