Microsoft Outlook 2007

Additional Email Activities

Besides just sending and receiving messages, Outlook offers features which allow you to reply to and forward messages. You can also use the Contacts feature to organize people you often correspond with. This document also explains how to use the Search field, which can be used to easily and quickly find particular messages within any of your folders, saving you time.

Forwarding Email Messages
Replying to Email Messages
Sending Email to Contacts
Using the Search Field

Forwarding Email Messages

If you have received an email message that you would like to share with someone else, you can forward the message to them.

Open the message you want to forward
Click FORWARD
In the To text box, type the username or email address of the person you are forwarding the message to
HINTS:
To find an email address, refer to Locating Recipients.
To send to multiple people, use a semicolon ( ; ) to separate the usernames.
To move between fields, press [Tab].
OPTIONAL: In the Subject text box, adjust the subject line
OPTIONAL: In the body of the message you are forwarding, add an introduction
OPTIONAL: Delete unnecessary content from the message you are forwarding
NOTE: If the message contains information which is personal, confidential, etc., it would be appropriate to delete any such information.
Click SEND
The message is forwarded to the appropriate recipients and the message window closes.

Replying to Email Messages

When you receive a message that you would like to respond to, you can use the Reply or Reply All feature. Outlook supports replying to the original sender and replying to all individuals who received the original message. The option you select will depend on the circumstances.

Reply vs. Reply All

Depending on the message, and your response, you may want to reply only to the person who sent you the message or you may want to send your reply to all the people the original message was sent to. For example, if you receive a special announcement from an instructor which was sent to the entire class, you may want to just reply to the sender regarding the announcement. If, however, you receive a message asking for input on a work project, you may want to reply to everyone who received the original message with your ideas.

To reply to a message:

Open the message you want to reply to
Click REPLY
OR
Click REPLY TO ALL
Add your comments to the body of the message
If appropriate, delete unnecessary content from the message you are replying to
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Sending Email to Contacts

One of the benefits of having Contacts is that you do not need to type the individual's email address each time that you want to send an email message to him or her.

Sending Email to an Individual Contact: Menu Option

From the Navigation pane, click CONTACTS
The Contacts view appears.
From the Contacts view on the right, select the Contact you want to send a message to
NOTE: A contact is selected if its title bar is highlighted.
From the Actions menu, select Create » New Message to Contact
The Message dialog box appears.
Complete the body of the message
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Sending Email to an Individual Contact: Quick Menu Option

From the Navigation pane, click CONTACTS
The Contacts view appears.
Right click the Contact entry » select Create » New Message to Contact
The Message dialog box appears.
Complete the body of the message
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Sending Email to an Individual Contact: Drag-and-Drop Option

From the Navigation pane, click CONTACTS
Click and hold the mouse button over the Contact you want to send a message to
Drag the entry over the Mail icon in the Navigation pane
The Message dialog box appears.
Complete the body of the message
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Sending Email to a Category of Contacts

From the Navigation pane, click CONTACTS
On the Advanced toolbar, from the Current View pull-down list, select By Category
Select the Category that you want to email a message to
From the Actions menu, select Create » New Message to Contact
A dialog box appears notifying you that the message will be sent to all contacts in the chosen category.
Click OK
Complete the body of the message
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Sending Email to Selected Contacts

To select a group of contiguous Contacts:

Select the first Contact you want to send to
Hold down the [Shift] key
Select the last Contact you want to send to

To select a group of non-contiguous Contacts:

Select the first Contact you want to send to
Hold down the [Ctrl] key
Select the next Contact
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all Contacts you want to send to are selected

To send to selected Contacts:

With the desired Contact(s) selected, from the Actions menu, select Create » New Message to Contact
The Message dialog box appears.
Complete the body of the message
Click SEND
The message is sent and the message window closes.

Using the Search Field

The Outlook 2007 Search field allows you to easily find particular messages within any of your folders. You can search for keywords, titles, addressees and senders. In addition, you can choose to search the folder you are currently viewing or all folders.

Quick Search

If you want to quickly search the folder you are currently viewing, follow these steps:

In the Search text box, type the name or keyword you want to search for
Click SEARCH
OR
Press [Enter]
Your search results appear in the currently viewed list.

Setting the Search Location

By default the Search field searches the folder that is currently viewed. To set the Search field to check all folders, follow these steps:

On the Search field, from the Show Instant Search Pane Menu, select Search All Mail Items
To search in a single folder again, from the Folders list, select the desired folder