Outlook Express better than Outlook?

[Steve B]

I have just changed from Outlook Express to Outlook, and
cannot believe that there are several things which the
supposedly more sophisticated Outlook cannot do:

1. Cannot change the size of viewing text in the Preview
window. In OE this is easy in 'Text size' under
the 'View' menu.

2. There is no preview of messages possible at all for
the Outbox folder!

3. Cannot mark messages with a 'flag' - to draw one's
attention to them later.

4. Cannot receive message from the server without sending
one's own messages. I often want to do this so as to see
if someone who I am about to send a message to has sent
me one in the meantime.


The advantages of Outlook in terms of greater features
(Contacts, Calendar etc) are only just enough to make me
stay withit. I and colleagues might yet move back to OE.
Can you persuade us not to?


(e-mail address removed)

 

[Steven M (remove cola to reply)]

I have just changed from Outlook Express to Outlook, and
cannot believe that there are several things which the
supposedly more sophisticated Outlook cannot do:

1. Cannot change the size of viewing text in the Preview
window. In OE this is easy in 'Text size' under
the 'View' menu.

2. There is no preview of messages possible at all for
the Outbox folder!

Hmm ... you're right, but I never needed it.

3. Cannot mark messages with a 'flag' - to draw one's
attention to them later.

Outlook 2000 has the "flag" feature. I can right-click and select the
flag, and there might be a keyboard shortcut.

4. Cannot receive message from the server without sending
one's own messages. I often want to do this so as to see
if someone who I am about to send a message to has sent
me one in the meantime.

I don't know how OE does this, but what you could do is to open all
the messages in the outbox. This will prevent them from being sent.
Then press F5 to retrieve incoming email, then click "send" on all the
open messages.

The advantages of Outlook in terms of greater features
(Contacts, Calendar etc) are only just enough to make me
stay withit. I and colleagues might yet move back to OE.
Can you persuade us not to?

I'm not a big fan of Outlook. I only use it because it came with my
"new" computer (now three years old) It works, and I just haven't
bothered to switch. I'm not impressed with the Calendar and I don't
see anything special about Contacts as opposed to just an address
book.

Just thought of something, though: does OE have macros?

I have several macros in Outlook. The most commonly used ones (at
least a couple of times a week) are assigned to buttons on the
toolbar.

Visual Basic in Outlook is not the easiest thing to learn about and
get started with, but it was worth the effort to get the ones I use.
For example:

One is for changing my "rotating" signature. I have had something
like this on every computer I work on, since I started using email in
1993. Another macros brings up a form letter to complain about spam
(not an Office "form", just a new message with my standard spam
complaint already included).

The trickiest macro goes through all message in the current folder and
sends a summary of them all to a text file. This includes To, From,
Date, Subject, and a list of the filenames attached to message.

Those macros are now vital for me. Outlook 2000 doesn't have any
other reasonable way to get a list of the emails in a folder.

 

[J. McConnell]

I don't know how OE does this, but what you could do is to open all
the messages in the outbox. This will prevent them from being sent.
Then press F5 to retrieve incoming email, then click "send" on all the
open messages.

OE has an option to "Recieve all". Outlook does allow you to create
Send/Receive groups (Tools->Send/Receive Settings->Define Send/Receive
Groups) and you can easily create a group that receives from all accounts
and doesn't send at all.

Just thought of something, though: does OE have macros?
No.

Those macros are now vital for me. Outlook 2000 doesn't have any
other reasonable way to get a list of the emails in a folder.

File->Print, select "Table Style" and "All Rows"...won't get you the
attached filenames though

- J.