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10 Tips for Outlook Views
If you don't like your current Outlook view, don't despair. Mold them to your liking with these tips.
by Sue Mosher

MEC 2002, October 9, 2002

Note: Sue Mosher is presenting "Constructing Outlook 2002 Views with XML" at MEC 2002, Thursday, October 10. These tips are from that session.

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Views are at the heart of Outlook. They control how you interact with messages, contacts, and other items in Outlook folders, as well as how Outlook prints your data. Some of the more interesting view features are hard to find, so I've compiled my 10 favorite Outlook view tips:

#1. Use the Current View dropdown list to switch views. This menu control normally resides on the Advanced toolbar, which Outlook hides by default. You can choose to display that toolbar or add the Current View list to the Standard toolbar through the View | Toolbars | Customize dialog.

#2. Use the Current View dropdown list to copy a view. Once you can see the Current View dropdown list on your toolbar, you have a quick way to make a copy of the current view. Type the name of the new view into the Current View box, press Enter, and make your choice from the options Outlook offers for a new view.

#3. Drag the column headings in a table view. Three tips in one! You can drag any column heading to a new location to put the columns in a different order. Or, drag the right border of the column heading to resize the column. (Try double-clicking on the right border, too.) Or, drag the column heading out of the headings row to remove that field from the view completely.

#4. Use the built-in views designed specially for Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) folders. I used IMAP accounts with Outlook 2002 for a while before I discovered that IMAP folders have three special built-in views of their own. The IMAP Messages view adds the Header Status property so you can distinguish between messages downloaded, not downloaded, and marked for downloading. Two other views, Hide Messages Marked for Deletion and Group Messages Marked for Deletion, remove clutter from an IMAP message folder by hiding or separating messages that you've marked for deletion (those shown in gray strikethrough text).

#5. Adjust column widths before printing from a table view. Outlook view printing is essentially WYSIWYG. The default for the Messages and other table views turns on automatic column sizing, but that doesn't always give you the best layout. If you want to adjust all column widths independently, turn off automatic sizing in the View | Current View | Customize Current View | Other Settings dialog.

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