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Archive for Outlook Installation/Setup
Outlook like any other program is also suspectible to failure.
For most of us, Outlook is a “treasure(Data) chest” with so much valuable information related to our work, business, clients etc.
In an earlier post, we have discussed the importance of maintaining your Outlook Data files especially if you have been using it for a long time or you could suddenly (i.e. without warning) end up with a corrupted Outlook data file with Outlook no longer able to open your emails.
If you find that your Outlook is slower than normal, crashes or freezes often, one of the first troublshooting steps you should try before doing uninstallation and reinstallation of Outlook is creating a New Profile. A new profile is also recommended when you are upgrading to the latest version of Outlook.
You can follow the steps below to create a new profile:
- Ensure that Outlook is closed
- Open Control Panel
- Open the Mail Setup dialog box: If you use the Category view, look for the Mail Setup dialog box in the User Accounts category.
- In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
- On the General tab, under When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile: click Prompt for a profile to be used, and then click Add.
- In the Profile Name box, type the name that you want to use for the new email profile, and then click OK.
- In the E-mail Accounts dialog box, click Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next.
- Click the appropriate server type for your new email account, and then click Next.
- Type your account information in the required boxes, and then click Next.
- Click Finish, and then click OK.
To add your existing personal data store to the new Profile:
- After you click Finish in the profile wizard, select the new profile from the Mail dialog and choose Properties > click Email Accounts > click view or change email accounts.
- Select New Outlook data file and find your existing PST, add it to the profile and set it as the default.
- Click OK until you are back to the Email Accounts dialog and select the PST you just added in the “Deliver new e-mail to the following location” menu.
- When you return to the Mail Setup dialog, choose Data Files and remove the extra personal folders from your profile.
If you open Outlook, you will now get a prompt to select the profile you would like to use.
Do you have any other remedies to solve the issues discussed above?
Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Wednesday,
April
11th,
2012
Did you know that there is a built-in feature in Outlook that disables addins automatically?
Have you come across a time when you open Outlook in the morning only to find that your favourite outlook addin is missing from the toolbar/ribbon?
There is no need to panic, this post shows you simple steps you can follow to enable the disabled addins.
The steps will differ slightly based on the version of Outlook you are using:
In Outlook 2003
- Open Outlook
- Click Help on the menu bar >About Microsoft Outlook
- Click the Disabled Items button
- Select the file related to the addin
- Click Enable
- Restart Outlook
In Outlook 2007:
- Open Outlook
- Click Help on the menu bar >Disabled items…
- Select the file related to the addin
- Click Enable
- Restart Outlook
In Outlook 2010
- Open Outlook
- Click the File tab >Options
- Click Addins from the right panel
- From the Manage: drop-down list, select Disabled items and click the Go button
- Select the file related to the addin
- Click Enable
- Restart Outlook
This should now enable the disabled addin.
Hope you will not panic the next time an addin is disabled, enabling it will only take you a few clicks.
Let us know if this tip is helpful by leaving a comment below
Tuesday,
March
20th,
2012
I recently read an interesting article on TechRepublic about the 10 most important things to teach Outlook users.
One of the point refers to… backing up your Outlook data. I am frequently surprised by how many Outlook users just assume that their Outlook data is backed up when they backup their Documents folder. Guess what… your Outlook data is not in your Documents folder.
Unless you are part of a corporate network using MS Exchange, all your Outlook data is stored in one Personal Folder file.
- This file has a .pst extension and is saved somewhere on your computer.
- This one file probably contains all your Outlook folders, e-mails, contacts, tasks, calendar items, journal entries and notes inside it.
- (Unfortunately) This file is NOT saved to your Documents folder (at least not by default) so chances are you are not backing it up.
So let me show you how to find out where your Outlook Data File is stored:
The exact location depends on the version of Outlook and Windows. To find out where your Outlook data is:
- Go to your Inbox and make sure that the list of folders is displayed
- Right-click the top-level folder and select Properties
- Click the Advanced button. The full path to where your Data file is stored will provided in the box labeled Filename:
It would be a good idea to include that file as part of your normal computer backup plan. This ensures that your Outlook data is also getting backed up along with other things.
If you are using more than one PST (e.g. a separate file for archives), then you need to do the above for each of your Outlook data files.
I hope that this little tip helps keep your Outlook data protected.
