Basics of computer applications

Editor's Notes

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• #300: Technology allows the virtual work environment to exist. Let’s take a look at Microsoft Outlook, an application that is available to you. It can help you to work more efficiently by helping you manage your time and stay organized. Microsoft Outlook is not just a vehicle for e-mail. This application contains many features to help organize and prioritize your e-mail, calendar appointments, and tasks.
• #301: Before you can send e-mail in Outlook 2007, you must create an account. While your network administrator or Internet Service Provider registers and configures the actual e-mail address (such as yourname@) and domain name (as in yahoo.com), you need to configure Outlook 2007 to receive the messages sent to your e-mail address. To create an e-mail account in Outlook 2007, select Tools from the menu bar and select Account Settings. Doing so opens the Account Settings manager (shown here). Press the New button to open the New Account wizard. In some cases Outlook 2007 can configure your server settings for you, although this may work best in environments using Exchange 2007. Manually configuring settings is a simple process none the less.
• #302: For this example, assume you were creating an account to work with your broadband Internet provider at home. Most ISPs support POP3 accounts, so press the Internet Email account radio button and press Next. You’ll see an Internet E-mail Settings dialog box (shown). Enter your name and the e-mail address in the User Information section. Provide the server and logon information (provided by your administrator or ISP) and any additional settings (again, as provided by your administrator or ISP), and press Next. Press Finish, and the new e-mail account is created. You can verify the new account was created by pressing Tools from the menu bar and selecting Account Settings. Press the Change button. The new e-mail account options will appear in the Internet E-Mail settings window and can be modified. Once the account is created, you can create and send e-mail messages.
• #303: Ensure Mail is selected in the Navigation Pane and press New on the Standard toolbar. If the Navigation Pane is not appearing, press the Alt and F1 keys simultaneously to make it appear. A new e-mail message, complete with the Formatting toolbar displayed, will appear. Enter the recipient’s e-mail address in the To field. Should you wish to send copies of the message to additional recipients, enter their addresses in the To or CC fields; separate multiple e-mail addresses with a semicolon. You can also choose to send a copy of the message to another recipient but hide the recipient’s e-mail address from others. To do so, enter the e-mail address you wish to hide in the BCC field. If the BCC field doesn’t appear by default, you can display it by pressing View on the menu bar and selecting BCC. You can provide a subject line for the e-mail message in the Subject field and type your message in the body of the e-mail. Should you maintain multiple e-mail accounts, press the Accounts button to ensure the appropriate e-mail account is used to send the message. The message will be sent from the account you select from the Account drop-down menu. When the message is complete, send it to the recipients you specified by pressing the Send button.
• #304: Often all that’s required for an effective e-mail message is straightforward text. On other occasions, you may wish to send a professionally formatted message. Use the Formatting toolbar (shown) to dress up text and improve the message’s appearance. If the Formatting toolbar’s icons appear grayed out or disabled, it’s likely because the message format is set to Plain Text. Change the format by pressing Format on the menu bar and selecting HTML or Rich Text, as shown. Using the Formatting toolbar, you can change font type and font size and specify bold, italic, and underline styles. You can also specify that text be justified left, centered, or justified right. Just highlight the appropriate passages and press the respective icon. Should you need to use bullets to list several items or create a numbered list, select the appropriate icon from the toolbar. Specify any required indentation using the indent buttons (each time you press one of the two indent buttons, the text will move a predetermined distance in the direction you specify). Should you wish to separate thoughts or create sections, press the Insert Horizontal Line icon. As with so many things, a little goes a long way when formatting a message. Take care to minimize formatting features to help highlighted text stand out and keep from creating e-mail messages that are too “busy.” Remember, too, that any recipients having their default e-mail format set as Plain Text will not see any specially formatted text in your message.
