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HOME TOPICS ABOUT ME I am referring to Outlook, not to Outlook Express. The two aren't related. |
technofile Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983 Why this Microsoft doubter loves Outlook 2000Jan. 16, 2001 By Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard This week and next I'm taking a break from the depressing reports of viruses and virus hoaxes and tell you a little about the way I organize my life at the computer. I depend on one program, Outlook 2000, to handle nearly all the work. Because I answer hundreds of e-mails a day from people asking for help or commenting on what I've said and written, I need more than any standard e-mail program could provide. I need a program that lets me keep everything in one place -- notes, mail, programs, Web pages and much more. (Note that I am referring to Outlook, not to Outlook Express. The two aren't related, although I like to call Outlook the "big brother" of the two because they look a little bit alike.) Outlook 2000 is an outstanding example of an integrated program. Most Outlook users already know that the program performs many "personal organizer" tasks -- mail, scheduling, note taking and so on. The way Outlook does this is just plain superb. But what really distinguishes Outlook is the way it can serve as the hub of practically every other major operation on a modern Windows PC. I do much of my Web browsing within Outlook folder windows, for example, and I regularly launch my main programs within Outlook by clicking icons I've added to my Outlook bar. You might think I'm daffy. Why would anyone want to do Web browsing within an Outlook folder? I'll tell you. Outlook was programmed by a different team than the one that developed Internet Explorer. IE is notorious for the way it scatters its windows; they appear in odd locations sometimes, and they seldom seem to be a consistent size. By opening Web pages within an Outlook folder window, Internet Explorer is forced to maintain the window size and placement dictated by Outlook's no-nonsense programmers. To me, this changes the haphazard experience of Web browsing into a pleasure. How to I get this to happen? I simply turn on the "Home Page" function in the properties for any folder in Outlook 2000. What works best is not a Web page on the Internet but a page of shortcuts. In other words, I turn my Favorites folder into a single HTML file and make that the home page for that folder. Clicking a link in that big file of Favorites makes Internet Explorer open it inside of Outlook. (Links that automatically open new windows will open outside of Outlook, however.) I use Bookmark Wizard to create the single HTML file out of all my Favorites. It's free from www.moonsoftware.com. Here's something that might seem even more whacko. I work with my files inside Outlook, too. I open file-and-folder windows as if they were Outlook folders. They're much better organized than they are in a typical Windows file-and-folder view. How do I do that trick? It's actually no trick at all. I made one of my Outlook bar sections show the same thing that "My Computer" shows. In fact I have a "My Computer" icon there, along with "My Documents" and many other folder shortcut icons. Clicking on one of those icons switches Outlook from being a mail program to being one of the best file managers you'll ever find. I can copy and move files and folders, run programs, rename items and do all the other operations I'd normally do in a standard Windows file-and-folder window. Next week: Secrets of Outlook's own folders and tips on Internet safety. |