UNL Office 365 channel: Recent Episodes
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View the Created date in the Drafts folder 1. On the View tab, click View Settings. 2. Click the Columns button. 3. On the right side, select Sent and then click <-Remove. 4. On the left side, select Created and then click Add->. 5. Click OK, and then OK.
Mail Merge E-mail Messages
Windows and Mac
Mail merge has been around for a while, but I don't like to waste the money on printing and mailing. With Microsoft Office, I can create an e-mail merge to save on time and money.
For this example, I'll be using Word for my letter, Excel for my list and Outlook to send the email.
In Microsoft Word, you can use an existing letter or type a new one from scratch. I already have a letter I'd like to repurpose for this message.
1. In Windows, click the Mailings tab.
On the Mac, go to the Tools menu and select Mail Merge Manager.
2. In Windows, click Start Mail Merge and select E-mail Message.
On the Mac in the Mail Merge Manager, click Create New and select Form Letters.
3. Click on Select Recipients and select Use Existing List.
On the Mac in the Mail Merge Manager, select Get List and Open Data Source...
4. Navigate to find your list. When using Excel, you'll be asked to select which worksheet to use.
5. In Windows, select the fields to replace and click the words Insert Merge Field and select the name of the field to insert.
On the Mac, from the Mail Merge Manager, simply drag and drop the field to its proper location.
6. Click to Preview Results (View Merged Data on the Mac) and double check everything is okay.
7. Use the record selector to double-check to be sure everything is in the proper location.
8. When satisfied, go to Finish & Merge and Send E-mail Messages.
On the Mac, select Generate e-mail messages in the Mail Merge Manager.
9. Select the field which contains the e-mail address.
Type the Subject line you'd like to appear on the e-mail message,
and then click OK (Mail Merge to Outlook on the Mac).
Back in Outlook, in the Sent Items folder, you'll find all the e-mails that have been sent.
Create a Calendar Appointment from a Mail Message Lotus Notes had a great feature where if someone sent me an e-mail message asking a question that would be best addressed in a meeting, I�d use the action Copy Into New > Calendar Entry. This created the appointment with the text of the message and all attachments. You can accomplish the same thing in Outlook, two different ways.
Drag & Drop The first method is to use Drag & Drop.
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Drag the message from your Mail Inbox to your Calendar (in the Navigation Pane).
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Complete the necessary information and click Save & Close.
You now have the new appointment on your calendar with all the attachments the original text.
Quick Steps If you�re not the drag and drop sort, I�ll show you how to create a quick step that will create a calendar appointment with the text of your message, but as you�ll see, there�s so much more. It�s well worth your time to discover the tools available here.
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On the Home tab, Quick Steps group, click Create New.
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Name the Quick Step.
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From the Choose an Action drop-down list, select Create an appointment with text of message.
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[optional] for additional actions, click Add Action and repeat step #3.
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[optional] choose a Shortcut key.
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Be sure to provide a description of your quick step for the tool tip text.
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Click Finish and you're now ready to use your quick step.
Use the Quick Step
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Open the mail message and select your quick step
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Complete the necessary information and click Save & Close.
You now have the new appointment on your calendar with all the attachments the original text.
For more on Quick Steps, watch this video from Brain Storm.
With Lotus Notes, I created categories for my contacts. It made it easy for me to find who I was looking for just by going to the Category View and select the category needed. Outlook uses categories differently, but you can get the same result by creating folders and folder groups.
Folders 1. In the Navigation Pane, click the Folder View button.
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With the Contacts folder selected, go to the Folder tab and click New Folder.
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Type the name for the folder (be sure Contacts is still selected) and then click OK.
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Your new folder will be listed.
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Drag and drop contacts to the new folder.
Folder Groups Return to Contacts view by clicking the Contacts button in the Navigation Pane.
If you have multiple folders that are related, you can create Folder Groups to better organize your contacts.
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Right-click My Contacts at the top of the Navigation Pane and click New Folder Group.
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Name the new group and press Enter to confirm the name.
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Drag and drop the appropriate folders to the group.
You now have a better organized list of contacts.
Templates
In Lotus Notes, using my Message Stationary was a great time saver. I loved being able to create a New Message with Stationary… and have all the images, text and formatting already done. Outlook can do the same, but it’s called “templates.” Here’s how YOU can create and use a template.
