Outlook
Installations - Home and Work
Understanding
Outlook Folders
Outlook Security
(not getting your attachments?)
Go to Help-About. Does it say Corporate Workgroup (CW) or does it
say Internet Mail Only (IMO)? Another way to tell is if you hit
Tools-Services (CW) or Tools-Accounts (IMO). If you have both an
Exchange server AND an internet mail account, you'll have
Tools-Services, and you'll see Internet Mail as one of the services.
You can ADD this service to get your yahoo or other POP3 email and
receive it at work. You'll want to make sure that you tell it to
leave copies of the emails on the server so that you can read them
again (and they'll download to your PC) at home. Your company MAY
let you get away with collecting POP3 mail at work. Don't be
surprised if you can't make it work.
Corporate Workgroup (CW)
The CW install is, in general, used at work when your company has
a mail server, and that mail server is usually an Exchange server.
Exchange is the name of the software provided by Microsoft for the
purpose of storing and distributing emails both in and out of the
company. A mail server is nothing more than another network computer
(server), but its purpose is strictly for mail use. When you get the
message "Cannot open default mail folders" and you're
using CW, inevitably, this means that the Exchange server is down.
Try to connect later, which requires you restart your PC--virtually
all failed network connections require a restart to connect again.
This type of installation allows you to share folders (calendars,
inbox, etc.) with other users on the same Exchange server. It may
also allow you the use of the Out of Office assistant. Why? Because
the Out of Office assistant is a "server-side" process. It
will send that Out of Office message whether your PC is turned on or
not--the Exchange server does it for you. You may notice when you
set up other rules that you're asked whether it should be server- or
client-side. Client side rules will only run when YOU open Outlook.
Internet Mail Only (IMO)
This is generally what's used at homes or at companies that don't
have enough employees to bother with an exchange server. This type
of install uses POP3 (your internet service provider's mail
server--also called a post office) to send/receive mail.
Note that you cannot use the Out of Office assistant if you have
IMO. See the CW for more info on that option.
Note that you will have great difficulty sharing folders and you
cannot create "public folders" with this installation. See
the CW for more info.
(Not yet updated for Outlook 2002/XP)
Many seem to be confused about Outlook folders and the method in
which Outlook is or should be installed. I'd like to clarify some of
that here and now. I am not a mail administrator, but I know the
client side (YOU) pretty well.
Personal Folders
You can create personal folders using Tools-Services if you have
CW, or File-New-Folder with IMO. What's the difference? IMO ALWAYS
uses personal folders--they're on your hard drive. These folders
have a *.PST extension whether at home or at work. At work, your
PSTs may be on a network share (but not the mail server) or on your
hard drive. This is set by your IT staff or by you. If you are CW,
and you keep getting messages that your mailbox is full, then you'd
better create yourself some personal folders and get your mail off
of the server folders (Outlook today) and into your personal
folders.
A personal folder in Outlook is just one folder. It may have many
subfolders inside. Your personal folder "could" have two
names, i.e., the name of the PST file that you give it, and then the
name you want to see in Outlook. When you create them under
Tools-Services, you're giving the opportunity to provide both of
these names. To avoid confusion, make them both the same. Many
people leave the default name for the folder and end up with a
folder called "Personal Folders". How unique! Personal
folders have a max size of 2 GB. You'll want to create a new one
after 1.5 GB (Dreamboat's suggestion).
Also, if you create subfolders of personal folders, they do not
have their own PST file, they're all in the ONE file. At home, your
personal folders are usually outlook.pst, and it's usually ONE file.
Offline Folders
Offline folders are different from personal folders. When should
you use offline folders? When you do a lot of work on your laptop
from your home or car or plane or hotel. Offline folders are
synchronized with the Exchange server folders. What does that mean?
It looks JUST like you're online when you're not. Your offline
folders are what I like to call an "image" of your
Exchange server folders. You synch at work, you go home, and it
looks like you're at work. If you're NOT dialed in or otherwise
connected to your exchange server, any mail you send will sit in
your Outbox until you do connect. Many companies allow remote
connection to their Exchange servers. Many do not. Ask your mail
admin. Anyway, Offline folders are *.OST files, usually Exchange.ost,
but you can call them what you want. This is done under
Tools-Services, select the Exchange server and hit Properties.
You'll also want to go to Tools-Options, Mail delivery (I think),
and tell it to synch your offline folders upon exit. That way, you
should always have your OSTs matching your Exchange server AT THAT
TIME. Once you log in, you'll be seeing your Exchange server stuff.
There's nothing different looking, except the additional mail or
other items, so people get confused about it. You'll want to synch
the Global Address list frequently too.
If you have DSL or cable (constantly connected to the internet)
at home, and you use a desktop (not a laptop) at home, then there's
no real point in having Offline folders. Be careful about pulling
stuff from Outlook Today into your personal folders at home, though!
Is Outlook keeping you from getting your attachments? This is a
common issue. Of course, it's for *your own good*, right? Wrong. I
need to receive my attachments. If Outlook is keeping you from opening
your attachments, check out this MS Technet article:
Information about the Outlook Email Security Update (Outlook 2000):
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q262631
Cannot access attachments (Outlook 2002/XP)
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q290497
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