Outlook XP Enhancements

There are several neat features of Outlook XP that are enticing to users. While most of the time users find upgrades to be just bells and whistles and bloated codes, this release of Outlook offers some nifty improvements for everyday use.

If you just want a straight comparison of Office 2000 vs. Office XP, you may find the link at the end of this article, otherwise we will be focusing on Outlook XP's new features (which a typical user may find useful) here. Most importantly, these features save time and tread of the mouse!

"Exchange Server is Currently Busy" dialog box - I found this feature to be particularly useful as I see it all the time <wink>. While users of Outlook 2000 frown at the monitor trying to tell whether the application has frozen or just being very busy communicating with the server, users of Outlook XP are blessed with this pop-up box equipped with a status bar (and option to end that particular request). The status bar tells users that although Outlook is not responding to any more keyboard inputs, it is not frozen. This feature helps ensure that users of any skill level will not panic and terminate the program (or place that frantic tech support call right away). While this is going on, they can still work on other applications without noticeable performance drop.

Address completion - It remembers! In addition to looking up the name from your personal address book, contacts or Global Address List of your organization, it will give you a list of recipients whom you've emailed before while you're still filling in the To: field. So if you've previously emailed Smith, Bob and now you're typing in Smi... chances are by then the list will have been generated and by hitting TAB, Smith, Bob will be filled out and underlined (address matched) for you. If the first item on the list isn't what you want, hitting the up/down cursor will do it. Imagine how much time is saved when writing those group emails with a massive cc list?

Integrated Reminder List - How annoying can it be when you come into the office in the morning only to see 10+ reminder messages cascading all over your screen? Outlook XP has just 1 nag screen with option to postpone any or all reminders. To dismiss all of them, it's just 1 click of a button.

Mailbox Cleanup Tool - Are you always maxing out of your mailbox quota? This tool is useful for people who have too much email. You can check the size of the space taken by your mailbox, find items by date/size, initiate AutoArchive or empty your trash from 1 main screen. No more fumbling to move your email when the Exchange Administrator nags you about how bloated your mailbox is!

Windows CE transfer - For users of CE, Outlook XP has a drop down menu for you. Not a user? Or user of a different camp? Turn this feature off from the Add-In Manager within Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options.

Smart Tag - In XP, you'll find a small icon appearing next to your text each time you paste. That gives you the option of formatting your text according to the source or to match the destination. Saves a few clicks when you paste email contents from different sources. In case you hate this option, you can still turn it off by going to Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options | Show Paste Options Buttons.

AutoCorrect - Most users of previous Office releases are used to this functionality. Outlook XP also has that feature for you when composing mail. In addition to common misspelled words, your i's will be automatically turned into I's but you won't see misspelled words underlined.

More Office 2000 vs. Office XP comparisons can be found at Microsoft's official site - Office Version Comparison