The Basics of Microsoft Outlook

This document explains how to read, send, and manage your email using Outlook.

Note: Outlook 2002 and above will use Microsoft Word as the email editor if you have Word installed.

Reading Email Messages

You can view a message by double-clicking the message from your Inbox. A window will open, displaying the contents of the message.

You can also activate the Preview Pane, a section of your Inbox that automatically displays a selected email message from the index without your having to open another window. The Preview Pane can be activated by selecting Preview Pane from the View menu.

Messages in other folders can be viewed by selecting the folder from the Folder List and double-clicking the message.

Sending Email Messages

To create a new email message, click the New icon on the Outlook toolbar. By default, clicking New will create a new email message. If you have changed this setting, click and hold the New button, then select Mail Message from the popup window.

• In the To field, enter the primary recipient(s) of the email message.
• In the Cc field, enter the email addresses of the recipient(s) whom you wish to copy.
• In the Subject field, enter the topic of the email.
• You can then proceed to type the message text into the message body window.
• To attach a file to your email, click the Paper Clip icon from the Toolbar, or select File from the Insert menu. In the resulting Insert File dialog box, browse to the file you want to attach, and click Insert.
• Once you have completed composing your email message, click Send.

Note: Blind carbon copy (Bcc) is not a default field in the message composition window. To use the Bcc feature, click To or Cc, and add your Bcc addressees in the Bcc: Message Recipients text box.

Responding to a Email Message

• To reply to an email message that you are currently viewing, click Reply.
• To reply to all recipients of the message, click Reply to All.
• To forward a message to another email account, click Forward.

Deleting Email Messages

Deleting messages from an IMAP account occurs in two stages: first, a message must be marked for deletion, and second, it must be purged from the email system.

1. To mark a message for deletion, highlight the message in your Inbox, then click the X button on the Outlook toolbar. The message will display in your Inbox with a strikeout line through it.
2. To purge messages marked for deletion, select Purge Deleted Messages from the Edit menu.

Moving Email Messages to Folders

You can easily sort the messages you receive by moving email to other folders. Keep in mind that messages in all IMAP folders count towards your email quota, not just the ones in your Inbox. See the Saving to Personal Folders page for instructions on saving email without having it count toward your email quota.

• To move a message, right-click the message in your Inbox and select Move to Folder .
• Select the folder to move the message to, and click OK.
• Alternatively, messages can be dragged from the message index to any folder in the Folder List.

Note: Caution must be exercised when coping email messages from IMAP folders to any folders created under Personal Folders. Because Personal Folders are local to your machine, you must make sure that the message you are trying to move has been downloaded to your machine before you try to move it to a local folder (e.g., you can view the contents of the message offline). Otherwise, only the message header will be copied, and the actual contents of the message will be unavailable.

Getting Help

Outlook comes with a full-featured Help tool. To launch Outlook's Help, select Microsoft Outlook Help from the Help menu, or press F1 .

If you have any questions, you can contact the ITS Customer Support Center at 213-740-5555, or send an email to consult@usc.edu.

Last updated: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 12:20PM PDT