Entries tagged with outlook - Channel 10

Three Flickr Plugins You’ll Love

sarahintampa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:11:00 GMT

If you’re a flickr user, there are three plugins that you need to know about: Flickr4Writer, Flickr4Outlook, and Flickr4Word. I had mentioned the Flickr4Writer plugin before when I blogged about some of my favorite plugins for Windows Live Writer - it helps you to insert flickr photos into your blog posts. However, thanks to gHacks, I learned that there are also similar plugins for both Word and Outlook. Like the WLW plugin, they give you easy access to your flickr photos from directly within the application. You can also use the built-in search feature to find photos from other flickr users that match the tags you enter in the search box. The Outlook and Word plugins only support Office 2007 installations (Word 2007, Outlook 2007). All of the plugins are available from their respective sites (linked above) as free downloads. Hey, does this count as software+services? I think it might!

WHS Outlook Beta

sarahintampa — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:48:00 GMT

Mike Craven has been working on a way to put Outlook on your Windows Home Server through the creation of a WHS add-in. The WHS Outlook Beta add-in will let you use Outlook right from the Windows Home Server Console to check your email, switch between Outlook profiles on-the-fly, access all of your RSS Feeds, create new tasks or appointments, and more. You will get all the power of Outlook right through the WHS Console application. The add-in will require that you use Outlook 2002 or newer and you’ll be able to customize where your PST file is stored – either on the system partition or on the network shares. This add-in has not been released yet but a working beta should be available soon. If you’re interested in testing the beta, visit this thread on the WGS Forums and let Mike know of your interest. Active beta testers will receive a copy of the add-in at no charge when the beta period is over, but for everyone else the software will sell for $29.95 (U.S.) when ready. (Thanks to We Got Served for the tip!)

Have Urgent Emails Find You With AwayFind

sarahintampa — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Recently, I wrote about an email overload solution that did not impress me, but here’s one that does: AwayFind. While it’s not necessarily the absolute be-all end-all solution to today’s information overload situation, it certainly has more usefulness than Attent’s virtual economy where emails are given prices.

What AwayFind offers instead is the ability to step away from your email without missing the really important items – the “emailed emergencies,” so to speak. The service works via an auto-responder which simply states something like:

Messaging me about something I need to know today (like a canceled meeting)? Please click here to get my attention:

http://awayfind.com/username

You can, of course, edit this message to include other details like when you plan on checking email, whether you’re on vacation, or the phone number to someone else who’s available to help.

If the email was indeed very urgent, the sender will (hopefully) click the link to get in touch with you. This takes them to a web page where they fill in their contact info and the message (which they will likely copy-and-paste from the original email).

The form is not too cumbersome to fill out, but has just enough fields that people will consider whether or not it’s worth their effort. This should help address the slew of email senders who tend to think that their emergencies are your emergencies. If anything, they’ll just go find someone else to get them through their current crisis.

The AwayFind service comes in two variations: a basic, free service and a professional version for $5/month. Most people will need the professional version, as the free service only offers 5 text messages per month. Of course, even the Professional version is somewhat lacking in that department, too, as it only provides 30 texts per month. Then again, hopefully, you don’t have 30 emergencies every month – that’s one emergency per day! Still, it would be nice not to be limited considering that you’re paying for the service.

You can also have email notifications sent to you when someone fills out a form. Ideally, these would be sent to an alternate address (like your personal address), so you’re not tempted to read your other work emails when you receive these alerts. The service actually supports as many different email addresses as you would like.

Whether you’re on vacation, on the road, really busy, or simply overloaded with email, AwayFind can help the most important messages reach you. To try the service for yourself, you can sign up here.

Email Overload: Band-Aids Are Not Solutions

sarahintampa — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:57:00 GMT

A company called Seriosity has introduced a new tool for email productivity, Attent, which attacks what they say is the main source of information overload: SENDERS! Yes, it’s the people sending email that are the real problem that need to be addressed, according to Attent, so they’ve come up with a system for businesses to implement which is supposed to make people stop and consider if something is worth emailing.

