Chapter 37 - MS Outlook Architecture

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On This Page

How Outlook Is Structured
How You Can Customize Outlook
How Outlook Express Is Structured
Supported Internet Standards
How You Can Customize Outlook Express

This chapter describes the structure of Microsoft Outlook 97 for Windows and Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for the Macintosh. It explains how Outlook and Outlook Express are structured, describes their components, and how these applications handle changes that users make to those components. An understanding of the architecture of Outlook and Outlook Express can help you take advantage of their features and may help you troubleshoot problems.

See Also

• For a summary of the features in Outlook 97 (Windows) and Outlook Express (Macintosh), see Chapter 2, "What's New in Microsoft Office." 

• For information about installing Outlook, Outlook Express, or other Microsoft Office applications, see Chapter 4, "Installing Microsoft Office." 

How Outlook Is Structured

Microsoft Outlook for Windows combines information management, electronic mail, and personal and group calendar functions into one application. The building blocks of Outlook are:

• Items 

  Outlook categorizes information as one of several items. Each item, in turn, consists of a number of properties. For example, an e-mail message item consists of properties such as subject, text, and date received. 

• Folders 

  Outlook stores items in folders, with each folder containing items of a particular type. These item types include Outlook-specific items, such as Journal items, as well as files stored on your computer or on the network. 

• Views 

  Outlook organizes and displays items in a folder using views. Any view can be used with any type of folder, and users can also customize and save views for later use. 

The following illustration shows how Outlook components fit together.

As a messaging application, Outlook complies with MAPI, which defines a standard interface between messaging servers and clients. A MAPI profile on your computer defines the MAPI messaging servers, personal folders, and address books that are available to all MAPI applications on that computer. Outlook can connect to any messaging system, folder, and e-mail address book defined in the profile. Outlook even stores nonmail items in the folders defined in the profile.

Outlook can send and receive messages using any e-mail information service defined in the profile, including Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Fax, The MSN online service, and other e-mail applications.

The Outlook Address Book is added to the profile when Outlook is installed. Items in the Outlook Contacts folder that have e-mail address information are automatically added to the Outlook Address Book. Once defined in the profile, the Outlook Address Book is available to all MAPI applications as another address book. For example, a Microsoft Word user can include addresses from the Outlook Address Book when using the Word Mail Merge command (Tools menu).

Items

Outlook recognizes six Outlook-specific item types, as shown in the following table.

This Outlook item type	Contains this kind of information
Appointment	Appointments, meetings, and events; may be recurring or nonrecurring
Contact	Names, street addresses, e-mail addresses, URLs, phone numbers, FAX numbers, and so forth
Journal	Log of phone calls, e-mail, and so on, with associated date and time information
Mail	E-mail messages
Note	Miscellaneous text
Task	To-do items, including information such as owner, due date, priority, and status

Note Outlook also recognizes files. You can use Outlook to display folders on your hard disk, floppy disks, and network drives.

You can save Outlook items as plain text, as rich text, as Outlook items, or as an Outlook template.

To save Outlook items

1. On the File menu, click Save As. 

2. In the Save in box, select the folder in which you want to save the file, and type the file name in the File name box. 

   You must save Outlook template files in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Outlook folder. This folder is selected by default if you specify the Outlook Template file type in Step 3. 

3. Select a file type in the Save as type box, and then click Save. 

When you save Outlook items, choose from the following file types in the Save as type box:

• Text Only 

  Saves only the text of the item. The file can be opened by any text editor, such as Notepad. 

• RTF Text Format 

  Saves the text and formatting in Rich Text Format (RTF), but does not save attachments or embedded objects. The file can be opened by Word or any application that can read RTF. 

• Message Format 

  Saves the item in Outlook format. The file can be opened by Outlook only, unless the item is an e-mail message. 

  Note If the item you save in message format is an e-mail message, the file can be opened by Microsoft Exchange Client. However, if the e-mail message is an Outlook custom form, it is not displayed properly by Microsoft Exchange Client. 

• Outlook Template 

  Saves the item as an Outlook template. You can use this template later to create items of the same type by selecting it with the Choose Template command (Compose menu). 

Folders

Outlook defines special-purpose folders for containing various Outlook item types. Each folder contains one type of item, as shown in the following table.

