• Grouping
• Changing the Group Arrangement
• Turning Grouping Off
• Turning Grouping On
• Customizing the Reading Pane
• Creating a Signature
• Spell Check

A new feature of Outlook 2003 is grouping, where your messages are grouped in a certain way - for example, by default, Outlook 2003 groups your messages by the day you received them (see figure 16). Each day, your messages will be re-organized and appear in a different day. For example, the messages you receive today will be grouped in the 'Today' group, but tomorrow, they will be moved to the 'Yesterday' group.

Figure 16 - By default, your messages are grouped by the day they were received

• Click on the View button on the Menu Toolbar (see figure 17)
• Highlight Arrange By
• Select one of the pre-defined groups in which you wish to organize your emails
• The available Grouping methods are:
  • Date: Groups your messages by Date. This is the default arrangement
  • Conversation: Groups your messages by the message subject or thread
  • From: Groups your messages by the name in the From field (the sender of the email)
  • To: Groups your messages by the name(s) in the To field (recipient(s) of the email)
  • Folder: Groups your messages by folder names. This option is only available in a Search Folder.
  • Size: Groups your messages byt the following pre-defined size categories:
    • Enormous ( greater then 5MB)
    • Huge (1 to 5MB)
    • Very Large (500KN to 1MB)
    • Large (100 to 500KB)
    • Medium (25 to 100KB)
    • Small (10 to 25KB)
    • Tiny (10KB)
  • Subject: Groups your messages by Subject
  • Type: Groups your messages by the type of item (i.e. messages, meetings, tasks, etc)
  • Flag: Groups your messages by flag colour (if you have not flagged a message, it will still be grouped, but categorized as 'unflagged'
  • Attachments: Group your messages by ones with attachments and messages without attachments
  • Email Account: Group your messages together by your email profile (most likely, you will only have one profile)
  • Importance: Groups your messages by importance (High, Normal, and Low)
  • Categories: Groups your messages by categories (by default, your emails are not categorized)

Figure 17 - Select how you want to group your messages

• Click on View in the Menu Toolbar
• Highlight Arrange By
• Click on Show in Groups to remove the checkmark (see figure 18)

Figure 18 - Turn off grouping

• Your messages will no longer by grouped. They will appear in the order of the date they were received.

• Click on the View button on the Menu Toolbar
• Highlight Arrange by
• Click on Show in Groups to turn Grouping on (see figure 18)

By default, the Reading Pane is on the right-hand side of Outlook 2003. You can change the Reading Pane so that it appears in the bottom, under the Active Folder window, or you can turn off the Reading Pane option.

To customize your Reading Pane:

• Click on the View button on the Menu Toolbar
• Highlight the Reading Pane
• Select either Right, Bottom, or Off (see figure 19)

Figure 19 - Customize your Reading Pane

• Click Tools on the Menu Toolbar
• Select Options (see figure 20)

• The Options window will appear
• Click on the Mail Format tab (see figure 21)

Figure 21 - The Mail Format tab in the Options window

• Click on the Signatures button (see figure 21)
• The Create Signatures window opens
• Click on the New (see figure 22)

Figure 22 - Click on New to create a new Signature

• The Create New Signature window opens
• Type in a name for your new signature (see figure 23)

Figure 23 - The Create New Signature Window

• Make sure that the radio button beside 'Start with a blank signature' is selected (see figure 23)
• Click on Next
• Type in the appropriate information for your Signature (see figure 24)

Figure 24 - Type in the appropriate information for your Signature

• Click on OK to go back to the Create Signature window
• Click on OK again to go back to the Options window
• In the Options window, under Signatures section, click the down arrow button beside Signature for new messages: and select the Signature you just created (see figure 25)

Tip: You can use the Font and Paragraph buttons to completely customize your Signature

Figure 25 - Select the Signature you want to appear when you create new messages

• You can also select a Signature when replying or forwarding messages (your signature will appear each time you reply to or forward a message) - this is optional
• Click on OK to close the Options window

There are a number of ways to perform a spell check on your messages before you send them. The best way is to automatically run Spell Check right before you send a message.

• Click on Tools in the Menu Toolbar
• Select Options (see figure 26)

Figure 26 - Click on Tools and then select Options

• The Options window launches
• Click on the Spelling tab (see figure 27)

Figure 27 - Spelling Options

• Put a checkbox beside Always check spelling before sending (see figure 27)
• Click on OK to close the Options window
• The spell check will run when you click on the Send button (see figure 28)

Figure 28 - Spell Check will automatically run after you click the Send button