Outlook

Outlook Topics Covered


Screenshot of Microsoft Outlook Environment. At the top of the screenshot, there is a pink box with red text that says Outlook Environment. To the right, there is a pink box with black text that says Backstage View: Click on File to open the Backstage view, add account and change settings. That box points to the Home menu option in the top left of the screen. Below that, there is another pink box with black text that says Sneak Peek: see a quick view of your Calendar, People, and Tasks. This text points to a calendar in the bottom left corner. In the upper right corner, there is a pink box with black text that says Do more - To-Do Bar: Displays the date navigator, appointments, people, and your task list. This text points to a calendar area in the top right of the screenshot. The last pink box with black text is at the bottom of the screenshot. The text reads Reply from the reading pane: Reply and Forward directly from your reading pane. This text points to the upper middle part of the screen where there is an envelope icon that says Reply.

Navigation Bar

Mail view displays your inbox and lets you browse your mail. Click the New Email button from Home tab. Enter recipients, a subject, and a message body, then click Send.

Calendar view displays your calendar. From the ribbon you can view, create, and edit meetings and appointments.

People view displays your contacts.

Tasks, Notes, click on More…to see Folders and Shortcuts.

From the Navigation Bar, hover the mouse over Calendar, People, or Tasks for a Sneak Peek without leaving mail.

Screenshot of the Outlook Navigation bar. Across the top is a gray bar with five icons. The first icon is a white envelope that has a slightly darker background. To the right, there is a calendar icon. To the right, there is an icon with two overlapping silhouettes of people. To the right, there is an icon of a clipboard with a checkmark on it. To the right of that, there is an icon with three dots. Below the icons, there is text that says Items: 212 Unread:1 Reminders (with a bell icon): 2

Interactive Help: Tell Me

The Light Bulb icon in the Ribbon with “Tell me what you want to do…” is a lot more than the Help Question Mark icon.

Screenshot of a blue bar with a white outline of a lightbulb and text that says Tell me what you want to do...

Use Message Preview

The first line of every email is automatically displayed and you can adjust to show more or less.

  • From the View tab, within the Arrangement group, click on Message Preview.

  • Select the number of lines to preview for each message. Additionally, select Off to turn off the preview.

Screenshot of Outlook menu options. Across the top is a dark gray bar and there are two menu options. The first menu is View (with a light gray background). To the right is text that reads Help. After the navigation items, there is a searchbox with an icon that looks like the outline of a lightbulb and text that says Tell me what you want to do. Below that bar, is another bar with a light gray background. To the left there is text that reads Message Preview with a black triangle pointing down and a white square with a line down the middle, text on the left side, a blue header, and a blue arrow pointing to the left column. The black triangle/arrow is selected and there is a window open with the following options: Off, 1 Line (checked), 2 Lines, 3 Lines. To the right of the Message Preview text, there is a rectangular box with different options. The first option is Date (Conversations) with a open white envelope and a yellow close envelope. Below that is Categories with blue, red, yellow, orange, green, and blue squares. To the right of Date (Conversations) is From with a open white envelope with a blue arrow and a green silhouette of a person. Below that is Flag: Start Date with a red flag icon. To the right of From, is To with a white envelope icon, a blue arrow, and an orange silhouette of a person. Below that is Flag: Due Date with a red flag icon. At the right side of the rectangular box is a triangle pointing upwards that is grayed out, a black triangle pointing down, and a black triangle pointing down with a horizontal line across it. To the right of that, there are three options. The first is Reverse Sort (with two black arrows: one pointing up and one pointing down), Add Columns (with two black brackets, a black rectangle between them, and a green plus icon), Expand/Collapse (with a green plus icon and a red minus icon).

Using Automatic Replies

Manage email before it is even sent. From the File tab, click on Automatic Replies (Out of Office)

  • Inside My Organization or Outside My Organization

Create a Signature

While composing a new email message...

  • Click on the Insert tab and click Signature button.

  • Click the New button, enter a name for the signature, and click OK. Create the signature in the Edit signature section and click OK.

Online Archive Email

The Online Archive (Faculty/Staff Email) allows you to access older emails from your office computer and webmail. It stores important messages long-term, since there is no expiration date on mail stored in the Online Archive.

Messages that are 2 years or older will be automatically moved into your new Online Archive, retaining the same file structure as your inbox. Email that is newer than 2 years, will remain in your Inbox.

Online Archive Best Practices:

  • Deleting unnecessary messages is always preferred over storing messages.

  • Every 24 hours Exchange will search for mail older than 2 years and move it automatically for you.

  • You can manually select any "younger mail" and move it down to the existing folders or you can create a new folder in your Online Archive.

  • You can drop and drag any messages you want into the online archive.

When using educational technology tools, be FERPA aware. To learn more, visit the Registrar's FERPA Guidelines site.