This Outlook folder	Contains this item type
Calendar	Appointment
Contacts	Contact
Inbox	Mail
Journal	Journal
Notes	Note
Outbox	Mail
Sent Items	Mail
Tasks	Task

Note Outlook uses these folders by default for the corresponding item types listed in the preceding table. However, you can also create additional folders for any of these item types.

Because Outlook performs most of the functions of Windows Explorer in Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation version 4.0, Outlook can also view folders on your computer and on the network, as well as use additional views to display folder contents.

When connected to Microsoft Exchange Server, an Outlook user can gain access to Microsoft Exchange Server public folders. Public folders are treated fundamentally the same as local folders, and they appear in the same folder list as other Outlook folders. There are some unique features of public folders, however, that distinguish them from other Outlook folders:

• You can create a shortcut to a public folder in the Favorites folder under Public Folders. 

  This shortcut does not include any subfolders the public folder might contain. 

• The folder creator can set specific user access privileges on public folders. 

  For example, the folder creator can allow a user to read items in the folder, to post items to the folder, and to modify items the user posts without being able to modify other items in the folder. 

• The folder creator can define specific forms to be used with the folder. 

• The folder creator can define rules that are applied to items posted in the folder. 

  These rules can initiate tasks, such as replying or forwarding automatically, based on certain criteria defined for the item. 

For more information about public folders, see your Microsoft Exchange Server documentation.

Views

To display the contents of folders, Outlook provides several types of views. Any of these views can be used with any Outlook folder, providing a great deal of flexibility in displaying folder contents.

This Outlook view type	Contains items in this format
Card	Individual cards, as in a card file
Day/Week/Month	Items arranged as on a calendar, by the day, week, or month
Icon	Items and files represented by individual icons
Table	Grid of rows and columns
Timeline	Horizontal bars indicating chronology and duration

Note The view types in the preceding table are associated with default Outlook folders. For example, mail items appear by default in the Inbox folder in table view. However, you can use any view type with any Outlook folder — for example, you can view mail items in timeline view. You can also use Outlook views with folders on your computer or on the network.

As an example of the flexibility afforded with Outlook views, this section includes illustrations that show the same task data displayed in three different views.

The following illustration shows task data in table view.

The following illustration shows the same task data in month view.

The following illustration shows the same task data in timeline view.

You can customize each view to display information in a way that best suits your needs. For example, in table view, you can change which items to display in columns, how items are sorted, and whether items are grouped.

When you modify a view, you can save the custom view for the current folder only, or you can save the custom view so that all folders of a single type use your custom view. If you customize a view in a public folder, you can make that view available to all users of that public folder.

How You Can Customize Outlook

Outlook default settings and paths are established when you run the Office Setup program. After running Setup, you can customize these settings for a single user, for a workgroup, or across an entire organization.

There are several ways to customize Outlook:

• Through the Options dialog box 

  You can customize Outlook in the Options dialog box (Tools menu). The settings you make here are stored in the Windows registry. 

  Tip In Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you can use a system policy to define most settings in the Options dialog box (Tools menu) for all Outlook users in your workgroup. In the System Policy Editor, set the following policy:
  User\Outlook 97\Tools_Options 

  For more information, see "Using Windows System Policies to Customize Office" in Chapter 7, "Customizing and Optimizing Microsoft Office." 

• By customizing Outlook views 

  You can create custom views for single folders or for all folders of a particular type. Custom views created for a single folder are stored in that folder. Custom views for all folders of a particular type are stored in a hidden folder in the set of personal folders that contains your Inbox. If you create custom views for a public folder, the custom views are stored in the public folder. 

To create a custom view

1. On the View menu, click Define Views. 

2. To create a new custom view, click New and fill out the Create a New View dialog box, and then click OK. 

   – or – 

   To customize an existing view, select the view and then click Modify. 

3. In the View Summary dialog box, select the options you want to use, and then click OK. 

How Outlook Express Is Structured

Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for the Macintosh allows you to communicate with others on the Internet through e-mail and newsgroups. Newsgroups consist of messages created by users and organized by topic. While running Outlook Express, you can participate in a newsgroup by posting a message, responding to a message, or sending an e-mail message directly to the author of a news message.

