Microsoft Outlook 2003 Configuration and Best Practices
Introduction
Basic Configuration
Junk Email Configuration
Accessing the Penn Directory
Recommended Settings
Best Practices and Miscellaneous Tips
Introduction
This document will cover how to configure Microsoft Outlook 2003 ideally and optimally
for your computer. It will also provide guidelines for best practices and offer
various tips, tricks, and strategies to best utilize the internet email features of Microsoft Outlook.
Basic Configuration
To configure Outlook for IMAP e-mail:
1. Locate the Microsoft Outlook icon on your desktop.
2. Launch Outlook.
3. When Outlook starts, click Next to continue. You will be asked if you would like to configure an email account. Select Yes and then click Next.
4. A box appears asking which type of server your email will use. Select IMAP and then click Next.
5. The next box will prompt you for your email account information. In the User Information area, enter your full name and your email address. For example, the name John Smith was used.
- In the Logon Information area, type your e-mail user name. For example, type jsmith. You may also enter your account password and choose the option to Remember that password. If you do so, you will not be prompted for your password again when accessing your email. Be careful when choosing this option.
- In the Server Information area, type your mail server name using the table
below. If your server isn't listed or you don't know what to enter here,
check with your School, department, or LSP.
Note: If you are using an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
other than Penn (for example, DCANet or Earthlink) to connect to your mail
account, you will have different SMTP servers than those listed for Penn. Follow
the instructions in the document "Sending E-mail:
Selecting & Configuring Your SMTP Server "
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If your e-mail address ends with
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The IMAP mail server is
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@dolphin.upenn.edu
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dolphin.upenn.edu
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@futures.wharton.upenn.edu
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futures.wharton.upenn.edu
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@mail.med.upenn.edu
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mail.med.upenn.edu
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@pobox.upenn.edu
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pobox.upenn.edu
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@sas.upenn.edu
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imap.sas.upenn.edu
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- Real Name: Enter your full name. For example,
type John Smith.
- SMTP Server: From the chart below, type the name of the
outgoing mail server. If your server isn't listed or you don't know what
to enter here, check with your School, department, or LSP.
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If your e-mail address ends with
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The SMTP server is
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@dolphin.upenn.edu
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dolphin.upenn.edu
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@futures.wharton.upenn.edu
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futures.wharton.upenn.edu
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@mail.med.upenn.edu
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mail.med.upenn.edu
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@pobox.upenn.edu
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pobox.upenn.edu
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@sas.upenn.edu
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smtp.sas.upenn.edu
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7. Click on the More Settings button and the following box appears:
- Under the General tab, type the name you would like to use for this email account, for example "My Work Email"
- You may also enter the name of your organization if you choose. The Reply E-mail field can specify an alternate email address that would be used when others reply to your messages.
9. Click on the Outgoing Server Tab. You should select the option to use the same settings as your incoming mail server. Check with your School, department, or LSP to find out if your outgoing server requires authentication. If not, you may leave the box unchecked.
10. Click on the Advanced Tab to display the encryption settings for your incoming and outgoin servers. Microsoft Outlook supports SSL for encryption. You will need to check with your School, department, or LSP to find out if your server supports SSL. If so, check the boxes where appropriate. If you are unsure, leave the boxes unchecked and you can attempt to connect to your servers without encryption.
11. In the Folders section, enter the Root folder path used for your server. In most cases, ~/Mail will be used. Click OK when you have finished entering the information and you will be returned to the Email accounts box. Click Next, and then Click Finished. Outlook will now start up.
12. Once you have started Outlook, you can view your mail folders from the mail pane on the left. Locate the group of folders corresponding to the name you gave to this account in step 7. Your Inbox and the emails that you received "Today" will be listed to the right of that pane.
Junk Email Filtering
13. To enable Junk Email Filtering, go to the Actions Menu, then select Junk E-mail and then Junk E-mail Options. The following box will appear:
- There are several different levels of Junk Mail Filtering that Outlook can provide. It is recommended that you choose the Low setting until you are comfortable with the way Outlook handles Junk Mail. The Low setting will move most obvious Junk mail to the Junk E-Mail folder.
