The Microsoft Outlook Ideas Book Barbara March BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI The Microsoft Outlook Ideas Book Copyright © 2006 Packt Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information First published: February 2006 Production Reference: 1150206 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK ISBN 1-904811-70-1 www.packtpub.com Cover Design by www.visionwt.com Credits Author Barbara March Development Editor Douglas Paterson Reviewers Eric Woodford Stuart Whyte Catherine Fenner Shawn K Hall Charles G "Chuck" Boulais "Dr Frank" Kendralla Jr Indexer Ashutosh Pande Technical Editor Jimmy Karumalil Editorial Manager Dipali Chittar Proofreader Chris Smith Production Coordinator Manjiri Nadkarni Cover Designer Helen Wood About the Author Barbara March's long career in office administration, in many different industries, and her passion for computer software led her into software training After obtaining Microsoft Office Specialist qualifications at Expert level and becoming a Microsoft MOUS Master Instructor, Barbara extended her knowledge and expertise further in MS Office by achieving outstanding pass marks in ECDL Advanced examinations This knowledge and expertise, she has applied in all her posts including her current role as a data analyst in a local authority Barbara's analytical mind forces her to question the accepted boundaries of the software she uses and to apply her flair and imagination to find ways to use the software capabilities to the limit and to the benefit of her performance and professionalism Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1: The Calendar Folder A Meetings Schedule Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A Record of Goods or Services Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? How to Use This View A Staff Leave Calendar Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A Staff Leave Calendar—Daily View by Department Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A Staff Leave Calendar—Sick Leave View Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A Calendar View that Records Conference Costs Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A Calendar View that Records Your Expenses Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? A To Do List for Calendar Items Creating the Calendar View What Just Happened? Summary 10 11 12 15 18 20 25 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 36 36 38 40 Table of Contents Chapter 2: The Contacts Folder A Distribution Lists View Creating the Contacts View What Just Happened? A View of Suppliers of Goods or Services Creating the Contacts View What Just Happened? Creating Views of Staff Data A Length of Service and Leave Entitlement View Creating the Contacts View What Just Happened? Adding Details of Company Vehicles A Contacts Folder for Company Vehicles Creating the Contacts View What Just Happened? Summary Chapter 3: The Tasks Folder Customizing Tasks Folder Views The Assigned to Me View The Assigned by Me View Tasks Assigned by Me View The My Tasks View Creating the View What Just Happened? Number of Days Left to Complete a Task Creating the Task Linking Tasks to Contacts Completed Assigned Tasks Creating Tasks for a Workshop What Just Happened? Completed Tasks The Completed Repairs View What Just Happened? Filtering the View of Completed Repairs The Completion Time Analysis View What Just Happened? ii 41 41 42 42 43 43 44 46 47 47 48 49 50 50 51 56 57 59 60 62 62 64 64 64 66 66 67 68 68 69 70 70 71 73 74 76 Table of Contents Separate Tasks Folders A Tasks To Do List What Just Happened? Reusable Tasks Meetings Checklist Induction Checklist Summary Chapter 4: Whole Solutions Our Company Solution Meeting Room Management Creating a Meeting Rooms View Creating the Meeting Room Calendar View What Just Happened? Invoicing Meeting Room Bookings Creating the Appointment Form What Just Happened? Meeting Room Maintenance Using the Meeting Room Solution Invoicing Room Bookings Creating the Calendar View for Bookings and Invoices What Just Happened? Sales Creating the Orders Mail Folder What Just Happened? Our School Solution Creating the Students Contacts Folders What Just Happened? Creating the Subjects Contacts Folder What Just Happened? Creating the Teachers Contacts Folder What Just Happened? Creating the Classrooms Contacts Folder What Just Happened? Assigning the Classes Calendar Folders Creating the Assignments Tasks Folder What Just Happened? Creating the Journal Reports Folder What Just Happened? 