Outlook^® For Dummies^®

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ISBN 978-1-119-82911-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-82912-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-82913-3 (ebk)

Outlook® For Dummies®

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Introduction

Outlook: What Is It Good For?
About This Book
About Version Numbers
Foolish Assumptions
Interface Conventions Used in This Book
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book

Part 1: Getting Started with Outlook

Chapter 1: A First Look at Outlook
1. Why Outlook?
2. Doing (Almost) Anything with a Few Clicks
3. Switching to the Simplified Ribbon
4. Using Email: Basic Delivery Techniques
5. Maintaining Your Calendar
6. Adding a Contact
7. Entering a Task
8. Taking Notes
Chapter 2: Taking a Tour of the Outlook Interface
1. How Outlook Fits Into the Office Picture
2. Exploring Outlook’s Main Screen
3. Taking Control with the Ribbon
4. Finding Things in a Flash with Search
5. Getting Help
Chapter 3: Getting on the Fast Track with Handy Shortcuts
1. Learning the Value of Dragging
2. Creating Other Outlook Items from Email Messages
3. Creating Email Messages from Other Items
4. Keeping the Interface Simple
5. Zen of the Right Button

Part 2: Taming the Email Beast

Chapter 4: Email Essentials
1. Front Ends and Back Ends
2. Creating Messages
3. Reading and Replying to Email Messages
4. That’s Not My Department: Forwarding Email
5. Deleting Messages
6. Saving a Draft of a Message
7. Saving a Message as a File
Chapter 5: Taking Email to the Next Level
1. Nagging by Flagging
2. Saving Copies of Your Messages — or Not
3. Setting Your Reply and Forward Options
4. Adding Comments to a Reply or a Forward
5. Sending Attachments
6. Emailing Screenshots
7. Creating Signatures for Your Messages
8. Translating a Foreign-Language Message
Chapter 6: Conquering Your Mountain of Messages
1. Organizing Folders
2. Organizing Your Email with Search Folders
3. Playing by the Rules
4. Filtering Junk Email
5. Archiving for Posterity
6. Arranging Your Messages
7. Simplifying Tasks Using Quick Steps
Chapter 7: Managing Multiple Email Accounts and Data Files
1. Choosing an Email Provider
2. Buying Your Own Domain Name
3. Setting Up Email Accounts in Outlook
4. Sending Messages from Different Accounts
5. Modifying Mail Account Settings
6. Managing Outlook Data Files

Part 3: Keeping Track of Contacts, Dates, Tasks, and More

Chapter 8: Your Little Black Book: Managing Your Contacts
1. Putting in Your Contacts: Names, Numbers, and Other Stuff
2. Viewing Your Contacts
3. Flagging Your Friends
4. Using Contact Information
5. Gathering People Into Groups
Chapter 9: Organizing Your Schedule with the Calendar
1. Getting a Good View of Your Calendar
2. Time Travel: Viewing Different Dates in the Calendar
3. Meetings Galore: Scheduling Appointments
4. Printing Your Appointments
5. Adding Holidays
6. Handling Multiple Calendars
7. Sharing Calendars
Chapter 10: Staying on Task: To-Do Lists and More
1. Entering New Tasks in the Tasks Module
2. Working with Tasks Folders
3. Switching Up the View
4. Editing Your Tasks
5. Managing Recurring Tasks
6. Marking Tasks as Complete
7. Using the To-Do Bar (and List)
8. Viewing the Daily Task List
9. Working with the To-Do Module

Part 4: Taking Outlook to the Next Level

Chapter 11: Merging Mail From Outlook to Microsoft Word
1. Making Mailing Label Magic
2. Making and Using a Merge Template
3. Mastering Form Letter Formalities
4. Merging to Envelopes
5. Merging to Email
Chapter 12: Integrating Outlook with Google and iCloud
1. Integrating Google Calendar with Outlook
2. Accessing Gmail Contacts in Outlook
3. Integrating Outlook with iCloud
Chapter 13: Outlook for iOS and Android Devices
1. Understanding the Mobile Difference
2. Accessing Mobile Email
3. Using Your Mobile Calendar
Chapter 14: Seeing It Your Way: Customizing Outlook
1. Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
2. Customizing the Ribbon
3. Playing with Columns in Table/List Views
4. Sorting Items
5. Grouping Items
6. Saving Custom Views
7. Using Categories

