Outlook Tips & Tricks
Can I stop Outlook 2003 from asking me for my password when connecting to the Exchange Server?
It is possible to save your password in Outlook 2003. You must be
running on Windows XP.
Note: this feature does not work when you have Outlook 2003
configured to use RPC
over HTTP.
Here are the steps you need to take:
1. Find your Exchange Server name in your Outlook Profile. Example:
ehost008.
2. Open the Windows Key Manager:
a. Click Start/Run
b. Type control keymgr.dll Click OK
c. Click Add
d. Enter your Server Name from Step 1
e. Enter your domain\mailbox name. Example:
exch005\username
f. Enter your mailbox password
g. Click OK
h. Click Close
3. Launch Outlook
4. When prompted for your password, click Remember Password
5. Close Outlook after login is complete
6. Launch Outlook again
7. When prompted for your password click Remember Password
8. Close Outlook
9. Launch Outlook - This time you should not be prompted for your password.
Why won't Business Contact Manager work with my Exchange mailbox?
Depending on your installation of Outlook, Business Contact Manager may not be
available or may not work properly when you have an Exchange mailbox in your
account. This problem is explained in this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=829748.
The suggested workaround is using two different profiles, one for BCM and one
for Exchange.
More recently (Late June 2005), Microsoft released an update that improves
features and function for Business Contact Manager when used with Outlook.
Please refer to the Business
Contact Manager Update web page for more information.
How to create Outlook mail merge sessions using Outlook Contacts
Why to personalize a mail merge session?
Sometimes, like when you go
out on vacation or when you distribute a newsletter, you just need to send the
same email to several contacts, but at the same time you would like to
personalize that message, so it doesn't look like an automated email. On the
following example, we will show how to use the Mail Merge feature of
MS-Outlook, in order to send a customized message to the people from a Contacts
List of Outlook. We will send the same email message to all the contacts
from our list and each email will start with a greeting text, followed by the
real name of each contact.
How do I merge emails?
First
of all, from Outlook open the Contacts List view. Depending on your
Outlook view settings, you can display the Contacts List either by clicking on
the Contacts bar (if visible) or by browsing to the Contacts folder through the
mail folders browsing panel.
If you wish to send the email only to some of the contacts, then
select them one by one or filter then using the Customize Current View
of the Outlook View menu. Then, once the Contacts List is shown, go to
"Tools->Mail Merge...".
On the Mail Merge Contacts
window, depending on your previous contacts selection, choose to send the email
to all your contacts or only to the filtered/selected ones.
If you wish to use an existing
MS-Word template for the new mail merge session, select the "Existing
Document" radio button and browse to that Word file. To save your
current selection, check the "permanent file" option and enter
a name for it.
From the Merge Options frame, select to Merge to E-mail
and enter a subject for your message. Then hit "Ok" to proceed
to the next step.
MS-Word will open the new
email message, showing the Mail Merge toolbar. If the toolbar doesn't
show, then right click on the MS-Word's file menu and select the "Mail
Merge" view.
To enter the greeting text which will be sent to each contact, on
the Mail Merge toolbar click on the icon labeled "Insert
Greeting Line".
On the Greeting Line window, enter the desired format (how
to greet each contact) and click on Ok. You will notice on your document
that it will show a tagged line: this line defines the greeting settings for
the Outlook Merge feature.
If you didn't use an existing document template, then type the
message content, making sure that you don't delete the tagged lines previously
inserted. Here is a sample:
When you are done editing the document, click on the "Merge
to E-Mail" icon from the Mail Merge toolbar. Then, on the next Merge
to Email window, just click Ok, as you already made your selections when
you started the mail merge in Outlook.
MS-Word will transmit the email messages to Outlook, which will
customize the email for each of the selected contacts. Once this merging job is
done, you will notice new outgoing emails stored in your Outbox folder.
To further customize a mail
merge session, you may use the other Mail Merge settings of MS-Word. Briefly
speaking, each property of your contacts (name, address, phone, business field,
etc) can be used within a mail merge in order to customize the outgoing email.
Calendar or Task reminders do not appear in Outlook
There are several things to check if your Calendar or Task reminders do not appear.
First, you will want to check to make sure that the reminders are enabled. To do this, in Outlook go to "Tools > Options > Other > Advanced Options >Reminder Options". Make sure the box is checked next to “Display the Reminder”.
If this field is already checked, then please make a backup of your data and proceed with the steps below.
