Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

Chapter 1. Outlook “in a Nutshell”

Outlook 2000 is more than just a flexible, robust email client. It is a multidimensional program made up of six powerful components: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal. These components work seamlessly to perform the following functions:

• Communicate electronically

• Schedule activities and events

• Maintain an intelligent address book

• Manage and track projects

• Save and organize notes

• Log and time various activities

To realize the full potential of Outlook 2000, you must understand that Outlook is a database that stores items (e.g., mail messages, addresses, dates, times, notes, etc.) in folders. Regardless of the component, Outlook uses forms as containers to input and display items. Outlook items have properties , such as date, owner, and category, that can be used as selection criteria for Outlook views, which allow you to display, sort, and filter items almost endlessly. You can use predefined views, sorts, and filters, create custom views based on predefined views, or create your own views from scratch. Outlook 2000 provides access to all of its commands via menus and toolbars that are customizable and adaptive, as well as via powerful context menus (launched by right-clicking an area). It provides the Outlook Bar (a container for shortcuts) and the Folder List (a tree-like folder display) to help navigate the program.

The remainder of this chapter covers the Outlook components, providing you with common uses, the command-line syntax, ...