Part 5: Outlook at Work

Chapter 15: Outlook on the Job
1. Planning Meetings with Outlook
2. Enabling Coworkers to Help You with Your Work
3. Viewing Two Calendars Side by Side
4. Managing Your Out of Office Message
5. Managing Your Address Books
Chapter 16: Using Outlook on the Web: Your Outlook Away From Outlook
1. Signing In to Outlook on the Web
2. Exploring the Outlook on the Web Interface
3. Getting Caught Up on Web Email Basics
4. Organizing Contacts
5. Using Your Calendar
6. Creating a To-Do List
7. Exploring Your Options

Part 6: The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Ten Shortcuts Worth Taking
1. Using the New Item Button
2. Sending a File to an Email Recipient
3. Sending a Link to a File
4. Sending a File From a Microsoft Office Application
5. Turning a Message Into a Meeting
6. Finding Something
7. Undoing Your Mistakes
8. Using the Go to Date Dialog Box
9. Adding Items in List Views
10. Sending Repeat Messages
11. Resending a Message
Chapter 18: Ten Things You Can’t Do with Outlook
1. Create a Unified Inbox
2. Insert a Phone Number Into Your Calendar
3. Open a Message From the Reading Pane
4. Perform Two-Sided Printing
5. Search and Replace Area Codes
6. Print a List of Meeting Attendees
7. Enlarge the Type in the Calendar Location Box
8. Create Contact Records for All Recipients of an Email
9. Track Time Zones for Meetings
10. Back Up Outlook Data Easily
Chapter 19: Ten Things You Can Do After You’re Comfy
1. Take Notes
2. Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
3. Smarten Up Your Messages with Smart Art
4. Translate Your Email Messages
5. Add Charts for Impact
6. Use Symbols in Email
7. Open Multiple Calendars
8. Superimpose Calendars
9. Select Dates as a Group
10. Pin a Contact Card

Index

About the Author

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter

FIGURE I-1: A typical dialog box that showcases some of the control types.
FIGURE I-2: The Home tab of the Ribbon in Outlook.
FIGURE I-3: Backstage View in Outlook.

Chapter 1

FIGURE 1-1: The Simplified Ribbon
FIGURE 1-2: The Classic Ribbon
FIGURE 1-3: A received message in the Inbox.
FIGURE 1-4: Composing a new email message.
FIGURE 1-5: Attaching a file to an outgoing message.
FIGURE 1-6: Track your busy schedule in the Outlook Calendar.
FIGURE 1-7: Fill in the form to create the contact.
FIGURE 1-8: Entering your task in the Task list.
FIGURE 1-9: Preserve your prose for posterity in an Outlook note.

Chapter 2

FIGURE 2-1: The Outlook main screen.
FIGURE 2-2: Changing the navigation options.
FIGURE 2-3: The Outlook main screen with the Folder pane collapsed.
FIGURE 2-4: A calendar in the Work Week view.
FIGURE 2-5: Using the Reading Pane to see details of a selected item.
FIGURE 2-6: The Peek feature enables you to take a quick look at your calendar ...
FIGURE 2-7: The Simplified Ribbon (top) and the Classic Ribbon (bottom).
FIGURE 2-8: A ScreenTip tells you the name of the tool you’re using.
FIGURE 2-9: In Simplified Ribbon mode, create a new item in any module.
FIGURE 2-10: In Classic Ribbon mode, create a new item in any module.
FIGURE 2-11: The Search box helps you find items in a jiffy.
FIGURE 2-12: Getting ready to add a field to your search criteria.
FIGURE 2-13: Select the fields you want to search by.
FIGURE 2-14: Enter the criteria for each of the fields you added.
FIGURE 2-15: Outlook offers to take an action on your behalf.