Create a message template
Although e-mail templates are used to send messages that include information that infrequently changes, you can add new information or edit the existing text before sending the message. In your Outlook Mail, create a New E-mail. In the message body, enter the content that you want. Be sure to format the text and include any images necessary. In the message window, click the File tab. Click Save As. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, click Outlook Template. In the File name box, type a name for your template, and then click Save. By default templates (using Windows 7) are saved in the c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates folder. (Windows XP is saved in the c:\documents and settings\username\application data\microsoft\templates folder.)
Send an email message based on a template
In your Outlook Mail, in the New group, click New Items, point to More Items, and then Choose Form. In the Choose Form dialog box, in Look In, click User Templates in File System. The default templates folder is opened. The folder location is as follows: Select the template, and then click Open. Make any additions or revisions to the recipients in the To, Cc, or Bcc boxes. You can also change the text in the Subject box and add contents to the message body. Note Changes made aren’t saved to the template. If you use the Save command, this creates a draft of your message, but won’t update the template. Click Send.
2-Day Calendar View Although there is not a button in Outlook to view your calendar two days at a time, you can do it.
- In the Outlook Calendar, switch to Day view.
- In the date picker, select today's date.
- Hold Ctrl and click tomorrow's date. When you navigate through your calendar, it keeps the two-day view.
You can apply this same trick to view a custom time frame. Perhaps you want to view the next three Thursdays side-by-side.
- Using the date picker, click the first Thursday, then Ctrl-click the remaining days.
This will only work for dates occurring in the same month, but can be incredibly helpful nonetheless.
With Lotus Notes, I was able to color-code messages from specific people. This drew my attention to those specific messages so they didn’t get lost in my Inbox. To do this in Outlook, you’ll want to use Conditional Formatting.
- In Outlook Mail, go to the View tab, Current View group, and click View Settings.
- Click the Conditional Formatting… button. a. On the right, click Add to set the properties of the new formatting rule. b. Provide a descriptive name for the new rule. c. Click Font… to open the font formatting options and make your selection(s). Click OK when finished. d. Click Condition… to set the filter for the messages you want. If formatting is to be applied for message from a specific person, click From… and choose the person from the Address Book. There are many more options on the Messages and More Choices tabs. It’s worth your time to look these over as you may decide to create even more formatting rules based on other conditions. Click OK when complete. e. Click OK to close the Conditional Formatting and then click OK to close the Advanced View Settings.
You should know that this conditional formatting will only be applied in the Outlook 2010 client and will not be applied when in the Outlook Web Access.
Being able to view my coworkers’ free/busy time is a great time-saver when I want to schedule a meeting with them. But there are times when I need to schedule a meeting with someone outside of UNL. When that’s the case, I send them a copy of my calendar for the time period requested so they can match their free time with mine.
To send someone your calendar…
- In a new e-mail message or a reply, click in the body of the message.
- On the Message tab, Include group, click Attach Item and select Calendar.
- In the Send a Calendar via E-Mail dialog box: a. Specify which calendar to include (if you manage more than one). b. Specify the date range. If you don’t see the option you need, select Specify Dates to choose the beginning and end of the date range. c. Select the amount of detail to include. d. If you only want to include working hours, select ☑ Show time within my working hours only.
- Click OK.
The calendar will be added to your message as a neat and easy-to-read table, making it easy for the recipient to select a time that works for both of you.
Should work the same for Windows or Mac.
In Lotus Notes, I could set a reminder on my calendar without it appearing as if I was busy. I want a reminder that I have a report that needs to be signed and turned in. So I’m going to create a reminder in Outlook. Although Outlook doesn’t call this a “reminder” I can create the same thing with an appointment. In your Outlook calendar, click New Appointment. Type the Subject (and location if necessary). Set the start and end times for the same time. Set the Show As: to Free. Set the Reminder: time to 0 minutes. Save & Close your appointment. It will be added to your calendar, but not take up a time slot and will show as Free time for anyone looking to schedule a meeting with you.
Outlook 2010: 1. Open the message. 2. From the Message tab, Move group, click Actions and select Edit Message.
Outlook 2011: 1. Open the message. 2. From the Edit menu, select Edit Message.
This video explains the free/busy time default setting for UNL user calendars. It also explains how to change permission levels on your Outlook calendar.