The following is a fairly extensive list of
help for using Outlook Express. For convenience, you may want to print this document for
future reference. Outlook Express can be customized in many ways to suit the individual
user. Included in this document are just a few tips and tricks to help you get started.
Topics Covered in this Document
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1. Starting Outlook Express
Double-click the Outlook Express Icon on your desktop, or from within
Internet Explorer, you may click the Mail button and choose Read Mail.
If you installed the Active Desktop, you may also press the Outlook Express
icon on the taskbar.
2. Going directly to your Inbox when Outlook Express
opens
To make Outlook Express open directly to your Inbox follow these steps:
Open Outlook Express
From the Tools menu, choose Options
Under General Settings check "When starting, go directly to my
Inbox"
Click Apply, then OK to confirm your changes
3. Optimizing your account settings
Follow these steps to customize your e-mail account settings:
Open Outlook Express
From the Tools menu choose Accounts
Click the Mail tab
Highlight the account you wish to check and click Properties
Under Mail Account, you may enter any name you wish to identify your mail
account with. For example: My Mail
Under User Information the information in the Name box is your display name.
When recipients receive a message, this shows in the From box. This can be whatever you
like. For example: John Doe
Organization may be left blank, or you may type a Company name
E-Mail Address will be your e-mail address. For example: yourusername@gv.net
Reply Address may be left blank unless you want replies forwarded to another
address, such as sales@mydomain.com.
Click the Connection tab
Check the option "Connect using my phone line"
Under "Use the following Dial Up Networking connection, click the arrow
and choose the dial up connection you use to access your mail server. (This will probably
be GVNet unless you use a different service)
Click Apply, then OK to close the Account Properties
Click Close to close the Account Options
4. Working Offline
Many users have the concept that they have to be connected to read and write
e-mail. This is far from the truth. Here are a few tips for working offline in Outlook
Express.
Open Outlook Express
If Outlook Express prompts to connect, press Cancel
From the Tools Menu, choose Options
On the General Tab, un-check the option "Check for new messages every
"X" minutes"
Click the Send tab
Uncheck "Send messages immediately" in the lower portion of this
tab
Click the Dial Up tab
Check the option "Do not dial a connection"
Check the option "Hang up when finished sending, receiving or
downloading"
Click Apply, then OK to confirm your changes
Outlook Express is now set up to work offline. Let's try it.
Make sure you are not connected to the Internet. If you are, disconnect now
Open Outlook Express and press Compose Message on the toolbar
In the TO box, enter a recipients address. If you do not know one, enter
comments@gv.net
Tab to the SUBJ box and enter a subject. For example: Testing Offline Mail
Tab to the message body and type your message
Click the Send button on the toolbar
You may receive a prompt informing you the message has been placed in your
Outbox and will be delivered the next time you choose Send & Receive
You may write as many messages as you like at this time. They will all go to
the Outbox
When you are finished writing messages, and you wish to send them, press
"Send and Receive" on your toolbar
Outlook Express will prompt to connect to the mail server. Insert your
password if needed and press Connect
Outlook Express will dial the number, sign on, send any outgoing messages,
retrieve any new messages, then disconnect. Unless you have a large number of messages,
the whole process will take less than a minute.
5. Checking your mail automatically while browsing the
Web
If you would like Outlook Express to check your mail periodically while you
are browsing the Internet, follow these steps:
Connect to the Internet by double-clicking the Internet icon on your desktop
Once connected, click the Mail button on the toolbar of Internet Explorer.
Choose Read Mail from the menu that pops up
When Outlook Express Opens, from the Tools menu, choose Options
Under General Settings put a checkmark in the option, "Check for new
messages every "X" minutes." Adjust the interval to your liking.
Click Apply and OK to close the Options box
Minimize Outlook Express by clicking the dash on the far right of the title
bar
Outlook Express will check for new messages at the interval you specified
and place an envelope in your System Tray (Next to your clock on the Task Bar) when new
messages arrive
Note: To maintain your offline work requirements, remember to go back and
un-check this option before closing Outlook Express. If you forget, Outlook Express may
prompt to connect each time you open it.
6. Customizing the layout of Outlook Express
Outlook Express allows you to customize the way your desktop appears within
the program. To customize your settings, follow these steps:
From the View menu, choose Layout
Checking the Outlook bar will display the folders in HTML format down the
left side of your screen
Checking the Folder List will display a general list on the left pane of
your screen
Checking the Folder Bar will display the active folder in a pane near the
top of your screen
Under Toolbar, you may choose where you would like your toolbar to display.
(Left, Right, Bottom, or Top)
You can also choose whether you would like to display text on the tool bar
buttons
Clicking Customize toolbar gives you the option of adding or removing
functions on your toolbar. For instance if you want a print button on your tool bar.
