|
Determine which folder opens when you launch Outlook
from a shortcut |
| By default, Outlook opens the Input
folder at start-up. However, you can determine which
folder Outlook opens by placing a short-cut on your
desktop.
To create a desktop shortcut for Outlook, use Windows
Explorer to locate the Outlook.exe file. Right-click on
the file name and choose Send To/Desktop (Create
Shortcut). Then on the desktop, right-click on the
shortcut and choose Properties from the resulting shortcut
menu. Click on the Shortcut tab. In the Target text box,
edit the command line to read as follows to open the
Contacts folder:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OUTLOOK.EXE"
outlook:contacts
To open a different folder, replace"contacts" with the
name of the folder you'd like Outlook to open. When you've
finished, click OK. Now, when you start Outlook using the
shortcut you've modified, Outlook opens the folder you
specified. |
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| Change which
folder opens when you launch Outlook |
| When you launch Outlook you
immediately see the Inbox. This the default folder
but you might like use the Calendar calendar folder
instead. You can change which Outlook folder is opened
when you launch Outlook. To do this, choose Tools/Options
from the menu bar. Click on the Other tab and click the
Advanced Options button. From the Startup In This Folder
dropdown list, select Calendar (or one of the other
Outlook folders).
Click OK twice to return to Outlook. Close Outlook and
then restart it. The Calendar is now displayed and is
selected in the Folder List. |
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|
| Create a
distribution list using names in the Address Book |
| If you regularly send email to the groups
of people, you can speed up the process by creating a
distribution list.
Select File from the the menu bar, then click on New /
Distribution List. In the Name box, type a name for
your distribution list. Click the Select Members
button. In the Show names from the list, click the address
book that contains the e-mail addresses you want in your
distribution list. In the Type name or select from list
box, type a name you want to include. In the list below,
select the name, and then click Members. Do this for each
person you want to add to the distribution list and then
click OK.
Use the Add New button to add email addresses for
people with email addresses thatg are not stored in your
address book.
If you want to add a longer description of the
distribution list, click the Notes tab, and then type the
text.
The distribution list is saved in your Contacts folder
by the name you give it. |
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|
| Scheduling a
meeting with contacts the easy way |
| The easiest way to schedule a meeting
with a contact in your address book is to drag the
contact's name to the Calendar icon in the Outlook Bar.
Outlook will automatically open a Meeting form and
enter the contact's email address in the form's To field. |
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|
| Print your
Outlook calendar without private appointment details |
| You can prevent Outlook from printing
details of your private appointments when you print out
your calendar. The times will still show on the
calendar but instead of the title, such as Doctor's
Appointment, only the words Private Appointment will
print.
To switch on this function, open your Calendar folder
and choose File / Print from the menu bar. In the
Print Range panel, select the Hide Details Of Private
Appointments check box. Click OK to print. |
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|
| Read your email
messages before you open them |
| There is always a risk of virus and worm
invasion onto your computer from email, eve if you update
your virus protection software every day. Open an
infected email and you're almost certainly in trouble.
To help protect yourself, read just the first three
lines of each message in the Preview pane. Choose
View / AutoPreview; or choose View / Preview Pane to read
the complete message in the Preview pane (below the
message list). |
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|
|
Print a blank calendar |
| It doesn't make sense to have to delete
all your appointments before you can print a blank
calendar page. Fortunately there is a way to avoid
this problem by creating a blank calendar folder in
Outlook and printing your blank pages from that folder.
Start by choosing File / New / Folder from the menu bar
and type a name . In the Create New Folder dialog box,
type a name for the folder in the Name text box. From the
Folder Contains dropdown list, select Appointment Items.
In the Select Where To Place The Folder list box, select
the Calendar folder, then click OK. When prompted to add
this folder to the Outlook Bar, click No. Then, select the
new folder in the Folder List.
To print a blank calendar page, choose File / Print. In
the Print Style panel, select the calendar style you want
to create. In the Print Range, select the dates you want
to include, then click Preview to see what your page will
look like. If you like what you see, click the Print
button in the Preview window, then click OK. |
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|
| Edit the subject line
of received messages |
| Have you noticed that the subject lines
of messages sent to you don't always express what's in the
message? Maybe the text isn't descriptive enough or you
want to add something to jog your memory later. Even
though the subject line seems untouchable in the gray area
above the message, don't be intimidated--you can edit it.
Open the message and place your insertion point in the
subject text, then add or change the text as needed. Now,
close the message and click Yes to save the changes. |
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|
MS EXCEL TIPS
|
|
Create comments in Excel without the User Name |
Many people complain that Excel's comment feature
would be better if each comment was not preceded by the
author information that is
automatically inserted at the beginning of each note.
Most people don't need for this information; it's really
only useful if you are working on a collaborative project.