• #305: Many professionals include their title, company, street address, telephone numbers, and even Web address at the end of each e-mail they send. Don’t type that information every time you send an e-mail; create an e-mail signature instead. Outlook 2007 stores such information in a signature file. You can specify that the signature be used each time you send a message as well as indicate whether you wish for the signature to be used when you reply to a message. Follow these steps to create an e-mail signature: Select the Signatures object from the Message tab. Select Signatures. In the Signatures And Stationary window, press the E-mail Signature tab and press the New button. Enter a name for the new signature, and press OK. Enter the text for your signature in the text box on the Signatures And Stationary window. When you are finished entering the text, you can format it using the options above the entry box. At the top of the window, select the default signature and when to apply it. Specify whether you wish to include your vCard (an electronic business card that makes it easy for a recipient to add you as a contact) with each message you send. Press OK.
• #306: Often you’ll receive unsolicited e-mail messages. You can help prevent large amounts of so-called spam by being selective in who you provide with your e-mail address. Don’t post your e-mail address to public forums on the Internet, and be careful not to give your e-mail address to just any firm on the Web. Even if you’re fastidious in safeguarding your e-mail address, it’ll ultimately make its way to some less-than-honorable marketers. When it does, you’ll begin receiving unwanted e-mail. Reputable firms typically honor unsubscribe requests (look at the bottom of most commercial e-mail messages for accompanying unsubscribe information). Disreputable organizations, however, monitor unsubscribe requests to track which e-mail addresses remain current and then send additional spam to those addresses. Your best bet is to filter the messages you do not need to prevent future solicitation. But in many cases you’ll be stuck with e-mail you don’t want. Outlook 2007 includes a Junk E-mail filter you can leverage to eliminate unwanted messages before they even hit your Inbox. Ensure the Junk E-mail filter is enabled by selecting Actions, selecting Junk E-mail, and pressing Junk E-mail Options. The Junk E-mail Options dialog box will open. View the Options tab and select any option but the first (No Automatic Filtering) to enable the Junk E-mail filter.
• #307: Select Low if you wish to move only the most obvious junk messages to the Junk E-mail folder. Select High to lower the threshold at which e-mail is considered junk. If, after selecting Low, you continue receiving large amounts of junk e-mail in your Inbox, try the High option. Just be sure that if you select High you regularly check the Junk E-mail folder to ensure desired messages aren’t being labeled junk by mistake. You can also elect to choose the Safe Lists Only option. When selecting Safe Lists Only, only e-mail from people and domains you’ve listed in the Safe Senders List or Safe Recipients List will be delivered to your Inbox. There are four checkboxes at the bottom of the Junk E-mail Options tab. These options allow the following actions: Send junk e-mail directly to deleted items Disable links in suspected junk e-mail Warn about suspicious domain names in e-mail messages Postmark outgoing messages to help other mail clients distinguish legitimate mail from junk mail. Links in individual e-mail messages can be turned on by right-clicking the information bar that will appear in messages that contain links. The same is true of embedded images.
• #308: Junk messages Outlook 2007 mistakenly believes are valid may still clear the Junk E-mail filter and land in the Inbox. When they do, right-click the e-mail message in the Inbox, select Junk E-mail, and select Add Sender To Blocked Senders List. A dialog box will appear stating that the sender of the message has been added to the Blocked Senders List and that the message will be moved to the Junk E-mail folder. Outlook 2007 will then automatically block any future messages from the same sender. Sometimes you may have the opposite problem, in which Outlook 2007 marks a valid e-mail message as junk and places it in the Junk E-mail folder. When this situation occurs, right-click the message in the Junk E-mail folder, select Junk E-mail, and select Mark As Not Junk (grayed out here, as this message has already been marked as Not Junk). The Mark As Not Junk dialog box will appear. By default, the Always Trust E-mail From “sender’s_domain” box will be checked. You can also elect to select the checkbox to instruct Outlook 2007 to always trust e-mail sent from the sender’s domain. Once you press OK, Outlook 2007 will move the message to your Inbox and display any images contained within the e-mail.
