9 interesting secrets of Microsoft Outlook

Sometimes email can become so boring that most users have not yet discovered its settings or tricks. Here are some pretty useful tips in Microsoft Outlook e-mail program.

1. Open Calendar, Contacts or Task List at the same time

Must move the mouse too many times whenever you need to switch between Inbox and Calendar, or Contacts and Tasks? Right-click one of these buttons and select Open in a New Window , you will keep Contacts and Calendar open in 2 separate windows. These windows remain open even when reading messages, using Alt-Tab to move between windows.

2. Display the date in Calendar

Users can choose to display multiple dates at the same time, with adjacent dates or not by holding Ctrl and selecting the dates to view in the top left corner of the Calendar window. The selected dates will appear as columns in the main display section of the Calendar. Users can also display multiple days continuously by holding down the mouse and dragging to select these boxes.

3. Optional flag icons and letter classification

Users may be used to using the flag icon to mark messages that need to be read later, or sort messages by different colors. (The flag icon appears to the right of the incoming messages in Outlook's inbox; the classification icon is the rounded square to the left, next to the flag icon.) Users can customize the default colors of these two icons. Or change the color to your liking. Simply right-click any icon, select Set Quick Click . then select the icon you want to use as the default.

4. Use abbreviations for days and hours

Outlook Calendar can understand both basic English text and abbreviations in Start Time and End Time. For example, instead of typing the date completely, just type 'next Tue' or 'next month', Calendar will automatically insert the correct date. ('Next month' is 1 month from today.) In the time field, users can type 'now' or abbreviate as '4p', Outlook will correct it as '4:00 pm.' Similarly, basic abbreviations can also be used with the Scheduling window, users can open the Appointment Recurrence dialog box and enter 'next Thursday' in the Start section, Outlook will return the correct date.

5. Adjust the Outlook menu

How do the most frequently used commands appear on the Outlook menu bar? Just open Tools / Customize , select the Commands tab and click Rearrange Commands . In the dialog box that opens the list of items in the list up or down, delete unnecessary items and add items if desired. Users can also save time by specifying the 'accelerator keys' hotkey that can launch a menu item when typing a character when the menu is open.To adjust or create a hotkey, click Modify Selection in The Rearrange Commands dialog box and type the symbol ( & ) just before the character in the selected menu item is the hotkey.

6. Add holidays to the Outlook schedule

If the job requires you to keep track of the holidays or holidays of another country, you can add these holidays to the Outlook calendar. Use Tools | Options ; Click tab Preferences , select Calendar Options . and select Add Holidays ., highlight the dates to remember.

7. Add schedule data to email

If an email is in use on a Microsoft Exchange server and needs to be sent to someone who is also in Exchange, the user can add data from the calendar to the email. In the message editor window, select in the Message range (default), select Calendar from the Include group and specify the time range and level of detail. This option is not available if the user account is POP or IMAP server.

8. Add contact directly from the mail

To add a person to the Contacts list from an email, open that letter, right-click on the sender's name and select Add to Outllok Contacts .

9. Remove unnecessary add-ins

Can help Outlook 2007 run faster and smoother by removing add-ins that other software has installed. Select Tools | Trust Center . click on Add-ins , select Manage (at the bottom), make sure COM Add-in is the current item, click Go . From the COM Add-in dialog box, users can disable items by unchecking or clicking Remove to remove them completely.