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Using Outlook 2010 in Nebula

IT Connect > Software and Hardware > Nebula > Using Outlook 2010

On This Page Outlook Basics Setting Your Out-of-Office Message Setting Your Signature Block Viewing Other Calendars From Within OWA

Messages Stuck in Outbox Outlook is Often Slow or Unavailable Managing a Large Mailbox Blocking Spam in Outlook in Nebula Microsoft On-Line Training Tools

Outlook Basics

Logging in

• For Outlook Desktop: make sure you use netid\uwnetid for the username login (in other words, when logging in precede your UW NetID with netid\) and your UW NetID password. If you can't remember your password, call (206) 221-5000 for help.
• For Outlook Web Access (OWA), use just your UW NetID for the username and your UW NetID password.

Email messages

• Adding recipients: Type part of a name or a UW NetID and use Ctrl+K to check the name with the GAL (Global Address List); it should fill in the rest of the name and underline it. Each address completed in this way will be remembered on that computer, and will appear in a drop-down list once you start typing.
• Correcting recipients' names: if you get error messages when sending mail to someone on this drop down list, remove their name by arrowing down to it and hitting Delete. Then repeat the steps in 'Adding recipients', above, so the GAL can populate your list with the correct name.
• Format:
  • if people can't read your emails, you may want to turn off HTML formatting: Tools --> Options --> Mail Format tab --> change to Rich Text or Plain Text.
  • If you want to change formatting from your Default setting when writing a message: click Options --> Format tab.

Scheduling meetings

• Always use the Scheduling Assistant: click on Calendar, then New, then Scheduling Assistant. Type in part of a name then use Ctrl-K to fill in the rest, and display the person's schedule in the adjacent window.
• Suggested times are listed in the right-column; click on any button to select that date and time.
• Your meeting rooms are Resources. Click on 'Add Rooms' at the bottom left of the Scheduling Assistant tab. Type in your department's 'short name' and click Go..

Simple trouble shooting

1. Are you logging in correctly?
2. Did you re-start Outlook?
3. If Outlook isn't working, does OWA work ok?

We can probably fix your problem faster if you try these things first. You can email us using the Nebula Support Request icon on your desktop, even if you can't send other email.

Setting Your Out-of-Office Message

Use only OWA to configure your OOO message:

1. StepsActions
1. Click on Options (upper right), then Out of Office Assistant (left side).
2. Click on "Send Out of Office auto-replies" and fill in the text for senders both inside our organization, and external Senders.
3. Click Save.

Why use OWA for OOO? OOO is a special case of a rule. Using only OWA ensures that the rule 'fires' on the server, not under the control of Outlook on the desktop. This in turn guarantees the rule is actually in effect even if your computer of off-line and/or Outlook not running. It also lets you modify the rule from any location with a browser.

Note: Do not use the OOO setup from a Blackberry; doing so is very unreliable.

Setting Your Signature block

If you want multiple signature blocks, create them in Outlook. If you will use just one signature block, create it in OWA.

• Create:
  • Outlook: Click Tools --> Options --> Mail Format tab --> Signatures button. Fill in signature information; save as a shortname. If you create multiple signatures, choose which one to use as the default in the right corner of this window.
  • OWA: Click Options --> Messaging. Fill your signature in the "E-mail Signature" box; check the 'automatically include my signature' box, then click Save.
• Use: Your default choice will appear in each new message window. To choose another:
  • Outlook: On the Include tab, click Signature.
  • OWA: not an option; it uses just one signature block.

Viewing Other Calendars From Within OWA

Outlook Web Access (OWA) is the browser version of Outlook, and it is very handy when:

• You are not at your own desk.
• Outlook on your own computer is slow or freezes.

One drawback has been the difficulty of viewing other calendars than your own from OWA. A new method gives you that functionality:

1. StepsActions
1. Open OWA.
2. Click on Calendar icon at bottom.
3. Near the top, to the right of New and Delete, is an option called Share; click the tiny downward arrow to the right.
4. Click Add Calendar.
5. Type in all or part of the name and use Ctrl+K to verify it, or click the Name link to use the Global Address List.
6. Click OK.
7. To close that calendar, click on the X just to the right of the calendar name.

