Outlook 2000 contains many features that allow you to customize the program to meet your needs. Often times fonts are too small, screens may look confusing to some, and in particular for those with special needs - customization is necessary. Some may want to simply have an extra alert when receiving an email from someone important by having it arrive in the Inbox with a different color font. This tutorial explores some of the most useful ways to customize your Outlook Inbox.
Customizing the Fonts and Table View
Changing the font size of the Inbox is one of the most common user issues I deal with when helping a business migrate to Outlook. For many, the default font in Outlook (8 pt.) is too small. To change the font attributes and table settings, be sure you are viewing your Inbox and follow these steps:
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From the View menu, choose Current View and Customize Current View. The View Summary dialog box displays. In this tutorial, we are concerned with the last two buttons, Other Settings and Automatic Formatting.
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Choose the Other Settings button. The Other Settings dialog box appears and offers a number of ways to customize the fonts and table view. Note that you can change the font for the column headings (From, Subject, etc.), rows (email), and the AutoPreview. AutoPreview allows you to see part of the email before you open it and is on by default. You would be customizing the preview text that is displayed in your Inbox. To toggle the AutoPreview on and off, from the View menu, choose AutoPreview.
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In this tutorial, we are going to customize the row font for email we receive. Choose the Font button from the Rows field. The Font dialog box looks similar to others you have seen and allows you to change the face and size attributes. A small preview box shows the settings as selected. In this example, 12 pt. Arial is chosen.
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Choose OK. The Other Settings dialog box reflects the font changes. Note that there are check boxes in the Rows field for Allow in-cell editing and Show "new item" row. The first check box allows you to alter the subject of email you receive by simply clicking on the subject in the Inbox and retyping. This is useful if you want to use a subject that is more meaningful so that you can find that particular email in your Inbox at a glance. When you click on an email subject, a flashing cursor is given for editing, as in this example:
Once Allow in-cell editing is chosen, the Show "new item" row check box is available. This adds an extra row to the top of your Inbox for posting notes. It is helpful if you would like to add notes to your Inbox for either yourself or someone who has permission to access your Inbox. A discussion thread can be carried on with people who can access your Inbox as they have the ability to reply to your posts. This is most often used in a boss/secretary type situation. Notes are indicated with a different icon, as below:
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In the Other Settings dialog box, there are also options for customizing the table view in the Grid Lines field. Some prefer to have lines separating the different emails in their Inbox. Several line styles and colors are available. In this example, we are using a solid, dark gray line.
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Once you have adjusted the settings you desire, choose OK on the Other Settings dialog box and OK on the View Summary dialog box. The Inbox changes to reflect your settings. The graphics below show the "before" with the default Outlook settings and the "after" with our new row font and grid line settings.
Before
After
Outlook can automatically format email in your Inbox according to the conditions and settings you choose. There are numerous conditions that can be set, including who the email is from, what is in the subject, and keywords contained in the body of the email. You can also set multiple conditions. For example, maybe you would like only the email from your boss dealing with Project X to be colored blue in your Inbox. You would set two conditions: 1) it must be from your boss; and 2) it must contain the words "Project X" in the subject or message body of the email.
Automatic Formatting
For the purposes of this tutorial, we are dealing with the most common issue: formatting all email from an important individual to be a particular color. Other options are also touched upon throughout.
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From the View menu, choose Current View and Customize Current View. The View Summary dialog box displays.
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Choose the Automatic Formatting button. The Automatic Formatting dialog box appears. The first five items in the Rules for this view list are Outlook's default settings for the ways these items are displayed. You can change these settings by selecting an item and modifying the attributes in the Properties of selected rule section.
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For the situation in this tutorial, choose the Add button. An additional item is added to the list and awaits a title. In the Name field of the Properties of selected rule section, type a name for your rule. The name is only seen in this dialog box and is simply a way for you to recognize the rule when deleting or editing.
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Choose the Font button and select the font attributes for the way in which you would like email that fits this rule to appear. Remember, that if you modified your Inbox font as on the previous page of this tutorial, you probably want to choose the same size font here to keep things uniform. Choose OK on the Font dialog box when you are finished.
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Next, choose the Condition button. A myriad of condition choices are offered in the Filter dialog box. The Messages tab is the one most often used. Note that you can have Outlook search for certain words as in the opening "Project X" example. You would place "Project X" in the Search for the word(s) field, select "subject field and message body" for the In field, and place your boss in the From field. Multiple conditions can be selected from any of the tabs displayed and all will apply to the rule you are creating. For our purposes, we just need to place our important individual in the From field to have all email from that person formatted. Choosing the From button allows you to go to your global address and/or contacts list to choose a person. You can also simply type an email address in the From field for those outside your company and contacts list.
The More Choices tab, as displayed below, offers options such as email in categories you have created, email with attachments, and email with a particular importance level.
The Advanced tab gives even more options and allows you to choose from a wide range of fields used in your Inbox such as address fields, date/time fields, and contact fields.
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Once you have entered all of the conditions for your rule, choose OK on the Filter dialog box. You can continue to add rules and conditions by selecting the Add button and repeating the above process. When you are finished, choose OK on the Automatic Formatting dialog box and OK on the View Summary dialog box. In our example, I chose to color email from Karyn Stille red with bold typeface. The result is shown below:
Outlook 2000 is a versatile tool that can organize your email in ways that help you to be more effective in the workplace. Why not take advantage of all this functionality? Customize to your heart's content!