George Fox University | Offices and Services | Institutional Technology | Outlook Help

For Outlook 2003, please visit Microsoft's Outlook page.

Touring Outlook

Before you start communicating, become familiar with the features of Outlook. The following is an illustration the Inbox view:

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Using the Calendar

This section describes how to use the calendar to keep track of your daily schedule and to interact with others' schedules to book meetings. Imagine that you are the new chair of the online learning task force. It is your job to delegate responsibilities to all the individuals on the team and to produce a recommendation to the institution on how to best implement an online learning curriculum. You will be scheduling the kick-off meeting, calling monthly meetings, and communicating with the members of the group. The following exercises require Exchange server.

The following illustration shows the Calendar and the Task list:

Tip: You may allow others to view your calendar by right-clicking and then selecting Properties. Click the Permissions tab and set access according to your needs.

Tip: Dates on the calendar shown in bold type have activities already scheduled.

To schedule a meeting

1. Click Calendar on the Views bar.
2. From the Actions menu, click Plan a Meeting and then click the Invite Others button.
3. View the busy times of the proposed attendees and then click AutoPick to have Outlook find the best time based on the options in the drop down list.
4. If you want to see the members of the Online Learning group individually, click the + to the left of the group name and the list will be expanded (this operation is not reversible).
5. Adjust the Begin and End times to schedule the meeting for tomorrow from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and then click Make Meeting.
6. Type the name of the meeting in the Subject box, click Send, and then click Close.
7. The users are sent an e-mail message indicating your request for a meeting and are given the opportunity to accept or decline the invitation.
8. You can double-click the meeting in your calendar and then select the Attendee Availability tab to view a list of responses or to add individuals to the meeting.

To schedule recurring meetings

You will need to have a monthly meeting to continue the efforts of your task force.

1. Choose New Recurring Meeting from the Actions menu.
2. Type the Start time and End time as appropriate. Select monthly and then adjust to recurrence to have the meeting on the second Tuesday of every month.
3. 
4. Set the Range of recurrence to End after 6 occurrences, and then click OK.
5. Click the To button and address the meeting notice to the Online Learning group.
6. Type Monthly Online Learning Meeting in the Subject box and then click Send. The recurring meeting request is sent to the members of the Online Learning Group.

Tip: As the meeting organizer, you can see who has accepted by simply opening the item on your calendar.

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Using Tasks

Of course an important part of being organized is keeping track of things to do. Outlook provides an excellent means of tracking tasks by both completion percentage and assignee. In fact, full-fledged project management is available through Outlook tasks with Team Manager. You have finished your kick-off meeting and now you need to assign tasks based on the action items that came out of the meeting.

To create a task

1. Click Tasks on the Views bar.
2. Click New Task.
   -or-
   Click New Task from the Actions menu.
3. Type the subject of the task and then set the due date for the end of the month.
4. 
5. Click the Assign Task button on the toolbar and click the To button to bring up the Select Task Recipient dialog box. Select one of the individuals by double-clicking the name from the list and then click OK.
6. Click Send. An information box will alert you that you are turning off the reminder. Click OK.
7. Repeat steps 1-5 to assign other tasks.

Notice that assigned tasks appear in your task list, but there is a hand under the check box indicating that the task is assigned to someone else.

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Using Flags

You can place flags on messages that need some follow up action. You can choose the type of flag and set a due date for the action. For this exercise, you will flag a message in your Inbox.

To use flags

1. Click Inbox on the Views bar.
2. Right-click on a message in the Inbox and then click Flag for Follow Up on the shortcut menu. The Flag for Follow Up dialog box will open.
3. Choose Follow Up from the Flag To list.
4. 
5. Change the due date to this Friday and then click OK. A red flag appears beside the message. Outgoing messages may also be flagged when they are created by clicking the Flag for Follow Up button on the toolbar.

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Using Outlook Today

Outlook Today provides an at-a-glance view of your day. It displays selected items from your calendar, tasks, and message statistics. You can customize Outlook Today to suit your individual preferences.

