Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

Chapter 12. Customizing Outlook and Managing Data

Out of all the tools you find in Office, Outlook is the most personal. It’s where you keep the names of your friends and it’s where you schedule the important events in your life. It makes sense to shape Outlook to work the way you like to work. The easier it is for you to use, the more you’ll be inclined to add your contacts, events, tasks, and notes to Outlook. That time spent customizing Outlook to match your needs pays dividends in the long run. You’ll avoid scheduling conflicts and missed appointments. When you need to find the address, driving directions, or random note you jotted down two weeks ago, you’ll know where to look and you’ll have powerful tools to help with the search.

This chapter starts off with a list of ways you can change Outlook’s appearance. Hide the features you don’t need all the time, and it’s easier to focus on the ones you want. You’ll learn how to arrange emails, events, contacts, tasks, and notes in the order you want and how to use advanced search tools to find the items you want. Categories are the primary organizing feature in Outlook, in part because you can apply multiple categories to an item. Here you’ll learn how to customize categories so they match your needs. You can minimize the time you spend searching for details by using folders and smart folders wisely. This chapter shows you how. Last but not least, if you don’t want to have Outlook open all the time, you can use the My Day tool to ...