Introduction
Moderator: Andy (Microsoft)
Welcome to today's Office chat. Our topic is Tips and Tricks - Microsoft Office Outlook. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
Moderator: Andy (Microsoft)
I'll now have the hosts introduce themselves.
Host: Crabby (Microsoft)
Good morning all. I write the Crabby Office Lady column for Office Online http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX010778051033
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Hi, My name is Ronna Pinkerton and I am the Supportability Program Manager for Outlook.
Host: Bruce (Microsoft)
Good morning. I’m a technical writer for Microsoft Outlook help and Office Online.
Moderator: Andy (Microsoft)
Hosts are ready for questions, fire away!
Start of Chat
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: I've attempted to get Outlook 2003 to work on my new system. But I continue to get an error message attempting to send/receive mail: "The operation failed. An object could not be found." Any thoughts?
A: A good place to start would be verifying your account settings in your profile. Do you know if you configured a new profile when you installed Outlook 2003 or upgraded an existing one?
Host:Marc(Microsoft)
Q: In Outlook 2003 in cached mode (w/o sp1), I sometimes see users who went offline due to network issues (wireless say) come back online in offline mode. Is this expected behavior?
A: This is not expected behavior. When you say they go 'offline', do they manually switch, or are they just moving out of range and then back?
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: Why does Outlook 2003 give me a 'cannot dismiss item' message when I hit the Dismiss button in the Reminders window?
A: If there are connection errors for some reason then Outlook will stop attempting to connect, but it should then show disconnected, not Offline.
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
A: This can happen if you have an appointment item in conflict. Most of the time this is followed by a dialog asking if you want to resolve the conflict. If you don't see that second dialog, try starting Outlook with the command line switch /cleanreminders and see if that will resolve your issue.
Moderator: Andy (Microsoft)
For those new to the chat - Our topic is Tips and Tricks - Microsoft Office Outlook. We're about 15 minutes in so keep those questions coming!
Host:Marc(Microsoft)
TIP: Ever worry about losing track of an important message? Rather than 'marking unread', consider using QuickFlags (to the right of the message) and then the For Follow Up Search Folder (in the favorites area of the navigation bar) to view them.
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
TIP: When working with calendars, you can re-size the Navigation Pane on the left to see more months than the default.
Host: Bruce (Microsoft)
TIP: You can change the default Calendar setting for 30-minute time slots to be 5-, 6-, 10-, 15-, or 60-minutes. Right-click the Calendar, click Other Settings, and then click the number you want from the Time Scale list.
Host: Bruce (Microsoft)
TIP: The fastest way to compose a new message is to press CTRL+SHIFT+M.
Host: Bruce (Microsoft)
TIP: Don’t want Outlook to suggest a particular name in the To: box? To delete names from the AutoComplete list, choose the unwanted name using the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW keys, and then press DELETE.
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: Word got stuck in the beginning. why?
A: Can you elaborate more on what you mean by this? The beginning of what, etc.... Thanks!
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: I tried to open a doc, but MS word could not be brought up.
A: There's no real way to tell you what is happening from this description. It could be a number of things. You might try checking http://support.microsoft.com for suggestions. This isn't related to Outlook, so you should look for information on Word.
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: When I mail merge from an excel file - every 7th record is omitted. How can I get all the records to merge?
A: What is the source of the data for the mail merge?
Host: Crabby (Microsoft)
Candi and those of you asking questinos about Word and Excel: That chat is happening Wednesday at 9 a.m. It has the same URl, however.
Host: Crabby (Microsoft)
Please check the Technical Chats at MS homepage and you'll see that listing: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx
Host: Crabby (Microsoft)
Q: I'm trying to merge badges for a meeting. So I start with a blank word file and merge it with the excel data. Any suggestion on how I can get help sooner?
A: Candi, you can either contact support at http://support.microsoft.com or visit Office Online to search for your particular issue: http://office.microsoft.com
Host: Crabby (Microsoft)
Q: need a source of 3D shapes (stencils) for visio drawings, flowchart, any suggestion?
A: please vist the Microsoft Office Discussion Group to ask a question or find an existing answer: http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx
Host: Ronna (Microsoft)
Q: Help. I set up my email on two different computers thinking that when one computer was logged off, I could get and send emails on the other one. Is that not so?
A: This depends on the type of email account you have set up and where mail is delivered. This is certainly possible as long as email is either stored on the server or a copy is left on the server. If you download to a PST, then mail is then stored locally and not available to other systems.
Host: Bruce (Microsoft)
A: You might find useful information in this article: http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HP010430621033