Do you have your own tips on how to better use Outlook, share it with us and our readers by leaving a comment below.
Related Posts
Is your Outlook data ready to crash – Outlook will not open?
How to maintain Outlook data (PST) Files
How to protect your Outlook Data from data loss
Thursday,
September
22nd,
2011
Everytime you open Outlook in the morning, the first thing you see is a inbox full of emails that you will be working on. This is how the day starts for alot of us, but this can be changed.
We are all different and we always like things which can be personalized and configured to our likings.
Do you wish to view your Calender, Contacts, Task or anything other then your Inbox (emails) in the morning?
I personally have Outlook setup to open my Calendar so I know what I had actually planned for my day. (I don’t like starting with the Inbox because it is too easy to jump into emails and start working on things that are not real priorities)
You can follow the simple steps below to change to the folder of your choice:
In Outlook 2010:
- Click the File menu > Options > click Advanced on the left column
- Under Outlook Start and Exit, click Browse and then choose what folder you want Outlook to show you first: Calendar, Contacts, Tasks or any of your other folders
In Outlook 2007 & 2003:
- Click the Tools menu > Options
- Click the Other tab, and then click Advanced Options.
- Under General Settings, next to the Startup in this folder box, click Browse and then choose what folder you want Outlook to show you first: Calendar, Contacts, Tasks or any of your other folders.
Now when you start Outlook, it will display the folder that you have selected above.
Microsoft has released Office 2010 Service Pack 1 a few days back. The Office 2010 SP1 contains all updates released through April 2011 to June 2011 for the various applications that are part of the Office Suite.
We recommend that you do not download/install the service pack… yet!
In addition to bug fixes, SP1 contains additional improvements such as reducing the number of crashes and improved security.
Click Here to view the full list of issues addressed in SP1.
If you go to Microsoft’s update page you will notice that the update is available however it has not been checked yet. Since the update was just released few days back, I would recommend you skip the download of the update for now until further testing has been completed.
For those who are willing to download the update, you can download the packages from the Microsoft web site using the following links:
Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 1 64-bit
Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 1 32-bit
Thursday,
April
28th,
2011
Here is a simple tip on how to password protect your Outlook emails from other users of the same computer.
I was recently asked (via Facebook)… How can I secure my Outlook account and let no one see my mail?
The best way to do this is to actually have a separate WINDOWS account on your computer where you login to do your work. If every user on your computer has a different Windows login then there is no need to protect your emails separately. Just remember to log out or lock your computer whenever you are away.
But… if you will be sharing the same Windows login with more than one person (or if you have setup Windows so that there is no login screen at all) then here is what you can do.
WARNING: Do NOT lose your password as there is no free way of getting it back if you forget.
To create the Password:
- Do one of the following:
If you have a POP3 e-mail account, right-click the Personal Folders folder, and then click Properties For “Personal Folders”. In Oulook 2010, it will be Data File Properties…
If you have an HTTP e-mail account (not supported in Outlook 2000), such as MSN Hotmail, right-click the Hotmail folder, and then click Properties For “Hotmail”. In Oulook 2010, it will be Data File Properties…
- On the General tab, click Advanced.
- Click Change Password.
- In the Change Password dialog box, type your new password and verify it by typing it a second time. The password can be up to 15 characters.
- Ensure that the Save this password in your password list check box is cleared. This prevents the password from being cached, and you need to type the password each time you run Outlook. Most importantly Don’t forget the password.
- Click OK.
When you click the e-mail account folder, you will be prompted for your password. After you gain access, you won’t have to enter the password again for that session. If you exit and then restart Outlook, you will be prompted for the password as shown below:
To Remove the Password (You will be required to remember the current password)
- Follow the same steps above
- When you are at the Change Password dialog box, enter the current password in the Old Password field
- Leave the New Password and Verify Password fields empty
- Click OK
- Restart Outlook
This will remove the password that you create for the Data file.
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Outlook normally shows a ScreenTips when you hover the mouse pointer over a toolbar button. Here is how you can show or hide the ScreenTips:
In Outlook 2003 and 2007:
1. In the main Outlook window, click Tools > Customize…
2. Click the Options tab. look at the “Other” section at the bottom of the dialog box.
3. Tick the checkbox for “Show ScreenTips on Toolbar“. To hide the ScreenTips, simply untick the checkbox.
4.You can also tick the checkbox for “Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips” if you want to see the shortcuts as well.
