Reminders and Tasks in Other Data Files | Outlook Daily Tips
We had two questions about tasks, reminders, and flags recently. One used wanted to know how to prevent reminders and flags from his archive pst file from displaying while the other user wanted to know how to make the reminders show. I get a lot of emails and my pst files are very large (12-17GB) with just the email I get during one year. So at the end of each year I make a new file and set that as default. This year I made a new pst file ’2012-emails.pst’ and set it as default on 1st Jan 2012. My problem: the reminders from my 2011 pst are coming up. They never did this in past years. Unlike earlier versions of Outlook, Outlook 2010 will fire reminders from any data file or folder, not just the default folders in the default pst. Fortunately, you can disable it if you don’t want reminders or enable it, if Outlook didn’t enable it by default. This option is available only on data files that are not used for email delivery. When a data file is assigned to an email account (or set as default), reminders and flags will always display. On data files [...]
How to find ‘lost’ Contact Groups | Outlook Daily Tips
I set up a contact group. After saving it I can’t find it anywhere. I tried searching but it’s not found. Maybe I misspelled the name? There are (at least) three ways to find contact groups (distribution lists) within a contacts folder – Instant search, use a List view and look over the list, or create a filtered view. If you have a lot of contacts or a lot of groups, Instant search or filtering out the contacts will make it easier to see all of the contact groups. If you need to search multiple contacts folder, use Instant Search or Advanced Find (with the filter). If you need to do this often, consider saving a custom view. Instant Search If you use Outlook 2010 or 2007, you can use Instant search to show only contact Groups. Press Ctrl+E to enter the search field then type This will show only the items that have distlist in the message class. “X” the search to show all contacts again. Using List View Groups have a different icon than other contacts and their names are in bold. If your contact list is short (or your Outlook window large), the contact groups should be [...]
Print a list of your Outlook Rules | Outlook Daily Tips
Do you have a need for a text file containing a list of the rules assigned to your Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 default email account? A visitor to Slipstick.com submitted a code sample that creates a text file with the rule names and the From condition, in the order they are listed in Rules & Alerts. It still needs a bit of tweaking to include all Conditions and Actions in the output, but it’s a nice start and should be useful to anyone trying to troubleshoot a long list of rules. The output is in this format: So far I have verified it works with Outlook 2007 with only an IMAP email account and Outlook 2010 with only an Outlook Connector account. It would not work with my own profile: Outlook 2010 with an Exchange account as default and 10 additional accounts. If you’d like to test it and let me know what works and what doesn’t, the VBA is at Create a list of rules. Tip 943: Print a list of your Outlook Rules – Published January 4 2012
How to Rotate Photos Attached to an Outlook Email Message and Save the Changes | Outlook Daily Tips
A frustrated user (one of many over the last few days) received photos by email but the attached images need rotated 90 degrees to be viewed correctly. He wants to rotate the pictures and save the rotated image back to the message in Outlook, so the next time he views it, it won’t need rotated again. I’m trying to rotate a picture attachment and save it so I can see it in an upright position, and the stupid thing still won’t save. In order to save the rotated image, you need to complete specific steps, beginning with opening the message – its not possible to save changes back to the message from the reading pane. Secondly, you need write access to both the image (so you can save the rotation) and the message (so you can save changes back to the message.) Finally, you need to save changes to the image then save changes to the message. Outlook 2010 requires an extra step after opening the message: placing the message into edit mode. Note: these methods only work if the image is attached. If the photo is embedded in an HTML message (ie, you can see it without opening the [...]
View Message Source in Outlook | Outlook Daily Tips
The “View Source” option is sometimes a bit tricky to find in Outlook 2010′s reading pane (or in opened messages). When I right-click in the body of an email either in the reading pane or in the separate window containing the email, the “View Source” option is not always in the menu. It’s listed for some HTML emails, but not all HTML emails. It’s available for all HTML messages. In some HTML messages, you can right click anywhere in the message and the menu will have the View Source command, but in other HTML messages (all of the messages I need to the view source of!) you will need to right click at the very bottom of the message to see the command. How close to the end of the message will depend on the message layout: you may be able to right click just under the last text block on some messages but will need to be at the very bottom on other messages. The difference between where it works and where it doesn’t work is just a few pixels, as seen in the following screenshot that compares the two menus. Why the difference? Tables. The View source command [...]