The building blocks of Outlook Express are items and folders. Outlook Express lets you manage e-mail and news messages, as well as contacts.

This Outlook Express item	Contains this kind of information
E-mail or news messages	Messages, plain or HTML text, graphics, and file attachments.
Contact	Address book information such as names, street addresses, e-mail addresses, URLs, phone numbers, FAX numbers, and so on.

Outlook Express allows you to create folders to organize and store e-mail and news messages. Outlook Express also has several special-purpose folders, as described below.

• Inbox 

  The folder where incoming e-mail messages are filed. If you have a POP server account, the e-mail messages are automatically received in the Inbox. If you have an IMAP server account, the e-mail messages are stored in the Inbox located on the IMAP server until you choose to move or delete them. 

• Outbox 

  The folder where outgoing e-mail messages are kept until Outlook Express connects to the Internet, and then sends them. 

• Sent Mail 

  The folder where copies of e-mail messages that have been sent to recipients are stored. 

• Deleted Messages 

  The folder where e-mail messages that you have discarded are stored. This folder is emptied when you quit Outlook Express. This folder is used by POP server accounts only. 

• Drafts 

  The folder where e-mail messages that have been created but not yet sent to recipients are stored. 

• Contacts 

  The place where you store address book information. Separate address books allow more than one user to receive e-mail on the same computer. The address book maintains extensive contact information including multiple addresses and phone numbers. 

Note News servers are also represented in the folder list, but they are not folders. Similarly, other types of servers — including LDAP, IMAP, and POP servers — can be represented in the folder list, but they are also not folders.

Folders play a key role in helping you organize your e-mail and news messages. How folders are managed depends on whether you have a POP or IMAP account.

• If you have a POP account, you work with local folders stored on your hard disk. Any new personal folders you create are also locally stored. Incoming e-mail messages appear in the Inbox folder created by Outlook Express, after which you can read or delete them, and move or copy them to and from other folders. 

• If you have an IMAP account, the Inbox is created by the IMAP server and is not the same as the Inbox folder created by Outlook Express for POP accounts. Your IMAP Inbox folder is located under the IMAP server in the folder list. Because the IMAP Inbox folder is stored on a server, you can gain access to the folder from any computer at any time. When you create a personal folder, it can be stored either on your local computer or on the IMAP server. 

Supported Internet Standards

Outlook Express is a true Internet messaging client. Built on open Internet standards, Outlook Express helps to ensure that you can seamlessly share information with anyone and use it with any Internet standards-based e-mail and news server. The following list describes some of the standards supported by Outlook Express and their key user benefits.

• Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) 

  A server standard that enables compliant clients to send mail through that server. 

• Post office protocol 3 (POP3) 

  A server standard that allows compliant clients to download messages to your computer through that server. 

• Internet mail access protocol (IMAP4) 

  A server standard that enables you to maintain e-mail on a server for easy access from different locations and desktops. IMAP4 also allows you to work with your messages on the server, including managing multiple folders on the server. 

• Lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) 

  A standard for updating and searching directories using TCP/IP. LDAP allows you to easily find other Internet users by accessing any LDAP-based directory server, including Internet directories, such as Four11 and Bigfoot, or a company's intranet directory. 

• MIME HTML (MHTML) 

  A standard that allows you to embed images directly into your messages rather than requiring recipients to be connected to the Internet or your intranet in order to view the full fidelity of the message. This standard support helps to ensure that recipients who read messages offline still receive the powerful messages the author intended. 

• Network news transfer protocol (NNTP) 

  The protocol used to send and receive news messages over the Internet. 

• HTML mail 

  Allows you to send and receive rich messages in HTML. The messages maintain their rich text formatting even when read by HTML e-mail clients other than Outlook Express. 

How You Can Customize Outlook Express

The Outlook Express default settings and paths are established when you run the Outlook Express Installer program. After running the installer, you can customize Outlook Express by changing the settings in the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu). For example, you can:

• Set up Outlook Express so that multiple users can use the same client. 

• Customize settings for starting and quitting Outlook Express. 

• Customize the display. 

• Customize the settings for creating, sending, receiving, and retrieving e-mail messages. 

• Customize the settings for managing Internet access, Internet news, and directory services. 