Chapter 3

FIGURE 3-1: Drag tasks to the To-Do bar to help track when you have time to acc...
FIGURE 3-2: When you drag an email message to your calendar, the message text i...
FIGURE 3-3: A contact record created from a received email.
FIGURE 3-4: Dragging a contact to the Mail button creates a new message address...
FIGURE 3-5: Dragging an appointment to the Mail button creates a new message.
FIGURE 3-6: You can view or hide various panes by making selections from the La...

Chapter 4

FIGURE 4-1: The New Message form.
FIGURE 4-2: Selecting recipients from the Select Names dialog box.
FIGURE 4-3: The Properties dialog box for a message.
FIGURE 4-4: The microphone is waiting for your dictation.
FIGURE 4-5: Numbers next to your Inbox icon tell you how many unread messages y...
FIGURE 4-6: You can see a preview of your unread messages after enabling Messag...
FIGURE 4-7: The Reply screen.
FIGURE 4-8: Outlook can read messages to you out loud.
FIGURE 4-9: The Forward screen is nearly identical to the Reply screen, except ...
FIGURE 4-10: The Save As dialog box.

Chapter 5

FIGURE 5-1: The Inbox with a message flagged.
FIGURE 5-2: The Follow Up menu for an account that doesn’t support flagging (le...
FIGURE 5-3: Choose an exact Start date and/or End date.
FIGURE 5-4: Choose the flag to use for quick clicking.
FIGURE 5-5: The Custom dialog box with a reminder flag being set.
FIGURE 5-6: For an outgoing message you can have separate flags for yourself an...
FIGURE 5-7: Incoming messages with flags and reminders show a different flag ic...
FIGURE 5-8: You can decide whether to save copies of the messages you send by u...
FIGURE 5-9: Change the appearance of your replies and forwards in the Mail sett...
FIGURE 5-10: Your initials shows up to indicate your reply.
FIGURE 5-11: The Insert File dialog box.
FIGURE 5-12: You can email a link to a document right from Microsoft Word.
FIGURE 5-13: You can email a file as a copy from Microsoft Word.
FIGURE 5-14: You can email a screenshot to show what’s going on with your compu...
FIGURE 5-15: The Signatures and Stationery dialog box’s E-mail Signature tab.

Chapter 6

FIGURE 6-1: Creating a new folder.
FIGURE 6-2: The Create New Folder dialog box.
FIGURE 6-3: The Move Items dialog box.
FIGURE 6-4: The New Search Folder dialog box.
FIGURE 6-5: Start by choosing the kind of rule you want.
FIGURE 6-6: Set up the conditions for the rule.
FIGURE 6-7: Choose the folder to which your messages will go.
FIGURE 6-8: Create a rule using a received message as an example.
FIGURE 6-9: Set your junk email protection as high or as low as you like.
FIGURE 6-10: Block messages from senders in specific countries with the Blocked...
FIGURE 6-11: The AutoArchive dialog box.
FIGURE 6-12: Setting the Inbox folder to autoarchive messages that are older th...
FIGURE 6-13: Manually archiving the Inbox folder.
FIGURE 6-14: Outlook offers plenty of ways to arrange your folders.
FIGURE 6-15: All the messages from a conversation are grouped together.
FIGURE 6-16: Cleaning up a conversation.
FIGURE 6-17: Conversation Clean Up options.
FIGURE 6-18: If Quick Steps does not appear on the Home tab, you’ll find it her...
FIGURE 6-19: The Quick Step First Time Setup dialog box.
FIGURE 6-20: The Manage Quick Steps dialog box.

