Using Outlook XP Email
In This Document:
 
 

Checking Mail

By default, Outlook should check for mail on its own once every 15 minutes. If Outlook is not checking mail automatically, please see our Configuring Outlook XP: Troubleshooting instructions.

To check mail manually
Go to your Outlook Inbox, then click the Send/Receive button () to check mail.

Enter your password if prompted.

After Outlook has finished downloading your email, it will appear in your Inbox. All unread messages will be in bold type and have a closed envelope to the left of them.

To read one of your messages, you can either single-click and read the message in the preview pane below, or double-click to open the message in its own window.

Sending Mail

To write a new message, click the New Mail Message icon beneath the File menu. You can also do this by holding down the Control key and pressing N.

This opens the New Message window, as seen at right.

This window is divided into three areas: the Icon Bar, the Message Headers, and the Message Body.The Message Headers specify the addressing of your message.

The 3 headers fields are:

To:

Enter the address of the person you are mailing here, or click the To button to select a contact from your address book.

Cc:
 Enter the addresses or nicknames of anyone you would like to send Carbon Copies of this message. You can also click the Cc button to select a contact from your address book.
Subject:
 Enter the subject of your message here.
You can also select to see the Bcc field from the View menu.

Bcc:

 Blind Carbon Copies are like Carbon Copies (Cc), except that Bcc recipients are unlisted -- the people who receive your message will not be able to see who was Bcc'd on the message.

 The Message Body is where you type the text of your message. Click the Send button when you have finished your message.

Northwestern Directory

The Northwestern Directory server has been pre-configured on all Kellogg Laptop Program computers. If you do not have the KLP laptop and have not yet configured Outlook to use the NU directory, see our instructions on how to set it up here.

(NOTE: Students with the KLP ThinkPad T23, please download this update for optimal NU Directory performance).

Using the directory

Start a new email message.

Click the To button.

Click the Show Names from the... pull-down menu at the top right corner of the window.

Select Northwestern LDAP.

Click Find.

 

 

Take a unique part of the name of the person you're searching for and enter it in the Display name field. For example, if your classmate has a unique last name, you can just enter their last name.

If you're not sure of the spelling (for example, you're not sure if their first name is John, Jon, or Jonathon), you can enter part of the name (Jo) in the First name field and the last name in the Last name. You also click Contains and enter part of the name to broaden the search.

Once you've entered your search terms, click OK to search.
Please note that there is a limit on how many results the directory will return -- the directory has been designed this way in an effort to stop spammers from using the directory to obtain e-mail addresses. If you get an error that your search yielded too many results, you'll need to narrow your search.

You'll now see a list of possible matches. If you see the person you're looking for, click their name, then click either To, Cc, or Bcc to add the person to one of those fields.

If you get multiple results with the same name, or you're not sure the person listed is the one you're looking for, click on a name, then click Properties to get more information.

If you'd like to add the person to your address book, click Properties, then Personal Address Book. Click Save and Close to save the new entry to your address book.

Other ways to search the directory

You can also look names up through the NU Directory's web interface. On Kellogg Laptop Program computers, the NU Directory is included in your favorites (or bookmarks).

KLP T40: In the top folder: Kellogg Bookmarks-> NU Directory.
KLP T23: Computing Tools -> NU Electronic Directory (Ph)

On non-Kellogg Laptop Program computers, go to: http://directory.northwestern.edu

If you're at the Serial, you can also search the Kellogg facebook by simply typing in the name you're looking for in the Search Student Photo Directory field.

Creating Distribution Lists and Contacts 

Distribution lists are useful for managing groups of contacts, such as a study groups. Once you set up a distribution list for a study group, you can enter just the name of your study group's distribution list (i.e., MKTG450 Study Group) instead of each study group member's email address.

To create a distribution list:

First, click the down arrow just to the right of the New button on the menu bar (just below the File menu button).

 

The menu shown at right will appear.

Select Distribution List.

The Distribution List window should appear on your screen.

Type in the name for the distribution list in the Name field.

If the members you'd like to add are already in your address book, click Select Members, then choose the people you'd like to add.
Repeat this process for each person you wish to add.

If the members of your new distribution list are not in your address book, click Add New.

Enter the first person's name and email address. If you'd like to add this person to your address book as well, click the box for Add to Contacts.

Click OK.

After adding in your contacts in the distribution list, you should see a window similar to the one shown at right.

Click Save and Close to save your new distribution list.

You should now be able to send messages to your distribution list.

To send a message to your distribution list, just open a new message and type your distribution list's name in the To field.

Working with Mail Offline

You do not need to have your laptop connected to the network to write an email message -- you can compose your message and queue it to be sent later. Just click Send as usual after writing your message. If you are not connected to the network, your message will be saved to the Outbox. Messages stored in the Outbox will be sent the next time Outlook checks mail.

In order to see which messages have not yet been sent, open the Outbox folder. To open this or any other mailbox, make sure that the Folder List option is selected under the View menu. Then, you can double click on the Outbox icon to see your queued messages. When messages are queued to be sent, the description in the Outbox will be in italics. 

More Information

Please see Microsoft's Office Assistance web site for more information and help with Outlook features, including support for other languages.
Last update: November 17, 2003