79 80 80 83 83 85 86 87 87 87 90 91 92 96 97 99 102 103 106 106 107 107 109 111 114 115 116 117 118 119 119 120 121 122 126 127 129 130 iii Table of Contents Creating the Notes Folder Summary Index iv 131 132 133 Whole Solutions The Result The following screenshot shows Classrooms view: Assigning the Classes Calendar Folders In Our School, each subject has its own calendar and each day there are sessions in that subject A typical day in the History calendar at Our School would have Registration, the History classes, Breaks and Lunch shown as appointments and the calendar would operate in the basic Day/Week/Month type view as shown in the screenshot opposite 122 Chapter The appointments (classes) in each calendar are assigned to the appropriate subject category so that all classes in the History calendar are assigned to the History category They are also linked to the rooms in which they will take place and to the subject teacher So the Activities tab of Room 21, for example, will show all the classes taking place in that room and in the following screenshot we can match the classes in the History calendar taking place in Room 21 with the items shown on the Activities tab of Room 21: 123 Whole Solutions Likewise, the Activities tab of the contacts record of the History teacher, Helen Bennett will show all the classes that she has 124 Chapter When the class teacher records which students have attended the class, the information can also be recorded in Outlook by linking the students' contacts records with the relevant classes in the appropriate calendar For example, student Barbara Chiplock's subjects are English Language, History, and Mathematics and we can verify that from her Contacts record: The classes that Barbara attends are linked to her Contacts record and will show on her Activities tab The items will have already been assigned to the subject categories in the calendar and the Activities tab can be set to group items by category The following is the result and we can see that Barbara did attend the History class on 11th April: 125 Whole Solutions Creating the Assignments Tasks Folder Because we wish to monitor the progress of the Tasks that we assign to the students and receive updates from them on their progress, this Tasks folder needs to be the default Tasks folder and we will create the following view: Create a new table-type view from the Define Views | New option and name the view Student Assignments In the View Summary dialog box, click Fields and select the fields: Complete, Subject, Status, Due Date, Contacts, and click OK We will now create the following new manual fields: Name Format Purpose Mark Text Text To enter the mark given to the assignments Full Marks Number All digits To enter the full mark for the assignment Pass Mark 126 Type Number All digits To enter the pass mark for the assignment Chapter 4 And add the following three new formula fields: Name In the Formula Field window Days Overdue IIf([Complete]=True,"",IIf(Date()-[Due Date]=[Pass Mark],"Pass","Fail") % Mark Format([Mark]/[Full Marks],"percent") Set Group By to Categories, Then by to Contacts (not to be shown in the view), and Then by to Status Set Sort items by to Due Date From the Automatic Formatting option, amend the first rule then click Add to create the second of the following formatting rules: Formatting Rule Font Format Completed and Read tasks Gray Font only (deselect strikeout) Formatting Rule Name Field Condition Value Font Format Not Started Status Equals Not Started Red Exit the View Summary and from the Format Columns dialog box rename the following field as shown: Field name New name Contacts Student What Just Happened? We have created a view of the default Tasks folder from which Tasks can be assigned to students with a due date and which assignments will be graded and the grade recorded against the Tasks To begin with the Days Overdue field will tell us by how many days the due date has been exceeded and the first part of the formula ensures that it will not calculate where tasks have been completed The remainder of the formula calculates and returns the difference between the current date and the Due Date 127 Whole Solutions The Pass/Fail field compares the value in the Mark field with the value in the Pass Mark field and returns Pass or Fail appropriately The % Mark field calculates the percentage of the Full Marks that the assignment has received Error messages in this field are the result of there being no value in the Mark field The Tasks are grouped first by Category, which is the class name, secondly by the student (the renamed Contacts