Kaitlin's tips have been featured in our EMO newsletter.

To send meeting requests via the Internet ...

If you use Outlook 2002 to send a meeting request via the Internet, make sure the reminder is turned off. Outlook 2002 uses the iCalendar format by default, but Outlook 2000 can't handle an iCal message with a reminder. See:

Make a backup of the Windows registry, then go to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Preferences

Add a new DWORD value named "MinToTray" and give it a value of 1.

1. Open the contact.
2. Change the display name for one of the e-mail addresses to the nickname that you want to use for this contact.
3. Save and close the contact.

The e-mail display names are among the fields that Outlook 2002 searches when it resolves message recipient names or when you use the Find a Contact feature. It does not search the Nickname property.

Keep in mind, though, that the display name appears on any message you send to that contact.

1. Apply the By Category view.
2. Select all the contacts in that category.
3. Choose Actions | New Message to Contact.
4. Copy all the names from the To box on the resulting message.
5. Create a new distribution list.
6. Click Select Members.
7. Paste the names copied in Step 4 to the Add to distribution list box.

The first article explains how to get to the right point in the registry. The second article explains what value to look for (101e0390) once you get to the right key in the right profile. It was written for Outlook 2000, but applies to Outlook 2002 as well (Outlook 2002 being version 10.0 instead of 9.0). To clear the Open Other Users folders MRU in Outlook 2003, follow the steps for Outlook 2000 but look for the binary value101f0390.

If you can't figure out which rules are operating on messages, add an action to each rule to assign a different category. When you look at a message, its categories will tell you which rules fired.

This is the list of contacts that you recently looked up, using the Find a Contact box on the toolbar. Make a backup of the Windows registry and then delete this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Contact\QuickFindMRU

To make undated tasks appear at the bottom of the list while dated tasks are placed in order at the top ...

There isn't a really satisfactory solution to this issue. The best I've been able to devise is giving undated tasks all the same date, very far in the future. This makes them pile up at the bottom of the task lists, while the older tasks are at the top.

To print calendars other than the current month ...

Choose File | Print, and select the month(s) on the Print dialog. 

In the Categories box on the filter page, type in the names of the categories separated by AND, e.g. Business AND VIP. (Thanks to Kris Baudemprez for a very cool tip.)

Your mail format must first be set to HTML. Change it, if necessary, with Tools | Options | Mail format. See:

OL98 How to Send a Web Page by E-mail

OL2000 How to Send a Web Page by E-mail

Choose Tools | Options | Calendar Options | Background color.

Check out our Outlook features page with lots more tips and links:

Also see: