Microsoft Outlook Express (OE) is one of the leading e-mail programs in use today. It works quite well and is about as inexpensive as it can be - free! Most new computers come with it installed and it comes automatically if you download Internet Explorer. Being so popular, it's about time I turned some attention to it. Perhaps I can point out a thing or two you might not know.
Before we start, please be aware that there are many different versions of OE and there have been some significant changes. If some of the items I mention are not in your version, perhaps its time to upgrade.
Starting with the main window, you will probably see four areas (or "panes") - the folder list in the upper left, the contact list below that, the contents of the selected folder on the top right, and the preview pane below that. To start, you should not be using the preview pane. This pane shows the contents of the selected e-mail without actually having to open it. This sounds convenient, but you should realize that viruses spread through e-mail and you should never open e-mail that you suspect. But the preview pane automatically opens it, thus possibly exposing you to a virus. Also, the preview pane takes up precious room on the screen. To remove the preview pane, select the menu item View / Layout. In the Layout window, uncheck "Show Preview Pane".
The contact list pane shows the contents of your Address Book. It's convenient to send e-mail by just double clicking on the entry in the contact pane. If you do not see the contact pane, click on View / Layout and check the Contacts item. One question I often get is about the default way names are shown - first name first - and thus the list is sorted by first name not last name. To fix this problem unfortunately requires a little work. For each name in the list, right click and select Properties. You will then see the full Address Book entry for this name. Go to the "Name" tab and you will see the first and last name, etc. filled in. Look for the field marked "Display". This field is automatically generated from the first and last name, but the default is first name first. You can open this list and select two different forms having the last name first. Select the form you wish and then click OK to close the window. That name entry will now be last name first and automatically sorted correctly. Do this for all names on the list.
The folder list contains the usual folders - Inbox, Outbox, etc. To help you sort all your e-mail you can create new folders. Just click File / New / Folder. You will see a window that allows you to name the new folder and to select where in the list it appears. For example, you can create new folders under Inbox by selecting Inbox from the list. Once you create the new folder, you can move mail to it just by dragging an e-mail to the new folder in the folder list.
For advanced users, there is an even easier way to use new folders and handle your e-mail in an automatic manner. Click Tools / Message Rules and you can create rules to automatically handle incoming e-mail. You can choose, for example, to automatically delete e-mail under certain conditions. You could choose to automatically move e-mail from a specific person to a different folder. You do this by first selecting one or more conditions from a list and then selecting an action to be taken when the specified conditions are met. There are many options here and I am running out of space, but this will be a fun and rewarding area to explore.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).