With Attent, each employee is given a set amount of “Serios” per week, which are basically like virtual dollars. For each email you send, you can attach a certain number of Serios to it, depending on importance. More important emails are sent using more Serios. The system works as an Outlook plugin, and, since it only works with other people who also use Attent, the company would have to roll this out to everyone to make it an effective tool.

While this is an interesting idea, the reasoning behind this idea is that you can force people to email less by forcing them to calculate how much they can “afford” to email, and that seems to me a pretty much a knee-jerk reaction to dealing with info overload.

For one thing, Attent can’t stop people outside the company from emailing, so it only forces internal employees to turn to phone calls and face-to-face requests which may be even more disruptive than emails.

From personal experience, I found that a lot of people chose to email simply because email was the absolute fastest way to send out a request for help, a question, or to share a message with a large number of people. When this became a burden, such as it was at one of my I.T. jobs, the real cause that should have been addressed was why were people turning to email instead of using the tools to them at hand? Why were people sending emails instead of logging help desk tickets? Why were people sending emails instead of referring to online documentation? Why were people sending emails instead of doing the job themselves – which they had the ability and permissions to do, but not the know-how?

The problem that must be addressed in every company are the underlying causes that lead some people to use email far more than necessary – and use it first, without thinking things through. This tool, Attent, aims to do that, but without deeper understanding about what’s wrong in the particular company.

For example, in my situation, implementing a I.T. support email address that directly posted items to the helpdesk instead of arriving in my inbox would have been a big help. Training people where to find the answers they need and how to use the tools we had in house would also have cut down on the emails. (Unfortunately, I didn’t have the authority to implement changes, because believe me, I would have!)

At another job of mine, where I did have authority to make changes, I spent a good part of a day out of the new hires’ week of training teaching the new employees about our in-house web resources – one of which was a SharePoint site. Even for those who had never been exposed to SharePoint, the majority were able to understand pretty quickly how they could use it and it definitely helped cut down on requests in the future as people weren’t emailing in basic questions like where to find a certain file or bit of information. They already knew where it was online.

Often businesses tend to overlook the value of training, but then they end up working harder due to the lack of training of their new employees. The value of real, instructor-led training is something every business needs to understand because, once in the thick of things, employees will never find the time to study user manuals or do research – everything becomes “I need an answer now.” The best time to reach employees and set out what the expectations are for them is at the very beginning of employment before they become reliant on using their preferred tools and processes that result in increased efficiency for them, but that decrease the overall efficiency of the company as a whole since they put the burden on other people who have mastered the use of the company’s informational systems.

Of course, training isn’t a panacea for the entirety of the information overload problem, but it’s certainly a better use of a company’s money that setting up a virtual economy where emails have a price tag associated with them, in my opinion.

For dealing with the remainder of the email, tools that add efficiency to the process of sorting through your inbox - like my business email add-on of choice, ClearContext - are really the way to go. Heavy use of filters, rules, and informational auto-responders can also help cut down on the flood. However, real solutions to today’s information overload problem are going to much more in-depth and complex than an Outlook plugin. Maybe IORG will come up with some answers for us.

(Image courtesy of Seriosity)

Looken' Lets You Search Outlook

sarahintampa — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:21:00 GMT

Recently, Xobni has been in the news for their “inbox as a social network” Outlook plugin (see our review here), which can help you better manage your email. But apparently, they were just the start of a new trend of plugins that help you deal with information overload. Now, there’s a new application called Lookeen, which can also help you get control of the inbox by allowing you to easily search for and find emails and other related files. Lookeen searches through your inbox, public folders, archives on Exchange, Notes, and your Calendar. For advanced users, it also allows for the use of specific query syntaxes like “AND” or “OR” or + / – and a lot more. The real question is, do you want a more social inbox (Xobni) or a more searchable one (Lookeen)? For those that said the latter, Lookeem may be worht a look. (via VentureBeat)

ClearContext Personal Launches Beta

sarahintampa — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:09:00 GMT

If you're swamped by email in your Outlook inbox, you have to try ClearContext, an Outlook add-in that helps analyze and organize your mail. The company has just launched a new product called ClearContext Personal, available as a free download that everyone can use (currently in private beta according to their product page, but a sign up list is available).