Setting Time Zones with Recurring Appointments | Outlook Daily Tips
A new feature, introduced in Outlook 2007, allows the user to select the time zone for an appointments. This makes it easier to schedule appointments as you don’t need ot use the dual time zone feature or think about what time it is halfway across the country or around the world. However, when you are working with recurring appointments, you need to set the time zone in the recurrence dialog, not on the appointment screen: “I have a conference call that occurs every month at 1500 UTC, with no respect to daylight savings time. I’m trying to find a way to tell Outlook to base this meeting on 1500 UTC. The time zones button on the ribbon does nothing.” When you click the time zone button, the time zone shows on the message form. However, if you have recurrence selected, the time zone field shows in the recurrence dialog. When you have a recurring appointment and want to edit the time zone after the appointment is created or saved, the time zone button will highlight when you click on it, but the time zone fields will not show on the appointment form. You need to click the recurrence button and [...]
Reply to a Message with a Meeting Request | Outlook Daily Tips
Outlook Tip 926: Outlook 2010 introduces an often-requested new feature: Reply with a Meeting Request “Can I create an appointment from an email with all the people from the email? Example: I get an email with 5 people in the to/cc lines. I want to right-click and select Create Meeting and Invite These People. Outlook creates an appointment based on that email AND adds everyone to the Invitee list so when I go into scheduling assistant their names are already filled in. I’m currently using Outlook 2007, but if this exists in Outlook 2010 that would be great.” Reply with a Meeting Request is a new feature in Outlook 2010, although not very obvious or discoverable. You can reply with a meeting request using one of three methods: Select (or open) a message, click the Meeting button by the Reply /forward buttons. (I suspect most people see the button and think it opens a new blank meeting request.) Right click and drag the message to the calendar button. Choose Create here as a meeting request. Ctrl+Alt+R This creates a meeting request to all addresses on the message and includes the message body. If you don’t want to include the message [...]
How to Open Outlook 2010′s Email Properties Dialog | Outlook Daily Tips
An administrator wanted to know how to open the Email Properties dialog: “In outlook 2007 I double clicked the email address once Outlook had underlined it in the To field, then the email properties box opens and I could change the email type to Internet Type. But in outlook 2010 that feature is not there.” It’s there, its just harder to find. To get to the property dialog you are looking for, hover over (or click on) the address and the new contact card will display. Click on the icon that resembles a page then choose Outlook Properties at the bottom. Outlook 2010′s new Contact card, which comes up when you hover over any email in the reading pane, open message, or in the address field of a reply or forward. To see email address properties, you need to expand the button and select Outlook Properties: If it’s a one-off address (no contact exists), you should get the simple Email Properties dialog where you can change the address type. If Outlook Properties opens a contact form, you will need to repeat the steps above on the email address in the contact.
Tip 914: Change Advanced Search ‘Search subfolders’ setting? | Outlook Daily Tips
Search Subfolders default setting of unchecked is a change in behavior from Outlook 2003 and earlier. In the older versions users needed to uncheck Search Subfolders but beginning with Outlook 2007, the checkbox is deselected.
Tip 903: Create Great Looking Email Templates
Microsoft Office Online released several Outlook email templates and signature samples in a “5 Minute Makeover” series. You can use the samples for your mailings or as a base for your own designs. Videos showing how to re-create the templates are also available. This series of templates was designed in Outlook 2010 but should work and look correct when sent from Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 (with Word as the editor). They may do ok in older versions, although some design features may not be supported. The emails created with these templates should look good when received by any email client, however they are affected by “the template bug” which affects SMTP users and was fixed by the July 11 2011 hotfix for Outlook 2010. Templates for other Office applications are also available in the 5 minute make-over series.
