Office 2013: The Missing Manual

Chapter 11. Getting Started with Outlook

If you think of Outlook only as Microsoft’s email program, you haven’t seen Outlook lately. Sure, you can use Outlook to send, receive, and organize email, but it does a whole lot more, too. It’s also a supercharged address book, a calendar to keep track of appointments, a virtual notepad, and a personal assistant that reminds you of tasks and keeps you organized.

This chapter provides a quick overview of what you can do with Outlook. Then, since email is the first thing most people work with in Outlook, you’ll get right down to business learning the ins and outs of sending and receiving email messages—from the basics to more advanced maneuvers, like creating rules to sort incoming emails, using and creating Quick Steps, and managing multiple email accounts. You’ll also see where to find your favorite shortcuts when working with email—and maybe learn a few new ones.

Setting Up Outlook

Before you can start using Outlook 2013, you first have to set it up. Microsoft lends a hand by providing a startup wizard (a series of question-and-answer screens) that guides you through these steps:

1. Make sure your computer is connected to the Internet, and then, fire up Outlook.

   On the Windows 8 Start screen, start typing Outlook. When Outlook appears in your results list, click to launch it.

   If you’re using Windows 7, start Outlook from the Windows Start menu: Start→All Programs→Microsoft Office 2013→Outlook 2013.

   The Microsoft Outlook 2013 Startup wizard opens, ...