You may remember some of our earlier coverage of ClearContext (click here for 7 Outlook Tips). Now the company is rebranding their product naming conventions a bit along with the launch of several new features. The previous professional (paid) version of the software was called ClearContext IMS v4. Now, it's a much more understandable "ClearContext Professional." Registered users of IMS can upgrade and get access to the new features for free.

For everyone else, ClearContext Personal edition is offering some great tools which include the ability to see attachments and contacts from emails in each folder, the ability to save, sort, and forward those attachments, the ability to create distribution lists, meeting requests, etc. from those contacts, and more.

Back when I was a regular ClearContext user at my I.T. job, one of my favorite features were the buttons that let me instantly file either individual emails or entire conversations with one click. Once I had everything set up properly, email came in already categorized, so I wouldn't even need to tell it what folder it belonged in. Of course, for the times I did need to categorize the email, it was only a matter of typing the first letter of the folder's name and hitting "Enter" to assign the category. (Love keyboard shortcuts!)

However, it looks like the next version of ClearContext Personal is offering a feature that can even trump that - the ability to explore and preview your attachments within Outlook just like you were browsing a folder on your desktop. (You have to see the screenshot). That looks extremely useful.

Other ClearContext Personal features include threaded conversations, highlighting of the most important messages in your inbox, and "Notifications Managers" that automatically move what we fondly refer to as "bacn" out of your inbox. (What's bacn? click here to find out. Short answer is "email you want, but not right now").

The new features should certainly help heavy Outlook users get a better reign on their inboxes if they can take a break from their email long enough to install and configure the add-in!

Xobni Makes Your Inbox a Social Network

sarahintampa — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:54:00 GMT

Last week, the startup Xobni launched their public beta, so now everyone can get their hands on the Outlook plugin that turns your inbox into a social network. Xobni (that's "inbox" backwards!), taps into the hidden social network you spend time with every day: your inbox. The plugin runs in a sidebar where it analyzes and extracts info about you and your relationships.

During their private beta, they tweaked several things, fixed bugs, and even decided to streamline the plugin a bit by removing the "organize" tab, instead choosing to focus on their core product's offerings - super-fast search and relationship management. Using Xobni, you have access to features like threaded conversations, analytics, user profiles, a "related people" feature, shared attachments, and other automatically extracted info - like phone numbers for your contacts. To get in on the Xobni public beta, just visit the Xobni homepage and sign up.

Customizing Your Outlook Today

sarahintampa — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:46:00 GMT

I just saw this tip on Lifehacker which points to a Tech-Recipes post on how you can customize your Outlook Today with just a bit of HTML code. Their post offers up some HTML templates for the various Outlook elements like Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, and Notes.

But I also have to point to this TechRepublic post which gives some more details on this process, including the how-tos on how to extract the HTML page and the graphics in order to tweak them.

Pretty cool stuff. I did this once when I was bored at work and gave my Outlook Today page a pretty pale pink and purple swirly background. It rocked, of course. Have you ever customized your Outlook Today?

RSS in Outlook

sarahintampa — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:00:00 GMT

There are lots of ways to keep up with your RSS feeds - online, in a desktop reader, in a program like Newsgator's Inbox 3.0 which integrates into Outlook, or even just in Outlook itself. That last option is especially useful if you work in a company that doesn't allow you to install software on your computer, like a desktop reader, or maybe you just don't want to appear as if you're surfing the internet every time someone looks over your shoulder. (This blog I'm reading is work-related, I swear!)

Outlook 2007 has RSS feed reading built right into the software. Besides being able to subscribe and read your feeds in Outlook, you can also share interesting feeds with your colleagues, too - just right-click on any feed and choose "Share This Feed." An email will be automatically created with a link to the RSS feed, so the recipient can subscribe as well.

