Outlook... Not Just for Email! Using Your Outlook Contacts

Janet Barclay

If you use Outlook for your email, chances are you have a number,possibly a large number, of email addresses stored in the Contactssection. You've probably discovered that you can address messagesto one or more of your contacts several different ways with justa click of the mouse. But if this is the only way you use yourContacts, you're not using the feature to its full capacity. Hereare a few other ways you can tap into the full power of Outlook.* Create a contact from an email messageDrag and drop a message onto the Contacts folder, and a newContact will automatically be created, using the name and emailaddress from the message header. The message body will appear inthe Notes section, which can be a valuable reminder of why theperson contacted you in the first place.

If the sender hasprovided their website address, mailing address, telephonenumber, or other important information, you can copy and pastethis information into the appropriate fields.* Assign categories to your contactsIf you have a lot of contacts, it is very easy to lose track ofpeople, including prospective clients. By assigning one or morecategories to each contact, you can easily locate the names ofthe people you need to contact for a specific reason.Outlook comes with several standard categories, but you willlikely want to create some of your own, based on your individualneeds. Click on Edit - Categories - Master Category List, andtype in your new category. Any categories added to the MasterCategory List will also be available in the Outlook Calendar andTasks sections.* View a map of your contact's locationIf you're going to visit a client for the first time, or youdon't remember how to get there, you'll love this feature! When acontact record is open, click on the Display Map of Addressbutton and you will be connected to MSN Maps, and a map of thecontact's address will be displayed. Of course, this will onlywork if you have entered a street address! Unfortunately,mapping is only functional for addresses within the USA.* Print an address bookMany people who use a paper planner or address book don't see aneed to enter any details in Outlook other than the name andemail address.

Not only is it very easy to print out an addressbook right from Outlook, it offers a number of options for printlayouts, including layouts for popular planners such as DayRunner, Day Timer, and Franklin Covey products.By using Outlook as your address book, you don't have to put upwith messy changes and corrections, or spend time copying outinformation every year, or whenever you replace your address book.Instead, you can just print new pages from Outlook. You can evenspecify which contacts you want printed if you don't need themall.* Add a pictureOutlook 2003 has a new feature which allows you to add a pictureto a contact record. To some this may seem like more of a toythan a tool, but if remembering faces is not your strong point,you'll appreciate being able to view a photo before you head offto meet someone.

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