WorkloadMaster » Microsoft Outlook

Interactive Microsoft Office migration guides to save time

Bob Patterson — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:30:24 +0000

If you’re making the switch from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007 or 2010 you may find the Ribon (menu system) difficult to navigate.

If you’re working from a home computer it may seem surprising that people still use Office 2003. However a high percentage of corporate and institutional users have stuck with 2003 rather than upgrade.

Why? First, Office 2003 meets most users’ needs and second it is very costly to upgrade hundreds and even thousands of work stations. However that’s changing because Microsoft no longer supports 2003. And rumors have it that they are offering large clients free upgrades to newer versions.

As a result we are hearing from many of our Outlook clients about how to switch. Their biggest issue is that Ribbon.

Fortunately Microsoft has posted an Interactive Migration Guide on their web site for each of the Office products.

It’s pretty cool. Pick your program (Outlook, Excel, Word etc.) then use the virtual menu to select your command in question. It then shows you how to accomplish the same task in 2010. Office 2007 is very similar to 2010 so it will be helpful too.

Give it a try.

Using multiple contact folders in Outlook

Bob Patterson — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:58:10 +0000

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Using Multiple Contact Folders Creating a new contact folder You can easily create additional contact folders to keep your contact separated into distinct groups. Each folder is a separate list of contacts, not a sub-group of the main contact list. To create a new contact folder: Right-Click on [...]

Use Outlook’s Advanced Find to target segments of your contact list

Bob Patterson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:25:04 +0000

Do you apply categories to your Outlook contacts? Have you ever wanted to quickly find contacts who have fall into two or more different categories? Here’s a video that shows you how to use Outlook’s Advanced Find to quickly find contacts who have several categories in common.

Using Mail Merge with Outlook contacts grouped by category

Bob Patterson — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:57:23 +0000

When you use Outlook categories to break your contacts into pseudo groups you can then use the Mail Merge tool to send them letters or e-mails very quickly. Below the video are written instructions. Just click the link to download them.

Use Outlook Categories to manage your contacts

Bob Patterson — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:47:40 +0000

This lesson shows you how to segment your contacts using Outlook Categories. Below the video are written instructions which you can download using the link at the bottom of the page.

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Using Categories to Manage Contacts (Outlook 2003) To categorize a contact Open a contact Click the [...]

How to share contacts in Outlook

Bob Patterson — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:19:28 +0000

This video will show you how to share Outlook contacts with other via e-mail. Below the video are written instructions that you can download via the link at the bottom of the page. The written instructions include a how-to about sharing contacts on a corporate network.

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Sharing Contacts Forwarding [...]

Find Who Really Sent an E-mail

Bob Patterson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:38:14 +0000

Have you ever received an e-mail that looks real but you weren’t quite sure? If so, don’t open it. Lately I’ve received dozens of messages that look like they’re from our IT support department. They looked so convincing that I almost opened the first one. Fortunately I didn’t do it.

Spammers are a clever bunch (I’m being very nice) and can make a very nasty message look like it’s from your own organization. Watch the video below to learn a quick way to look “behind the scenes” at the e-mail header to see who really sent that questionable message.

Save Time with Outlook E-mail Templates

Bob Patterson — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:04:34 +0000

If you create the same e-mail on a regular basis, then you will like the Outlook e-mail template tool.

Although Outlook’s e-mail template function is hard to find, it is very easy to use. Watch this short video to learn how to do it.

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Now Available

Bob Patterson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:38:35 +0000

Hey there ~~masochists~~ early adopters it’s official, the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 is now available for download. All 684MB of it! Just start it up and go have lunch.

I’m not quite ready to give it a spin, but I have to sooner or later to start preparing for the latest version of Master Your Workload with Outlook. The words Beta and Microsoft in one sentence make me just a little concerned. Maybe I’ve been watching too many Apple commercials.

Microsoft recommends that you uninstall your previous versions of Office and not use it on a primary machine. Let’s see, which one should I use? Oh yes the free download is for Windows XP SP3 and later. Meaning if you didn’t upgrade to Service Pack 3, then don’t bother.

Personally I’m about to take the Windows 7 plunge I won’t be testing the new Office flavor until after the dust settles. I attended a Microsoft sponsored in-depth Windows 7 demo yesterday and was favorably impressed. The Koolaid was tasty too.

Here’s the link: Office 2010 Beta Download

If you try it please tell us about your experience.

- Bob

Balance To Do List with Little Known Outlook Tool

Bob Patterson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:44:33 +0000

Your daily to do list can seem like a burden if you use it as an inventory of everything you want to accomplish between now and the end of time.

Too many people feel as if they accomplish nothing because they’re unable to complete dozens of tasks in a day. Frustrated at the end of the day, they re-write their task list wishing that the time to get it all done tomorrow will magically appear. Doing this day in and day out is unnecessary work, frustrating and futile.

Instead, schedule only what you can complete in a day. See my post about to do lists from earlier this week for a more detailed discussion. To avoid overbooking yourself, schedule tasks in advance on days when when you will have time to do them. This is called horizontal planning.

Use the Task Timeline to View Your Task List Over Time

Outlook has a little-used view called the Task Timeline that gives you a clear picture of how your workload is balanced over time. In one glance it will show you where you are overloaded. Here’s a quick video that shows you how to use it: