NSIT: Computing, Networks & Phones

Top 20 Outlook Questions

1. How do I make a signature?
2. How can I recover messages that I've deleted?
3. What attachment file types are restricted or blocked?
4. What if I need to send a file that is on the blocked file types list?
5. How can I add an attachment to an e-mail I am sending?
6. When I send a message with an attachment, the attachment icon appears in the body of the message.
7. How do I turn on the Out of Office Assistant?
8. If I have the Out of Office Assistant turned on and someone schedules me in a meeting, do they get the Out of Office notification?
9. How do I share my calendar?
10. How do I view a shared calendar?
11. I want to let people know I'm busy when they look at my calendar, but I want to keep the contents of a specific meeting hidden. Is this possible?
12. How can I prevent the publishing/searching of my free/busy information?
13. How do I open someone's calendar to view free/busy times?
14. What are my options when I get a meeting Invitation?
15. Do I have to accept a meeting for it to appear on my calendar?
16. When you invite someone to a meeting, does it appear as tentative on that person's calendar?
17. What happens if I have a "tentative" appointment on my calendar and then I delete the e-mail notification without accepting the appointment?
18. I am not receiving email notifications when someone schedules me in a meeting - why?
19. Can I set my calendar to display in other than 30 minute increments?
20. Can I print more than one calendar at a time?
21. What is the website to see my uchicago mail and calendaring now?
22. When using OWA(Outlook Web Access), sometimes I have more features - the preview pane, an expandable folder tree, Rules, pop-up notifications, monthly calendar view, etc. - and sometimes I don't. Why? (What is the difference between "Premium" OWA and "Basic"?)

1. How do I make a signature?

1. Go to Tools → Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. Under Signatures, click "Signatures".
3. Click "New" and enter a name for your signature.
4. Under "Choose how to create your Signature," select whether to start from scratch or use an existing signature.
5. To select a file to base your signature on, click "Use this file as a template" and type the path and file name in the box, or click Browse to select from a list.
6. Click Next.
7. In the Signature text box, type the text you want to include in the signature. You can also paste text to the Signature text box from another document.
8. To change the paragraph or font format, select the text, click Font or Paragraph, and then select the options you want. These options are not available if you use plain text as your message format.
9. When you are done click "Finish" and click OK to the remaining open windows to return to Outlook.

2. How can I recover messages that I've deleted?

Deleted email is moved into your Deleted Items folder. It will stay there until your Deleted Items folder is emptied. As an added safeguard, deleted email can still be recovered for fourteen days after your Deleted Items folder is emptied. To do this: click on your Deleted Items folder, then go to Tools -> Recover Deleted Items. Select the items to recover and click the Recover Selected Items icon. The recovered messages will be moved back into your Deleted Items folder. You can then move the recovered email into your preferred folder if you want to keep the message.

If a deleted message has not been recovered within fourteen days of being emptied from the Deleted Items folder, it's gone for good. There is no way to recover the message at that point.

3. How can I add an attachment to an email I am sending?

• While you are in the email message, go to Insert → File.
• Browse to the file you would like to add, highlight the file, and choose Insert.

4. What attachment file types are restricted or blocked?

For the complete list, see the Microsoft article: Attachment File Types Restricted by Outlook 2003. You will still be able to attach and send these files, but other Outlook users will not be able to view or download any of the Level 1 attachments mentioned in the article for safety reasons. You will also be warned that emailing your chosen file is possibly unsafe.

5. What if I need to send a file that is on the blocked file types list?

If your attachment is blocked because of file type, you have several options. We recommend the first of the below choices:

• Don't email the file at all! Transfer the file through Webshare. Documentation and help regarding Webshare can be found here.
• Rename the file so that the file type is not one on the blocked list. For example, rename myfile.exe to myfile.exx. Be sure to tell the recipient of the email to change the file name back.
• Compress the file using a file compression program like WinZip or WinRAR. This option has the added advantage of making your email smaller, thus taking up less space in the recipient's Inbox and your Sent Items, as well as conserving overall email system resources. Be sure your recipient knows how to uncompress the file once they receive it.

6. When I send a message with an attachment, the attachment icon appears in the body of the message. Why?

If you select the "Rich Text" message format, the attachment icon displays in the message itself, instead of in the message header. Note that we recommend against using Rich Text format, because it cannot be read or displays poorly in many non-Outlook email clients.

7. How do I turn on the Out of Office Assistant?

• In the Mail view of Outlook, go to Tools → Out of Office Assistant.
• Click the Button labeled "I am currently Out of the Office" and type in your out of office reply in the box below it. When finished, click OK.

8. If I have the Out of Office Assistant turned on and someone schedules me in a meeting, do they get the Out of Office notification?

Yes, the Out of Office auto response will be sent.