Chapter 7

FIGURE 7-1: Enter your email address and let Outlook take it from there.
FIGURE 7-2: Enter mail server settings if prompted for them.
FIGURE 7-3: The account has been successfully set up with custom settings.
FIGURE 7-4: Choose which account from which to send the new message.
FIGURE 7-5: Choose which account should be the default from the Account Setting...
FIGURE 7-6: Make basic configuration changes to the account in the Account Sett...
FIGURE 7-7: Change the mail server or port for an account.
FIGURE 7-8: The Import and Export Wizard dialog box.
FIGURE 7-9: Choose which data file to export from, and optionally choose a cert...
FIGURE 7-10: Select the folder to import from.

Chapter 8

FIGURE 8-1: The Contact entry form.
FIGURE 8-2: The Check Full Name dialog box.
FIGURE 8-3: You can enter more than one email address for each person in your C...
FIGURE 8-4: You can always reach your contact at one of these phone numbers.
FIGURE 8-5: The Check Address dialog box.
FIGURE 8-6: Have fun with formatting in the Notes text box.
FIGURE 8-7: Business Card view.
FIGURE 8-8: Phone view.
FIGURE 8-9: The List view applies grouping by company by default.
FIGURE 8-10: Group items by some other field if desired.
FIGURE 8-11: Right-click on any contact to add a flag.
FIGURE 8-12: Choose a reminder date.
FIGURE 8-13: Use the Search box to narrow down the displayed contacts to those ...
FIGURE 8-14: Search for a contact from any module using the Search box in the F...
FIGURE 8-15: Sending a business card.
FIGURE 8-16: Picking members for your Contact group.
FIGURE 8-17: A picture is worth a thousand words — sometimes.

Chapter 9

FIGURE 9-1: Adjust the time scale from the View tab.
FIGURE 9-2: Point to an item on the calendar to see its basic details.
FIGURE 9-3: Jump ahead or back 3 months at a time by clicking the month and yea...
FIGURE 9-4: The Go To Date dialog box.
FIGURE 9-5: The Appointment form.
FIGURE 9-6: A dialog box pops up to remind you about your appointment.
FIGURE 9-7: The drop-down calendar on the Appointment form.
FIGURE 9-8: Drag the top or bottom of an appointment up or down to change the a...
FIGURE 9-9: The Appointment Recurrence dialog box.
FIGURE 9-10: Repeating appointments display the recurrence symbol in the lower-...
FIGURE 9-11: A recurring appointment includes a description about how and when ...
FIGURE 9-12: Calendar printing options.
FIGURE 9-13: The Print dialog box when printing a calendar.
FIGURE 9-14: Creating a new calendar.
FIGURE 9-15: Two calendars side by side.
FIGURE 9-16: Superimpose two calendars to keep your appointments straight.
FIGURE 9-18: The Classic Ribbon’s Home tab for the Calendar module without an E...
FIGURE 9-17: The Classic Ribbon’s Home tab for the Calendar module with an Exch...
FIGURE 9-19: Setting up sharing for a calendar associated with an Exchange acco...
FIGURE 9-20: Inviting another user to share your calendar.
FIGURE 9-21: A shared calendar appears in the Shared Calendars section of the F...
FIGURE 9-22: Preparing to share a calendar via email.

Chapter 10

FIGURE 10-1: Enter your new task in the Task form.
FIGURE 10-2: Outlook shows the Tasks lists for all open data files in the navig...
FIGURE 10-3: The Folders module enables you to browse all the folders within ea...
FIGURE 10-4: Creating a new Tasks folder.
FIGURE 10-5: Choose a view from the Change View button’s menu.
FIGURE 10-6: View (and optionally change) the details of a view in the Advanced...
FIGURE 10-7: You can type changes to a task directly into the list.
FIGURE 10-8: Change a task’s status.
FIGURE 10-9: Set up the schedule for the recurring task.
FIGURE 10-10: Regenerate a task in the Task Recurrence dialog box.
FIGURE 10-11: A check mark denotes the task as complete.
FIGURE 10-12: The Task Options page.
FIGURE 10-13: Enable the To-Do bar from the View tab on the Ribbon.
FIGURE 10-14: Daily Task List can be displayed in Day, Work Week, or Week view.
FIGURE 10-15: Creating a new task in the My Day list in the To-Do module.