The Preview Pane options allows you to choose how you would like message
previews displayed
Make any changes you like then click Apply, then OK to confirm your changes
7. Reading you mail
Reading e-mail in Outlook Express is easy. When new messages arrive, the
message headers will be displayed in the Header pane. This pane will show Who the message
is from, the Subject, and the Date written. If you have the Preview pane turned on,
clicking on the message header will display the contents of the message in it. To work
with a message full screen, double-click the message header. The new message will appear
in its own window which may be maximized for easier viewing. Whether you are viewing the
message in full screen or in the Preview pane, you have the following options by clicking
the appropriate buttons on your tool bar:
Reply to the author of the message
Forward message to another e-mail address
Print the Message. (Only available in full screen unless you have customized
the toolbar in the above steps)
Delete the message
Additionally, you may right click on the message header and find other
options.
8. Managing your e-mail using folders
If you use e-mail to correspond with business associates or organizations,
such as a mailing list, you can organize your mail in folders so that your Inbox is not so
cluttered and messages pertaining to a particular subject are found easily. For our
example, we are going to create a folder for a mailing list we have subscribed to.
Open Outlook Express
On the Folder list on the left screen, click the Outlook Express folder at
the top
From the File menu choose Folder, then New Folder
Type the name of your new folder. In our example we will type Mailing List
Repeat this procedure to create as many folders as needed
Once the new folders are created, you may now move messages from your Inbox
to the appropriate folder by right-clicking the message header and choosing Move To.
Select the folder you want to send the message to.
Now, let's create a rule to automatically place messages from the mailing
list into the Mailing List folder.
From the Tools menu choose Inbox Assistant
Click the Add button
In the From box type the exact e-mail address of the correspondent you are
creating a rule for. In our example we type, "mailing-list@maildomain.com"
Under perform the following action, check the option, Move To
Click the Folder button and choose the folder you wish messages from this
address to be routed to.
When you choose Send and Receive on your toolbar, messages from this address
will automatically be placed in the correct folder.
Note: When new messages arrive, Outlook Express will display the
number of unread messages in each folder next to the folder icon. Clicking once on the
folder will display the message headers and any new messages.
9. Deleted messages, where do they go?
When you delete a message it is sent to your Deleted Items folder. This
folder is mute like the Recycle Bin in Windows 95. The messages will go to the Deleted
Items folder until such time that you choose to empty it.
To automatically remove deleted messages from the Deleted Items folder,
follow these steps:
From the Tools menu, choose Options
Under General Settings check the option "Empty messages from the
Deleted Items folder on exit"
Click Apply, then OK to confirm your changes
When you close Outlook Express, messages in the Deleted Items folder will be
removed permanently.
10. Using the Address Book
The Address Book in Outlook Express provides you with a convenient method of
organizing information about your correspondents including e-mail addresses, phone
numbers, addresses, and notes.
To insert an entry into your address book, follow these steps:
Once the address book is open, press New Contact on the toolbar
Type in as much information as you want about the new contact. First Name,
etc. Note: You do not have to fill in all fields. Simply inserting a display name is
sufficient.
In the e-mail address, type in the contacts address and click the Add
button. Note: The first entry displays (default e-mail) next to the address. If a person
has more than one address available, they may be added here as well
Under the e-mail address there is an option to "Send e-mail using plain
text only." Check this option if you are unsure whether the recipient's e-mail client
is HTML compatible or not
There are tabs for Home, Business, and notes about the contact which you can
also fill in
When you are finished entering information, press OK
The new contact is now on your list
Highlighting their name and pressing Properties on the toolbar will display
the listing again
If you have a group of correspondents that you wish to write the same
message to without having to retype the address multiple times, you can create a Group in
your address book.
Open the Address book and press New Group on the toolbar
Type in a name for your group. For example Clients
From the list of existing entries in your address book, choose names to add
to the group. Press the arrow pointing to the empty list box to add the names you want on
the list
Press OK
You now have a list called Clients listed in your Address Book
The members of this list can be modified by highlighting the Group name and
pressing Properties on the toolbar. You can add or delete members as needed
11. Sending E-mail
It seems as though everyone has an e-mail address these days and people are
quickly learning that corresponding via e-mail is easier than the traditional methods.
A few rules to follow when sending e-mail are:
Make sure of the address you are sending to. If a correspondent's address is
listed as john.doe@domain.com then addressing it to johndoe@domain.com will probably
result in a delivery failure.
Make sure you use the proper syntax. A common mistake is to accidentally
insert a comma in the place of the period. Generally, Internet Mail will give you a syntax
error when it attempts to deliver a message addressed like this.