To customize Outlook Today

1. Click Outlook Today on the Views bar.
2. Click Customize Outlook Today.
3. You can:
   • Choose to display Outlook Today at startup.
   • Choose folder contents to be displayed.
   • Select the number of days in your calendar to display.
   • Choose the tasks to display and in what order they will be.
   • Select a visual style.
   
4. Change Outlook Today to display 7 days on the calendar and to show Today's Tasks as well as the tasks without a due date.
5. Click Save Changes.

Tip: You may drag links to websites, files, and folders to the Views bar. This allows Outlook to be your overall time and information management tool.

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Taking Your Schedule With You

Unless you have one of the newer personal digital assistants (PDAs), taking your schedule with you might be a little difficult. It is imperative, however, that you are able to view your schedule when you are across campus or at a conference. Outlook provides the ability to print out your schedule in a variety of formats enabling you to take your calendar with you.

To print out your schedule

1. Click Calendar on the Views bar and then choose Print from the File menu.
2. Select the style of Calendar you want to print. The choices are:
   • Daily Style
   • Weekly Style
   • Monthly Style
   • Tri-fold Style
   • Calendar Details Style
3. You can customize the look of any of these styles by clicking Page Setup. The schedule feature is comprehensive and allows detailed customization of the printed page. Standard paper-based time management systems that accept fillers are supported and are implemented using standard paper stock.
4. Click Preview to see how your calendar will look when it is printed.
5. If you have an available printer and want to print a copy, click OK, otherwise click Cancel.

Tip: You can easily synchronize your schedule with a variety of PC companion devices running the WindowsCE operating system.

Tip: You can also create a Web page version (HTML) of your calendar using Save As Web Page when your calendar folder is selected.

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Using Delegates and Assigning Permissions

Because you are a very busy individual, you may not be able to continually update your peers and students about changes and additions to your schedule. Appointing someone in your group to be your delegate who may allow others to see the items on your calendar can greatly increase the functionality of your schedule. The delegate may respond to or send e-mail on your behalf and, by setting permissions, may also view and edit your calendar. Permissions will also enable access to the other features of your mailbox. It is like turning your schedule on autopilot, so choose your delegates carefully!

To appoint delegates

1. From the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Delegates tab.
2. Click Add. Select a delegate from the list by double-clicking on the name and then click OK. The Delegate Permissions dialog box will open.
3. 
4. Give the delegate no permission, review, author, or editor permissions. These permissions are all-viewing, viewing and creation, or full-editing, respectively.
5. Select the check box at the bottom to notify the delegate of specific rights as a delegate. (You can also click the check box that allows the user to view your items that are marked private.)
6. Click OK to return to the Options dialog. You can repeat the previous steps to add more delegates.
7. You can edit delegate permissions by selecting the user from the list and clicking the Permissions button.
8. Select the check box for Send meeting requests and responses to my delegates, not to me to have an assistant handle all of the meeting bookings.
9. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

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Getting Help

You can get help from the online Help at any time while you are using Outlook. To open the online Help, click Microsoft Outlook Help on the Help menu. If you have an Internet connection, you can also point to Office on the Web on the Help menu and choose from several resources that may be of interest to you such as Product News, Frequently Asked Questions, and Online Support. You can also go to www.microsoft.com/outlook for all the latest information.

Information in this document, including URL and other Internet website references, is subject to change without notice. Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted.

© 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft Corporation retains sole ownership of all published In and Out of the Classroom materials. Microsoft grants permission for educational institutions and Microsoft OEMS and Solution Partners to reproduce these materials for staff development purposes (only). Altering materials or reselling materials is strictly prohibited.

Microsoft, BackOffice, FrontPage, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer logo, the Microsoft Office logo, NetMeeting, Outlook, PowerPoint, Where do you want to go today?, Windows NT, Windows, the Windows logo, and the Windows Start logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Acknowledgments

This workshop was created in partnership with Scott Sample and S&T Consulting, an information design and development firm: www.sakson.com

S&T Consulting project team: Sara Bosarge, Blake W. Bratt, Beth Harmon, Carolyn Emory, Amy Krzysiek, and Tonya Stumphauzer.