5.Click Close to return to the main Outlook window.
In Outlook 2010:
1. In the main Outlook Window, click the File tab > Options…
2. In the General section, look under “User Interface Options“. For ScreenTip style, select “Show feature description in ScreenTips” from the drop-down as shown below.
3. Click Ok to return to the main Outlook window
If you now hover your mouse over one of the button, you will notice a ScreenTip appearing.
Wednesday,
February
9th,
2011
The Cricket World Cup 2011 is about to start in a weeks time (19th February), so for all you Cricket Lovers who would not want to miss a single match, or at least not your favourite teams matches, here’s how you can download the times for all the games into your Outlook Calendar.
1. Make sure that your computer is setup to the correct time zone. This step is important to ensure that the game time gets shown at the correct time depending on where in the world you are. Go to the Windows Control Panel and open Date and Time.
(Your screen may be slightly different depending on the version of Outlook… it may have a separate tab for Time Zone).
Make sure that the correct Time Zone is displayed i.e. the time zone of where YOU are. (I am in Fiji so the screen shot above says Fiji). Click on Change time zone if you need to.
2. Click on the link below and save the .ics file to your desktop
Download Cricket World Cup 2011 Schedule
3. Import the downloaded file into your Outlook by using the following steps. If you are using Microsoft Outlook 2010, click File - Open – Import. For all other versions of Outlook, click File – Import & Export.
4. Select Import an iCalendar (ics) or vCalendar file (vcs) from the list and click Next.
5. Use the screen that comes up to select the ics file that was downloaded in Step 1.
(You may get the following extra steps depending on the version of Outlook you are using)
Click either Open as New or Import. (I simply imported it to my main Outlook Calendar as it then synched with my Iphone too)
The times for all the games will now be in your Outlook.
Enjoy the games and may the best team win.
Thursday,
February
3rd,
2011
If you face problems with your Outlook, one of the first troublshooting steps you should try before doing uninstallation and reinstallation of Outlook is creating a New Profile. A new profile is also recommended when you are upgrading to the latest version of Outlook.
You can follow the steps below to create a new profile:
- Ensure that Outlook is closed
- Open Control Panel.
- Open the Mail Setup dialog box: If you use the Category view, look for the Mail Setup dialog box in the User Accounts category.
- In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
- On the General tab, under When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile: click Prompt for a profile to be used, and then click Add.
- In the Profile Name box, type the name that you want to use for the new email profile, and then click OK.
- In the E-mail Accounts dialog box, click Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next.
- Click the appropriate server type for your new email account, and then click Next.
- Type your account information in the required boxes, and then click Next.
- Click Finish, and then click OK.
To add your existing personal data store to the new Profile:
- After you click Finish in the profile wizard, select the new profile from the Mail dialog and choose Properties > click Email Accounts > click view or change email accounts.
- Select New Outlook data file and find your existing PST, add it to the profile and set it as the default.
- Click OK until you are back to the Email Accounts dialog and select the PST you just added in the “Deliver new e-mail to the following location” menu.
- When you return to the Mail Setup dialog, choose Data Files and remove the extra personal folders from your profile.
If you open Outlook, you will now get a prompt to select the profile you would like to use.
If you find this post useful, please leave a comment on the blog.
The Search functionality in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 is great… unless it is not working. Most of the time rebuilding the search index clears up the problems. Unfortunately it isn’t obvious, at least not from inside Outlook, how you can do this.
Overview
Search in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 uses Windows Search Indexes (i.e. it’s a Windows feature and not an Outlook only feature). If Windows Search Indexes are not built properly or corrupt you may find that Outlook Search does not work properly.
Rebuilding the Search indexes is easy if you know where to look:
How to Rebuild the Search Indexes
Warning: This process takes a long time. I suggest you run it just before you leave the office for the day (or just before you go to sleep at night):
Bring up the Indexing Options screen. (Instructions below depending on your version of Windows)
Windows 7/Vista: Click the Windows Start button and type “index” in the Search box. Indexing Options should appear under programs. Click Indexing Options to bring up the Indexing Options screen.
Click the Advanced button on the Indexing Option screen.
Click the Rebuild button.
Your current Search Indexes will be deleted and rebuilt. Once the rebuilding process is complete (I told you that this will take some time so hopefully you’re doing this just before you leave the office or go to bed) you should find Search working perfectly again.
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