Manage and Save Your Outlook E-mail
Lesson 1: Conquer your e-mail clutter

Manage your inbox
Learn how Outlook 2003 can help you manage an ever-growing inbox and discover how to create new folders to conquer your e-mail clutter.

Your mailbox is over its size limitDoes this sound like you?
My Outlook email in-box is giving me the squeeze! Every few hours or so, I try to send e-mail, only to be stopped in my tracks by a stupid error message: Your mailbox is over its size limit. I have to waste precious minutes pruning my Inbox while my boss does a slow burn in her office. Finally I’ll free up enough space to send the e-mail, only to get the same error again a few hours later! I’m at the end of my rope. Can’t my e-mail administrators just up my mailbox limit or something?

Yes, Outlook seems to derive a cruel pleasure in hitting us with the “Your mailbox is over its size limit” error just when we’re sending the most important e-mail of the day. All too often, we have had to scramble to delete messages, sometimes even trashing mission-critical e-mail in the process. And even if you have no e-mail administrator, Outlook can become unstable if your Inbox grows too big for its britches.

So what can you do? Fortunately, Outlook 2003 offers a few key ways of keeping your inbox lean and mean, while still allowing you to access all of your e-mail quickly, back it up regularly, and control where you store it.

In this course, we’ll review a couple quick ways in which you can control your email storage on your own PC.

First Step: What’s the size of your Outlook inbox file?

1. Open Outlook
   
2. Click on your inbox folder
   
3. Right-click and select PROPERTIES
   
4. On the bottom of the GENERAL tab, you can view FOLDER SIZE
   (NOTE: If you’re running Outlook 2003 on your PC on an Exchange server (e.g. at work), you can see the size of the file on your PC and compare it with the size of the emails you have sitting on the server)
   

Do the same with your SENT messages.

Organize your folders
The following is an excerpt from How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 by Bill Mann (McGraw-Hill, Copyright © 2005)

There was a time when I kept all my relevant e-mail messages in the Inbox. That approach was workable when I received only a few e-mail messages a day. My Inbox might contain hundreds of messages, but a quick visual search or a search with Find or Advanced Find would quickly turn up the messages I needed.

But as e-mail became more common, that system became unworkable. For one, my Inbox would regularly contain over 2000 messages. Even with Find or Advanced Find, finding anything in that mess took a while. Searches might turn up dozens of matches that I would have to look through to find the information I needed.

The answer to the problem was to create a system of folders to hold related messages (and other Outlook items as necessary).

To create a new folder, follow these steps:

1. Click File New, then Folder. This opens the Create New Folder dialog box shown below.
   Creating new folders in Outlook makes it possible to manage your information more efficiently.
   
2. Enter the name for the folder, making sure to choose a name that will remind you of what is in the folder later on.
   
3. In the Folder Contains list, select the type of Outlook items that you plan to store in the folder.
   
4. In the Select Where To Place The Folder list, select the name of the folder that you want to contain your new folder. For example, select Inbox if you want the new folder to appear as a subfolder of the Inbox.
   

Organizing your e-mail into folders will come in handy when it’s time to shrink the e-mail you keep lying around.

Lesson 2: How Outlook stores e-mail
Learn how to create different .PST files to store e-mail.

Outlook stores your information in various locations, depending on how you or your network administrator configured Outlook. The location where your personal information is stored is called the primary store. In most cases, the primary store is a Personal Folders file on your hard drive. Personal Folders files are often called .pst files because .pst is the file name extension.

Most of the time, you can leave Personal Folders files in the default location selected by Outlook. But you can move Personal Folders files to new locations, as well as create additional files in the Outlook Data Files dialog box.

Why create additional files? Well, if you upgraded from an earlier version of Outlook, your system probably uses the old style of Personal Folders file. In addition, while Personal Folders files can hold gigabytes of data, they can be difficult to manage after they reach a few hundred megabytes. Some people create new Personal Folders files every few months to simplify the task of backing up and maintaining the files.