If you're thinking about getting started with RSS in Outlook, this CNET video shows you how via Molly Wood's one-minute quick tip.

SMSOfficer for Outlook

sarahintampa — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:14:00 GMT

A new plug-in for Outlook has been the talk of the net recently: SMSOfficer for Outlook lets you send and receive text messages from your Outlook to any cell phone. The service, which takes advantage of the Outlook Mobile Service, works with nearly any carrier worldwide and your copy of Outlook 2007. After it's installed, you get your first 10 texts for free, but then it's $20 for your next 250. You can learn more about SMSOfficer on the Outlook Team Blog.

Outlook on Your Desktop: Update!

sarahintampa — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:02:00 GMT

Remember Outlook on Your Desktop (which I mentioned earlier here)? If you have not seen this program yet, it's worth a look. The software allows you to put your Outlook calendar on your desktop - and not just a view of your calendar - your actual calendar. If you haven't updated your software in a while, you should grab the latest update which allows you to have multiple instances pinned to the desktop, all managed by one instance of the program and one instance of Outlook. Download it for free here.

How To Search Your PSTs with Vista's Built-In Search

sarahintampa — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:32:00 GMT

Do you archive your email to PST files (maybe due to a corporate policy limiting your mailbox size)? If so, you know that even though it's archived, you will still need to access those old emails from time to time. If you don't want to keep all your archives open in your Outlook, there is another way...if you use Windows Vista. With Vista's built-in search option, you can specify that you want PSTs to be indexed (this is not turned on by default). It's pretty easy to set this up, just follow these steps:

Go to the Control Panel
Choose "Indexing Options"
Click on the "Advanced" button
Click on the "File Types" tab
Check the checkbox next to "PST" to include it in the search
Select the bullet next to the option "Index Properties and File Contents"
Click OK and OK again on the message that appears.

You're done! Now you can use Vista's built-in search to find that email you need!

Track FedEx in Outlook

sarahintampa — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:57:00 GMT

FedEx has released an application's called FedEx QuickShip, which allows you to easily create and track U.S. shipments, get rates, schedule pickups, and find the nearest staffed FedEx location – all without leaving Outlook! The app installs a FedEx QuickShip toolbar along the top of your Office Outlook window. The toolbar has eight buttons: FedEx, Ship, Track, Rate, Pickup, Find Locations, View History and Edit Settings. QuickShip also lets you right-click on a contact and select "ship" on the menu that appears. Other features include logging, tracking, and email notifications. You can get more details on the Beyond IT blog.

Export Outlook Contacts and Import Them to Facebook

sarahintampa — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:44:00 GMT

I've written a few posts about apps that get your Facebook contacts into Outlook - like FBLook, which provides access to Facebook via a toolbar add-in, and Facebook app, Fonebook, which syncs your contacts; but what about exporting contacts from Outlook to Facebook? If you are like most people, you still tread a fine line between work-related social networking and personal social networking. However, in most people's inbox (the most inclusive social network we all have), resides all different types of people and connections. You may want to export your work colleagues to LinkedIn but export your friends and family to Facebook. Now you can, with the new ClearContext Contact Exporter for Outlook (Beta). The program lets you create and export groups of email addresses found in messages that are stored in the Outlook folders you select.

Once you’ve created the list using the Contact Exporter tool, you can import these contacts into any services that accept CSV files. Here are import links for a few popular sites (log into the sites before clicking the links below):

LinkedIn
Facebook (click Email Application and scroll down to Contact File)
Evite
Socializr

You can also use the exporter to create distribution lists and new contact files in Outlook. The ClearContext Exporter for Outlook (Beta) is a part of the company's latest IMS v4 suite, which is free for 30 days during the trial period. However, the Contact Exporter remains functional even after the 30 days are up.

