Organise yourself with Outlook

Included with many editions of Microsoft Office is a program called Outlook. At first glance it might just seem like a glorified version of the free email program that came pre-installed on your computer but, in fact, Outlook is much more.

You can use it to manage multiple email accounts, keep on top of your appointments with the advanced calendar and to-do list, and keep a central list of friends, family and business contacts that can be copied to portable devices such as a mobile phone or handheld PC.

In this feature we’ll explore all this and more, showing you what Outlook has to offer and how you can unlock this neglected program’s potential.

Hidden gem
When most of us think of an office suite, we tend to think of a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program. This is perhaps why Outlook is often the forgotten member of the Office family.

Many people think of it as a tool for business users only, and indeed Outlook 2007 isn’t included in the cheapest Home and Student Edition of Office 2007. You will find a copy in all other editions of Office 2007, though, as well as every single edition of Office 2003. This means that if you own a copy of Office there may well be a copy of the program hidden on your hard disk.

It’s easy to confuse Outlook with its lesser sibling, Outlook Express, which comes pre-installed on all Windows XP computers, or its Vista equivalent, Windows Mail. Outlook Express and Windows Mail are little more than simplified programs for sending and receiving emails.

There’s nothing wrong with either, and they both get the job done with the minimum of fuss. But neither of them can claim the ability to effectively run your life for you in the way that the full-blown version of Outlook can.