Multiple Users

There are situations when it's necessary for more than one person to use one computer. With Outlook Express, multiple users can use the same client yet maintain their own e-mail folders, address book, and even their own preference settings.

Important If your organization is planning to use the multiple user support feature, note that the Outlook Express program does not lock out users from the file system. A user can use the Finder to gain access to your e-mail folders or address book, and then add or delete information. For this reason, if you use the multiple user support feature, it's recommended that you also use a software program designed to restrict access to the Finder.

Using At Ease with Outlook Express

Outlook Express is designed to work with the Apple At Ease software program. At Ease provides an effective way to control access to files and applications on shared Macintosh computers. You can prevent users from changing system settings and controls, or from accidentally accessing and then deleting or modifying files that belong to you. For more information about the At Ease program, connect to the following World Wide Web site at:
https://www.apple.com/ 

Setting Up Outlook Express for Multiple Users

When multiple people are using the same client, it's recommended that you set up Outlook Express to prompt users for a password when logging on.

To set up accounts for multiple users on a client

1. On the File menu, click Change Current User. 

2. Click Yes when prompted to close all connections and windows for the current user. 

3. Select the Show This List at Startup checkbox to configure Outlook Express so that it prompts for a user when the program is started. 

4. Click New User. 

5. In the Edit User dialog box, specify the appropriate information for the user, and then click Save to create the new account. 

After you create a new account, it has the same preference settings as the previous user's account. Using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can change the settings for the new account. You can also update settings when needed or delete accounts. Typically, user account settings are stored in the OE User(s) folder where the Outlook Express program is stored.

To update the account settings for a user

1. On the File menu, click Change Current User. 

2. Click on a user's name, and then click Edit User. 

3. Specify the appropriate information for the user, and then click Save to update the configuration settings. 

To delete a user's account

1. Locate the appropriate folder labeled with the user's name that you want deleted. 

2. Drag the folder to the Trash icon. 

Starting and Quitting

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the settings for starting and quitting Outlook Express in the following ways.

• You can require a password when Outlook Express starts. You can also specify whether you want e-mail messages to be downloaded at startup. 

• You can specify whether you want e-mail messages in the Deleted Messages folder automatically deleted when you quit. Outlook Express also compacts folders when you quit if unused space exceeds 100 KB. To optimize hard disk space even more, you can change this setting. 

To customize the settings for starting and quitting

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Startup & Quit. 

2. Under Startup Settings, select the options you want. 

3. Under Quit Settings, select the options you want. 

Display Settings

The Outlook Express window is divided into three areas.

• The folder list displays a list of folders and mailboxes. 

• The information viewer displays the contents of a folder or mailbox. 

• The preview pane enables you to quickly view the contents of e-mail or newsgroup messages without opening a separate window. This feature allows you to identify which messages you need to respond to immediately. 

By default, the Inbox is the first window that you see after initially starting Outlook Express. The folder list shows you the number of unread e-mail messages you have received in each folder. The folder list also allows you to move quickly to the tasks you are most interested in performing. You can perform the following tasks directly from the folder list.

• Read e-mail and newsgroup messages 

• Access or set up the address book 

• Update content subscriptions and download new e-mail 

• Locate other users on the Internet through directory services, such as Four11 and Bigfoot 

There are a number of ways you can arrange the Outlook Express window to suit your working style. The rest of this section describes how to customize the display.

Display Settings for E-mail and News Messages

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the display settings for e-mail and news messages in the following ways. You can display:

• Messages that you have not yet read in boldface. 

• Read and unread messages using different colors. 

• Images within messages. 

Note You must have QuickTime version 2.5 or later to display images within messages.

To customize the display for e-mail and news messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Display. 

2. Under Messages, select the options you want. 

Display Settings for Newsgroups

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the display settings for newsgroups. For example, you can:

• Set newsgroups to appear bold. 

• Specify that subscribed or other newsgroups appear in color. 

To customize the display for newsgroups

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Display. 

2. Under Subscriptions, select the options you want. 

Display Settings for Toolbars

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the toolbar settings in the following ways. You can specify whether you want:

• Text labels to appear under icons so that new users can quickly find the folders they need. 

• ToolTips to appear when users position their pointing device over an icon. 

To customize the standard and format toolbars

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Display. 

