Office 2010: The Missing Manual

Chapter 10. Getting Started with Outlook

If you think of Outlook as Microsoft’s email program, then you haven’t seen Outlook lately. Sure, you can use Outlook to send, receive, and organize email, but it does a whole lot more. 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 (new in 2010), and managing multiple email accounts. In Outlook 2010, the ribbon is standard throughout all windows, making it easier to find the commands you want. You’ll 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 2010, you have to set it up. Microsoft lends a hand by providing a startup wizard that guides you through these steps:

1. Make sure your computer is connected to the Internet. Then fire up Outlook from the Windows Start menu (Start→All Programs→Microsoft Office→Microsoft Outlook 2010).

   The Microsoft Outlook 2010 Startup wizard opens, telling you that it’s going to walk you through the process of configuring Outlook so ...