Outlook Express User Tips
by Brigitte Lord

Basic stuff:

Some useful keyboard shortcuts for Outlook Express 5 (OE):
Ctrl+M: Send and receive messages
Ctrl+N: New message
Find Message: Ctrl+Shift+F
Find message in this Folder: Shift+F

Some Windows keyboard shortcuts:
Ctrl+C: copy to clipboard
Ctrl+V: paste from clipboard
Ctrl+X: delete and copy to clipboard
Windows key+D: show desktop
Windows key+F: find Files or Folders (on disk)

In OE 5, you can double-click a name in the Contacts pane to compose a message.

More TIPS for OE 5 can be found by clicking on 'Outlook Express' at the top of Folders pane (upper left pane).

1.	Customize your toolbar.
To add and remove buttons, right-click on the toolbar and choose "Customize...". You can save a lot of space here by removing the text labels underneath all the buttons. You can even move the toolbar to save screen space by dragging and placing it beside "Help" in the menu bar.
	
2.	Change your options.
	Go to Tools>Options... 
•	Under Send/Receive Messages, decide whether you want to send and receive messages right at OE start-up (annoying on dial-up if you are not connected and don't wish to be yet).
•	Under Read, go to Fonts and choose a font that is easier on the eyes, such as Arial (for Proportional font).
•	Under Send, uncheck "Send messages immediately" if you would rather finish composing all your messages and then send them all at once later (useful on dial-up if you do not wish to connect just yet).
•	Under Signatures, create a signature for all your outgoing messages by checking "Add signatures to all outgoing messages". Go to Edit Signature and create a text signature or choose a file from your hard drive.
•	Under Security, protect yourself somewhat from harmful scripts (e.g. Visual Basic  .vbs) by selecting Restricted sites zone (More secure) under Security Zones. You will get a warning before opening a message containing a script.
•	Advanced tip: To better protect yourself from scripts, refer to the article at: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,41482,00.asp
or Chris Taylor’s article at: http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=19914

3.	Create additional folders.
	e.g. Add a JOKES folder if you get a lot of jokes and wish to save them.
Right-click on 'Inbox' and choose "New Folder...". You can create more subfolders this way by right-clicking on any folder.

Not-so-basic stuff:

1.	Create mail rules.
	If you would like to sort messages from your boss (for example) left-click once on one of his messages and go to Message>Create Rule from Message.... OE will already have filled in the "From" parameter. All you have to do is select an Action for your rule, such as "Move to the specified folder" where you may have to create a new folder called Boss. You can name your new rule "Boss". From now on, OE will automatically file all messages from him in this folder upon receipt. Voilà.
		
	Many other rules for messages can be created such as "Forward to people", "Reply with message", or "Delete from server" (effective only if you get regular SPAM or unwanted mail from one source in particular).

	You can create such rules for many messages and have OE sort these for you each and every time. This is a great organizer.

2.	Block messages from unwanted sources.
Left-click once on an undesired message. Go to Message>Block Sender…. To reverse this, go to Tools>Message>Blocked Senders List… and Remove the sender from which you wish to receive mail again.

3.	Leave a copy of messages on server.
	Normally (by default), downloading your e-mail from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) deletes it from their server. If you have two computers, you may want to download all your mail onto both machines at differnet times. You can do this by going to Tools>Accounts... and looking at the Properties of your account. Under Advanced, check  "Leave a copy of messages on server" under Delivery. This can be done on both machines or only on the one that checks for mail first. If you want the messages to be deleted, make sure the machine that always checks for mail LAST is the one that deletes the mail from the ISP's server.

4.	Transferring the address book from one machine or hard drive to another.
	The easiest way to retrieve a Windows Address Book (extension .wab) is to go to File>Import>Address book... within the Outlook Express program. Find the path on your computer or removeable drive (e.g.floppy) where you placed a copy of the address book you want to import.
	I've tried unsuccessfully to import a Netscape address book. Importing from Outlook Express under File>Import>Other address book... failed when Windows coudn't detect it on its own using the default Netscape extension .nab (Netscape Address Book). After discovering the extension to be .na2, Outlook Express nevertheless failed and reported an error trying to import it. Good luck!

5.	Viewing attachments.
You should scan all attachments with an antivirus program before opening them. Make sure the virus signature files in your antivirus program are up to date. In OE 5, click on the paper clip and select Save attachments…. In OE 4, click on the paper clip, then on the attachment and select “Save to Disk” (you could create a folder on your desktop for OE attachments). Before opening an attachment, right-click on it and select “scan with [antivirus]”. To protect yourself from macro viruses within a Microsoft Word attachment, open your Word program (without a file) and disable macros (in Word 2000, go to Tools>Macro>Security… and choose High under Security Level). Word will warn you if a macro tries to play within a document.

OE Maintenance TIPs:
1.	Regularly delete old messages from the ‘Inbox’ (see Steps #3 and 4 below if you want to copy them first).  An inbox containing many dozens of messages and attachments not only takes longer to open, it may freeze OE altogether as it tries to start up. An alternative would be to set up ‘message rules’ (see item #1 under Not-so-basic stuff) so that not all incomning mail is filed in the one Inbox.