2. Under Toolbars, click the Show toolbars checkbox, and then select the options you want. 

Font Settings

The font settings can be customized for each language in which you view messages.

• You can change the default fonts for any or all of the language groups that you want displayed by Outlook Express: Western European, Central European, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Cyrillic, Greek, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish. 

• For each language, you can select settings for the proportional and fixed width fonts to be used. 

• For each language, you can choose the font to be used for list items. 

To customize the fonts displayed in Outlook Express

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Fonts. 

2. Under Fonts, select a language group from the Choose fonts for box, and then choose the options you want. (You can choose font settings for any or all of the language groups.) 

E-mail Settings

You can customize settings for the following:

• Creating e-mail messages 

• Sending, receiving, and retrieving e-mail messages 

• Modifying sound settings for e-mail messages 

Settings for Creating E-mail Messages

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the settings for creating e-mail messages in a number of ways. You can specify:

• The personal settings needed to identify the user: name, e-mail address, and organization name. 

• The maximum number of characters that each line of an e-mail message can contain. 

• Whether quoting characters are used when forwarding messages. 

• That a custom signature is appended to the bottom of outgoing messages. A signature typically contains a few lines of information about the user (for example, your real name and your e-mail address). Signatures can also include the URL of your home page on the Web. 

• The type of encoding to use for files attached to outgoing e-mail messages. 

In addition to exchanging e-mail messages with others, sharing documents is a powerful aspect of e-mail. With Outlook Express, you can attach one or more files to an e-mail message. Outlook Express makes it easy to communicate with others by enabling you to send and receive various types of attachments. The default for encoding e-mail attachments in Outlook Express is BinHex (Best for Mac to Mac). The following list describes the options for encoding attachments.

• None (Send raw data) 

  Do not encode attachments. 

• BinHex (Best for Mac to Mac) 

  A format for representing a binary file using only printable characters. Because BinHex files are text, they can be sent through most e-mail systems and stored on most computers. However, the conversion to text makes the file larger, so it takes longer to transmit a file in BinHex format than if the file was represented in some other way. The advantage in selecting BinHex format is that the two parts of the file — resource fork and the data fork — do not get separated when the file is sent. 

• UUEncode 

  A format that encodes binary data as ASCII. UUEncode is used for sending binary files by e-mail and posting to Usenet newsgroups. 

• Base64 

  A format using 64 ASCII characters to encode the six-bit binary data values 0 – 63. This new format standard is a MIME type. 

To customize personal e-mail settings

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Accounts, click E-mail. 

2. Under Account Information, enter your name as you want it to appear in outgoing messages in the Full name box. 

3. In the E-mail address box, enter the location where you want your e-mail sent. 

4. In the Organization box, enter the name of your organization as you want it to appear in outgoing messages. 

To customize the settings for creating e-mail messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Message Composition. 

2. Under Message Composition, select the options you want. 

To specify the encoding setting for attachments in outgoing messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Message Composition. 

2. In the Attachment encoding box, select the option you want. 

To create a custom signature for outgoing messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Message Composition. 

2. Under Signature, select the Automatically add this signature to all messages checkbox. 

3. Type the text you want to represent your signature. 

Settings for Sending, Receiving, and Retrieving E-mail

Using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize how you send, receive, and retrieve messages. You can specify:

• The SMTP host server to use for sending outgoing e-mail messages (for example, smtp.host.com). 

• Settings for retrieving e-mail: account ID, server name, and user password. 

• That copies of sent e-mail messages are saved in the Sent Mail folder. 

• That e-mail messages are sent to recipients as soon as they are completed. 

• That file helpers are used when viewing attachments. 

• How often Outlook Express checks for incoming e-mail messages. 

• How many newsgroup message subjects are downloaded at one time. 

To indicate the SMTP host server to use for sending e-mail messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Accounts, click E-mail. 

2. Under Sending Mail, specify the name of the SMTP host server in the SMTP server box. 

To customize settings for retrieving e-mail messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Accounts, click E-mail. 

2. Under Retrieving Mail, specify the account ID in the Account ID box. 

3. In the POP Server box, enter the e-mail server you want used. 

4. If a password is required, select the Save password box, and then enter your password. 

To customize the settings for sending and receiving messages

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Send & Receive. 

