Using Outlook Express -Tutorials And Tips
Last Updated: June 22, 2014
Outlook Express is a free email client that is common on Windows XP.
Outlook Express is installed as part of Internet explorer versions 4.0 to 6.
There is no separate download for outlook express and upgrades were part of the browser upgrade.
Internet explorer (IE 7) removed this linkage and so upgrading to newer versions of Internet explorer does not upgrade Outlook Express.
Outlook Express is not included or supported on windows vista,windows 7, 8 or 10.
Microsoft introduced Windows Mail, which became Windows Live Mail as a replacement for outlook express .
If you move from XP then you will need to move to a new email client line Windows live Mail.See- How to Transfer Email to Another Computer
Windows Live Mail is part of Microsoft’s Live Program which essentially is an effort to support traditional Desktop Applications on Web Servers which paves the way for software as a service.
When configuring an email account in Windows Live mail you will need to decide which access protocol to use. This article-Understanding Email protocols SMTP, POP3, IMAP4
Outlook express is a desktop based client but other types are available see Choosing an Email Client
Related Articles and Resources:
- Windows Live Mail for Beginners
- Connect Outlook Express to Yahoo email
- Understanding and Using Outlook Express Folders
- Understanding Outlook Express Message Rules
- How to Setup Outlook Express to access Yahoo mail
- Adding Email Signatures to Outlook Express
- Outlook Express Problems
- Outlook Express Wiki
Outlook Express Tips.
Useful Keyboard Shortcuts:
Quickly sending/receiving new mail.
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl+M.
Reply to message
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl+R.
Forward a message
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl+F.
quick refresh of message and news headers
Keyboard shortcut: Type F5
Go to next unread mail message.
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl+U
Open go to folder window to go to another folder.
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl+Y
Quickly viewing your Inbox.
Keyboard shortcut: Type Ctrl + I.
Quickly opening the address Book
Keyboard shortcut: Type CRTL+shift+B
A complete list of keyboard shortcuts is available on outlook express help.
Receiving HTML Email
To receive HTML email you need to make sure that the
read all messages in plain text option is not selected.
Go to Tools>Options
Select Read Tab
Uncheck the read all messages in plain text
box.
Sending HTML Email
To send HTML email
Go to Tools>Options
Select Send Tab
Enable the HTML option under Mail Sending
Format.
Change the main window Layout
Is Outlook Express not displaying a status bar or a
folder list or is it displaying one and you want to remove it.
Click view from main menu.
Select Layout.
Check or uncheck the appropriate check boxes- if your
not sure what they do click apply and the main window will
change.when finished click OK.
Sending a Web page Link.
Instead of sending a whole page to someone through email you can just send a link. The recipient then just needs to click the link and he page will be displayed in his default web browser.
In Internet Explorer click the Mail icon button from the toolbar
and select send link.
Sending the Entire Web Page Contents
Instead of sending a link to someone through email you
can send the whole page? Doing this will send the entire web page to the recipient.
The web page could be large and in addition the users email client may have HTML disabled or not supported and hence the send link method is preferred.
In Internet Explorer click the Mail icon button from the toolbar
and select send page.
To print e-mail messages
Open the folder to view its contents.
Then click on the message that you want to print.
Press Ctrl-P, or click the print icon or right click
and select print to print that message.
If you are printing from the sent items folder you can print multiple messages at the same time.
You can select all of the messages by selecting the first one, and then holding the Shift key and then click on the last message to select all of the messages.
This doesn’t appear to work in other folders. Also use of the Ctrl key is not supported.
Marking a message as Read.
To mark a message as read, press Ctrl + Enter.
Saving the background of a message as stationary.
If you received an email message that has a background
you like, you can easily make it your stationary. To do this:
Open the File menu.
Click Save as Stationary.
Adding a Contact Quickly to the Address Book
If you receive an email from some and want to quickly add them as a contact to your address book.
- In the message view main window (their is no need to open the message) right click the message and select add sender to address book.
or
If you have opened the message
Place the cursor over the name in the from field (top of message above date) and right click and select add to address book. A contact window will open allowing you to modify
the contact properties, click ok when done.
Quickly Checking for new mail
To quickly check if you have new mail, look at the Taskbar ( bottom of right hand of screen ) for the envelope icon. If
it’s there — you have new mail.