Chapter 11

FIGURE 11-1: The Mail Merge Contacts dialog box.
FIGURE 11-2: The Mail Merge Helper dialog box.
FIGURE 11-3: The Label Options dialog box.
FIGURE 11-4: The Insert Address Block dialog box.
FIGURE 11-5: Several field codes have been inserted.

Chapter 12

FIGURE 12-1: Open the menu for the desired calendar.
FIGURE 12-2: Copy the secret address to the Clipboard.
FIGURE 12-3: Paste the secret address into the New Internet Calendar Subscripti...
FIGURE 12-4: The Import and Export Wizard dialog box.
FIGURE 12-5: Exporting contacts from Google Contacts.
FIGURE 12-6: Specify how the contacts should be imported.
FIGURE 12-7: Choose where to put the imported contacts.
FIGURE 12-8: Sign in to iCloud.
FIGURE 12-9: If needed, select the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars check box.
FIGURE 12-10: iCloud content in the Calendars, Tasks, and Contacts modules in O...

Chapter 13

FIGURE 13-1: You can view an email message by tapping it in the message list.
FIGURE 13-2: Mobile Outlook makes replying to emails quick and easy.
FIGURE 13-3: The New Message form in Outlook on an iPad.
FIGURE 13-4: Display the File menu and then choose Settings.
FIGURE 13-5: The Swipe Right screen lets you choose what happens when you swipe...
FIGURE 13-6: Hold your finger on a message for a second or two to make option b...
FIGURE 13-7: Choose the calendar view (iPad version shown here).
FIGURE 13-8: The New Event form is where you record all the details for your ca...

Chapter 14

FIGURE 14-1: The Quick Access Toolbar above the Ribbon (left) and below it (rig...
FIGURE 14-2: Enable and position the QAT.
FIGURE 14-3: Manage the QAT from its menu.
FIGURE 14-4: The buttons on each tab are divided by vertical lines into groups.
FIGURE 14-5: Creating a new tab and group.
FIGURE 14-6: The Tasks module in Table view (Detailed view).
FIGURE 14-7: The Notes field is being dragged to the top row of the table.
FIGURE 14-8: Widening the Modified column.
FIGURE 14-9: Grouping the To-Do List by Status.
FIGURE 14-10: The Categorize button.
FIGURE 14-11: Rename the categories more meaningfully if you like.

Chapter 15

FIGURE 15-1: Use the Attendee Availability page to invite coworkers to a meetin...
FIGURE 15-2: Pick attendees in the Select Attendees and Resources dialog box.
FIGURE 15-3: Find a time when all invitees can attend.
FIGURE 15-4: Select your response to the meeting request from the Meeting tab o...
FIGURE 15-5: See the RSVPs from your VIPs.
FIGURE 15-6: Two possible ways that recipients will be invited to vote.
FIGURE 15-7: Send your assigned task.
FIGURE 15-8: Set up the delegation permissions.
FIGURE 15-9: Pick another person’s folder to view.
FIGURE 15-10: You can grant permission to view your folders to anyone on your n...
FIGURE 15-11: Add someone else’s folders to your Outlook collection.

Chapter 16

FIGURE 16-1: The Outlook on the Web screen offers toolbars and buttons to help ...
FIGURE 16-2: The New Message screen.
FIGURE 16-3: You can prioritize outgoing messages by setting their importance.
FIGURE 16-4: Flag your message to move it to the top of your Inbox.
FIGURE 16-5: Choose how you would like to sort your contacts.
FIGURE 16-6: Save information about the people you know on the New Contact form...
FIGURE 16-7: Change the calendar’s view from the View menu.
FIGURE 16-9: Add an appointment title and other details.
FIGURE 16-8: Your calendar displays your appointments.
FIGURE 16-10: The To Do module at Outlook.com is the same as (and linked to) th...
FIGURE 16-11: Adjust the most common settings from the Settings task pane.
FIGURE 16-12: Control the full gamut of settings from the Settings dialog box.
FIGURE 16-13: If you’re unavailable, let people know with an out of office mess...
FIGURE 16-14: Create a signature for Outlook on the Web.

