Get the Most from Outlook with These Tutorials

Even if you have been using the program for awhile, Outlook tutorials can help you get the most out of it. From making an email signature to backing up data, the tips here will boost your productivity.

Make an Email Signature

Go to Tools | Options and click the Mail Format tab. Under Signature click Signatures. Head over to the E-mail Signature tab. After clicking New, enter your new signature's desired name. After clicking OK, enter your signature text. When creating signatures, keep the lines to 6 at most.
The delimiter has to be there. Signatures can be formatted, and you can use an image too. If you want to add your business card, move your mouse pointer where you want the card to be in. At the formatting toolbar, click Business Card. After highlighting yourself, click OK.

How to Back up Data

This tip will teach you how to copy contacts and mail. Open Windows Explorer and go to the Outlook folder. Select all files with an .ost extension. Be certain the selection includes "archive.pst" and "outlook.pst". Choose Edit | Copy. Go to the folder where you want the backup files to be. Select Paste.

How to Create Auto-Reply in Outlook

Start by creating a new message. Type the message and subject for the auto-reply. If you’re going on vacation, include the possible time when they can expect to get an answer. You may also add Bcc: and Cc to give them an auto reply. Save the file as a template. Now go to Home and Rules.

From the menu that comes up, choose Manage Rules & Alerts…. Select New Rule. Select “Apply rule on messages I receive”. After clicking next, place a check on “Where my name is” in the To box. This is at “under Select condition(s)”. If you want the auto responder to reply to every mail you get, remove the check marks from all the boxes.

Click Next and go to Select action(s). Place a check on “reply using a specific template”. Go to “Edit the rule” and click a template. Under Look In, choose User Templates in File System. Select the template you saved earlier. After clicking Open, click Next. Place a check on “Except if it is an Out of Office message”. After clicking next, type a name for the auto responder.

Rebuilding the Cache

This is one of the most important Outlook tutorials. An overloaded cache will cause the application to display all sorts of error messages. It will also prevent Outlook from downloading new email. Rebuilding the cache will make the program load faster and free up disk space.

Launch the program and turn cache mode off. Click Tools and head to “Email accounts". Choose "View or Change" current accounts. After clicking Next, select "Microsoft Exchange Server". Click Change. Remove the check from "Use Cached Exchange Mode". After clicking Next, click OK. Close it. Search for all offline .ost (offline format) files and delete them.

Turn on cache mode. After starting the application, click Tools. Choose "E-Mail accounts" and choose "View or change existing e-mail accounts". After clicking Next, select “Microsoft Exchange Server". After clicking Next, place a check on “Use Cached Exchange Mode.". Click OK.

These Outlook tutorials are for the 2010 edition. But they are also applicable for the 2003 versions. However, the locations of some of the menu options differ.

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