Tips For Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is the most used email due to the fact that it is widely spread within almost all organizations.

There are a few ways you can enhance the usability and work flow with your Outlook client. The first thing most users do not know, Microsoft warns users not to keep PST files larger that two GB. If your PST goes over two GB, you might risk losing some data and Outlook will start performing slower and even cause client hangs. In this case, there is a tool available on Microsoft forums that split large PST files into smaller ones.

When Outlooks starts hanging, performs slow or fails to open folders, you might want to scan your PST files. To do that, use the SCANPST.EXE tool located in Program Files, within the Office 14 folder in the Microsoft Office directory. Depending on your offline folder size, an error scan could take up to 30 minutes, but it should fix most error.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts for common Outlook actions to speed up the time it takes to perform them. You can create a new email by hitting CTRL+N and ALT+S to send it. When you want to find a contact within your organization but do not know his exact address, only partially his email, you can hit CTRL+K and if the contact is found, his email will be auto filled. Also, you can use shortcuts while typing to improve the work flow. Simple shortcuts like CTRL+B to activate/deactivate bolded font or CTRL+I for italic, CTRL+U for underlined text will help a lot.

Another thing you might not know about Outlook, recovering deleted items is not activated by default. You will have to perform some registry editing to activate this feature. To start, press Windows key+R. In the command box, type regedit. In the registry editor expand and go to “My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options”. You will want to create here a new registry key. Just go to “Edit” menu, find the “New” section and click on “DWORD Value”. Type “DumpsterAlwaysOn”. For this newly created entry, set the “DWORD” value to 1. Once done, restart Outlook. This option, will allow Outlook to recover items deleted even from the “Deleted Items folder”.

Another useful feature of Outlook that comes handy at times is increasing the font of received emails. When you find an email difficult to read, you can always increase the font just by holding CTRL and scrolling the mouse wheel. This can make a rather large in content email, easy to read even at distance.

By: Mark J Gregory

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Mark Gregory is writing on behalf of Computer Training Solutions, who offer advanced excel course and microsoft excel courses