2. Under Mail and News Settings, select the options you want. 

Sound Settings for E-mail

Using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the sound settings so that you are notified when certain situations occur. You can specify that a sound is played when:

• New e-mail messages are received in the Inbox. 

• The Inbox does not contain any new e-mail messages. 

• E-mail messages are delivered to recipients. 

• An error has occurred while using Outlook Express. 

The default sound setting is IMN default. Sound options may vary among computers.

To customize sound settings

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Outlook Express, click Send & Receive. 

2. Under Sounds, select the options you want. 

Internet Access Settings

Your organization may use an internal server called a proxy server to manage Internet access so that users outside your company cannot tap into your company's private network. If your organization has a proxy server, you can customize the way Outlook Express accesses the proxy server.

The preferences you choose for managing Internet access are global settings. This means that any changes to settings that you make in Outlook Express impact other programs that you may be using, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

To customize settings to manage Internet access

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Network, click Proxies. 

2. Click Enabled or Disabled to specify whether your organization has a proxy server. 

3. If have a proxy server, enter the protocol in the Protocol box. 

4. Under Protocol, enter a method in the Method box. 

5. In the Address and Port boxes, enter the proxy server's Internet address and port number. 

6. In the User name box, enter your user name. 

7. In the Password box, enter your password. 

8. If you want the Outlook Express client to use the proxy server for local (intranet) addresses, select the Use proxy for local servers checkbox. 

Directory Services Settings

Directory services are search tools that allow you to look up names and addresses of other users and companies on the Internet. The Outlook Express address book, Contacts, supports lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) for using Internet directory services. When you find a person or company, you can add them to Contacts or send e-mail messages directly to the person or company.

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the settings for directory services by:

• Limiting the number of entries displayed by an LDAP server. 

• Specifying the number of seconds a server spends responding to your request before timing out. 

• Specifying a search base, which is the area you want to search. For example, the default search base setting for Outlook Express is c=US, which limits the regional search to the United States. 

• Specifying whether authentication is required by the server. Authentication is validation of a user's logon information (user name and password). Authentication is used to restrict access to a server. 

To customize settings for directory services

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Accounts, click Directory Services. 

2. Under Directory Service Information, enter the name of the directory service (for example, Four11). 

3. In the Server address box , enter the address of the directory service (for example, ldap.four11.com). 

4. If you want this directory service to be easily accessible, select the Display this directory service in the folder list checkbox. 

5. If you need to limit the number of entries displayed by the server, change the search timeout, or select the location of the search base, click Advanced and then specify what you want under Server Settings. 

6. If you need a user name and password to log on to this server, click the This directory service requires authentication check box, and then type your user name and password. 

News Settings

Newsgroup messages are posted to a news server. News servers are computers maintained by companies, groups, and individuals and can host thousands of newsgroups. You can find newsgroups on practically any subject. Although some newsgroups are monitored, most are not, and messages can be posted and read by anyone who has access to that newsgroup.

After setting up a connection to a news server, you can customize the settings for news by subscribing or canceling subscriptions to newsgroups. You can also change the display settings for newsgroups. For example, you can specify that newsgroups appear in bold or you can specify that subscribed or other newsgroups appear in different colors. For more information about changing the display settings for newsgroups, see "Display Settings for Newsgroups" earlier in this chapter.

Your ISP must have a link to a news server for you to set up an account with that news server in Outlook Express. After you set up an account, you can read messages for and post messages to any of the newsgroups stored on that news server.

By using the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), you can customize the settings for news by specifying the network news transfer protocol (NNTP) host server and indicating whether authentication is required by the server. You can also add configurations for additional news servers or remove existing configurations.

To set up a connection to a news server

1. On the Edit menu, click Preferences, and then under Accounts, click News. 

2. Under Account Information, specify the name of your news server (also known as the network news host server) in the Server name box. 

3. In the Server address box, enter an address (for example, https://example.microsoft.com/). 

4. If you want this news server to be easily accessible, select the Display this news server in the folder list checkbox. 

5. If authentication is required for the NNTP host server, select the This server requires authentication check box, and then enter your user name and password in the User name and Password boxes. 

6. If you need to override the default NNTP port or specify additional header information in messages you post, click Advanced, and then enter the appropriate information.