- If you would like to be sure that certain email is not mistaken for Junk, you can select the Safe Senders Tab and click Add. You will be prompted for a specific email address or an internet domain name. You can enter a domain, such as upenn.edu if you would like to receive all messages from anyone with upenn.edu in their email address without them being filtered as Junk.
- You can also allow Outlook to trust all email from senders who are already in your Contact list. This option is checked by default.
- Check with your LSP if you need to configure more advanced filtering options.
14. Note that Outlook will automatically move Junk Mail to the Junk E-mail Folder. You may want to periodically check the contents of that folder to make sure that no legitimate emails were marked as Junk. To remove emails from that folder, simply Right click on the mail, Select Junk E-mail, then Mark as Not Junk. You will be prompted to add the email to a "Safe Sender" list and to return the email to your Inbox.
Accessing the Penn Directory
15. Microsoft Outlook is capable of accessing Penn's online directory. The online directory can also be accessed via the web at http://www.upenn.edu/directories/. To configure Outlook to check email addresses against Penn's directory, do the following:
- Go to the Tools Menu and select E-mail Accounts. The E-mail accounts wizard will start. Select "Add a new directory or address book" and then click Next.
- Select "Internet Directory Service(LDAP)" and click Next.
- In the Server Information field, type in directory.upenn.edu and then click on the More Settings button. When the next box appears, click on the Search tab.
- In the "Search base" field, type the following exactly as
shown: ou=People, o=upenn.edu Then click OK, then Next, and then Finish. You will need to restart Outlook in order for the changes to take effect.
16. When you have restarted Outlook, the directory lookup will be available. When creating a new message, type the first portion of the email address that you would like to send to, or simply type the person's name. Click on the Check Names ( ) button to activate the directory search, which should resolve the rest of the person's name and email address. Outlook will automatically resolve addresses the next time you address an email.
- NOTE: Because of differences in the way Microsoft Outlook utilizes LDAP Directory Services, it may be necessary for your LSP to configure additional settings on your computer for the Directory Lookup to function properly. If you are experiencing problems, please ask your LSP for assistance.
Recommended Settings
- Go to the Menu and select Tools then Options. Click on the Mail Format tab, and change the Message format to Plain Text.
- In the Signatures section below, you can create a default signature to be used when composing emails by clicking on the Signatures button.
Best Practices and Miscellaneous Tips
Outlook's Folders and Mailboxes
- When configured as previously shown, Outlook will keep mail messages on the mailserver. You may need to clean out your Inbox from time to time, depending on the amount of mail you receive and the amount of storage space that is allotted to your account. Check with your School, center, or LSP if you are unsure of your space limitations, and it has become troublesome.
- By Default, Outlook will move messages that are deleted into the Deleted Items folder inside your Personal Folders. These messages will not take up space on the server, as they are stored on your local harddrive.
- You may notice that messages can appear in your Inbox or other folders as greyed out with a line drawn through them. This indicates that the message was moved to another folder automatically (if it was deemed Junk) or else the message may have been deleted. You can rid your folders of these messages by going to the Menu and selecting Edit, and then Purge Deleted Messages. Be sure that you no longer need these messages before purging, or that they were already moved to the proper folder. If you purge deleted messages, they will be erased PERMANENTLY.
Creating Message Rules and Filters
You can create Rules for filtering of mail messages by going to the menu and selecting Tools, then Rules and Alers. The following box will appear:
- You can configure messages to be Moved or Copied to particular folders upon arrival or sending, based on the rules you choose. This can be very helpful in managing messages that you may receive based on particular groups, mailing lists, or subject headings.
- Note that Outlook will automatically save copies of sent messages in the Sent Messages folder in your Personal Folders. If you would like copies of messages to be saved on your mail server, you can configure that action using the message rules.
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