You can change the name by changing Excel's User
Name setting by selecting Tools / Options and editing the
User Name data on the General sheet. However, if you
delete the User Name completely and close the dialog box,
Excel will change the user name automatically back to the original
name registered on your PC.
You can overcome this problem by using the following
macro. The macro prompts you for your comment text
and then inserts your note in a new comment attached to
the current cell.
Sub NewComment() On Error Resume Next
strComment =
InputBox("Enter your comment: ", "Add Comment")
ActiveCell.AddComment
ActiveCell.Comment.Visible = False ActiveCell.Comment.Text Text:=strComment
End Sub |
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|
|
Prevent startup Excel macros from running |
| Macros are supposed to make your life
easier but sometimes they get in the way.
You can prevent startup macros from running by holding
down the Shift key when you open the workbook. You
will need to keep the Shift key pressed throughout any
warning dialog boxes that may appear during the process. |
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|
| Look at Named Ranges
with a Custom View |
| It can be helpful, sometimes, to be able
to see your named ranges on the screen. If you zoom
out to 39% percent, you can see each named range on
screen. You can save the settings as a Custom View
for future use.
This tip only works if you are in Normal View.
Start by switching to Normal/View by selecting View/Normal
from the menu bar. Next, select View/Zoom from the
menu bar. Select the Custom option on the Zoom dialog box,
enter 39 in the percentage text box and click OK.
The range names appear in faint blue lettering in the
appropriate places.
Note that the range names only appear on the screen;
they won't print with your data. |
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|
| Easily align objects
to Excel's columns and rows |
| It's easy to align objects on a
worksheet. Simply hold down the Alt-key when
dragging a chart or graphic and the object's frame will
snap to the cell. |
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|
| Create graphical
hyperlinks in Excel |
| If you want to include a graphic in your
spreadsheet that users can click to activate a hyperlink,
it's easy to do using AutoShapes.
Start by making sure that you can see the Drawing
toolbar by right-clicking on a toolbar and selecting
Drawing from the shortcut menu to display the Drawing
toolbar.
Next, click the AutoShapes button on the toolbar and
select an AutoShape from one of the submenus that you want
to use as your hyperlink. Format the AutoShape as
you require and add any appropriate text. Select the
AutoShape and press [Ctrl]-[K] and enter the appropriate
information about the Web page or workbook location that
you want the link to jump to.
Finally, click OK to create a working hyperlink that's
activated when users click on the AutoShape. |
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|
|
Simple
Hyperlinks in Cells |
| Usually, if you create a hyperlink in a
workbook that jumps to a complex URL, you probably cut and
paste the URL from your browser into the Insert Hyperlink
dialog box. However, there is a much easier way to
do this with Excel and Internet Explorer.
With both applications open, select the worksheet cell
in Excel where you want to create the hyperlink. Press
[Ctrl]-K to display the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, then
press [Alt]-[Tab] or use your mouse to select the browser
window. Browse to the page you want to link to and
then switch back to Excel. You'll find that the URL is
automatically inserted in the dialog box. |
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|
| Forecasting
trends using charted data |
| When you add a trendline to a chart, you
can extend the trendline to predict likely results based
on your existing data. To do so, select an appropriate
chart and then choose Chart / Add trendline from the menu
bar. Select an appropriate trendline from the
Trend/Regression Type panel (you can use any type except
Moving Average with this technique). Then, click on the
Options tab.
You can extend the trendline forward or backward from
your existing data using the controls in the Forecast
panel. Once you've set the desired number of units, click
OK. Now, your trendline is extended forward or backward
and you can use the trendline to visually deduce the
approximate y-value for a given x-value. |
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|
| Size and move legends
to use chart space efficiently |
| If you create a chart that plots many
data series the default placement for the chart's legend
use space in the graph layout that could be better used to
allow a longer category axis.
By default, the graph's legend appears to the right of
the chart. However, you can change its position as you
work through the chart wizard steps.
Start the chart wizard and work through the first two
steps. At step 3, click on the Legend tab. Select an
appropriate location for the legend from the Placement
panel and observe the impact that the change has on the
chart preview. When you're satisfied, click Finish or
apply the other property changes you want to make.
If you didn't change the legend placement during the
initial chart setup, you can change it after you finished
the wizard's steps. To do so, select the chart and
choose Chart / Chart Options from the menu bar. You can
then make the same option changes as when the wizard was
active.
Note that you have another option left if you find that
the predefined legend locations are still less than ideal
for your needs. You can manually move the legend and
change its dimensions. First, click on the legend to
select it. Then, simply drag it to the desired location
with your mouse. To change the legend box's dimensions,
just click and drag the legend's sizing handles. |
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|
Sandy
Pratt
is a director of 4-consulting,
click
here to view his profile. |