Messages Stuck in Your Outbox

Occasionally your messages will not be sent, but instead remain in your Outbox. This procedure often works:

1. Go into your Outbox and double-click on a message.
2. Underneath the Send button will be a button called Account. Click on the downward arrow to display:
   • UW Exch
   • UW IMAP
3. Click on UW Exch and then on Send. Your message should then be sent.

You may have to repeat this process for each stuck message. If this doesn't work, please email us.

Outlook is Often Slow or Unavailable

Outlook may respond slowly or be unavailable for several reasons:

• Your network connection is slow or unavailable.
• The Exchange server responds slowly; you see Outlook unavailable messages.

There are several actions you can take that may better Outlook's performance:

• Enable Cached mode in your Outlook setting.
• Tell Outlook to reconnect to the Exchange server.

Using Cached Mode

Cached Mode stores a copy of your mailbox on your local computer for quick access to your data. Any changes you make are synchronized automatically with the server whenever a connection is available.

Do not use cached mode if:

• you are engaged in a "delegate" relationship in any way
• you have been granted "shared" access to other calendars (Note: granting shared access is almost never necessary; use the Scheduling Assistant instead.)

This is because cached mode does not provide "real time" updates to your views of other account data.

Enabling Cached Mode

1. Open Account Settings:
   • Outlook 2007: Click on Tools - Account Settings
   • Outlook 2010: Click on File - Info - Account Settings - Account Settings.
2. Make sure the Microsoft Exchange account is selected and click Change.
3. Check the box marked Use Cached Exchange Mode

Reconnecting to the Exchange Server

The lower right corner of your screen is called the System Tray, which displays tiny icons of the programs you are running. Locate the Outlook icon; you may have to click on a small upward arrow to display it.

1. Ctrl-RightClick on the Outlook icon.
2. Choose Connection Status.
3. Click the Reconnect button.

The Status column should show Established for all connections. If it doesn't or you see errors, please contact us.

Managing a Large Mailbox

Have you ever seen these messages?

• Your mailbox is becoming too large.
• Your mailbox is almost full.
• Your mailbox is full.

As your mailbox grows, you will receive warnings: first you'll be unable to send mail; then you won't be able to receive it and people trying to email you will get a non-delivery report.

The UW-IT Exchange mailbox limit is set to 2GB, which includes all mail, tasks, contacts, and calendar items. More information is found in the Service Catalog.

Managing your mailbox

In addition to the tips listed below, please see the Managing Your Email link on the UW Email page.

Large attachments

Often what's taking up your quota is email large attachments. To delete attachments from messages in Outlook:

1. Double-click on the desired message to open it in its own window.
2. Click on the attachment you want to remove with the right mouse button.
3. Select Remove from the menu.
4. Close the message window.
5. Click OK when asked Do you want to save changes?

Sort by size

Click in the blue bar that says Arrange by: Date and choose Size. This will put the largest messages at the top. You can then save the attachments to your H: or I: drive and be able to delete the message(s) taking up so much space.

Find large folders

See where your usage lies. Right-Click on Mailbox - (your name) and select Properties. On that window, click the Folder Size button. It will show you how much space your Outlook files are using and which folders are taking the most room.

Use Deskmail

You can transfer mail from your Exchange account to your Deskmail account by following these steps. Do not drag-and-drop between Exchange and Deskmail as you could lose your files.

Prune Sent and Deleted Items folders

You can see big space savings by pruning back your Sent Items folder. When you're done with your deletions, remember to empty your Deleted Items folder in order to actually see the space savings.

Blocking Spam in Outlook in Nebula

Stopping "Junk" mail from filling up your Inbox is important. Here at the UW, the best way to do it is to NOT use the Junk Mail feature in Outlook, Entourage, or OWA. Instead, use a simple filtering "rule" set through OWA to exclude messages with high "spam scores".