• #309: Outlook 2007 maintains other security protections to prevent offensive content from appearing and malicious code from automatically running when receiving a message. You may adjust Outlook 2007’s default Automatic Picture Download Settings at any time. Select Tools, select Trust Center, then select Automatic Downloads. The Automatic Download Settings screen appears (as shown here). Select the first checkbox (Don’t Download Pictures Or Other Content Automatically In HTML E-mail or RSS Feeds) to prevent pictures contained in HTML formatted email or RSS feeds from downloading automatically. Select the second and third checkboxes if you wish to permit downloads from senders and recipients specified in the Safe Senders and Safe Recipients Lists and to permit downloads from Web sites listed in the Trusted Zone security zone. The third check box allows you to automatically download images from Web sites in the trusted sites list of your Web browser. Checking boxes four and five allow you to permit downloads in RSS feeds (a new Outlook 2007 feature covered in another session) and SharePoint discussion lists (valid if you have access to a SharePoint server). The final checkbox will produce a warning about downloaded content when you reply, forward, or edit e-mail messages.
• #310: You can also specify settings directly from within an e-mail message in your Inbox. Right-click the Outlook 2007 information box (shown here in red) that appears at the top of an e-mail message to change settings. Doing so opens a pop-up menu that typically presents the following options: Download Pictures Change Automatic Download Settings Add Sender To Safe Senders List Add Sender’s Domain (@example.com) to Safe Senders List You can select Change Automatic Download Settings to configure the settings discussed on the last slide. Other options are available, too. For example, you can instruct Outlook 2007 on how to manage the current message. Notice that when messages with images arrive in your Inbox, by default, Outlook 2007 usually blocks the pictures from appearing (as shown here). Select Download Pictures from the pop-up menu to display the e-mail message’s images.
• #311: Here’s the same message (below) after instructing Outlook 2007 to display the pictures. The images now appear, making this specific e-mail much more user-friendly. As you can see from the subject line, Outlook 2007 originally marked this message as spam. If you wish to accept such future e-mails from the sender, right-click the Outlook 2007 information box and select Add Sender To Safe Senders List. Should you wish to receive all future communications from the company, select Add Sender’s Domain (@example.com) To Safe Senders List. All e-mail messages originating from that company’s Internet domain, and not just the sender of this specific e-mail, will then be passed directly to your Inbox. You can view your blocked senders and safe senders lists by selecting Actions | Junk E-mail | Junk E-mail Options, and selecting the respective tab (either Safe Senders or Blocked Senders). You can manually add or edit entries using the provided buttons on the respective dialog boxes (shown here in the top screenshot).
• #312: You can view and edit your Safe Recipients list the same way. Select Actions, select Junk E-mail, select Junk E-mail Options, and select the Safe Recipients tab. Like the Safe Senders list, the Safe Recipients list specifies messages that are not junk. Unlike the Safe Senders list, which bases message validity on the sender’s address, the Safe Recipients list bases validity on the address to which messages are sent. The Safe Recipients feature is typically used to ensure you receive messages from an e-mail discussion list to which you’ve subscribed.
• #313: If you receive much e-mail that can be answered with a single pre-prepared message, leverage Outlook 2007’s ability to generate automatic responses. Use Rules and Alerts to compose a customized message to specific e-mails you receive. First, you must create the standard response you wish to send recipients. To create the actual response template, press New, and create the message you wish to send as your automatic response (leaving the To address blank). When you’re done, press Save As from the Office menu (in the top left corner of the message window, bearing the Office logo), choose Outlook 2007 Template as the Save As type, provide a filename, and press Save. Now you’re ready to create the rule. Ensure Mail is selected in the Navigation Pane, select Tools from the menu bar, and select Rules and Alerts. (The Rules and Alerts management screen is shown here at top.) Press New Rule to open the Rules Wizard (shown here at bottom). Using the wizard, you can create a rule from a template or from a blank rule. For this example, select the Start From A Blank Rule radio button and press Next. Select the checkbox for With Specific Words In The Subject and click the Specific Words Link in the Step 2 box, specify your words, press Add, and press OK. Press Next and select the box for Reply Using A Specific Template and specify a template in the Step 2 window. Apply any exceptions and select Next. Specify a name for the rule and press Finish. You can also use Outlook 2007’s rule templates to move messages, such as those from an important customer or your supervisor, to a location you specify. The combinations of rules and alerts are virtually endless, but by experimenting with the wizard you can create rules that help ensure you see important messages immediately and save time by eliminating the need to respond to the same inquiry repeatedly.