Even though the number of recipients is not limited, some mail servers will
reject messages addressed to a large number of people. Try to limit the number of
recipients of a message to 10 or less to ensure proper delivery
We are now going to compose a new message in Outlook Express using entries
we have put in our address book
Press the New Message button
Press the tiny rolodex card next to the TO box. This will bring up your
Address Book
Double-click on a recipients or group name in the Address Book. Note how
their name goes to the right pane under TO. You can add as many names in the TO box as
needed.
When you are satisfied with the recipients list, press OK. Note how the
Display Name appears in the TO box now
Tab to the SUBJ box and enter a short subject
Tab to the body of the message and type your message
When you are through, press the Send button on the toolbar of the new
message
Your message is now in the Outbox waiting to be sent the next time you
choose Send & Receive
If you do not have the recipients name in your address book and you do not
want to add it, simply type in their e-mail address in the TO box in the above example.
12. Attaching Files to Messages
Attaching a file to a message using Outlook Express is easy. Perhaps you
have a document or picture file you would like to send to a recipient. Using Outlook
Express, follow these steps:
Press the New Message button
Type the e-mail address of the recipient or choose one from your address
book
Tab to the SUBJ box and type a subject
Tab to the message body and type a message
Click the Paper Clip on the New Message toolbar
When the Insert File box appears, browse your hard drive until you locate
the file you want to send
Double-click on the file name to insert it as an attachment in your message
You will see the attachment at the bottom of your new message
Press the Send button to send the message to your Outbox
Be careful when sending large files. Large files take more time to transfer.
Also, many mail servers will reject messages with files over 3 MB. As a general rule, keep
attachments under 1 MB.
13. Customizing your messages
You can customize the way your messages look in Outlook Express several
ways. Add a signature, send it in HTML format, and much more. A word of caution when
sending messages in HTML format; If the recipient does not have an HTML compliant mail
client, they will simply see the HTML code which may appear garbled to them. It helps to
know who your recipients are and what they are using to read e-mail. If you are unsure,
you should compose your messages in Plain Text (default).
To switch from HTML to plain text messages, follow these steps:
From the Tools menu choose Options
Click the Send tab
Under Mail Sending Format check HTML or Plain Text
Press Apply, then OK to close the Options box
You will now be able to write message in the format of your choice
If you would like to sign your messages automatically each time you write a
message, follow these steps:
From the Tools menu choose Stationery
Click the signature button
Check the Text box.
Type your signature as you want it to appear in your message, for example:
John Doe
Anytown, USA
Please visit my website at http://www.anysite.com
E-mail: johndoe@anydomain.com
Your message here will be inserted in each new message you write.
You can also create a file with your signature. In the above steps,
you would check File on the signature tab and choose your file from a location on your
hard drive.
Alternatively, if your correspondents are using a compatible e-mail client,
you may attach a v-card to your messages. To do this, you need to make an entry for
yourself in your address book. All the information you include will be inserted into your
v-card as an attachment. (Currently only supported in certain e-mail clients)
Using custom stationery in your messages
To use colorful stationery in your outgoing messages, follow these steps:
From the Tools menu, choose Stationery
Under the section "When composing new messages use," check
"This stationery"
Press the Select button and choose a custom stationery
Click OK, then OK to confirm your choice
Note: Custom stationery will appear as an attachment in e-mail clients
that do not support it.
14. How to Setup Multiple E-mail Accounts with Outlook
Express
If you have more than one e-mail account in your household, follow these
steps to setup multiple accounts and separate address books.
Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, then double click the
Passwords icon
Click the User Profiles tab, and then click "Users can customize their
preferences and desktop settings. Windows switches to your personal settings when you log
in."
Click OK. When you are prompted to restart your computer, do so.
When prompted to log on to Windows, type in a unique Username and Password
for the selected user.
Start Outlook Express and configure the users account.
Exit Outlook Express and choose Start, then Shutdown.
Click "Close all programs and log on as a different user," Click
Yes, then log on a different user.
Open Outlook Express again and configure the second users account.
15. Using Outlook Express to read Newsgroups
Topics covered:
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A newsgroup is a collection of messages posted by individuals to a news
server. News servers are computers maintained by companies, groups, and individuals, and
can host thousands of newsgroups.
You can find newsgroups on practically any subject. Although some newsgroups
are monitored, most are not, and messages can be "posted" and read by anyone who
has access to that group. There are no newsgroup membership lists or joining fees.
