Email at Bradford - Outlook

This document provides guidance for staff using Office 365 with Microsoft Outlook 2010 for email at the University of Bradford.

Contents

Introduction 1

Confidential information 1

Logging in to Outlook 1

The Outlook window 2

Set default Inbox 2

Managing the panes 2

Quick Access toolbar 2

Closing Outlook 3

Reading Mail 3

The reading pane 4

Opening messages in a new window 4

Group messages 4

Viewing related messages 4

Sorting messages 4

Adding or removing fields (columns) 5

Sending and Receiving Mail 5

Sending messages 5

Adding recipients 6

Composing a message 7

Spelling and grammar 7

Sending the message 8

Draft messages 8

Replying to messages 8

Forwarding messages 8

Signatures 8

Inserting a signature 9

Change a signature 9

Attachments 9

Opening an attachment 10

Sending an attachment 10

Inserting a file 10

Managing Mail 11

Creating, renaming or deleting folders 11

Moving messages to folders 11

Favorites 11

Searching for messages 12

Marking messages as unread 12

Deleting messages 12

Quick Steps 13

Create a new Quick Step 13

Built-in Quick Steps 14

Managing Quick Steps 14

Quick Parts 14

Delegate access 15

To send on behalf of 15

Send replies to an alternative address 15

Shared Mailboxes 16

Receiving messages in a shared mailbox 16

Sending messages from a shared mailbox 16

Deleting messages from a shared mailbox 16

Out of Office Reply 16

Junk email 17

Contacts 17

Bradford contacts 17

External contacts 18

Amend a contact 18

Delete a contact 18

Import/Export contacts 18

Contact Groups 19

Creating a group 19

Using a group 20

Updating a group 20

Sharing a group 20

Further Features 21

Flags 21

Tasks 22

Notes 23

Categorize 23

Mail Merge to Email 24

Archiving emails 24

Email at Bradford - Outlook

Introduction

As a member of staff, you can use Outlook 2010 or the Outlook Web App (OWA) to access your University Office 365 email account. Microsoft Outlook comprises of the following components: Email, Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Calendar.

Note: for help sheets on using the calendar within Office 365 see:
www.bradford.ac.uk/it-services/help/help-sheets/email-and-calendaring/

When using Outlook, any changes you make to the settings (eg adding a signature) are stored on that computer only. To avoid having to change the settings on other computers, we recommend that you use Outlook at your desk and the Outlook Web App to access your email on any other computer (at work or off site).

Help sheets for using the Outlook Web App and Outlook 2011 (Mac) are available at: www.bradford.ac.uk/it-services/help/help-sheets/email-and-calendaring/.

You are advised to read ‘A guide to email use at the University of Bradford’. This gives useful information about managing emails and includes details of the University’s email policy. See: www.bradford.ac.uk/media/marketingandcommunications/A-guide-to-email-use-at-the-University-of-Bradford-(published).pdf

Confidential information

Never send confidential or sensitive data in the body of an email message. If you need to send confidential or sensitive data, attach it in an encrypted file with a strong password with “Private and confidential – not for disclosure” in the subject line. The password should be sent separately. You are advised to read the University policy at: www.bradford.ac.uk/it-services/about-us/regulations-and-policies/policy-code-of-practice-electronic-communication/

Note: Help with encrypting files can be found at:
www.bradford.ac.uk/it-services/help/help-sheets/file-management/encrypting-files/

Logging in to Outlook

1. Click on Start, and select All Programs – Microsoft Office - Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Tip: If Microsoft Outlook 2010 is not displayed, the quickest way to access it is to click in the Search programs and files box, type Outlook and select it from the results displayed.

The Outlook window

Set default Inbox

1. In the File tab click on Options then select Advanced.

2. Under the Outlook start and exit section, click on Browse and select the Inbox under your Office 365 account (or other as required).

3. Click on OK and OK again.

Managing the panes

Each of the main parts of the Outlook window (Navigation Pane, Reading Pane etc) are separated by a resizing bar. This allows you to resize any of the panes.

1. To resize a pane, hover the mouse over the border and when the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the border to the position required.

Quick Access toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar (above the File tab) contains two buttons by default: Send and Receive and Undo. You can customise the Quick Access toolbar.

To add commands to the Quick Access toolbar, either:

· Click the Customise Quick Access Toolbar arrow and select the required commands.

· Right click on the appropriate command on the Ribbon and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

If the required command is not displayed, or to customise the Toolbar:

1. Click the Customise Quick Access Toolbar arrow and select More Commands.

2. In the Word Options dialog box, choose the required Command from the list, then click on Add. (More commands can be found using the drop down arrow under the Choose commands from: option).

3. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to position the commands appropriately.

4. Click on OK.

To remove commands from the Quick Access toolbar, either:

· Right click the command to be removed and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

· Click the Customise Quick Access Toolbar drop down arrow and uncheck the appropriate commands.

Closing Outlook

To close Outlook, either:

· Click on the File tab and choose Exit

· Click on the Close button on the Outlook window.

Reading Mail

Emails sent to you are displayed in your Inbox. You can choose to read your mail in the main window using the Reading Pane or in a separate window.

The reading pane

The Reading Pane allows you to read your emails within the Outlook window. To switch this feature on or off:

1. In the View tab – Layout group, click on Reading Pane.

2. Select the preferred option (Right, Bottom or Off).

Tip: Click on Options to view or change the Reading Pane options.

Opening messages in a new window

Messages can be opened in a new window by double clicking on the message.

Group messages

You can group messages in your Inbox or other folders in various ways.