• #314: One of Outlook 2007’s most popular features is Contacts. Think of it as an electronic address book. Outlook 2007 can store a vast amount of information about clients, colleagues, family members, coworkers, suppliers, vendors, and anyone else whose contact information you wish to keep. Select Contacts from the Navigation Pane to access the feature. To create a new Contact, select File | New from the menu bar or press the New button on the Standard toolbar. An Untitled Contact appears. Enter the information you wish to include for the contact and press Save and Close. The contact will now appear in the Contacts list. Using Contacts helps eliminate typing mistakes when addressing e-mail messages, as you can press the To button in e-mail messages and select a recipient from the resulting Select Names entries (which is populated using your default Contacts file). Should you receive a vCard in an e-mail message, you can simply drag-and-drop the card to the Contacts display button in the Navigation Pane and Outlook 2007 will automatically add the contact for you. Contacts enables users to sort entries alphabetically, by category, by company, by location, or even by a customized view. When you need to update an entry, just select the contact, select the field needing updating, and make the change. Press Save and Close to store the changes. Delete contacts by right-clicking on a contact and pressing Delete. Contacts are also used to invite others to meetings. Let’s explore Calendars next.
• #315: Think of Outlook 2007’s Calendar as an electronic planner. Calendar stores appointments by categories you specify. These categories are color-coded (shown at top). If no category is specified or a previous version of Outlook 2007 is used, the busy indicator is blue in color and out of office is purple. These colors are still used in the scheduling calendar. Press Calendar in the Navigation Pane to open the feature. To schedule an appointment, select the appropriate month in the Navigation Pane and select the date; then, either highlight the time, right-click the highlighted time span and select New Appointment, or press the New button on the Standard toolbar. A new Untitled Appointment will appear (as shown in the bottom picture of the slide). Provide the appropriate information and list the attendees for the meeting or event. If Outlook 2007 is connected to an Exchange server, you can check other invitees’ schedules (to confirm they’re free) using the Scheduling tab. Use the Recurrence button to set a regularly recurring meeting. Specify reminders by checking the Reminder checkbox and specifying when attendees should receive an alert for the impending event. Selecting the All Day Event checkbox automatically schedules the appointment for the entire day. Use the Show Time As drop-down box to specify whether Calendar should display the scheduled time as being free, tentative, busy, or out of the office. When you’ve provided all the information for the appointment, press Save and Close.
• #316: If you create an appointment for yourself, the item will automatically be added to your Calendar. When you receive appointment requests from others, you’ll see several options including Accept, Tentative, and Decline. Select the appropriate choice and, based on your selection, the appointment will be declined or accepted and added to your Calendar. If you tentatively accept an appointment, it will appear with a striped border within your Calendar (as opposed to blue or purple).
• #317: Outlook 2007 also offers a powerful electronic To Do list. Tasks supports creating To Do lists that help you track specific projects. To use Tasks, select Tasks from the Navigation Pane. Select New from the Standard toolbar, and you’ll see a new Untitled Task (as displayed here). Enter a subject, specify start and due dates, indicate the priority, and set the status, as well as any reminders, categories, and the percent of the project that’s complete. You can also link a task to a contact, mark the task as private, and provide additional information (including billing information, mileage data, and other details) using the Details tab. Tasks you perform each day, week, or month can be set to recur using the Recurrent button. Should you choose, you can assign tasks to others using the Assign Task button. Once you’ve entered all the appropriate information, press Save and Close, and Outlook 2007 will add the task to your Task list. You can sort Tasks a number of ways. Right-click any column heading to access the sorting menu. Additional fields can be added by clicking Field Chooser and specifying fields you wish for Tasks to display. When a Task is complete, highlight the respective Task and press delete. Alternatively, you can edit a Task at any time by double-clicking it, making the changes you require, and pressing Save and Close.