- Once you have your data backed up, close Outlook. Then Click "Start > Run", and type in:
outlook /cleanreminders
and then click "OK".
All of the reminders that you have missed should start to appear on your screen. If they do not, create a test task or calendar appointment to see if you are prompted with a reminder. If you do not get prompted with a reminder, continue on to item 2.
- Close Outlook, then click "Start > Run", and type in:
outlook /cleanfreebusy
and then click "OK".
All of the reminders that you have missed should start to appear on your screen. If they do not, create a test task or calendar appointment to see if you are prompted with a reminder. If you do not get prompted with a reminder, continue on to item 3.
- Close Outlook, then click "Start > Run", and type in:
outlook /resetfolders
and then click "OK".
All of the reminders that you have missed should start to appear on your screen now.
Sent Items no longer appear in the "Sent Items" folder in Outlook
Occasionally sent items will stop appearing in the "Sent Items" folder. When this happens, you will want to
login to your mailbox in Outlook and navigate to "Tools > Options > Email Options", then uncheck the
"Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder" box. Click "OK", then "OK" to save your changes.
Then navigate to "File > Exit" to close Outlook. You will then need to open up Outlook again and navigate to "Tools >
Options > Email Options" and check the "Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder" box. Click b>"OK", then "OK"
to save your changes. Sent Items should now start appearing in your "Sent Items" folder.
Outgoing messages with attachments are sent successfully, but the recipient sees 'winmail.dat' files instead of the actual attachments
When an Outlook user composes and sends a message using Rich Text Format or HTML Format, Outlook automatically generates a file, called winmail.dat, and attaches it to the end of the message. The winmail.dat file contains formatting information, in an unreadable format, that Outlook will use on the receiving end to display this email message correctly. Unfortunately, Outlook is the ONLY mail client program that can use this format and extract any information from these files! Netscape Messenger, Eudora, Thunderbird, and other mail client programs don't understand this format or the information contained in these files.
In order to resolve this issue, you will need to change your default sending mode in Outlook to Plain Text, which can be done by following these instructions:
- Select "Tools->Options" from the Outlook menu bar.
- Select the "Mail Format" tab in the dialog window.
- In the first drop-down list, under the "Message Format" heading, select Plain Text.
- Click the "OK" button to save your changes.
Now your recipients should be able to receive your attachments in their original format instead of seeing the winmail.dat file.
Why can’t I print the daily view of a shared calendar?
This error will occur if you have been given delegate rights to someone's Calendar but not given rights to their Tasks and are trying to print their calendar using the Daily Style which includes printing task items. The delegate can resolve this problem by modifying the Print style to exclude task items. This can be done by following these steps:
- Select File > Print and click on the Define Styles button
- Highlight Daily Style and click on the Edit button
- Uncheck the Include TaskPad option and click OK
You will now be able to print the daily view of the calendar.
Alternatively, the calendar owner can modify delegate rights to include permissions for Tasks to avoid the previous steps.
What do the Outlook permission levels mean?
If your administrator has set up a public folder, you may have permission to use some or all of the folders within the public folder. If someone has shared one of their private folders with you or designated you as a delegate for that folder, then you have permission to perform certain activities in that folder. The extent of the activities you can perform in a public folder, shared private folder, or folder you are a delegate for, depends on your role (or combination of permissions) in that folder, as described below.
|
With
this permission level (or role)
|
You can
|
|
Owner
|
Create,
read, modify, and delete all items and files, and create subfolders. As the folder owner, you can change the permission levels others have for the folder. (Does not apply to delegates.)
|
|
Publishing
Editor
|
Create,
read, modify, and delete all items and files, and create subfolders.
(Does not apply to delegates.)
|
|
Editor
|
Create,
read, modify, and delete all items and files.
|
|
Publishing
Author
|
Create
and read items and files, create subfolders, and modify and delete
items and files you create. (Does not apply to delegates.)
|
|
Author
|
Create
and read items and files, and modify and delete items and files you
create.
|
|
Contributor
|
Create
items and files only. The contents of the folder do not appear. (Does
not apply to delegates.)
|
|
Reviewer
|
Read
items and files only.
|
|
Custom
|
Perform
activities defined by the folder owner. (Does not apply to delegates.)
|
|
None
|
You
have no permission. You can't open the folder.
|
PLEASE NOTE: With author or editor permissions, a
delegate has send-on-behalf-of permission. Sent messages contain both the manager's and delegate's
names. Message recipients see the manager's name in the Sent On Behalf Of box and the delegate's
name in the From box.