Configure when Outlook Express Checks for new Mail.
You can change when Outlook Express automatically
check for new mail. Open the Tools menu.
- Tools
- Click Options.
- Click the General tab
Under send/receive messages, check the “Check for
new messages every” box, and then select your time interval.Click OK .
Viewing the message source.
This is similar to view source in Internet Explorer.
It is very useful for displaying the source HTML of HTML messages.
To view the message source either highlight the message and press Ctrl+ F3 or with the message open press Ctrl + F3.
Quickly viewing your Inbox.
To quickly return to your Inbox press Ctrl + I.
To Flag a Mail or news message for follow up
You can flag it for later reference. This is useful if you need reply to the message but at a later date or if it contains
information that you may need later.
Once flagged you can
Use custom views to view the flagged messages
Use search function to find them.
You can sort all flagged messages and group them
together by clicking the flag icon in the header of the flag column.
To Flag a message
Providing you are showing the flag column just click next to the message under the flag column (shown with red circle)
A flag then appears next to the message as shown below:
.
-or-
In the main window, select the message you want to flag and from the Message menu, click Flag Message.
To Remove a Flag from a message In the main window, click in the flag column next to the message you want to flag.
-or-
In the main window, select the message you want to flag and from the Message menu, click Flag Message.
Additional Tips:
You can even define a rule that flags certain messages when they are received.
To move or copy a message to another folder
In the message list, select the message you want to
move or copy.
Right click and select either Move to Folder or Copy to Folder,
and then select the destination folder.
Additional Tips:
You can move multiple messages by using the shift
and/or Ctrl key .you can use message rules to move messages
automatically.You can use the find function to find a message or
group of messages and then copy or move.
To view or save file attachments
When a message has a file attached to it, a paper clip is displayed next to it in the message list.
In the preview pane, click the paper clip icon in the message header, and then click the file name select or select Save
Attachments. (strongly recommended) .
-or-
At the top of the message window in the message header- either right click the file attachment icon to save the attachment (strongly recommended) or double-click it to open the file attachment.
Leave a copy of a message on the server
If you access your email mailbox using multiple clients you need to ensure that the clients don’t remove the email
message from the server.
This is the default configuration for POP3 email. To get outlook express to leave a copy of the message on the server then:
Go to tools>account>mail.
select the email account from the list and click
properties.Click the advanced tab.
Under delivery tick the box leave a copy of the
message on server.You may want to optionally clear out old messages by
enabling the remove messages after x days box and setting the number of days.
Hyperlinks not working in Outlook Express.
This is usually caused by Internet explorer not being configured as the default browser.
To set Internet Explorer to be the default Internet Browser, follow these steps:
- Open Internet Explorer and click on tools.
- Select Internet options and click the programs tab
- Make sure that the Internet Explorer should check to
see if it is the default check box is selected, click Apply, and then click OK - Open Internet Explorer, and you receive the following prompt:
- Internet Explorer is not currently your default
browser. Do you wish to make it the default? Answer
Yes
see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=177054 for more details.
Requesting Read Receipts
If you need to know that a message has been received then you can configure Outlook Express to request notification. This can be configured for individual messages or for all messages.
To request a receipt for individual messages In the new message window:
1.Tools menu
2.click Request Read Receipt
To request a receipt for all messages
- Tools menu
- Click options
- Click the Receipts tab
- Select Request Read ReceiptWhether or not you receive a notification depends on the the settings and actions of the message recipient. Message recipients can choose not to send read receipts, even when they are requested.
Address Auto Complete
If like me you don’t like typing then why not get Outlook Express to do it for you. To turn it on
- Click Tools menu
- Click Options.
- Select the send Tab
- Select Automatically Complete email address when composing.
The next time you start typing in an email address Outlook Express will try to complete the address for you by searching your address book for a match.
Quickly sort message by date, sender etc
If you look at the column headers in the message window you will see something like the screenshot below:
To change the columns displayed in the message list
- On the View menu, click Columns.
- To add/remove a column, click or clear the check box next to the
column name, or select the column name and click show or Hide. - To change the order in which columns appear, select a column name, and then click Move Up or Move Down.