Outlook Blog

PST Capture: New tool to manage those ever multiplying inboxes

Emily Warn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:13:00 GMT

We wanted to let you know about some good news from the Exchange team.They've released a new administrative tool called PST Capture that helps IT administrators manage .pst files. It lets them search across networks to discover .pst files and then import them into Exchange Server or Exchange Online.So what's a .pst file?

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Important: Update your Outlook Facebook Connector

Annik Stahl — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:07:00 GMT

Recently, we released a small update to the software that connects the Outlook Social Connector to Facebook. If you already use the Outlook Social Connector to connect to Facebook, you can get the software update in our download center. If you don't use Outlook Social Connector, you should try it out. It integrates your contacts and email messages in Outlook with status updates from social networks in one single place for you to view. The really good thing about the update is that it lets you connect...(read more)

Outlook on Outlook: Autumn 2011 posts

Annik Stahl — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:00:00 GMT

I'm starting a new feature here on the Outlook blog: A seasonal roundup of the best and brightest blog posts, articles, and general news about Outlook. Take a look; you may have missed something that could very well change your life (at least the way you email about it, calendar around it, and make tasks for it).

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Say Om: Outlook as guru

Annik Stahl — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Every morning, right before I let her out, Bamboo plants her paws in front of my feet and casually leans into a perfect and seemingly effortless Downward-facing Dog asana, this simplest of yoga poses.

And every morning I admire—or is it envy?—her unencumbered life, her absence of guile, her lack of…multiple email accounts, calendars, and devices. It’s possible that through this desire for simplicity that I finally figured out I don't have to juggle several different kinds of software on several difference devices to manage my own busy, laden, and not guileless life.

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Outlook Today: Your morning coffee before the onslaught

Annik Stahl — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Let's take a look at your morning. Chances are it takes you a while to wake up. You may need a shower, a shave, some coffee, breakfast, and maybe a chat with your loved one. Then—and only then—will you feel steady enough to wrestle with that onerous inbox of yours. I am very much this way: The last thing I want to do first thing is jump right into email. It's tempting, I know. How beautiful those bolded folders are with their brilliant blue unread mail counts, just itching to take over your brain, your time, and your life.

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Noisy Outlook Inbox? Turn down the sound with a couple of tweaks

Annik Stahl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Before I hop into today's features that you MUST use, I need to first explain what Conversations are (in Outlook, not in life; I assume we are all up to speed on the back and forth that happens between people...and their pets). Conversations in Outlook are simply email threads — the complete chain of messages from the first message through all the responses. In Outlook 2010 you can view all your messages in any folder in Conversation view (on the View tab, in the Conversations group, select...(read more)

Outlook's Junk Email Filter: The bouncer in your inbox

Annik Stahl — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:00 GMT

There's nothing worse finding your home mailbox filled with trash: useless coupons, real estate ads for houses you'll never be able to afford (cruel marketers!), sweepstakes entries, direct mail nonsense, and catalogs for you, your clothes, your hobbies, your wife (her clothes, her hobbies), your kids (ditto), and even your pets.

But wait; there IS something worse: Junk mail in your inbox, clogging it with promises of weight loss, virility, cases of champagne, and miracle cream to erase your fine lines and bad memories.

Making friends with your Outlook Junk Mail filter is like employing your very own beefy bouncer who’ll never let the uncool people beyond the front door.

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Share your Outlook calendar: Your time is my time

Annik Stahl — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 GMT

There are three different ways in which you can share your Outlook 2010 calendar:

By email, where your calendars can arrive in your recipient's inbox as an attachment, and with a "Calendar Snapshot" in the body of the message,
With Exchange Server, where you and others using Exchange and can share calendars and manage permissions, too.
By sharing your online, Outlook Hotmail Connector-synchronized calendar with whomever you want.

It just depends on what sort of calendar you're sharing and with whom you want to share it.

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Outlook Quick Steps: One-click shortcuts

Annik Stahl — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Question: How many mouse clicks and keyboard finger tappings does it take to categorize an email message, move it to a folder, add a follow-up flag, reply to it, and create a meeting request about it?

Answer: One, if you're using a Quick Step.

Quick Steps, new in Outlook 2010, is a feature that applies multiple actions at once to an email message. I like to think of Quick Steps as rules that I apply when I want to (rather than setting something up in Rules that is usually applied automatically). Frankly, I like the control the Quick Steps allow me because I'm looking at each mail that comes in and, with one click, I can have it take any number of actions. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

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10 insider's shortcuts for Outlook

Annik Stahl — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Shortcuts are generally good: When training to do heart surgery? Not good. When developing software that helps people be more productive? Not good. When using software more efficiently? Good. These last two are obviously related: When the developers of Outlook created the program, they did not take shortcuts so that you , as the user of aforementioned software, could. And Outlook has a bevy of really great, really easy to remember keyboard shortcuts that you should know if you want to speed up your...(read more)