To view information about your Outlook data files or create new files, follow these steps:

1. In the Outlook main window, click File Data File Management to open the Outlook Data Files dialog box.
   
2. Select the Data File you want to work with and then click one of the buttons along the right side of the dialog box to make any changes.
   
3. Use the Settings button to view General Information about the Data File, including its location and format. Click Compact Now if you want to reduce the size of the file by compacting (or compressing) it.
   

Lesson 3: Archive old e-mail
Learn how to use Outlook’s AutoArchive feature to rid your inbox and folders of old e-mail.
The following is an excerpt from, How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 by Bill Mann (McGraw-Hill, copyright 2005)

Eventually, you’ll need to do something with old Outlook items. When you reach the point where you have hundreds, even thousands of items in individual folders, it just becomes too cumbersome and time-consuming to do anything with them. There are several ways to tackle this problem, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

You can set aside some time every so often to go through folders and delete old items you don’t need anymore. The advantage of this approach is that you’re in control of every item. The disadvantages of this approach are that it is time-consuming, and even if you do get rid of items you don’t need, your folders are likely to keep growing, just a bit more slowly than if you didn’t delete old items.

You can use AutoArchive to automatically archive items that are over a certain age. Items that get archived are removed from the Outlook folders they were in, so your folders get cleaned up automatically. AutoArchive organizes the contents of the data file the same way your regular Outlook folders are organized, so you can actually find things you store in the data file.

Everyone groans when they hear this suggestion, but taking the time now to set up your archiving settings will save you grief later. Just follow these steps:

• Right-click your Inbox or a subdirectory, click AutoArchive, and select the “Archive this folder using these settings” radio button.
  Use AutoArchive to keep your Inbox small and avoid the size limit snag.
  
• Decide when messages get archived and where to store the archive on your system. This gets your e-mail off the servers that are under the control of the stingy IT people, who are ultimately responsible for your out-of-space messages to begin with, and onto your local hard disk. When you’re done setting AutoArchive preferences for all of your directories (and don’t forget Sent Items), go to the File menu, select Archive, click the “Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings” radio button, and click the OK button.
  

Lesson 4: Compacting your data files
Learn how to squeeze out unused space in your data files to keep them as compact as possible.

One surprising thing about the way Outlook stores information in data files is that the files don’t automatically get smaller when you remove items from them. Without some sort of intervention on your part, your data files will only get bigger and bigger. To squeeze out the unused space in data files, you must manually compact them.

Compacting a data file reorganizes the information in it, allowing it to shrink to occupy only the amount of space actually needed for the items it contains. Compacting a data file can take several minutes but can free a lot of disk space and perhaps improve Outlook performance. To compact a data file, follow these steps:

1. Click File Data File Management to open the Outlook Data Files dialog box shown in the illustration. You should see one or more data file names in the list. You can manage all your Outlook data files from this dialog box.
   
2. Select the data file you want to compact (Outlook.pst should appear in the list with a name of Personal Folders), then click Settings to open a settings dialog box for that data file like the one shown here.
   
3. Click Compact Now and Outlook will squeeze out the wasted space in your data file.
   

Tip: Compact your data files a few times a year, more frequently if your PC is low on disk space.

Lesson 5: Back up your files
Explore how to back up your e-mail.
The following is an excerpt from, How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 by Bill Mann (McGraw-Hill, Copyright © 2005)

Now that we have organized the inbox with folders, archived old e-mail, and squeezed all of our data files storing the e-mail, we are ready to back it up and, if need be, move it to a different computer.

Considering how much information you’re likely to have stored away in your Personal Folders after awhile, backing it up seems only prudent. Here’s how you do it:

1. Figure out where Outlook.pst and your other PST files are stored on your computer. Some of the folders you need to navigate through may be hidden. You can look in Windows help to see how to make hidden folders visible for your version of Windows, but you might need help from your network administrator or someone else who has administrative rights on this computer.
   
