10 Minute Guide to Outlook 97 - 19 - Saving, Opening, and Finding Outlook Items In this lesson, you learn to save items, open items, and find items in Outlook. Saving Items Generally, when you finish adding a new task, appointment, meeting, contact, or other item, Outlook automatically saves that item for you or you're prompted to save the item yourself. You also can save most items in Outlook for use in other applications by using the Save As command. After you save an item by naming it, you can open that same item and edit, print, or otherwise use the saved file in Windows applications that support the file type. You might save an item--a journal entry or appointment page, for example--so you can refer to it later, edit the original, or keep it as a record. Plain English: Save As When you save an item using the File, Save As command, you can designate a drive, directory, and new file name for that item, as well as a file type. File Type A file type is the same thing as a file format. When you save a file, you specify a file type that identifies the file as one that can be opened in specific appli-cations. For example, the file extension .DOC identifies a file type that you can open in Word, and the extension .TXT represents a text-only format you can open in nearly any word processor or other application. To save an item, follow these steps: 1. In the folder containing the item you want to save, choose File, Save As. The Save As dialog box appears (see Figure 19.1). Figure 19.1 Save items as files for use in other programs, as copies of the originals, or for later use. Panic Button: Why Is Save As Dimmed? When the Save As command is dimmed, you must first select an item--an appointment, meeting, task, note, or whatever--before you can save it. 2. From the Save In drop-down list, choose the drive to which you want to save the file. From the folders on that drive, select the one you want to save to. 3. In the Save As Type drop-down list, choose a file type. You can save the file in the following file types: Text Only Saves in an ASCII format that you can use in other applications, such as Word, Notepad, and so on. RTF Text Format Saves in rich text format. You also can use this format in Word, Outlook, or Lotus Notes, for example. Outlook Template Saves as a template (or style sheet) that you can use as a basis for other items. Message Format Saves in a format you can use in your e-mail messages. 4. Enter a name for the item in the File Name text box, or accept the default. 5. Click the Save button. Opening and Using Saved Items After you save items, you can open and use them in Outlook and other applications. If, for example, you saved a contact as a message file, you can insert that file into a message and send the contact's name, address, and other information to someone through an e-mail message. You can save other items, such as meeting information from your calendar, as a text file you can open in Notepad or Word to edit, format, print, or otherwise modify the file. Opening and Using an RTF File You can open RTF files in many word processing programs--Word, Notepad, WordPad, and so on. To open an RTF file in another Windows application, choose File, Open. In the Open dialog box, choose Rich Text Format (or RTF Text Format) in the Files of Type drop-down list. The saved files appear in the file list. Select the file and click the Open button. Panic Button: RTF Isn't Listed? If RTF isn't listed in the application's Files of Type list box, see if Text Only is listed. You can also save Outlook items as Text Only. Figure 19.2 shows an e-mail message saved as an RTF file and opened in Word. After opening a file, you can format it, cut or copy items to it, insert objects, print, edit, and otherwise manipulate the file. In addition, the attachment to the message can be opened and read within the saved RTF files. Figure 19.2 Exchanging data between applications makes your work quicker and easier. Opening and Using a Text-Only File You open a text-only file in much the same way you open an RTF file. In Notepad, for example, choose File, Open and choose Text Documents as the file type in the Open dialog box. Files saved as text-only do not retain any formatting; however, you can select the text and format it in the destination application. Using a Message Text File After you save an item as a message text file, you can insert the item into an e-mail message to send. Suppose you saved a con-tact's information or an especially long note that you want to share with someone else; you can insert the file as an object into a message and send the e-mail as you normally would. Then the recipient can open the message and the message file. Timesaver Tip: Files As Objects As described in Lesson 10, you can insert any existing file as an object into any Windows document that supports OLE. To insert a message file into a message, open the message and choose Insert, Object. In the Insert Object dialog box, choose Create from File. Enter the path and file name and click OK. Figure 19.3 shows a message file in the text of an e-mail. Figure 19.3 Open the MSG file by double-clicking its icon. Finding Items Outlook provides a method you can use to locate items on your computer. You can search for messages, files, journal entries, notes, tasks, contacts, or appointments. You can search for specific