Outlook Add-In for Photgraphers

sarahintampa — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:03:00 GMT

Microsoft has released a free Outlook add-in for professional photographers. The add-in, called "Pro Photo Shoot," lets photographers create lists of their equipment and then uses checkboxes next to the items to remember what to bring to the photo shoot. For example, while on the phone with the client, photographers can bring up the dialog box that lists all of their stuff, check off what they want, and the list is then stored in the body of the appointment. If you print out the appointment, the list is right there along with all the other details.

When you begin using the add-in, you'll notice a new button that appears in the ribbon (for Outlook 2007) or the task bar (for Outlook 2003) of the appointment. You can then press the "Equipment Pool" option to start entering the names and types of the equipment you own. You can also add more details, like purchase price, warranty information, etc. This can be a useful way to keep track of the items for insurance purposes, too. The add-in is available for download for either Outlook 2003 or 2007.

Another useful feature for photographers using Vista is the ability to tag, print, and handle "raw" photos, which are the unprocessed data from high-end cameras. Because Microsoft relies on camera manufacturers to supply the necessary codecs to work with these files, they have set up a website with links just for downloading the Vista Raw Image Codes. Currently, manufacturers on this list include Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, and Olympus, as well as Ardry's codec for handle Adobe Systems' Digital Negative (DNF) format. Windows XP users can also use these codecs in the Windows Live Photo Gallery when installed.

Anagram for Outlook

sarahintampa — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:30:00 GMT

Anagram is a great tool for automatically converting selected text into Outlook contacts, to-do's, or calendar appointments. Instead of having to manually type in the information in someone's email signature, you can just press F12 and Anagram will create an Outlook contact form, which you can then review, add notes to, correct (if necessary), then hit "Save and Close." What a timesaver! You can instantly create Outlook contacts from any text on your screen - not just email signatures. For example, if you're online and find a company's "contact us" page and want to add that info to your contacts, you could do so using the same process. Anagram can also be used to add appointments to your calendar. This will work even if you the text selected is in natural language, saying something along the lines of "10 tomorrow for half an hour," for example. You can even use Anagram to create an Outlook note of any general text you want. More examples of how you can use the software are available on the Anagram homepage. (Via Brian Desmond's blog)

Facebook in Your Outlook

sarahintampa — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:47:00 GMT

From those same great people that brought us Outlook and Twitter integration, comes another excellent tool - FBLook, which seamlessly integrates Facebook into Outlook. Using FBLook, which appears in your Outlook as a new toolbar, you can update your Facebook status, see your friends' statuses, and see the number of new requests, all without having to open the browser and log into Facebook. After you download and install FBLook, you will have to tell Facebook that you want FBLook to access Facebook on your behalf, but the FBLook app will display messages that walk you through this one-time process fairly easily. FBLook works with Outlook 2003/2007 and Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.

Little-Known Outlook Feature

sarahintampa — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:48:00 GMT

I use Outlook every day, yet I never knew this: if you hold down [Ctrl], and then right-click on the Outlook tray icon, with Outlook 2007, "Connection Status" and "Test E-mail AutoConfiguration" appear. E-mail AutoConfiguration testing is handy for Exchange 2007 setups and this tip can be helpful when troubleshooting RPC over HTTP. Big thanks to Aaron Tiensivu for teaching me something new today! How many of you knew this one?

Take Your Work Calendar Home

sarahintampa — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:29:00 GMT

If you're using Outlook 2007 at work, there are a couple of ways you can view your calendar from home without having to sign into your company VPN or work computer. One way is to export your calendar to a file and the second way is to make your calendar viewable online. Both methods are easy to set up and use.

