When you start Outlook, you normally see a screen with three columns. The leftmost column is the Folder pane, which lets you switch between different modules in Outlook to perform different tasks. The second column from the left is your list of messages; the right column (called the Reading pane) contains the text of one of those messages. If the message is short enough, you may see its entire text in the Reading pane, as shown in Figure 1-1. If the message is longer, you’ll have to open it to see the whole thing.
Figure 1-1: Double-click the message you want to read.
To see an entire message, follow these steps:
1. Click the Mail button in the Navigation bar.
You don’t need this step if you can already see your messages.
2. Double-click the title of a message.
Now you can see the entire message.
3. Press Esc to close the message.
The message form closes.
If you feel overwhelmed by the number of email messages you get each day, you’re not alone. Billions and billions of email messages fly around the Internet each day, and lots of people are feeling buried in messages. In Chapter 6, I show you the secrets of sorting and managing your messages, along with the Conversations feature, which makes it easy to deal with extended email discussions.
Anytime you’re reading an email message in Outlook, buttons labeled Reply and Reply All appear somewhere near the top of the screen. That’s a hint.
To reply to a message you’re reading, follow these steps:
1. Click the Reply button.
2. Type your response.
3. Click the Send button.
If you’re reading a message sent to several people besides you, you have the option of sending a reply to everyone involved by clicking the Reply All button.
When you reply to a message, by default, Outlook includes the text of the message that was sent to you. Some people like to include original text in their replies, but some don’t. In Chapter 5, I show you how to change what Outlook automatically includes in replies.
At its easiest, the process of creating a new email message in Outlook is ridiculously simple. Even a child can do it. If you can’t get a child to create a new email message for you, you can even do it yourself.
If you see a button labeled New Email in the upper-left corner of the screen, just click it, fill out the form, and click the Send button. How’s that for simple? If you don’t see the New Email button, follow these steps instead:
1. Click the Mail button in the Navigation bar.
Your message list appears.
2. Click the New Email button on the Ribbon.
The New Message form opens.
3. Fill out the New Message form.
Put the recipient’s address in the To box, a subject in the Subject box, and a message in the main message box.
4. Click the Send button.
Your message is on its way.
If you want to send a plain email message, that’s all you have to do. If you prefer to send a fancy email, Outlook provides the bells and whistles – some of which are actually useful. For example, you might send a High Priority message to impress some big shots or send a Confidential message about a hush-hush topic. (Discover the mysteries of confidential email in Chapter 4.)
Sending a File
Some people swear they do nothing but exchange email all day. Swearing is exactly what I’d do if I were in their shoes – believe me. If you’re lucky, you probably do lots of things other than exchange email; you probably do most of your daily work in programs other than Outlook. You might create documents in Microsoft Word or build elaborate spreadsheets with Excel. When you want to send a file by email, Outlook gets involved, although sometimes, it works in the background.
To email a file, follow these steps:
1. Open the document in Microsoft Word.
The document opens on-screen.
2. Click the File tab in the upper-left corner of the screen.
The Backstage view opens.
3. Choose Share.
The Share page opens. Yes, I know you learned how to share in kindergarten, but this is different.
4. Choose Email.
A list appears, detailing different ways to send your file via email.
5. Click the Send as Attachment button.
The New Message form opens with your document listed on the Attached line, as shown in Figure 1-2. If you want to type a message in the main part of the screen, you can, but it isn’t necessary.
Figure 1-2: You can email a document right from Microsoft Word.
Whew! When you’re just sending one Word file, these steps seem like a long way to go, but they’ll always get your document on its way. For some reason, the folks at Microsoft made this task more laborious as the years have passed. But don’t be discouraged. If you email documents frequently, I describe a more powerful way to attach files in Chapter 5.
Maintaining Your Calendar
Time management is a myth. You can’t get more than 24 hours in a day – no matter how well you manage it. But you can get more done in a 24-hour day if you keep your calendar current. Outlook can help you with that.
If you’ve ever used an old-fashioned paper planner, the Outlook Calendar will look familiar to you. When you click the Calendar button and then click the Day tab, you see a grid in the middle of the screen with lines representing each segment of the day. You can adjust the length of the segments from as little as five minutes to as much as an hour, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3: Track your busy schedule in the Outlook Calendar.
To enter an appointment at a certain time, follow these steps:
1. Click