Become Outlook Web Access (OWA) power user with 10 things

1. Use an = sign before an e-mail alias

When you enter an e-mail alias into the To text box for a new e-mail message, you'll often be confronted with a dialog box asking what user you want to send the message to. For example, if you enter tshin, you’ll be asked if you want to send the message to tshin or tshinder or tshindler or tshinmmer. You know that tshin is the alias you want, so why do you need to choose from the list? You don’t! Just enter =tshin in the To text box and you won’t be see the dialog box asking which user you want to send the message to.

2. Use OWA hotkeys

You can click your way through the OWA interface, but if you frequently use OWA when on the road or at your home office, there’s a faster way—OWA hotkeys. Some of our favorites are:
• [Alt]S Sends a message
• [Ctrl]S Saves a message
• [Ctrl]D Deletes a message
• [F7] Checks the spelling of a message
• [Ctrl]R Replies to a message
• [Ctrl]U Marks the message as unread
• [Ctrl]K Checks the name in the To: field

There are many more hotkeys. Click the Help entry in the OWA interface and choose Accessibility in the left pane of the console. You’ll see a link to Keyboard Shortcuts.

3. Use column headers to quickly find messages

Column headers in Outlook make it easy to quickly sort messages by Date, From, or Subject. You can do the same thing with OWA. Just click one of the column headers in the OWA interface and it will sort the messages, either from low to high or high to low. Click the column header again and it will switch directions, from high to low or low to high, depending on how the column was previously sorted.

4. Use built-in searching on column header sorting

Although the column sorting is useful, you can take it to the next level by searching within a sorted column. For example, suppose you sorted your messages using the From header. Now you want to find all messages from Jim Harrison. Instead of scrolling through the list of names in the list of e-mail messages, you can use the built-in search function and drill down to the specific user.
Try this: In the OWA interface, click the From column header. Now type the first few letters in the sender name. For this example, we'll type Jim. The display changes focus to the messages that have Jim in the beginning of the From field. Make sure you don’t hesitate when typing the characters; if you do, you might find you get inconsistent results.

5. Multiselect contiguous or noncontiguous days in the OWA Calendar

The full Outlook client lets you see the day view for the entire work week. When using OWA, you can see a single day in full day view. Your only other options are full week and month view. This can be a real bummer when you want to see what’s happening in full day view for multiple days.

The good news is that you’re not limited to a single day. Click the Calendar link and then click 1 in the icon bar. Select a day in the month calendar in the right pane of the browser and then hold down the [Ctrl] key. Click on any other days you like—contiguous or noncontiguous—while the [Ctrl] key is held down. Let go of the [Ctrl] key and you'll see multiple days in day view. If you want to return to single day view, just click on that date in the calendar in the right pane of the console.

6. Speed up OWA connections over slow lines with basic OWA

There are times when you just can’t get a fast Internet connection. It often happens when you visit family members who aren’t fully connected and have only dial-up connections. If you’ve ever tried to use OWA over a dial-up connection, you know it’s not a satisfying experience. The solution for OWA access when you have a slow connection is to use the basic interface when logging on to your mailbox. The basic interface is quite a bit different from the full OWA experience, and it's not as fully functional. But you’ll find it workable, and you’ll be able to get to your e-mail much more quickly than when using the full OWA experience on a dial-up connection.

7. Get an Agenda view using a secret URL

The full Outlook client provides a nifty Outlook Today view that allows you to see all your meeting and scheduled events for the day. I typically configure Outlook to open this page by default so that I can do a quick check on the day’s events. The same functionality isn't included with OWA, so you have to go to the Calendar and check your day view to get something similar.
At least, that’s the case if you don’t use the secret URL that provides a daily Agenda. The URL is https://<servername>/exchange/<alias>/calendar/?cmd=contents&part=1 (or http: if you’re not using secure connections). This feature was designed to work with SharePoint, but you don’t need SharePoint to get this view. Just create a shortcut on your desktop with this URL and you’ll be able to quickly get a rundown of your week’s events.

8. Double-click to create a new meeting

The full Outlook client allows you to create a new meeting at a specific time of day by double-clicking in the Calendar on the date and time you want the meeting to take place. Guess what? You can do the same thing in OWA. Just open the Calendar in OWA, enter the day view, and double-click on the time you want to schedule an event in your calendar. The new Appointment window opens and includes the start time on which you double-clicked.

9. Automatically include your signature in new messages

Most of us who use the full Outlook client have a standard signature we want appended to our e-mail messages. You can do the same thing with the OWA client. While in the OWA interface, click the Options link in the left pane of the window to open the Options page. Select the Automatically Include My Signature On Outgoing Messages check box and then click Edit Signature. Enter your OWA signature in the text box and click OK. Unfortunately, the OWA signature feature can’t pick up the signature you use in your full Outlook client.

10. Check spelling on each new message

Although it might not seem to be the case these days, spelling is still important—especially when writing messages to colleagues and business partners. Most of us can use all the help we can get when it comes to spelling, so why not let OWA give us a hand? While in the OWA interface, click the Options link in the left pane of the window to open the Options page. In the Spelling Options section, select the Always Check Spelling Before Sending check box. Click the Save And Close button in the OWA icon bar and you’re good to go.

