This section of the chapter provides an explanation of additional options in Outlook 2007 that control messaging features and tasks. You can specify how you want to be notified when new mail arrives, configure how Outlook 2007 connects for e-mail accounts that use dial-up networking, and control the formatting of Internet and international e-mail messages.
You might not spend a lot of time in Outlook 2007 during the day if you’re busy working with other applications. However, you might want Outlook 2007 to notify you when you receive new messages. Outlook 2007 adds new Desktop Alert features to provide you with notification of the arrival of new messages. These options and additional notification options are located in the Advanced E-Mail Options dialog box (refer to Figure 8-6):
Play A Sound. Select this option to have Outlook 2007 play a sound when a new message arrives. By using the Change System Sounds option in Control Panel, you can change the New Mail Notification sound to use a .wav file of your choosing.
Briefly Change The Mouse Cursor. Select this option to have Outlook 2007 briefly change the pointer to a mail symbol when a new message arrives.
Show An Envelope Icon In The Notification Area. Select this option to have Outlook 2007 place an envelope icon in the system tray when new mail arrives. You can double-click the envelope icon to open your mail. The icon disappears from the tray after you read the messages.
Display A New Mail Desktop Alert (Default Inbox Only). Enable this option to have Outlook 2007 display a pop-up window on the desktop when a new message arrives.
If you enable this last option, click Desktop Alert Settings to display the Desktop Alert Settings dialog box (see Figure 8-13). In this dialog box, you specify the length of time the alert remains on the desktop and the alert’s transparency value. Click Preview to preview the alert.
If you enable the Display A New Mail Desktop Alert option, Outlook 2007 displays the alert for each new message. In most cases, that’s more than you need. Instead, you probably want Outlook 2007 to alert you only when you receive certain messages, such as those from people in your Contacts folder, from a specific sender, or with certain words in the subject. So instead of enabling this option globally, you might prefer to create a rule that causes the alert to be displayed when the rule fires.
There are two rule actions you can use to generate alerts:
Display A Desktop Alert. This action causes Outlook 2007 to display a desktop alert when the rule fires. The alert persists on the desktop for the period of time you have set for the alert in the Outlook 2007 Advanced E-Mail Options dialog box.
Display A Specific Message In The New Item Alerts Window. With this action, you can specify a message that appears in the New Item Alerts window (see Figure 8-14). The window persists on the desktop until you close it.
Which action you use depends on whether you want a custom message to appear for the alert and whether you want the alert to persist until you close it or appear and then go away. To create an alert rule using one (or both) of these actions, create the rule as you would any other and select the alert action you want to use.
Note
To create a rule that displays a New Item Alert, you can use the rule template Display Mail From Someone in the New Item Alert Window.
Note
For more details about working with message rules, see Chapter 11.
If you create an alert rule that uses the Display A Desktop Alert action, it’s likely that you will not want Outlook 2007 to display an alert for all messages. You should choose Tools, Options; click E-Mail Options; click Advanced E-Mail Options; and clear the Display A New Mail Desktop Alert option. If you use the Display A Specific Message In The New Item Alert Window option, you might want to leave that enabled, which causes Outlook 2007 to display a desktop alert for all messages and to display the New Item Alerts window for those messages that fire the rule.
The Mail Setup tab of the Options dialog box (choose Tools, Options) includes options that determine how Outlook 2007 connects when processing mail accounts that use dial-up networking:
Warn Before Switching An Existing Dial-Up Connection. Select this option to have Outlook 2007 warn you before it disconnects the current dial-up connection to dial another connection specified by the account about to be processed. This warning gives you the option of having Outlook 2007 use the current connection instead of dialing the other one.
Always Use An Existing Dial-Up Connection. Select this option to have Outlook 2007 use the active dial-up connection instead of dialing the one specified in the account settings.
Automatically Dial During A Background Send/Receive. When this option is selected, Outlook 2007 dials without prompting you when it needs to perform a background send/receive operation.
Hang Up When Finished With A Manual Send/Receive. When this option is selected, Outlook 2007 hangs up a dial-up connection when it completes a manual send/receive operation (one you initiate by clicking Send/Receive).
The Mail Format tab of the Options dialog box (choose Tools, Options) provides access to settings that control how Outlook 2007 processes Internet and international messages.
To control how Outlook 2007 formats messages sent to Internet recipients, click Internet Format on the Mail Format tab to open the Internet Format dialog box, shown in Figure 8-15.
Figure 8-15. Use the Internet Format dialog box to control the format of outgoing Internet messages.
The following list explains the options in the Internet Format dialog box:
When Sending Outlook Rich Text Messages To Internet Recipients, Use This Format. Use this drop-down list to specify how Outlook 2007 converts rich-text messages when sending those messages to Internet recipients.
Automatically Wrap Text At n Characters. In this box, enter the number of characters per line that Outlook 2007 should use for Internet messages.
Encode Attachments In UUENCODE Format When Sending A Plain Text Message. When this check box is selected, attachments to messages sent as plain text are encoded within the message as text instead of attached as binary Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) attachments. The recipient’s e-mail application must be capable of decoding UUEncoded messages.
Restore Defaults. Click this button to restore the Outlook 2007 default settings for Internet messages.
Click International Options on the Mail Format tab to display the International Options dialog box (see Figure 8-16), which enables you to specify whether Outlook 2007 uses English for message headers and flags and controls the format for outgoing messages.
Figure 8-16. Use the International Options dialog box to configure language options for Outlook 2007.
The International Options dialog box includes the following options:
Use English For Message Flags. Select this check box to use English for message flag text, such as High Priority or Flag For Follow-Up. If you use a different language and this option is not selected, message flags appear in the selected language instead of in English.
Use English For Message Headers On Replies And Forwards. When you’re using a non-English version of Outlook 2007, you can select this check box to display message header text—such as From, To, or Subject—in English instead of in the default language.
Auto Select Encoding For Outgoing Messages. Select this check box and then choose a preferred encoding option from the drop-down list to specify the encoding character set for outgoing messages. If this check box is not selected, you can choose Encoding in the More Options group of the Options ribbon with a message form open and select the encoding option for the message. If this option is enabled, you cannot change the default encoding for the message.
Preferred Encoding For Outgoing Messages. Use this drop-down list to specify the encoding character set Outlook 2007 should use for outgoing messages. Select the setting to take into account the requirements of the majority of messages you send (based on their destination and the language options you use).
Auto Select Encoding For Outgoing VCards. Select this check box and then choose a preferred encoding option from the drop-down list to specify the encoding character set for outgoing vCards.
Preferred Encoding For Outgoing VCards. Use this drop-down list to specify the encoding character set Outlook 2007 should use for outgoing vCards. Select the setting that meets the requirements of the majority of vCards you send.
Enable Support For Internationalized Domain Names In E-Mail Addresses. Select this check box to allow Outlook 2007 to send e-mail to domain names that are in languages other than English.
Enable UTF-8 Support For Mailto: Protocol. Selecting this check box causes Outlook 2007 to use UTF-8 encoding for e-mail, enabling the representation of most languages in e-mail messages.