Mailhelp

RSS Popper is a news aggregator add-in for Outlook. News items delivered directly to Outlook as e-mails. No need to use a separate program for reading RSS anymore. All RSS/RDF/Atom formats are supported. Outlook Express version also available. Version 0.37

Related articles by Zemanta

• Outlook Express Password Recovery

Outlook LAN Messenger is a cross platform instant messaging software designed for use within local area networks. This Intranet Office Messenger is an ideal replacement for Internet messengers in companies, providing private and secure messaging, improving internal communications and business productivity inside the office. Outlook plug-in allows you to send Messages and Calendar to other users. Version 5.

I’m a big fan of reducing the amount of ways that applications can interrupt me with notifications, messages, etc. Since I spend so much time in Outlook and receive an enormous amount of e-mail, I find that turning off all of the notifications for new messages is a great way to ‘quiet down’ Outlook. This includes things like:

• the New Mail Desktop Alert
• the envelope icon that appears in the system tray
• the cursor briefly changing to an envelope
• the ‘ding’ sound that accompanies all of the above

They’re a bit hard to find in our Options dialogs, and that’s something we hope to address in a future release of Outlook. Until then, if you want to eliminate some or all of these notifications, here’s where to find the controls for turning them off: Go to the Tools menu, then choose Options. In the ‘Email’ section at the top of the dialog, click E-mail Options…, then Advanced E-Mail Options in the next dialog.

Still with me? :) Good, since you’ve now found the options:

I like to turn all of them off, but feel free to change them however you would like. You can also edit some of the settings of the New Message Alert pop-up using the Desktop Alert Settings button…

That’s it! I hope you find a quiet Outlook as helpful to your productivity as I do. Michael Affronti Outlook Program Manager

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hands-on with Xobni: make Outlook more productive, social

When Outlook doesn’t shutdown cleanly, your Outlook Data File (either a .pst or .ost file) can be left in an unverified state that can cause one of the following errors to appear the next time you boot Outlook:

“Outlook cannot open the data file filename until it has been checked for problems.” “Microsoft Office Outlook’ exited without properly closing your Outlook data file ‘drive:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.ost’. ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ must be restarted. If this error message recurs, contact support for ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ for assistance.” “The data file filename was not closed properly’. This file is being checked for problems.”

At this point Outlook needs to perform a reconciliation of the data file, a simple process that ‘cleans up’ the file from an incorrect shutdown. While the verification is happening, you will see a small ‘gear’ icon in the lower-right corner of Outlook:

Again, it’s okay to continue using Outlook as you would normally while this is happening as this reconciliation process happens in the background. When this icon disappears, the .pst file or the .ost file is verified.

If you shutdown Outlook while the gear icon is present, then verification must restart the next time you run Outlook. We recommend that you leave Outlook running until the gear icon disappears before shutting down. An incorrectly shut down Outlook Data File may occur for one of the following reasons:

• Another program that is accessing your Outlook Data File doesn’t exit cleanly
• Antivirus scanning of the file
• Outlook add-ins
• Outlook crashing
• Forced Microsoft Windows shutdown before the Outlook.exe process shuts down completely

If you believe you’re seeing this last issue often and need to shutdown Outlook shortly before shutting down your computer, then it may be better to shut down Windows when the Outlook window is still open instead of shortly afterwards. Michael Affronti Outlook Program Manager

Related articles by Zemanta

• Defrost Outlook Fixes Outlook 2007's Post-SP1 Freezing Bug [Featured Windows Download]
• Outlook Tip: Create Quick Appointments with Outlook 2007

“I tried to send a large attachment to a friend and now the e-mail is stuck in my Outbox! I’ve been trying to delete it and I can’t because Outlook says it’s still trying to send it. Help!”

This is a fairly common issue that we’ve heard a lot of users report through the blog, so we wanted to write a quick post and explain the easiest way to get out of this situation. E-mail messages can get stuck in the Outbox for a few different reasons, but the most common case happens when the e-mails are very large (megabyte-wise) due to their attachments. You may even see errors like “Outlook is transmitting the message” when trying to delete them from the Outbox. So if you’ve got an e-mail stuck in your Outbox and you can’t re-open it, try this:

1. Go the File menu, then choose Work Offline in order to stop Outlook from trying to send all mails:
   
2. Switch to the Outbox.
3. You now have two options:a. Move the message: you can drag-and-drop or use the Edit: Move to Folder menu item to move the e-mail to your drafts folder. This will allow you to re-open the offending e-mail and slim it down by removing the large attachments before attempting to resend it.
b. Delete the message: this will immediately remove the message from the Outbox and put it in Deleted Items.
4. Go to the File menu, deselect Work Offline to start sending and receiving mail again.