field), and thirdly by the task status The Tutor may wish to be alerted to those assignments that students have not yet started and these are formatted in Red font The Result Here is the Students Assignments view of the Tasks folder: 128 Chapter Tasks, having been assigned by a subject teacher, will appear in their Tasks folder awaiting updates from students; also if the teacher maintains student records in a Contacts folder in their Outlook installation, the assignments will also appear on the Activities tab of the student Contacts record Creating the Journal Reports Folder We are now going to create a Journal folder that will contain links to the students' progress reports Create a new Journal folder named @Reports Create a new table-type view from the Define Views | New option and name the view Student Reports In the View Summary dialog box, click Fields and select the fields: Icon, Attachment, Entry Type, Subject, Size, and Contacts, and click OK Set Group By to Categories and Then by to Contacts Exit the View Summary and from the Format Columns dialog box rename the following field as shown: Field name New name Contacts Student 129 Whole Solutions Return to the View Summary dialog box, click Group by, and deselect Show field in View relating to Group by Contacts, to remove the Contacts field from the field header bar, and click OK What Just Happened? We have created a Journal folder named @Reports that contains links to student progress reports that are held elsewhere on the system network To store a link in this folder to a student's report, create a new Journal entry and assign it to the category that is the relevant class category of the student (e.g 3a) Click the Contacts button, locate the student contact record to link the Journal entry to the student and from the Insert | File menu, locate the report in your computer system and insert a shortcut to the student's report The Result Here is the Student Reports view of the Journal folder: The progress reports can now be opened by clicking the item in the Journal folder or the link that will appear on the Activities tab of the student Contacts record 130 Chapter Creating the Notes Folder The final link in this solution, Our School is the Notes folder, and in Our School, Notes is used to record detentions Fortunately, the students are pretty well behaved: 131 Whole Solutions The Notes folder has been set up with just the one field, Subject, and the view that is applied is the predefined By Category view with AutoPreview The Notes are assigned the category of the class of the student concerned and are colored pink or blue according to the gender of the offender The Notes are linked to the student's contact record, completing the record of the student's career at Our School Summary This book has gradually revealed the untapped power of Outlook's individual components, and in this final chapter, we have brought these components together to create effective procedures for managing information without third-party programs or programmers These final interactive solutions emphasize the importance of acknowledging Outlook as a whole application and utilizing the interdependence of its parts These complete solutions also demonstrate Outlook's outstanding capabilities as an unmitigated information manager 132 Index A Activities tab, 14 Allow in-cell editing option, Other Settings, 42 appointment form, meeting room management, 97 asignments tasks folder, school solution, 126 Assigned by me view, tasks, 62 Assigned to me view, tasks, 60 assigning calendar folders, school solution, 122 assigning tasks, 59 Assignment view, tasks, 59 Automatic Formatting option, 7, 20, 28, 37 B business example our company, 87 our school, 114 C Calendar folder, Outlook, calendar views conference costs, 30 daily view by department, staff leave, 25 expenses, 33 meeting room management, 106 meetings schedule, record of goods/services, 10 sick leave, staff leave, 28 staff leave, 18 to list, 36 Categories dialog box, changing views, 12 checklist, reusable tasks, 83 classrooms contacts folders, school solution, 120 company solution, business example about, 87 invoicing meeting room bookings, 96 managing email orders, 107 meeting room maintenance, 102 meeting room management, 87 company vehicles view contacts view, 50 formula fields, 51 manual fields, 51 completed repairs view about, 70 filtering, 73 formatting rules, 71 formula fields, 71 manual fields, 70 tasks view, 70 completed tasks, 70 completion time analysis view, tasks about, 74 formatting rules, 75 formula fields, 75 manual