1. In the View tab – Arrangement group, click on the More button in the Arrange By gallery.

2. Make sure that Show in Groups is checked and then select the required group from the gallery, eg Date.

Viewing related messages

When viewing a message in a new window, you can quickly view related emails. To do this:

1. Double click a message to open it.

2. In the Message tab – Editing group, click on Related and select either:

· Messages in This Conversation – all messages with the same subject will be displayed in the main window.

· Messages from Sender – all messages from the sender will be displayed in the main window.

You will be taken back to the main window, where the results will be displayed. The original email will still be open in a separate window.

Tip: You can select different search criteria in the Search Tools – Search tab.

In the main window, to return to your Inbox:

1. In the Search Tools – Search tab, click on Close Search.

Sorting messages

In the main Outlook window, you can sort messages in different ways using the column headers. For example, by From, Subject or Received (date order).

1. Click on the column header to sort the messages in ascending order. An arrow is displayed in the column header where the sort is.

2. Click on the header again to sort in descending order (notice that the arrow changes direction).

Adding or removing fields (columns)

In the main Outlook window, you can choose which fields are displayed. For example, you may want to display the To... field and not the From: field when viewing your Sent Items folder.

To add a field:

1. Right click in the column header area and select Field Chooser.

2. Click and drag the required field from the Field Chooser to the column header area.

To remove a field:

1. Right click on the field in the column header area and select Remove this column.

Sending and Receiving Mail

Sending messages

To compose a message:

1. In the Home tab – New group, click on New E-mail. This will open a new message window.

Tip: Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl N.

Note: Outlook uses Microsoft Word as the editor for new messages. If you use any of the Word features, be aware that recipients may not be able to see the formatting as you intended.

Adding recipients

There are three fields where recipients can be added:

· To… - for recipients who need to act on the content of the email.

· Cc… (Carbon copy) – for recipients who need a copy of the email for information.

· Bcc… (Blind carbon copy) – for recipients who need a copy of the email for information, without recipients in the To… and Cc… fields being aware that they are copied in.

Note: If the Bcc field is not displayed, from the Options tab – Show Fields group, click on Bcc. The Bcc… field will now be displayed below the Cc… field.

You can add more than one recipient to any of the above fields. Each email address must be separated with a semicolon, with no spaces.

When you start typing an email address in any of the above fields, your autocomplete history list will appear. If the person required is in this list, click to select them.

To add recipients who are members of the University:

1. Click on To… and select More columns.

2. Make sure Offline Global Address List (appended with your email address) is selected.

3. Type the recipient's surname and click on Go.

4. Select the appropriate name from the list and click on To ->.

Tip: Right click on a name and select Properties to display further information to help you identify the correct person.

5. Repeat this process to add any further recipients required in the To ->, Cc > or
Bcc -> fields.

6. Click on OK.

Note: If you are sending a message to a University email address that isn't a specific person, eg , you will need to type the email address in full.

To add recipients external to the University, either:

· Type their full email address into the To…, Cc… or Bcc… fields as required.

· Select them from your Contacts (personal address book). Follow the above steps, but at step 2, select Contacts (directly under your email address).

Composing a message

1. Always add a brief meaningful title for your message in the Subject field. This will help to avoid it being classed as spam.

2. Type the text of the message in the Message area of the Message window.

Note: To add an attachment, see the section Attachments.

Spelling and grammar

It is good practice to check the spelling and proofread an email before sending it, as not all errors will be identified, eg ‘their’ instead of ‘there’.

As you type, some errors will be corrected automatically. Any words not recognised will be underlined in red. To correct these:

1. Right click on the underlined word and select the correct spelling from the list, or select Ignore.

Note: You can choose Add to Dictionary , but use this with caution as it is difficult to remove words once they have been added to the dictionary.

At the point of clicking the Send button, Outlook will also automatically perform a spelling and grammar check. You can disable this If you wish. To do this:

1. In the File Tab select Options.

2. In the Outlook Options window click on Mail (in the left pane).

3. Under the heading Compose messages, make sure that Always check spelling before sending and Ignore original message text in reply or forward is unchecked.

4. Click on OK.

To spell check your message manually, in the Message window:

1. In the Review tab – Proofing group, click on Spelling & Grammar. The Spelling and Grammar dialog box will appear.

You now have a number of options:

· Ignore Once – this will ignore the spelling and is useful for entries not in the dictionary, eg names of people / places.

· Ignore All – similar to Ignore Once, except this option ignores all occurrences of this word in the message.

· Change – select the correct spelling from the Suggestions: list, or type in the correct spelling and then click on Change to amend it in the message.

· Change All – similar to Change, but this option amends all occurrences of this word in the message.

Note: Use the Add to Dictionary option with caution as it is difficult to remove words once they have been added to the dictionary.

Sending the message

1. Once you have completed the message, click on Send.

Draft messages

When composing an email, you can save it as a draft at any time. To do this:

1. Close the email window.

2. When asked to save changes, click on Yes.

To continue working on the email, open it from the Drafts folder.

Replying to messages

When responding to a message, you can choose to Reply (to the sender) or Reply to All. If somebody has been sent a Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) of the message, they will not be included in the reply even if Reply to All has been selected.

1. With the message open, click on Reply or Reply to All.

The reply will automatically populate the To… and Cc… fields (as appropriate) and Subject (preceded by RE:). The original message text will also be included.

2. Add any further recipients as required.

3. Type the text of the message at the top of the Message area (before the original content).

Note: If the topic of conversation has changed, you may want to change the details in the Subject field.

Forwarding messages