Instead of sending a large attachment, consider putting the file on a local network share or a SharePoint site inside your company and then sending a link around:

For details on how to add a link, see: Use hyperlinks in Outlook items and/or Add links containing spaces to an e-mail message. If you’re sending it to users outside your company or are just sharing files with friends, you can use Windows Live SkyDrive as a cool and convenient way to store and send large files around. Hope that helps get you unstuck! Michael Affronti Outlook Program Manager

For some of us, the AutoArchive reminder pops up at regular—and often inconvenient—intervals. For others, we think we’ve got it working, moving our unneeded Outlook items to be stored elsewhere, but we’re still playing it safe with the settings so that we don’t lose anything important. Or if we lose track of where our items are stored, we worry that they’ve been deleted. For the basics of AutoArchiving, see Use AutoArchive to back up or delete items on Office Online. How can we be sure that we set things up so that our unneeded items are safely stored, but that keeping them “out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t also mean “gone forever?” There are a lot of options in the dialog below. For an in-depth explanation of the AutoArchive settings see the “AutoArchive settings explained”article on Office Online.

Take control when customizing your AutoArchive settings If you remember nothing else, remember this: under the umbrella of AutoArchive, archiving and deleting are two separate things. If something is archived, it is not deleted. Archiving only moves items. Here are the details: · AutoArchive moves items from their original location in Outlook to an archive file folder when they expire; that is, when they pass their aging period. It can also automatically delete items instead of archiving them when they expire. The different types of Outlook items have default aging periods that do not change unless you modify the settings for them manually. Translation: Items are moved or deleted on a preset timetable. You can either let Outlook’s default aging periods decide when your items are archived, or you can adjust the settings to suit your needs. For more information, see the aging period tables at the end of this post. · Items are moved to and stored in their archived locations unless you change one or more AutoArchive settings. The items are not deleted from their archived location; they can only be deleted automatically before they are moved to their archive location. Once they are archived, they can only be deleted manually. Translation: Once items are moved, they are never deleted from their archived location, unless you or an administrator do so manually (or if your computer hard drive or mail server crashes and burns) . And items are only deleted before being moved if you set it up that way. For more information, see Where does Outlook move my archived items? in the next section. · Choosing a setting which deletes items deletes the items automatically when they expire. They are not archived (moved). For instance, if you click Delete expired items (e-mail folders only), this option deletes all messages in all your e-mail folders, such as Inbox, Sent, or Drafts, when they reach the end of their aging periods. The messages are not archived. Translation: Items that you choose to be deleted when they expire are not archived (moved). Expire = reaching the end of an aging period. And you can change the aging periods too. Choosing a setting to delete items….deletes them. Where does Outlook move my archived items? The archive file is a special type of data file, an Outlook Date File (or Personal Folders file, .pst). The first time AutoArchive runs, by default Outlook creates the archive file automatically in the following locations:

• Windows Vista C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst
• Microsoft Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName \Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst

You can also create your own archive files and storage locations for individual folders, so your storage locations may differ. Note: As a best practice, it’s recommended that you backup your .pst files. Even though they are archived, there is still just one copy of each .pst. Make backups so that you don’t lose your archives in the event of a hard drive or server crash or file corruption. Default aging periods for when items in folders expire or are deleted

Folder	Aging period
Inbox and Drafts	6 months
Sent Items and Deleted Items	1 months
Outbox	3 months
Calendar	6 months
Task	6 months
Notes	6 months
Journal	6 months
Contacts	don't expire

Note: Folders you create that contain the same types of items as Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, or Journal have the same default, six-month aging period. Determine the age of an item

Item Type	When the aging period starts
E-mail message	The received date/time or when you last changed and saved the message, whichever is later.
Meeting, event, or appointment	The date when you last changed and saved the item.
Task	The completion date or when you last changed and saved the task. Tasks that are not marked complete are not AutoArchived. Tasks assigned to other people are archived only if marked complete.
Note	When you last changed and saved the note.
Journal entry	The date the Journal entry was created or when you last changed and saved the entry.
Contact	Contacts are not archived by default. However, you may manually archive them.

I hope this has helped you feel more confident about taking advantage of the convenience of AutoArchive. If not, let us know what issues you are running into. Now, Outlook users, go forth and AutoArchive! Laurie Hughes Outlook UA writer

The Outlook Mobile Service (OMS) was introduced in Outlook 2007 to allow you to send and receive text messages in Outlook. It also enables you to configure mobile notifications to have important messages, calendar summaries, and reminders forwarded to your mobile phone as text messages. The OMS features depend on hosting providers which provide the connection between Outlook and your mobile phone. Until now, few users in North America were able to use these features because only a few wireless service providers were supported by SMSLink, the only hosting provider available in North America when Outlook 2007 was released. With the recent introduction of SMSOfficer, a new OMS hosting provider, you can send and receive text messages in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 regardless of which wireless service provider you use. Click here to create an account with an Outlook Mobile Service (OMS) hosting provider to connect Outlook 2007 with your mobile phone. After you’ve created an Outlook Mobile Service account, click here to learn how to send and receive text messages… …and configure mobile notifications in Outlook 2007. I hope you find this useful! Ellen Adams Program Manager, Microsoft Office Outlook

Connecting a Hotmail account to Outlook improves both sides of the equation. Learn about the Hotmail Outlook connection, making a new Hotmail account or updating your existing one to work with Outlook, and why it is worth the effort.

I've received several questions recently on reducing the size of Outlook's data files, so added this page on how to compact Outlook .pst files for both Outlook 2003 and 2007.

Back again with more Outlook 2007 course info. Automatically find the course at a school near you with this link.