Monday, February 18, 2008

Tips for Working with Outlook

My school district has switched from using Groupwise to Outlook for our email. There are significant differences between the two programs which has caused problems for hundreds of employees. The following tips were provided by Kaye K. with an amendment by Genevieve O. Thanks to both of them for providing some much needed help.

"As we continue adapting to Outlook, I will be sending out solutions for issues as they arise.
Problem #1
You seem to be receiving fewer emails or are not receiving expected emails. That may not be the case; legitimate emails most likely have been rerouted to your Junk Email folder by Outlook due to settings mandated by Microsoft Exchange.
Solution
Unfortunately, there is no solution other than your checking your Junk Email folder periodically. You do have the option to white list the sender for future correspondence as well as to drag an email from the Junk Email folder to your Inbox.

Problem #2
Deleted Items are not retrievable.
Solution

Think twice before you delete an email. Every time you close Outlook, whatever emails you have deleted will be emptied from your mailbox. While there is a law requiring the district to retain all years for 4 years, you will not be able to readily retrieve deleted emails upon closing Outlook.

Response from Genevieve:

"Actually this one is easy.
If you go to the WEB version of outlook (which is also an icon on your desktop), all of your deleted items are there. My oldest deleted item is from December 24th."

Problem #3
In a frenzied moment, you sent an email that you want to instantly retrieve.
Solution
Think twice before you press Send. While there is an option under Actions to recall the message, it is slow and unreliable. In most cases the recipient will indeed read your hastily sent email.
Please do continue to stop by when you have an annoying issue that we need to address. Everyone of us will benefit. Thanks."

Kaye

Monday, February 11, 2008

Questions Anyone?

Please feel free to use this blog as a way to get help with your technology questions at school or home. Educational technology can be daunting. So if you need help with Outlook, Microsoft Office 2007, Blackboard, Making the Grade , ABI, DVD players, other software or hardware, send me your question by using the "comment" section of this blog or by direct email.

If I do not know the answer, I will find some one who does!