words, categories, priority, and other criteria that you stipulate. Outlook's Find feature can be especially useful if your folders become full, and locating items on your own is difficult. Plain English: Criteria Guidelines you set in the Find dialog box that Outlook uses to find items, such as messages, contacts, or appointments. Included in the criteria you set may be the date an item was created, the title or subject of the item, or specific text within the item. To find an item in Outlook, follow these steps: 1. Choose Tools, Find Items or click the Find Items button on the Standard toolbar. The Find dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 19.4. Figure 19.4 You can search for messages, appointments, and other items. Panic Button: My Dialog Box Is Different The Find dialog box in Figure 19.4 was opened from the Inbox. If you open the Find dialog box from Calendar, Tasks, or any other folder, the options in the dialog box relate to the item for which you're searching. 2. In any Find dialog box, choose the item for which you want to search in the Look For drop-down list. 3. Click the Browse button to display the Select Folder(s) dialog box, from which you can choose the folder to search. 4. On the first tab, which is named for the item you select in the Look For list, you can enter specific words to search for, fields you want to search, dates, contact names, file types, and so on. The second tab, More Choices, offers additional options to add to the search, such as item size and category. Set the options you want on both tabs. Timesaver Tip: Narrow the Search The more options you select and specify in the Find dialog box, the more you narrow the search; fewer items will match the search criteria. However, when you select more options, the search could take longer. 5. When you're ready to find the item(s), click the Find Now button. The Find dialog box extends to display a list of items Outlook finds that match the search criteria. In addition to the name of the item, the search results also show the folder in which you'll find the item, along with other item details. You can perform a new search by clicking the New Search button, which clears the text boxes and previously selected options, and entering new criteria. If you want to pause or stop a search that's taking too long, click the Stop button. Timesaver Tip: Fast Find When you're in the Inbox, an extra Find command appears on the Tools menu: Find All. With the Find All command, you can choose to find all messages related to the selected message or all messages from the sender of the selected message. The Find dialog box appears, displaying a list of the matching messages. Using the Advanced Search The Find dialog box includes an Advanced tab that contains options you can use to perform more detailed searches than you can with the other options in the dialog box. On the Advanced tab, you can set multiple search criteria such as a category, author, and subject or a message flag and priority setting. To use the Advanced tab in the Find dialog box, follow these steps: 1. Open the Find dialog box by choosing Tools, Find Items. 2. (Optional) Set any criteria you want on the Item tab and More Choices tab. 3. Click the Advanced tab. 4. On the Advanced tab, choose the Field drop-down list to define more criteria. You can choose from multiple commands, each of which displays a secondary menu. The commands and secondary menus depend on the item for which you're searching. The following are a few of the fields for the Message item: Frequently-Used Fields Includes fields such as Categories, Created, Duration, Location, Recurrence, and Subject. Date/Time Field Includes Created, Duration, Start, and so on. All Appointment Field Includes such fields as Importance, Meeting Status, Notes, Recurring, Reminder, and Resources. All Mail Field Includes Categories, Created, Expires, Subject, and so on. All Tasks Field Includes % Complete, Conversation, Due Date, Mileage, Notes, Owner, Priority, and so on. All Journal Field Includes Billing Information, Company, Entry Type, Sensitivity, Start, and so on. 5. After you choose a field, select the condition from the Condition drop-down list. Conditions include such constraints as whether the field is empty, and exactly what values or word the field contains. (For example, you might choose the field Category and the condition Contains.) 6. If you choose a condition that specifies the contents of the field, next you fill in the Value. A value might be a name, word, note color, or priority found in the item. 7. Click the Add to List button. Any criteria you set is listed in the Find Items That Match These Criteria list box; items are added as you select them in the Advanced tab. 8. When you've finished setting criteria, click Find Now. Figure 19.5 shows the Advanced tab before adding the final criterion for which to search. The results of this search will show any messages that contain the words "Time Applied" in the Billing Information field, and do not contain the words "Bender Printing" in the Message text. Figure 19.5 Set advanced criteria to find specific items. In this lesson, you learned to save items, open items, and find items in Outlook. In the next lesson, you will learn to integrate items between Outlook folders.

©Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.