Themes Work-around for Stand-alone Outlook

[J Canuck]

1. Do any work-arounds exist for building a ‘Theme’ in my stand-alone
Outlook; for example: creatively changing defaults, or making templates, or
making drafts???
2. Am I going to discover more incompatibility issues with my stand-alone
Outlook software?

The following explains my question. Sorry for the length, but Microsoft may
want to pass this on to their marketing people as well. My saga on this issue
has got to be similar for thousands of Stand Alone customers, and it may give
you a chuckle.

When I had my PC built, I ordered the installation of Microsoft Office as I
knew it contained the e-mail program I had used at work. Sometime later I was
surprised to discover the e-mail program in Microsoft Office installed in my
new PC, was not the same as in my work PC. It was missing numerous features
such as Calendar Scheduling, Tasks, etc.. I subsequently learned that Outlook
and Outlook Express are two different e-mail programs (I don't get out much.)
The marketing names are confusing as they do not convey the difference. I now
had the choice of purchasing a second version of Microsoft Office containing
Outlook and discarding my old software, or the cheaper stand-alone Outlook –
both quite expensive. Of course the less expensive stand-alone cost seemed to
be a no-brainer, which the Best Buy associate confirmed by stating Microsoft
Outlook includes everything.

Sometime later, I couldn’t understand why I was unable to execute a Theme as
I had been able to do very simply on my work PC. I spent hours; I searched
the Internet; I finally discovered the “Personal Stationery†menu stating:
“Themes are not installedâ€. Ah ha! This implied all I had to do was figure
out how to install Themes. This implication is reinforced in Outlook Help
with the following statement:

“To quickly change the appearance of these elements, you can change the
theme.â€

More frustrating hours were spent until I discovered the existence of this
message board. To my complete surprise, I discovered your statement that the
Microsoft Outlook stand-alone version does not support Themes! Therefore, I
would have to purchase a third Microsoft e-mail program: a Microsoft Office
program that included Outlook!!! I damn near punched my fist through my
$%#@!*& monitor!!

In general, I have always found Microsoft’s Support literature (e.g.
Knowledge Base) permeated with confusing jargon geared to the software
developer community, as opposed to descriptive understandable good ol’ plain
English for the layman. I find much clearer explanations to my Microsoft
software problems on the many excellent third-party message boards throughout
the World Wide Web, which furthermore, do not force me to enable my cookies.

As a first time user, this message board does look to be a great resource.
Kudos to you Microsoft people here.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

1. Create a layout in Outlook's editor and save it as a template. As long as
the template is simple with just text, images, and colors, you can copy it
to a folder in the pst.

2. Yes. Outlook standalone is lacks grammar and some advanced spelling
options. It also won't work with the other office apps - although this may
not be an issue for you since you don't appear to have mismatched office
versions. See http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/standalone.htm for
some of the missing features.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[J Canuck]

Many thanks for your informative reply. I am impressed with your promptness.
I'll give your suggestions a try.

1. Create a layout in Outlook's editor and save it as a template. As long as
the template is simple with just text, images, and colors, you can copy it
to a folder in the pst.

2. Yes. Outlook standalone is lacks grammar and some advanced spelling
options. It also won't work with the other office apps - although this may
not be an issue for you since you don't appear to have mismatched office
versions. See http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/standalone.htm for
some of the missing features.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

1. Do any work-arounds exist for building a ‘Theme’ in my stand-alone
Outlook; for example: creatively changing defaults, or making templates,
or
making drafts???
2. Am I going to discover more incompatibility issues with my stand-alone
Outlook software?

The following explains my question. Sorry for the length, but Microsoft
may
want to pass this on to their marketing people as well. My saga on this
issue
has got to be similar for thousands of Stand Alone customers, and it may
give
you a chuckle.

When I had my PC built, I ordered the installation of Microsoft Office as
I
knew it contained the e-mail program I had used at work. Sometime later I
was
surprised to discover the e-mail program in Microsoft Office installed in
my
new PC, was not the same as in my work PC. It was missing numerous
features
such as Calendar Scheduling, Tasks, etc.. I subsequently learned that
Outlook
and Outlook Express are two different e-mail programs (I don't get out
much.)
The marketing names are confusing as they do not convey the difference. I
now
had the choice of purchasing a second version of Microsoft Office
containing
Outlook and discarding my old software, or the cheaper stand-alone
Outlook –
both quite expensive. Of course the less expensive stand-alone cost seemed
to
be a no-brainer, which the Best Buy associate confirmed by stating
Microsoft
Outlook includes everything.

Sometime later, I couldn’t understand why I was unable to execute a Theme
as
I had been able to do very simply on my work PC. I spent hours; I searched
the Internet; I finally discovered the “Personal Stationery†menu stating:
“Themes are not installedâ€. Ah ha! This implied all I had to do was figure
out how to install Themes. This implication is reinforced in Outlook Help
with the following statement:

“To quickly change the appearance of these elements, you can change the
theme.â€

More frustrating hours were spent until I discovered the existence of this
message board. To my complete surprise, I discovered your statement that
the
Microsoft Outlook stand-alone version does not support Themes! Therefore,
I
would have to purchase a third Microsoft e-mail program: a Microsoft
Office
program that included Outlook!!! I damn near punched my fist through my
$%#@!*& monitor!!

In general, I have always found Microsoft’s Support literature (e.g.
Knowledge Base) permeated with confusing jargon geared to the software
developer community, as opposed to descriptive understandable good ol’
plain
English for the layman. I find much clearer explanations to my Microsoft
software problems on the many excellent third-party message boards
throughout
the World Wide Web, which furthermore, do not force me to enable my
cookies.

As a first time user, this message board does look to be a great resource.
Kudos to you Microsoft people here.