Article by Techrepublic

10 things to keep Outlook run smoothly

1. Don't click on attachments

It should go without saying, but I still encounter clients every month who infect their machines and cripple Outlook (and other applications) because they absentmindedly click on executable files and other attachments received in email messages. One of the best defenses against email borne viruses and infections is to simply avoid clicking on attachments or hyperlinks received within email messages.

2. Empty the trash

Outlook stores messages, including large attachments, in one file (typically known as the Personal Folders File, which uses a .pst file extension, or Offline Folder, which uses an .ost file extension). That storage file includes the Deleted Items folder. When users fail to empty the Deleted Items folder, deleted email continues contributing to gargantuan mailbox sizes. Regularly empty the Deleted Items folder. Better yet, configure Outlook to automatically empty Deleted Items when exiting the email application. To do so, click Tools, select Options, click the Other tab, select Empty The Deleted Items Folder Upon Exiting, and click OK.

3. Archive mail

Microsoft set default mailbox quotas at two gigabytes in Exchange 2007, which is actually larger than prior platforms. That said, I regularly encounter clients whose Outlook.PST files or Exchange mailboxes exceed five and even six gigabytes. That's a recipe for reduced performance, if not data corruption and disaster (lost information). Outlook performs optimally when using smaller information stores. Regularly archive mail by clicking File and selecting Archive. Or configure auto-archiving by clicking Tools, selecting Options, clicking the Other tab, and clicking the AutoArchive button to configure appropriate settings. This will create separate, standalone archive files and maintain reasonably sized mailboxes.

4. Minimize add-ins

Incompatibilities introduced by third-party search tools, security applications, and other software frequently cause trouble within Outlook. Worse, these add-ins are often difficult to track down and isolate as the cause of intermittent Outlook errors. Minimize the use of third-party add-ins to encourage better Outlook performance. To manage your add-ins, choose Options from the Tools menu, click the Other tab, click Advanced Options, and then click Add-In Manager. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, select Trust Center, and highlight Add-ins.

5. Avoid large attachments

Whenever large attachments are sent via email, there's a risk that the recipient's email server (or even the sender's server) will refuse to process the message. Messages with attachments larger than five megabytes are often discarded by many email servers. Avoid including attachments, especially those larger than three megabytes. Remember, when messages with attachments are sent, the attached files remain within the Sent Items folder, thereby contributing to larger database stores. Send too many file attachments, and the Sent Items folder alone can quickly grow to an unwieldy size.

6. Abandon stationery

Stationery, or the pretty templates Microsoft includes within Outlook to make messages appear more attractive, only complicates an already complex communications medium. Simplify the process be removing unnecessary graphic elements, which place a processing load upon recipients as well (unless they use text-based email readers, in which case they'll never even see your stationery anyway).

7. Eliminate third-party spam software

I've seen Outlook become so corrupted by third-party spam applications that the only solution was to uninstall the third-party email filtering software, uninstall Microsoft Office, and reinstall the Microsoft suite. Save yourself the hassle. Leverage Microsoft Exchange and Outlook's built-in junk mail filtering tools or turn to a trusted external spam solution.

8. Perform mailbox maintenance

Occasionally, Outlook's storage file becomes corrupt. Microsoft includes the Inbox Repair Tool with each copy of Outlook. The utility analyzes the mailbox storage file for errors. Scan.pst and Scan.ost (for Personal Folder files and Offline Folder files, respectively) can identify and correct issues with data and directory structures, headers and lost folders, and lost items. Users should consider running the file monthly, if for no other reason than it offers the option of creating a backup file as part of the repair process.

9. Trim/forward multiple accounts

Most users process just one or two email accounts within Microsoft Outlook. Others manage eight to 10 separate email accounts. That means that every time Outlook performs a send/receive operation (and many users configure their machines to perform this operation once a minute). Outlook must initiate and complete communications with 20 servers (10 outgoing servers and 10 incoming servers for each user account). That's a lot of network traffic, especially if most of the email accounts aren't necessary. Reconsider how many email accounts are really required. If several legacy email accounts are still set up in Outlook but are no longer used, remove them. Choose E-Mail Accounts from the Tools menu, select View Or Change Existing E-mail Accounts, click Next, and then select and remove the obsolete account. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, select Account Settings, highlight the unnecessary account, and click the Remove button. Alternatively, if multiple email accounts are required, consider whether there's an opportunity to consolidate several using Gmail. Users can create free Gmail accounts and forward several email accounts to a single holding account. For example, if a user receives email for info@ companyname.com, support@ companyname.com, serverstatus@ companyname.com, sales@ companyname.com, customerservice@companyname.com and similar addresses for the same domain, all those separate email accounts could be consolidated by pointing them to a single email address (such as administrative@companyname.com).

10. Simplify signatures

Logos, badges, business cards, and other fancy graphics are unnecessary within email messages. They may display improperly within recipient's email clients, or they may not display at all. Worse, graphical signatures lead to unnecessarily bloated email message sizes. Stick to fundamentals. Configure Outlook to paste your name, title, company name, and contact information within every message. (Select Tools, choose Options, click the Mail Format tab, and click the Signatures button to access signature settings.) Just do so using simple text. Such contact information is critical and should accompany each email message you send (whether you're creating a new message or responding to another). But don't clutter messages, mailboxes, and server queues with unnecessary graphics and other superfluous elements.

Article by Techrepublic