2. Once you know where your PST files are stored, navigate to that folder, then shut down Outlook.
   
3. Using the backup method of your choice, store a copy of Outlook.pst and your other PST files in a safe place. As long as Outlook is closed, you can copy and paste Outlook.pst just like any other file. But you need to pay attention to the size of the file. Outlook.pst can grow to occupy hundreds of megabytes of disk space, making it impractical to back up on low-capacity storage media.
   
4. If Outlook.pst is just a bit too big for any of your available backup options, consider compacting it, then trying to back it up again. Depending on a variety of factors, compacting Outlook.pst can significantly reduce its size.
   

Tip: If you plan on moving your Outlook.pst to a different computer running Outlook 2003, change the name of the file, perhaps by adding the date of the backup to it. Outlook on your new computer will already have an Outlook.pst that it will store e-mail in.

Lesson 6: Moving your e-mail
Learn how to move your e-mail to a different computer.

So how do now move your e-mail to a different computer? First things first: make sure the new computer you will be using has Outlook 2003. Then, take the backup of your e-mail and save it in a safe location on the computer. Now, Outlook needs to find it.

1. Open Outlook and choose File Data File Management to open the Outlook Data Files dialog box.
2. Click the Add button.
   
3. In the Create/Open Personal Folders File dialog box, navigate to the location of your PST file, select the File, and click the Open button.
4. When Outlook displays a message saying that it is unable to display the file, ignore the message and click one of the folders in the Navigation pane. Outlook should function normally again, and you should now see your e-mail in Outlook.

Managing e-mail for fun and profit: Outlook tips and tricks

By David Ian MillerDecember 14, 2005

Executive summary:Outlook, Microsoft's popular e-mail program, can do a lot of what you need to keep your business organized. Its tight integration between calendar, to-do list, and e-mail functions greatly simplifies many organizational chores.

One of the biggest chores of running a small business is staying organized. There are meetings to keep, bills to pay, phone numbers and e-mail addresses to track--and you may need to share some or all of the info. Since an e-mail program is the one application that people tend to use throughout the day, it's the logical place to store and organize business information.

Outlook, Microsoft's popular e-mail program, can do a lot of what you need. Its tight integration between calendar, to-do list, and e-mail functions greatly simplifies many organizational chores. In fact, it does so many things that locating the most useful features among the many toolbars, options, and functions can be challenging.
Here are some helpful hints.

Tip 1
Do I even need Outlook?If all you want to do is manage your e-mail, you don't need Outlook. Programs such as Thunderbird, an excellent free e-mail program, and Eudora, available in free ad-sponsored and paid ad-free versions, offer robust spam filters and mail-organization features. If, however, you want one program for all of your information management needs, such as scheduling, maintaining a contact database and to-do lists, Outlook is an excellent choice.
Tip 2
Which version of Outlook?Outlook Express, a no-frills version of the program that comes installed on most Windows PCs, is fine for basic e-mail management. It comes with a stripped-down address book, support for HTML messages, and a newsgroup reader. But the best choice for small businesses is Outlook, sold separately ($87 to $99 for the 2003 edition) or as a component of Microsoft's Office Suite ($370 to $450 for Small Business Edition 2003). Outlook lets you keep information such as addresses, phone numbers, e-mail, and notes from meetings in one place and organize it in ways that make sense to you.
Use it with Microsoft Exchange Server, and colleagues can share scheduling information and contact lists, and they can prevent recipients from forwarding, copying, or printing private important e-mail messages.

Tip 3
How can Outlook help my business? Here's just one example of a way to use Outlook to be more efficient during your busy day. Let's say you receive e-mail from a client requesting a phone meeting. Just drag the message over to the calendar button on Outlook's taskbar, and a dialog box pops up scheduling the call. Drag the message onto your task list, and the call is added to your to-dos.
If the e-mail happens to be from a new contact, drag it over to the contacts button, and a new address book entry is created with information from the e-mail. The e-mail's text is also pasted into the calendar, task, or contact boxes for a handy reference. Having everything in one place can save time and increase efficiency.

