Outlook Express Tips

Outlook Express is email client software by Microsoft and it is included in almost every version of the Windows based operating systems like Windows 98, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista etc.  In this article you will find basic configurations, performance and troubleshooting related tips for the Outlook Express.

Sending Email in HTML

You can send email messages as simple text and HTML.  For sending the HTML messages click Create Mail and new mail window will open.  In the mail window, click format from the top menu and select Rich Text HTML.  In the HTML emails, you can use fonts, buttons, images, lines and other graphics.

Importing the Address Book

You can import the address book from the other Email programs and use in the Outlook Express.  Click File > Import > Address Book > provide path of the address book.

Sending Email to a Group

You can send an email to a group of people with OE.  First of all you need to create a group.

1. Click Addresses from the top Toolbar > New > New Group.   This will open a new Group Properties and here you can select the addresses from the existing contacts and save the group with a name.
2. To send an email message to a group simply type the name of the group in the “To” field or select it from the list.  Your message will be sent to the whole group.

Quickly Finding a Contact

To quickly find a contact, simply click on the Find on the top and follow the instructions.

Add Your Signature in the bottom of the Messages

• Click Tools > Options > Signature tab
• Click the new button to add a signature
• Now click Rename button to name your signature
• In the Edit signature box, click text and add your signature and click ok.
• Now when you want to insert your signature into your email messages, click Insert in your email message and click signature.

Block Senders List

You can block a sender by the following method.

Click Tools > Message Rules > Block Sender List > and click Add to add the email address of the sender whom you want to block.

Show the Pictures in Your Messages

If you want to automatically show the images/pictures in your messages then you can set it as follows.

Tools > Options > Read Tab > check the "Automatically show picture attachments in messages" and click Ok to close the open Windows.  This will automatically show the images in your messages.

Customize Outlook Express

If you want to customize outlook express, you can change it according to your choice.

Select view and choose layout and here you can customize the OE.

Some Useful Shortcuts

CTRL N          To create a new message.
CTRL F           To forward a mail message.
CTRL P           To print a mail message.
CTRL M         To send/receive the mail messages.
CTRL B          To go into the inbox.
CTRL+Enter   To mark a message as read
CTRL D          To delete the unread message
CTRL R          To reply a email message.