More new features in Outlook 2010
Outlook includes several other useful features, most notably Quick Steps, which speed email handling by letting you apply several tasks to a message at once. You can create a Quick Step, for example, to move an email sent by your boss into a specific folder, flag it as important and assign it to the "Boss" category, all with a single click. We'll provide instructions for working with Quick Steps -- including how to create your own -- later in the story.
The enhanced search function makes it easier to narrow your search by factors such as sender, words in the subject line, messages with attachments, and more. Just type a query into the Quick Search box, and use the features in the Search tab that appears.
As in Outlook 2007, when you create a meeting request for multiple people in the Calendar, it looks at everyone's availability and suggests potential meeting times. But Outlook 2010 adds a new Schedule View on the View tab; when you schedule a meeting in a shared calendar, this view shows you other people's appointments in a horizontal view so you can quickly see when they're free.
Spell-checking now works in more locations in Outlook than previously, including the subject lines of messages, tasks and meeting requests.
Five tips for working with Outlook 2010
Now that you've got the basics of Outlook 2010 down, here are a few tips and tricks for working with it.
1. Add commands to the Quick Access toolbar
Outlook 2010's Quick Access toolbar offers one-click access to a handful of commands, such as Send/Receive, Save and Undo. The command buttons that appear by default vary depending on whether you're looking at, say, the home Mail screen or an individual email message. But you don't need to be satisfied with what's already there. You can put your most frequently used commands there so that they're always available no matter which Ribbon tab is showing.
As mentioned earlier in the story, you can do this via Backstage's Options screen, but a quicker way is to click the small down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar. In the menu that appears, you can either select a command or choose More Commands.
From the left-hand side of the screen that appears, choose a command that you want to add to the toolbar and click Add. You can change the order of the buttons by highlighting a command on the right side of the screen and using the up and down arrows to move it.
Adding buttons to the Quick Access toolbar. Click to view larger image.
The list of commands you see on the left may seem somewhat limited at first. That's because Outlook is showing you only the most popular commands. Click the drop-down menu under "Choose commands from" at the top of the screen, and you'll see other lists of commands -- All Commands, Commands Not in the Ribbon, and so on. Select any option, and there will be plenty of commands you can add.
Finally, there's an even easier way to add a command. Right-click any object on the Ribbon and choose "Add to Quick Access Toolbar." You can add not only individual commands in this way, but also entire groups -- for example, the Quick Steps group.
2. Hide the Ribbon
Not a fan of the Ribbon? No problem -- you can make it disappear. To hide the Ribbon, either press Ctrl-F1 (and press Ctrl-F1 again to make it reappear) or just right-click anywhere in the Ribbon and select "Minimize the Ribbon."
The Ribbon will still be available when you want it -- all you need to do is click on the appropriate tab (Home, Send/Receive, Folder, etc.) and it appears. It then discreetly goes away when you are no longer using it.