How to clear scheduled resources for non-existent users
You may find that resources have been scheduled by a user who's mailbox has since been deleted. Because this mailbox no longer exists, you cannot change or remove these scheduled resources easily. In order to clear these resources you will need to run the " /cleanfreebusy" switch on Outlook. To do this please follow the steps listed below:
- From your computer's Desktop screen, navigate to Start and select Run
- At the Run dialog box type in: Outlook.exe /cleanfreebusy
PLEASE NOTE: you must include the space between Outlook.exe and the /cleanfreebusy switch
- Press OK
Once Outlook has started it will clear and regenerate free/busy information, removing scheduled resources from mailboxes that no longer exist.
Please note that this switch can only be used when you are able to connect to your Microsoft Exchange server.
Why can’t I set Share Permissions for my folders in Outlook?
If you right click on a folder in Outlook and select properties, you should have a pop up window appear labeled [Folder] Properties (it will show the name of the folder in place of [Folder]). You should see a Permissions tab that will allow you to give other users permissions to this folder. If you do not see this tab, follow the instructions below:
- Click on Tools > Options
- Click on the Other Tab
- Click the Advanced Options button
- Click the Add-In Manager button
- Check the box next to “Exchange Extensions property pages”
- Click OK out of the three open menus
- Restart Outlook
You should now be able to see the Permissions tab to share your folders. If the box next to “Exchange Extensions property pages” is already checked, you should
uncheck it, click OK out of the three open menus, and restart Outlook. Then follow the instructions above to re-check the box and restart Outlook.
I recalled a message, and it was removed from the Exchange server, but it didn't get recalled from any of our Blackberry devices
The Blackberry service forwards the message to your Blackberry from the Exchange server. The copy you get on your Blackberry does not exist on the Exchange server. Therefore, the Exchange server is unable to manage that
copy of the message. Since recalling is a service of the Exchange server, it is impossible to recall messages that have been forwarded to a Blackberry.
How to reset the Outlook nickname autocompletion cache
This article applies to
Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 and
Microsoft Outlook® 2002
Outlook maintains a "nickname" list that is used by both the automatic name
checking and the AutoCompletion features. The nickname list is automatically
compiled as you address email messages. If the nickname cache becomes
corrupt, Outlook may not be able to identify recipients, may offer incorrect
recipients,
may send to an incorrect or old email address, or may send the message to
the wrong person.
If you are having problems with a single recipient, you can easily delete
the one cached entry as shown in the following section, "Delete a single cached
entry". Otherwise, proceed to the section titled "To delete your Nickname
Cache
file"
further
below.
To delete a single cached entry
- Open Outlook
- Open a new message window; go to the File menu and choose New - Mail Message.
- Type one or more letters of the recipient name or address; this will show
memorized (cached) entries in a drop-down list. Use the arrow keys on your
keyboard to select the entry to be deleted. With the entry highlighted, press
the DEL or DELETE key or your keyboard.
This removes the entry from your autocompletion cache.
To delete your Nickname Cache file.
Use the following steps that are appropriate
for your version of Microsoft Windows to reset the Outlook nickname cache.
After
you
restart
Outlook,
Outlook
generates a new nickname cache.
Microsoft Windows XP
- Exit Outlook.
- Start Microsoft Windows Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Folder Options,
and then click the View tab.
- Under Advanced Settings, select the Show hidden
files and folders check box.
- Click OK.
- Click Start, point to Search, and then click All files or folders.
- In the
Search Companion box, type *.NK2 in the All or part of the file name box.
- In the Look in box, select your local hard disk drive.
- Click Search.
- Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile that
you want to reset, and then click Rename.
- Rename the file to profile name.bak,
and then press ENTER.
- Exit Windows Explorer.
- Restart Outlook.
Microsoft Windows 2000
- Exit Outlook.
- Start Windows Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then
click the View tab.
- Under Advanced Settings, select the Show hidden files
and folders check box.
- Click OK.
- Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
- In the
Search for Files or Folders box, type *.NK2 in the File name box.
- In the
Look in box, select your local hard disk drive.
- Click Search Now.
- Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile
that you want to reset, and then click Rename.
- Rename the file to profile
name.bak, and then press ENTER.
- Exit Windows Explorer.
- Restart Outlook.