Chapter 17

FIGURE 17-1: The New Item menu enables you to create new items in modules other...
FIGURE 17-2: Outlook must be the default email app in order to send files from ...
FIGURE 17-3: Sharing a link to a file stored on your OneDrive.
FIGURE 17-4: The Go to Date dialog box.

Introduction

Microsoft Outlook has become an essential business tool in the years since it was first released in the 1990s. If you work in a company that employs more than a dozen people, it’s a pretty good bet that you’ll be using Microsoft Outlook to manage your email and calendar. Whether you’re giving or taking directions, organizing meetings, collaborating on important projects, or just keeping up with business, Outlook is what you’ll use to get it done fast. Outlook has become even more important to businesses in recent years, with more companies encouraging telecommuting and hiring employees who work from home.

Outlook is not just for business use, though — far from it. Outlook is also the application of choice for millions of people who use it for their own personal communication needs. Students use it to communicate with their teachers and fellow students about academic projects. Parents use it to manage the family calendar so that everyone knows where they need to be. Hobbyists use it to communicate with other people who share their passion for whatever makes them smile, whether it’s birdwatching, woodworking, or role-playing games.

Outlook: What Is It Good For?

Outlook is a personal information manager that can act as your assistant in dealing with the flurry of small but important details that stand between you and the work (or play) you do. It sends and receives email, maintains your address book, schedules meetings and appointments, tracks your to-do list, and more, all in one place.

Here are just a few of the cool things it can do for you:

Send email messages to individuals or groups, including attachments, graphics, text formatting, signature blocks, and more.
Keep an address book of all your contacts with consistently up-to-date information.
Manage multiple calendars (such as for work and for home) and overlay their appointments in a single view so you can make sure there aren’t any conflicts.
Schedule a meeting and reserve a conference room in your workplace, then send out meeting invitations and track who has accepted or declined.
Organize hundreds of little pieces of data with digital “sticky notes” that you can search, sort, and color-code.

About This Book

Outlook For Dummies Office 2021 Edition is your one-stop guide to all things Outlook. Whether you’re brand-new to Outlook or a long-time casual user looking to go deeper, you’ll find the help you need here. The book is organized in six parts, each with a specific theme:

Part 1: Getting Started with Outlook. Start here if you’re not already familiar with Outlook at a basic level. Here you’ll get an overview of what Outlook does, take a guided tour of the interface, and learn some handy shortcuts for getting around.

Part 2: Taming the Email Beast. If you’re mostly interested in Outlook’s email capabilities, start here. You’ll learn how to send and receive messages with all kinds of different options, like attachments, special formatting, signature lines, and read receipts. You’ll also learn how to organize your messages into folders, create mail-handling rules that automatically move incoming messages into certain folders, and set up multiple email accounts to work with Outlook.

Part 3: Keeping Track of Contacts, Dates, Tasks, and More. In this part you’ll learn about several of Outlook’s tools for organizing your busy life and schedule. You’ll see how to set up your address book (which Outlook calls Contacts), how to schedule meetings and appointments on your calendar(s), and how to manage your to-do list.

Part 4: Taking Outlook to the Next Level. This part tackles some less common topics that may be of interest to you. You’ll find out how to integrate Outlook with other Office applications and with Google and iCloud services, for example. You’ll also learn how to use Outlook on mobile devices that run iOS or Android, and how to customize Outlook to better serve you.

Part 5: Outlook at Work. Some Outlook features only work if your office uses an Exchange mail server (and a lot of offices do). You’ll learn about those features in this part, and you’ll find out how to use Outlook.com and the Outlook Web app for telecommuting.