2.	Regularly delete old messages from other folders as well. You’ll know it’s time when it takes a few seconds to open a folder. The ‘Sent Items’, ‘Deleted Items’ (and esp. 'Jokes') folders are often neglected.

3.	A simple way of copying a message is to select the message and Save As… (under File) to a floppy or such.  Only one message at a time can be saved this way.
To copy several messages at once, reduce the physical screen size of OE and have your desktop showing behind. Highlight all relevant messages and drag-and-drop 
(left-click,hold,drag,release) onto your desktop or a floppy.

4.	All messages in all folders can be copied in one swoop or by individual folder in Windows Explorer. This method will preserve the integrity of each message (as .eml) so that it can be individually opened in OE.
In Win98SE: Windows>Application Data>Identities>{534FBE80-CED4-11D3-B170-B8F3EA2C943C}>Microsoft>Outlook Express. There, you will see all your folders just as they are named in OE. Select the whole lot or just one folder and copy them to a floppy (or larger disk). Copying them this way retains their formatting (as .eml) as opposed to saving them as text (.txt) files.
Note that, with this method, you cannot select individulal messages within folders for copying – only individual folders.

FIXES

OE crashes on startup:

1.	Taken from WinMag.com (http://www.winmag.com/) by Dave Methvin: "Sometimes FOLDERS.DBX will become corrupted and will cause Outlook Express to crash on startup. To see if this is your problem, just rename FOLDERS.DBX to FOLDERS.SAV and see if OE starts properly. If it isn't the problem, delete the new file that OE created and put the old one back."
2.	Perhaps your Inbox is hopelessly full or corrupted and crashing OE.  Try renaming Inbox.dbx 
(in Win98SE go to: Windows>Application Data>Identities>{534FBE80-CED4-11D3-B170-B8F3EA2C943C}>Microsoft>Outlook Express) as Inbox.dbx.bak (only after right-clicking on it, dragging it and choosing Copy here). If OE restarts properly, it will create a new empty ‘Inbox’ when it starts up again.  Follow Step #4 in OE Maintenance TIPS above to trim your overly full Inbox.
If the original Inbox.dbx is corrupted, you can always try recovering important messages by opening it in Wordpad (right-click on Inbox.dbx>Open with...). The text will contain many odd characters. All the headers will be near the top and all the messages further down. Searching (Ctrl+F) for key words is helpful in locating individual messages.

SPAM Management:

1.	Configuring Outlook Express Mail Client
		Taken from Planet IT:
	The e-mail you receive is stored on your ISP’s server in your mailbox. You will need to add some settings to your mail client so the spam control program will know how to sort the mail you have identified as spam.
		Left-click once on the SPAM message:
1.	Select Create Rule From Message from the Message bar
2.	Select the check box labeled Where the Subject line contains specific words (make sure none of the other check boxes are selected)
3.	Select the check box labeled Move it to the specified folder 
4.	Click on the underlined word contains specific words in the rule description 
5.	Enter the text <<POTENTIAL-SPAM>> in the text field 
(make sure to include "<<" and  ">>") and press the Add button 
6.	Select OK 
7.	Click on the underlined word specified in the Rule Description 
8.	Select the folder in which you want to put the mail identified as spam and press the OK button 
9.	Name the rule Spam Control 
10.	Click OK
		The next time you retrieve mail, the new rule will take effect.

2.	Freeware SPAM management:

	Email Remover (eRemove): http://download.com.com/3000-2369-10211508.html?tag=lst-0-1
will download message headers so that you can delete unwanted messages directly from your ISP’s server before downloading them to your hard drive.

	Taken from April 2001 newsletter (by Chris Taylor): http://spamcop.net/  "An automated process will take the information in the header of your spam and do its best to trace the true origin of the spam. It also allows you to report the spam to the ISPs used by the spammer. Best of all, you can use this service for free."

3.	SPAM Control Software:
	SpamNet: http://www.cloudmark.com/
	See our club's review at http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/SpamNet.html

	SpamAssassin Pro: http://deersoft.com/  (acquired by Network Associates)
	See our club's review at http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/SpamAssassinPro.html

	iHateSpam: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/
	See our club's review at http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/iHateSpam.html

OE Etiquette:

	Avoid typing e-mail messages in capital letters only. Not only is it harder to read, 
IT WILL LOOK LIKE YOU ARE YELLING.

	If you subscribe to a newsgroup or public message area, it is generally not proper to send a message in HTML format (this is the default setting in OE). To change this, go to Tools>Options and under the Send tab, below News Sending Format, choose Plain Text. If you want to send HTML e-mail to certain people in your address book, you can select  other individuals for plain text only by right-clicking on their name in your address book and under the Name tab, check Send E-mail using plain text only at the bottom.

	Sometimes, it's nice to protect the identity of people by deleting the (list of) recipient(s) in the header first before forwarding a message. When forwarding a message, select and delete the list of names and addresses at the top of the message body. This way, nobody will be embarrassed to have been associated with that crude joke you're forwarding, and you won’t be broadcasting everybody’s e-mail address without their permission.
 
END