10 Minute Guide to Outlook 97 - 10 - Attaching Items to a Message In this lesson, you learn to attach a file, an object (such as an embedded file), and other items (such as an appointment or task) to a message. Attaching a File You can attach any type of file to an Outlook message, which makes for a convenient way of sending your files over the network to your coworkers. You might send Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, a PowerPoint presentation, or any other document you create with your Windows 95 applications. When you send an attached file, it appears as an icon in the message. When the recipient gets the file, he or she can open it within the message or save it for later use. However, the recipient must have the source program that you used to create the file on his or her computer. For instance, if you send a colleague a Microsoft Word file, he must have Microsoft Word in order to view the file he receives. To attach a file to a message, follow these steps: 1. In the Message window, position the insertion point in the message text, and then choose Insert, File or click the Insert File toolbar button. The Insert File dialog box appears (see Figure 10.1). 2. From the Look In list, choose the drive and folder that contains the file you want to attach. 3. Using the Files of Type drop-down list, choose the file type--such as Excel or Word. Figure 10.1 Select the file you want to attach to a message. 4. Select the file you want to attach. 5. Click OK to insert the file into the message. Figure 10.2 shows a file inserted as an attachment. Figure 10.2 The recipient can double-click the icon to open the file. Attaching Outlook Items In addition to attaching files from other programs, you can also attach an Outlook item to a message. An Outlook item can be any document saved in one of your personal folders, including a calendar, contacts, journal, notes, tasks, and so on. You can attach an Outlook item in the same manner you attach a file. Follow these steps to attach an Outlook item: 1. In the Message window, choose Insert, Item. The Insert Item dialog box appears. 2. From the Look In list, choose the folder containing the item you want to include in the message. 3. Select from the items that appear in the Items list (see Figure 10.3). To select multiple adjacent items, hold the Shift key and click the first and last desired items; to select multiple nonadjacent items, hold the Ctrl key and click the items. Figure 10.3 Select items from any folder in Outlook. 4. In the Insert As area, choose from the following option buttons: Text Only Inserts the file as text into the message; if your file is not saved as an ASCII or other text-only file, do not use this option. Attachment Inserts an icon representing the document. The actual file follows the message to the recipient, and the recipient saves it as his or her own copy. Shortcut Inserts a Windows 95 shortcut icon into the text. This option is best used only if the file is stored on a network drive from which the recipient can easily access it through a shortcut. Panic Button: Text Only Is Only for Text! If you try to insert a file from Word, Excel, or another application as Text Only, you'll end up with a lot of "garbage" characters in the text. The only time you will use Text Only is when you export the data from its native program into a text-only file first. 5. Click OK, and Outlook inserts the items in your message. Panic Button: It Doesn't Work Without Outlook If the recipient doesn't have Outlook on his computer, he will not be able to view the attached item. Inserting an Object Just as you can insert an object--a spreadsheet, chart, drawing, presentation, media clip, clip art, WordArt, and so on--in any Windows application that supports OLE, you can also insert an object into an Outlook mail message. You can insert an existing object into a message, or you can create an object within a message using the source application. For example, you could create an Excel chart within your message using Excel's features through OLE. Plain English: OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) A method of exchanging data between applications; most Windows applications and all Microsoft programs support OLE. When you send a message with an attached object, the object travels with the message to the recipient. As long as the recipient has the application on his computer, he can open the object and view it. To attach an existing object to a message, follow these steps: 1. In the Message window, position the insertion point in the message text and choose Insert, Object. The Object dialog box appears. 2. Choose the Create from File tab (see Figure 10.4). Figure 10.4 Insert an object to send with a message. 3. In the File Name text box, enter the path and the name of the file you want to insert. (Or you can use the Browse button and the resulting dialog box to find the file.) 4. Click OK. Outlook inserts the object into the message. After you save and open an object you've received in a message, you can resize the object to suit your needs. First select it, and a frame appears with eight small black boxes (called handles) on the corners and along the sides. To resize the object, position the mouse pointer over one of the black handles; the mouse pointer becomes a two-headed arrow. Click and drag the handle to resize the object. To edit an object, double-click within the frame, and the source application opens from within Outlook. Note that you'll see some Excel tools and menus you can use to edit the object. Figure 10.5 shows an Excel chart object. Notice the Chart menu and several chart icons added through OLE for use in editing. Figure 10.5 Edit the object from within your Outlook message. In this lesson, you learned to attach a file, an object, and other items to a message. In the next lesson, you will learn to organize messages.

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