Part 6: The Part of Tens. As is customary in a Dummies book, I wrap things up by providing some Top 10 lists that you can skim at your leisure. You’ll learn about ten time-saving shortcuts, ten things that Outlook actually can’t do (so you can stop banging your head against the wall trying to get them to work!), and ten cool features that most people don’t know about.

About Version Numbers

Outlook is part of a suite of applications called Microsoft Office. Microsoft offers a choice in how to buy Microsoft Office: as a subscription or as a one-time purchase.

The one-time-purchase version has a version number that represents the year it came out, like Office 2021. There are different editions of this product for different demographics, like Professional, Home and Student, or Enterprise. You get periodic automatic updates (if that option is enabled), but there are no major upgrade options. That means if you plan to upgrade to the next major release in the future, you will have to buy it at full price.

The subscription method is called Office 365, and it’s the most popular one, both for business and personal uses. Office 365 is a general name for the subscription offering; 365 is not a version number. With the subscription method, you always have the most recent version at no extra charge, even if a major new version comes out. Microsoft silently rolls out new features and tweaks nearly every month via automatic download and installation. One day you’ll open up Outlook and notice a new feature, or you’ll see that the interface looks slightly different (and hopefully you’ll think it’s an improvement!). There are different Office 365 subscription plans for individuals, businesses, and schools that contain different combinations of the various applications. (They all include Outlook, though.)

Some business IT departments really don’t like the fact that Microsoft frequently rolls out updates to Office without advance warning. They like to be able to control what updates are installed — and when. They like to get the updates well in advance and test them before they allow them to roll out to the users they support, to make sure there are no conflicts or bugs that will cause problems with other essential software that they use. For these companies, Microsoft offers an alternative: They will sell these companies a version of Office 2021 that does not automatically update. It stays exactly the same for months at a time, with changes rolled out every 6 months. This roll-out method is called the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC).

So, generally speaking, what does all this mean to you?

You probably have Office 365. Most people do.
Which version you have really doesn’t matter all that much. All versions get updated — just on different schedules.
You might see some minor differences in your Outlook interface compared to what’s shown and described in this book. This is unavoidable.

Foolish Assumptions

As I wrote this book, I made certain assumptions about you, its reader. For one thing, I assume you know how to turn on your computer, use a mouse and keyboard, and navigate your way around Microsoft Windows 10. If Windows or Microsoft Office is strange to you, I recommend picking up Andy Rathbone’s Windows 10 For Dummies or Wallace Wang’s Microsoft Office For Dummies, respectively. Or, if you’re of the senior set and more interested in home use than business, check out my book Microsoft Office For Seniors For Dummies. (All are published by Wiley.)

And speaking of Windows, I’m assuming you have the desktop version of Outlook running on Windows 11. (Yes, it also runs on laptops.) There are online and mobile versions of Outlook, and in fact I do cover them in Chapter 16, but most of this book is for users of the version that runs on Windows computers. There is also a Mac version of Outlook, and it works basically the same as the Windows version, but I don’t cover it specifically.

I’m not making any assumptions about whether you’re a home or business user; there’s plenty of help in this book for both.

Interface Conventions Used in This Book

Outlook has many unique features, but it also has lots in common with other Windows programs: dialog boxes, drop-down menus, Ribbons, and so on. To be productive with Outlook, you need to understand how these features work and recognize the conventions I use for describing these features throughout this book.

Dialog boxes and windows

You deal with more dialog boxes in Outlook than you do in many other Microsoft Office programs. A dialog box is a box that pops up asking for information. Sometimes it’s super simple, like a warning message asking you to click OK to continue. Other times there are dozens of options, like the dialog box that lets you set Outlook program options (covered in Chapter 14).

Here are the essential parts of a dialog box. You can see them in action in Figure I-1.

Snapshot of a typical dialog box that showcases some of the control types. — FIGURE I-1: A typical dialog box that showcases some of the control types.

