Tips & Tricks-December 2002

I use Outlook 2000 and 2002 for all of my email and am finding a lot of features in both that I didn't know were there as well as a few changes that are annoying the heck out of me.

In its effort to beef up security, Microsoft has hard-wired Outlook 2002 to block attachments it deems unsafe. Also if you have applied Service Pack 1 for Internet Explorer 6.0 or Windows XP, both Outlook and Outlook Express will generate an error message. In Outlook, you'll get an error message that states: "Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments:" followed by the name of the file. Not only does it affect incoming files, but you also will not be able to send certain attachments. Most of the file types refused are executable files, but also included are database files and others.

You can get around the problem by using a file compression program like WinZip which will create a file with the extension ".zip." Outlook will accept that extension. You can also fool Outlook by changing the file extension to something that Outlook will accept. Of course, you have to remember to notify the recipient of the change. You can also open any folder and go to Tools, Folder Options. Click the tab, File Types. Find the file extension of the files you want to receive or send, click advanced and clear the checkbox for "Confirm open after down." This will not work with any executables and other files that are on the "unsafe" list.

If you want to modify Outlook to allow attachments of the types it categorizes as "unsafe" you can edit your registry. In Knowledge Base Article 290497, Microsoft provides instructions for the modification, as well as a list of files considered unsafe and other work-arounds. You will find the article at http://support.microsoft.com and select "Search the Knowledge Base." Where you are asked what you want to search for, enter the article number.

If you haven't used the Knowledge Base before, you may want to try it for other questions. It's a valuable resource. Other articles on this topic and related security topics include 329570, 291387 and 291369.

The other problem that I have not been able to resolve is Outlook's refusal to go to hyperlinks that are in the body of my emails. I click and Internet Explorer opens, but there's nothing in the address box. I have searched all manner of resources and can't find an answer. If you have one, let me know. I'm getting tired of copying and pasting addresses.

Onto some of the good stuff.

Both Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002 have some great features for tracking email and more. Ever try to find an email that you know you got, but you moved to another folder and you're not sure which email it was or where you put it. You can easily locate all emails sent to or received from anyone in your address book or your contact list.

If you double-click on the name, a window with the information you have recorded about that person opens.

Note the tab "Activities." Click on that tab and all items associated with that person will be displayed in a list. You can look for everything, including appointment or tasks associated with that person or you can limit the list to one category such as emails. Outlook will search through your folders and find all items related to that person.

In addition, you can link files to that person by going to Actions, Link, File. Browse to the file you want to link and Outlook will make a journal entry showing the file. Then when you click on the Activities tab, the journal entry will show. When you open the journal entry, the file name appears and you can open the file from Outlook.

One last thing-you can customize the view by right-clicking on the bar that shows "Subject", "In Folder", etc.. You can add fields (I added the created field so I could sort by date), remove fields and decide where the column will display.

This only scratches the surface of the features available to help you get better organized.