fields, 75 conference costs calendar about, 29 calendar view, 30 filters, 30 formula fields, 30 Contacts folder company vehicles view, 50 distribution lists view, 41 goods/services suppliers view, 43 length of service and leave entitlement view, 47 linking other folders, 15 staff data view, 46 Contacts folder, Outlook, 41 creating contacts view, distribution lists, 42 customizing tasks folder views, 59 D daily view by department, staff leave calendar, 25 department, staff leave calendar, 16 distribution lists contacts view, 42 filters, 42 manual fields, 42 distribution lists view, 41 E M expenses calendar about, 32 calendar view, 33 formula fields, 33 manual fields, 33 maintenance, meeting room management, 102 Master Category List button, meeting room calendar view, meeting room management, 91 meeting room management about, 87 appointment form, 97 calendar view, bookings, 106 invoicing bookings, 96 maintenance, 102 meeting room calendar view, 91 meeting rooms view, 90 orders mail folder, 109 meeting rooms calendar, 88 meeting rooms view, meeting room management, 90 meetings checklist, reusable tasks, 83 meetings schedule about, calendar view, result, Microsoft Outlook folders See folders, Outlook My expenses view, expenses calendar, 32 My Tasks view creating the view, 64 filters, 65 F Filter tab, folder views, tasks, 59 folders, Outlook Calendar, Contacts, 41 Tasks, 57 Format Columns dialog box, 11, 20 formula fields, 11, 18 G goods/services suppliers view contacts view, 43 manual fields, 44 Group By option, 30, 33 H Header/Footer tab, I induction checklist, reusable tasks, 85 invoicing meeting room bookings, meeting room management, 96 J journal reports folder, school solution, 129 L leave calendar, 15 Length of Service view, Contacts folder, 47 linking folders, 15 linking tasks to contacts, 67 134 N New Field tab, 11 notes folder, school solution, 131 O orders mail folder, meeting room management, 109 Outlook Calendar folder, Outlook folders See folders, Outlook Outlook tasks See tasks P priority settings, tasks, 58 R T record of goods/services about, calendar view, 10 linking folders, 15 view by month, 12 view by staff member, 14 view by taxi company, 13 view events on record, 14 reusable tasks, 83 induction checklist, 85 meetings checklist, 83 tasks assigning tasks, 62 completed repairs view, 70 completed tasks, 68, 70 completion time analysis view, 74 days remaining for completion, 66 example, mechanic workshop, 68 filtering results, 73 linking to contacts, 67 priority settings, 58 reusable tasks, 83 separate tasks folder, 79 tasks folder views, 59 Tasks Assigned by Me view, tasks, 62 tasks to-do list expanded view, result, 82 filters, 80 formatting rules, 80 manual fields, 80 print preview, result, 83 unexpanded view, result, 81 taxi calendar, teachers contacts folders, school solution, 119 to-do list calendar view, 36 formatting rules, 37 manual fields, 36 S scheduling meetings See meetings schedule school solution, business example assigning calendar folders to classes, 122 classrooms contacts folders, 120 creating assignments tasks folder, 126 journal reports folder, 129 notes folder, 131 orders mail folder, 114 students contacts folders, 115 subjects contacts folders, 117 teachers contacts folders, 119 separate tasks folders reusable tasks, 83 tasks to-do list, 80 sick leave view, staff leave calendar, 27 staff data views about, 46 length of service and leave entitlement view, 47 staff leave calendar about, 15 calendar view, 18 categories, 17 daily view by department, 25 filters, 20 formatting rules, 20 formula fields, 18 sick leave view, 27 students contacts folders, school solution, 115 subjects contacts folders, school solution, 117 V vehicles view, Contacts folder, 50 View Summary dialog box, 7, 10, 18 views, changing, 12 views, Outlook Calendar folder See calendar views W whole solutions company solution, 87 school solution, 114 workshop tasks manual fields, 69 tasks view, 68 135 .. .The Microsoft Outlook Ideas Book Barbara March BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI The Microsoft Outlook Ideas Book Copyright © 2006 Packt Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be... Use This Book This book is about Microsoft Outlook and not Outlook Express There are differences in functionality between the versions of Outlook, and where this affects the examples these differences... View Make the entry for the taxi booking in the calendar in the Day/Week/Month view Link the entry to the staff member concerned by clicking the Contacts button at the bottom left on the Appointments