Title bar: The title bar tells you the name of the dialog box or window.
Text boxes: Text boxes are blank spaces into which you type information. When you click a text box, you see a blinking cursor, which means you can type text there.
Option buttons: These are sets of round buttons where you can only select one of them at a time. When you click one, the others become unselected. They’re used for situations where it’s impossible to have more than one thing at a time, like Portrait vs. Landscape page orientation.
Check boxes: These are square boxes for individual yes/no toggles. Even if there’s a set of them, each one is separate.
Drop-down menus: These look like rectangular buttons, but they have a down-pointing arrow at the right side. When you click them, a menu of options appears; click an option to make your selection.
Command buttons: These rectangular buttons execute commands, like OK or Cancel. Sometimes they have an ellipsis on them (three dots, like this: …), which indicates that they open another dialog box.
Tabs: Some dialog boxes have multiple pages, and each page has a tab you can click to display it. In Figure I-1 the tabs are just words in a bar along the left side, but in some dialog boxes the tabs run across the top of the dialog box window and look like actual file folder tabs.

Windows are closely related to dialog boxes; they’re large boxes (typically resizable) designed to help you create or manage data. For example, when you schedule a new appointment on the calendar, a New Appointment window opens up, prompting you for the title, date, time, and any notes. The same is true for new email messages, new contacts, and so on.

Ribbons and tabs

Outlook features a strip of graphical buttons across the top called the Ribbon. See Figure I-2. You can find out what each button does by hovering the mouse pointer over it so a pop-up ScreenTip appears.

Snapshot of the Home tab of the Ribbon in Outlook. — FIGURE I-2: The Home tab of the Ribbon in Outlook.

The Ribbon is a multi-tabbed affair, and the tab names appear as a row of text above the Ribbon: Home, View, and so on. You start out on the Home tab, but you can click one of the other tabs to switch to it any time.

There’s one special tab: File. This tab opens a whole different screen, called Backstage view. This screen lets you open and export data files, set program options, print, and perform maintenance-type functions like setting up rules, managing add-ins, and setting program options. See Figure I-3.

Snapshot of the File tab of the Ribbon in Outlook.' — FIGURE I-3: Backstage View in Outlook.

Keyboard shortcuts

Normally, you can choose any Windows command in at least two different ways (and sometimes more):

Click a button on the Ribbon or in the navigation pane.
Press a keyboard combination. An example is Ctrl+B, which means holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the letter B. (You use this command to make text bold.)
Press the F10 key to reveal the keyboard equivalents on the various Ribbon tabs and commands, and then press that key to make your selection. (This is way too much trouble for most people, but maybe you love a challenge).

Another fast way to get at your favorite Outlook features is the Quick Access Toolbar — a small strip of icons in the upper left corner of your screen. In Chapter 14, I describe how that works and how to make it do what you want.

Icons Used in This Book

Keep an eye out for the following icons sprinkled throughout the chapters — these little pictures draw your attention to specific types of useful information:

The Warning icon points to something that can prevent or cause problems — good stuff to know!

The Remember icon offers helpful information. (Everything in this book is helpful, but this stuff is even more helpful.)

The Tip icon points out a hint or trick for saving time and effort or something that makes Outlook easier to understand.

The Technical Stuff icon identifies background information that casual users can skip, although it may make for good conversation at a really dull party.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or ebook you’re reading right now, this product comes with some goodies on the web that you can access anywhere. No matter how well you understand the concepts of Outlook, you’ll likely come across a few questions where you don’t have a clue. To get this material, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Outlook For Dummies Office 2021 Edition Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.

Part 1

Getting Started with Outlook

IN THIS PART …

Learn how to use Outlook to read and send email, send attachments, and create appointments and tasks as well as how to use the Calendar feature to help you meet important deadlines.
Explore the various parts of Outlook, including views, menus, and folders, as well as the search feature.
Discover how to create contacts and calendar appointments as well as how to use dragging, how to create and modify tasks, and how to further enhance your productivity.