16. Accessing the newsgroups
To access the news server in Outlook Express, follow these steps:
In the folder list, highlight the news server name by clicking once on the
title
If this is the first time you have accessed the news, you will be prompted
if you would like to download a list of available newsgroups. Press Yes. (See
Downloading a list of available newsgroups below)
If you have already downloaded a list, Outlook Express will only prompt you
if there are new newsgroups available
Clicking the plus "+" sign next to the news server folder will
display a list of newsgroups you have subscribed to
Clicking the newsgroup name will prompt Outlook Express to retrieve the
latest message headers from the server. (See Viewing and reading posts below)
17. Downloading a list of available newsgroups
The first time you access any news server, a list of available newsgroups
will be downloaded to your computer for you to pick from. Caution, as the list is
sometimes quite lengthy and may take longer the first time you access it. For instance,
the GVNet News Server currently house well over 29,000 newsgroups. Depending on your
connection speed, this could take as long as 30 minutes to download just the available
newsgroups.
Each time you access the news server after this, Outlook Express will check
for new newsgroups and prompt you if you would like to view the list. Press Yes, to see
what has been added. These are usually short list.
To view the list at anytime, click the Newsgroup button on the Outlook
Express toolbar. Note: You will not have to download the list a second time. The list is
stored in Outlook Express.
18. Finding a topic that interests you
Once the list of available newsgroups has downloaded to your computer, type
in keywords in the "Display newsgroups which contain" box to locate topics of
interest. For example, typing "railroad" will display all newsgroups with
"railroad" in the title. There are thousands of topics available. Check to see
if something you are interested in is available.
19. Subscribing to newsgroups vs. viewing a newsgroup
You may wish to view the contents of a newsgroup before actually subscribing
to it. To do so, follow these steps:
Access the news server by clicking its title in the folder list
Click Newsgroups on the Outlook Express toolbar
Locate the newsgroup you wish to view and highlight the title by clicking on
it
Click Go To
Outlook Express will add this group to your folder list temporarily and it
will download the message headers for that newsgroup
If you wish to subscribe to the newsgroup after viewing it right click the
title and choose Subscribe to this newsgroup. Otherwise, when you exit Outlook Express,
the newsgroup and its message headers will be removed from your folder list
To subscribe to a newsgroup, follow these steps:
Access the news server by clicking its title in the folder list
Click Newsgroups on the Outlook Express toolbar
Locate the newsgroup you wish to subscribe to and highlight the title by
clicking on it
Click Subscribe
Outlook Express will add this newsgroup to your folder list to be checked
each time you access the news server
20. Controlling the number of message headers
downloaded
By default, Outlook Express is set to download 300 message headers at a
time. You can adjust this number by following these steps:
From the Tools menu, choose Options
Click the Read tab
In the Download "x" message headers at a time" set the amount
you desire
Note: Outlook Express will always retrieve the latest message headers
first. For example: If a newsgroups contains 2000 messages, Outlook Express will download
the last 300 messages headers that have been posted. To get more earlier posts, click the
Tools menu and choose "Get next 300 headers."
21. Retrieving and Viewing Posts
Newsgroup posts may be retrieved online or downloaded for offline viewing.
For large newsgroups, you may want to mark either selected or all messages
for download so that you may read them offline.
If you are just browsing, you may want to read selected messages while still
connected to the news server.
To mark selected messages for offline reading, follow these steps:
Highlight the selected message header in the header pane
Right-click the header and choose "Mark message for download"
The entire message will be downloaded when you choose "Download
news.gv.net" from the Tools menu
To mark all message headers in a particular newsgroup for download, follow
these steps:
Highlight the selected newsgroup in the folder pane
Once the message headers have been retrieved, right click the title and
choose "Mark for retrieval"
Select whether to mark new headers, new messages, or all messages. You can
also choose to unmark your selections here
Note: Some posts may have multiple threads. Meaning that others have
replied to the post. This is usually indicated by a plus "+" sign next to the
message header. Marking a single message for retrieval does not mark the follow-up
threads.
To view a post while connected to the news server, follow these steps:
Highlight the selected newsgroup in the folder pane
Once the message headers have been retrieved, select the desired message by
clicking the header
Outlook Express will retrieve the message and display it in the preview pane
To view the message in a full screen, double-click the header
22. Replying to a newsgroup post
To reply to a post, follow these steps:
Highlight the selected message in the header pane
Click the Reply to Group button on the Outlook Express toolbar
Outlook Express will fill in the TO and SUBJ box for you
Type your message and click Post on the toolbar
Note: If your reply contains less text than the quoted message, you will
be prompted to delete parts of the original quote to reduce wasted space on the news
server. Make your corrections and click Post again.
23. Posting to a Newsgroup
Highlight the selected newsgroup and click Compose Message on the Outlook
Express toolbar
Outlook Express automatically fills in the address for you
Type in your subject in the SUBJ box
Tab to the message body and type your message
Click Post on the toolbar
Outlook Express has many features built in to make it easier for you to read
and post message in newsgroups. We encourage you to explore the included help files to
learn more about using Outlook Express.
If you have any questions or experience problems, please feel free to contact
phil@gv.net (447-2237).
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