Method #1: Export Your Calendar to an ICS File

Outlook 2007 supports the ICS (iCalendar data exchange) format which is the standard calendar format. ICS lets you exchange calendar information between different calendar programs and applications, like Windows Live Calendar and most other internet calendaring programs. To export to an ICS file from Outlook, follow these steps:

1. In Outlook 2007, click on the Calendar button.
2. Go to the File menu, click "Save as," then "More options."
4. In the Date range list, select a date range.
5. In the Detail list, select the level of detail that you want in the exported calendar:
* Availability only: Only your "busy," "free," "tentative," or "out of office" status information is exported.
* Limited details: Only your availability and the subjects of calendar items are exported.
* Full details: Full details and availability of the calendar items are exported.
6. Under "Advanced," click "Show."
7. If selected, clear the "Include attachments within calendar items" checkbox. Windows Live Calendar Beta does not support attachments to calendar events.
8. Click "OK," and then click "Save."

Method #2: Publish Your Calendar to the Web

Another option is to publish your Outlook calendar to the web, so anyone with an internet connection can view it. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. In Outlook 2007, click on the Calendar button.
2. Click on the "Publish My Calendar" link on the left side and a wizard will walk you through the publishing process.
3. You'll need to sign in with your Windows Live ID, specify the calendar's time span, and the permissions of who can view it.
4. Click "OK" to publish it online and click "Yes" if you also want to send out email invitations to view it.
5. To see your Outlook 2007 Calendar online, sign into Office Online with your Windows Live ID (click the link on the top right to sign into "My Office Online").

Update your Facebook status from Outlook with FBLook

Nic — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:15:00 GMT

From the makers of OutTwit comes FBLook, a plugin for Outlook that allows you to update your Facebook status and view notifications without having to open a browser.

If you are an Outlook user, you probably have it open all the time. Now you can update your Facebook status, see your friend statuses and see the number of new requests without having to open the browser or any other applications. FBLook seamlessly integrates Facebook into Outlook.

Update your Facebook status directly from Outlook.
Set your status to the name of the song you're playing in iTunes or WMP.
See your friend statuses.
See notifications of new Friend Requests, Messages, Invites, Pokes, etc..

TechHit FBLook for Outlook runs on Windows 2000, XP and Vista. It is compatible with Outlook 2003 and 2007. FBLook does NOT work with Outlook Express.

Download: http://www.techhit.com/FBLook/

via: http://blogs.msdn.com/lokeuei/archive/2007/12/05/hey-fblook-here.aspx

How I Use Outlook - 7 Tips

sarahintampa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

There are so many things you can do with Outlook, but I have to admit, I've never fully explorered all its features. However, the more I "live" in my Outlook at work, the more I've become obsessed with finding new and useful ways to get things done as efficiently and quickly as I can. On that note, here are a few Outlook tips I've discovered that have been making my work life easier.

1. The ClearContext add-in - every since someone told me about this add-in, I've been using the heck out of it. Although I can only afford the free version, I've found it unbelievably useful for categorizing my mail. Since I had been using a folders system prior to the Outlook 2007 upgrade, I didn't feel much like redoing this system just to use Outlook 2007's color-coded categories. Instead, I use a mashup of ClearContext labels and Outlook cateogries. ClearContext lets me label my mail and these labels are linked to an Outlook category list. As I visually scan my email, Outlook's color-coded categories help me find what I'm looking for fast. When it's time to move an email from the Inbox to its category folder, I just hit the "File Msg" button on the ClearContext toolbar and the message archives itself to the appropriate folder. (Another option for filing is SpeedFiler, which I hear is good, too).

2. Natural Language - I've been using Outlook 2007 for many months now, but I just discovered this feature thanks to a tip I read online. The new version of Outlook lets you enter appointments on your calendar using natural language. Instead of using the drop-down box to pick a date, you can type in real expressions like "day after tomorrow," "one week from today," "two months from today," "three days from now," and much more. You can also use expressions like "today + 3 days" and Outlook will figure that out, too. Finally, you can type in the names of holidays and use them in expressions like "the day before Christmas."

3. Outlook Calendar on the desktop - this software lets you pin the Outlook calendar to your desktop. The calendar stays there all the time so you can always see what's upcoming. It's not just a view of your calendar either, it's the real Microsoft Outlook calendar, so you get all its functionality, like direct editing, drag and drop of files, etc. Awesome.