9. How do I share my calendar?

In Outlook, your calendar is a folder that stores information about your meetings, appointments, and so on. Sharing your calendar makes all this information visible to others that you select. Here's all you have to do to share:

• View your calendar. On the Navigation Pane, under the Calendar folder, click Share My Calendar.
• Next, add the name of the person you want to share with and set permissions. Some common permission levels for calendar sharing include:
  
  • Reviewer - Can read calendar entries but cannot create, modify, or delete them.
  • Author - Can read or create calendar entries, and can modify or delete only entries that the author has created.
  • Editor - Can read, create, modify, or delete all calendar entries, whether or not the editor has created them.

10. How do I view a shared calendar?

When you're viewing your calendar, you'll see a link in that pane called Open a Shared Calendar. To open the shared calendar, you would click this link, click the Name button, and select or type the name for the person sharing with you. Right away, you'd see the name listed under Other Calendars.

11. I want to let people know I'm busy when they look at my calendar, but I want to keep the contents of a specific meeting hidden. Is this possible?

Yes. When viewing a meeting on your own calendar, you can check a "private" option in the lower right of the window. This will conceal the contents of the meeting, including its title, without hiding the fact that you are busy during that time.

12. How can I prevent the publishing/searching of my free/busy information?

To set your calendar so it won't publish your free/busy information, click on Calendar and choose Tools → Options → Calendar Options → Free/Busy Options... and set 'Publish = 0 month(s) of Calendar free/busy information on the server'. Click OK.

Please note:

• This is not the recommended option if others need to schedule meetings with you.
• People given rights to your calendar can still see it, but they cannot do a Free/Busy search against it. If there are already appointments on your calendar before these settings are changed, those appointments will still be searchable (e.g. entries added after the change will not be).
• These steps do not prevent someone from tentatively inviting you to a meeting.

13. How do I open someone's calendar to view free/busy times?

Unless you have delegate rights, Outlook does not have an option where you can open and view an individual's calendar (even though you only see the "busy" time blocks).

To see someone's free/busy times in Outlook:

• Start a New Appointment, click Invite Attendees, then the "To" button that now appears on the window. Pick an individual(s) as an "Required" or "Optional" attendee. Click OK.
• Now in the original meeting window click the Scheduling tab and the individual(s) free/busy time will be listed.

14. What are my options when I get a meeting invitation?

There are four options for you to choose from when you receive a meeting invitation:

• Accept - You have accepted the time and date for the meeting and it will appear in your calendar.
• Tentative - You have not firmly accepted the time and date for the meeting and can change your response via your calendar. This is the default.
• Decline - You have declined the time and date for the meeting and it no longer will appear on your calendar.
• Propose New Time - You can propose a new time and date and it will send an email with your proposed time and date to the original sender.

15. Do I have to accept a meeting for it to appear on my calendar?

Not necessarily. Two cases will result in your meeting being placed on your calendar as tentative even if you don't accept it:

• if your Outlook Mail client is configured to display the Reading Pane and you preview the meeting notification.
• the Reading Pane is turned off, but you open the meeting notification.

16. When you invite someone to a meeting, does it appear as tentative on that person's calendar?

No. However, the invited person may inadvertently place it as Tentative themselves -- see question 14.

17. What happens if I have a "tentative" appointment on my calendar and then I delete the email notification without accepting the appointment?

If you delete the email notification before you accept the "tentative" appointment, it will also delete the appointment from your calendar.

18. I am not receiving email notifications when someone schedules me in a meeting - why?

Any one of the following will prevent email notifications from being sent:

• You have added a Delegate and selected 'Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me'. (e.g., Tools → Options → Delegate).
• You have your calendar set to auto-accept meeting requests.
• You set 'Author' permissions on your calendar. This allows a person to open your calendar by choosing 'Open a Shared Calendar' and schedule a meeting directly on your calendar. Therefore, no email notification is sent.

19. Can I set my calendar to display in other than 30 minute increments?

• Open your Outlook Calendar.
• Select Day or Work Week View.
• Right-click on the Time Bar in the Outlook client and select the increment you want.

20. Can I print more than one calendar at a time?

There isn't a way to print multiple calendars.

21. What is the website to see my uchicago mail and calendaring now?

The website for Outlook Web Access (OWA) is https://xmail.uchicago.edu.

22. When using OWA(Outlook Web Access), sometimes I have more features - the preview pane, an expandable folder tree, Rules, pop-up notifications, monthly calendar view, etc. - and sometimes I don't. Why? (What is the difference between "Premium" OWA and "Basic"?)

There are two different versions of OWA, "Premium" and "Basic". Premium has more features and resembles the Outlook client more. Basic has less features but is faster.

If you are using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC, then you are given the choice between the two. If you are using a different browser, only Basic OWA is available (you are not given a choice).

A very lengthy comparison of the two can be found here, if you are curious about specific features.

Last updated: 8/30/07

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