Tip 4
Tailor Outlook to suit your needsExpect to spend some time customizing Outlook to get the most out of the program. Ann Markham, a New York-based freelance makeup artist, devoted the better part of a weekend to that process. She set up folders for filing e-mail messages and created categories for her calendar and task lists, along with commands to send e-mail directly into designated folders.
"Outlook out of the box is a time-waster," she says. "I could never find the information I needed without searching through hundreds of e-mails or other information. After I set all this up, Outlook immediately turned into a huge time-saver."
Markham says Outlook has replaced her desk calendar, appointment notebooks, and "the scraps of paper I used to write critical information on and promptly lose. Now," she says, "everything goes into Outlook--my work schedule, my personal appointments, and notes on what products I suggested to clients. I have everything I need to take care of my business, apart from my 20-pound makeup case."

Tip 5
Setting up rulesOutlook's Rules feature lets you automate many tasks. For example, you can set up rules so that Outlook alerts you with a pop-up dialog box and/or sound when e-mail arrives from specified senders. These alerts free you from constantly checking your in-box. You can also set up rules to sort e-mail into project folders, forward all messages from specific clients to an assistant or a partner while you're out of the office, or send messages to your cell phone.

Tip 6
Business Contact ManagerWhen you purchase Microsoft's Office Small Business Edition 2003 or Office Professional Edition 2003, Outlook 2003 comes with Business Contact Manager (BCM), a useful tool designed to help small businesses manage customer information and sales opportunities. BCM is a database in which you store information on clients and partners, such as billing records, sales leads, and meeting action items. The program is integrated into Outlook, making it easy to move information in BCM to and from e-mail, calendar entries, and to-do lists.
You can perform simple but useful functions, such as opening a client's record and clicking on a timer, while you're working on that client's job to keep track of billable hours. But most useful is the Reports function, which automatically culls information from all of your client records into an easy-to-read format. For example, if you're wondering how to make best use of your time this week, run a "to do" report. The program will search through all of your client records, find pending deadlines, scheduled meetings, and follow-up calls, then it will create one unified to-do list based on all that information.
If you're a licensed user of Office Small Business Edition 2003 or Office Professional Edition 2003 who purchased the product before BCM was released in June 2005, you can download the Business Contact Manager Update for free.

Tip 7
How about other add-ons?Microsoft also offers a slew of free add-ons for Outlook (and Office), ranging from plug-ins that provide new functions to clip art to templates for business forms. You can, for example, get an automatic backup of Outlook files and plug-ins for working with Outlook on your cell phone or handheld devices. Browse through the offerings and find the ones that are right for your business.

Tip 8
Keeping out spamOutlook 2003's junk e-mail filter works fairly well, but the free Outlook add-on SpamBayes works even better. You'll need to train the program by letting it compare a folder of your collected spam to a file of legitimate messages.

Tip 9
It's not all goodOutlook has its drawbacks. Besides being so feature-packed that it's easy to overlook useful functions, Outlook is also a large program that hogs computer resources. But the biggest downside is security. Microsoft has done a good job of making Outlook 2003 less vulnerable to e-mailed viruses by blocking certain attachments, but since most e-mail viruses are created with Outlook and the Windows operating system, using Outlook still presents a potential security risk. That makes updating the program with Microsoft's free security patches all the more important.

Tip 10
Do I have to use Outlook?You won't find anything to equal Outlook's range of functions wrapped up in a single package. That said, Thunderbird expects to release a version of its e-mail program with a full-featured calendar sometime soon. Meantime, if you want to "build your own," you can download a copy of Thunderbird and mix and match extensions, such as calendars, assorted contact managers, and note-taking and to-do lists. It isn't the integrated solution presented by Outlook, but it is free.

Tip 11
For more informationSlipstick offers an excellent selection of frequently updated tips and tricks in discovering all of Outlook's features. About.com's Outlook page has a lengthy list of Outlook suggestions, many aimed at beginners.