4. Search Folders & Favorites - how did I live before Search Folders? Search Folders let you create virtual folders based on certain criteria. For example, you could make a folder of email from your boss you categorized as "Important" or a folder of your emails that have attachments. Even better, add these Search Folders to your Favorite Folders list and hide your Mail Folders list so that all you see is your Favorites. You'll be surprised how rarely you'll need to view your "real" folders.

5. Fast Email Searches - If you use Outlook 2007 on Vista, you have Vista's killer search built into Outlook. However, at work, we're still on XP. No worries though...you can download Windows Desktop Search for Windows XP like I did and experience the glory of fast searches. With either Vista or Desktop Search, results are displayed as soon as you start typing in text.

6. Form Emails - Using templates, you can save standardized emails so you don't have to type the same thing over and over again. I use forms for things like emailing a new user's login information to their supervisor or emailing someone a note letting them know their issue was input as a helpdesk ticket. Creating your own form is easy - just write the email, then go to File --> Save As, and choose "Outlook Template (*.oft)" from the drop-down box. The email is saved as a template. Next time you want to use that form, open it by going to Tool --> Forms --> Choose a Form. Change the drop-down box to "User Templates in File System" and then pick the template you created.

7. Minimize to Tray - I'm surprised how many people don't know how to minimize Outlook to run in the System Tray. This is an absolute necessity (it should be the default!). Right-click on the Outlook icon in the Notification Area (next to the clock). In the menu that displays, select "Hide When Minimized."

Twitter in Your Outlook

sarahintampa — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:52:00 GMT

As a huge fan (or perhaps, addict) of micro-blogging platform, Twitter, I was really thrilled to have found this great add-in for Microsoft Outlook: OutTwit. The OutTwit add-in integrates Twitter with Outlook, letting you send and receive messages directly to Twitter from your mail client. All your Twitter friend updates will show up as Outlook messages in your inbox by default, but you can change this in the settings to have the messages sent to a particular folder instead. You can also configure custom categories for messages and shorten URLs using TinyURL, something most Twitter users do to keep their messages under the 140 character limit. Let the time-wasting begin! (Via The How-To Geek)

Email Management With SimplyFile

sarahintampa — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:50:00 GMT

From the same company that is also feeding my Twitter addiction, comes another useful application for Microsoft Outlook. SimplyFile is a utility that helps you file your emails more efficiently. As you quickly move your email messages from your inbox to your Outlook folders, SimplyFile's unique folder prediction technology provides constantly improving and surprisingly accurate recommendations regarding which folder your email messages should be moved to.

After "training" the program for a short period of time, you will soon be filing messages with one click. Another great feature of the program is the ability to also turn messages into tasks and appointments with one click of a mouse. To test SimplyFile for yourself, you can take advantage of their free 30 day trial download. Afterwards, if you choose to purchase it, the cost to purchase the program is only $39.95. (via Somewhat Frank)

Sync your Facebook contacts with Outlook (and Windows Mobile)

Laura — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:23:00 GMT

Mel Sampat has created an application called OutSync.

OutSync is a free Windows application that syncs photos of your Facebook friends with matching contacts in Microsoft Outlook. It allows you to select which contacts are updated. So you can update all contacts at once or just a few at a time.

The main benefit of OutSync is for Windows Mobile users. Updated contacts are automatically synced with Windows Mobile devices by Exchange server or ActiveSync. Thus new and fun photos appear during calls and other places where contacts are used.

Access your Windows Live Hotmail in Outlook 2003/07

Nic — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:55:00 GMT

Got Hotmail? Got Outlook? Bring them together with Microsoft Office Outlook Connector.

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector gives you access to your Windows Live Hotmail and Office Live Mail accounts from within Outlook (2003 or 2007). Send and receive email as well as manage your contacts without having to open a browser.

Calendar, Tasks and Notes access is also available for those with a premium Windows Live Mail/Hotmail/Office Live Mail subscription.

More Info Here & Download Here