How to Use the Spam Scoring

Most UW email goes through a spam scoring process before it reaches you. The score for each message is placed in the message header, where it can be used to filter out or let through the message. Using Outlook Web Access, you can set up filtering rules to establish (and adjust) the spam threshold for your mail. Using OWA will ensure the rule is set only on the server.

Before you start:

If you are using "cache mode on" in Outlook, turn off junk mail handling in Outlook (with "cache mode off" Outlook can't turn on junk mail filtering anyway). Similar steps should be taken for Entourage (junk mail handling off).

Use the Internet Explorer browser when connecting to OWA to set filtering rules. The system for setting rules does not work well with the light version of OWA you get when you use non-IE browsers (FireFox, Safari, etc).

Using OWA:

You can access OWA at https://exchange.washington.edu/owa

Setting Spam Scoring

1. StepsActions
1. In Outook Web Access, turn off Junk E-mail filtering:
   • Select Options, then Block or Allow
   • Select Don't move e-mail to my Junk E-Mail folder
2. Still in Outlook Web Access, create the rule:
   1. From Options, choose Organize E-Mail; Inbox Rules will be highlighted. (If you are starting fresh, click on Options and then on Create an inbox rule.)
   2. Click on New and then on More Options.
   3. Click on the drop-down list under When the message arrives and highlight it includes these words, then click on in the message header.
   4. In the resulting box, paste
      X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=XXXXXX
      click the green plus sign, and click OK.
   5. Click on the drop-down list under Do the following and then highlight move, copy or delete and then click on move the message to folder.
   6. Select your junk email folder from the list and click OK.
   7. Make sure the box is checked to stop processing more rules.
   8. In the Name of Rule box, type something that makes sense to you, then click Save.

The rule will apply a threshold of "60" for spam rejection, messages scoring 60 or more will be moved to Junk. To change the threshold, add or subtract "X"s from the string. For example, 8 "X"s (XXXXXXXX) would produce a threshold of "80" and messages scoring 80 or more would be moved to Junk. The higher the threshold the less likely you are to move messages to Junk that you might really want, and, conversely, the more likely you are to see "junk" messages in your Inbox.

While you can construct mail handling rules in either Outlook or OWA they do tend to conflict with each other and you'll want to pick one or the other. Using OWA guarantees you're creating "server side" rules that will function even when Outlook is not running and the rules can be modified from multiple locations (using OWA) not just one desktop.

Do Not Use the Junk Mail Feature in Outlook, Entourage, or OWA

It might seem that turning on the "Junk" email handling in Outlook or proper "tuning" of the junk mail feature would be the answer to spam. However, it is not that simple.

1. To turn on Outlook's Junk mail handling, you must be running Outlook in "cached" mode. Using cached mode is not recommended for Nebula desktops.
2. If you turn on the Outlook Junk email it will likely see any mail sent from your UW colleagues who are NOT using UW Exchange as "junk". It is possible to work around THAT problem by adding all the UW domains from which you want to receive mail (e.g., u.washington.edu, washington.edu, alumni.washington.edu, ischool.washington.edu, etc.) to the "safe senders" list. However, if you do that, then you are exempting such messages from ANY scanning, including for viruses and worms. Sadly, most of the viruses that DO come through do so because they have (forged) addresses in the "washington.edu" space and now you are letting them straight in.

For best results, the "junk" mail filter in the client software (Outlook, Entourage and Outlook Web Access) should be turned OFF.

Microsoft On-line Training Tools

Microsoft has many helpful online tools, starting with the Help feature within Outlook: hit F1, or click on Help - Microsoft Office Help. For more, check out these links:

• Self-paced training courses are available for many Outlook topics
• Online command reference guides teach you where Outlook 2003 commands exist in the Outlook 2007 interface
• Take Control of Your Inbox helps you process and organize your e-mail.

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