Frequently Asked Questions about Outlook 2011
Frequently Asked Questions
about using the Outlook 2011 client with the Staff Exchange E-mail system
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I want to send a file to lots of people, or a large file to one person. How do I do this?
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Why have my E-mail Rules stopped working now I'm on holiday?
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A member of staff is on long term sickness. How can I ensure that their e-mails don't go unanswered?
Folders, Archive, and Sharing
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In the e-mail archive, how do I add a new folder and set its retention period?
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In the e-mail archive, for how long do e-mails last in the different folders?
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How do I move mail to another folder (in or not in the archive)?
Connecting
E-mail Addresses
Calendar
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Use a helpful subject line that describes the contents of the mail.
In your Subject line use a prefix in capitals to indicate the type of message, for example:
- ACTION:
- INFO: (for information)
- REQ: (for a request)
- PLEASE: (e.g. PLEASE has anyone found my mobile?
- SOC: for social or NWR: for Not Work-Related
Sometimes you can communicate everything in the Subject line (like a tweet). Once the recipient has read the subject line they can delete it. Tell them that this is the case - the Subject is the message - with a suffix like END, for example:
- Schofield fire alarm test at 1:00 today END
Don't send to more people than is necessary. Do you really need to copy to your manager just to cover yourself?
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How do I turn off E-mail alerts?
The sound of new mail arriving can interrupt you from important non e-mail work with a trivial message. Turn off e-mail alerts unless there is a specific job-related reason to have them on.
From the Outlook menu select Preferences (or press Command and comma). Select Notifications and Sounds. Turn off all of the Message arrival and Sounds options and then close the Notifications and Sounds dialogue.
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How do I turn off Office Reminders?
From the Office Reminders menu, either click Turn Off Sounds to turn off the sound effects, or click Turn Off Reminders to turn off the reminders entirely. You can turn Office Reminders off from the Outlook menu too.
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I want to send e-mail to lots of people. How do I do this?
If you want to e-mail all staff or all students in the University, please see the University's Mass E-mail Policy.
If you want to e-mail everyone in your department, or a group of people in the department, or in a programme, module, or hall, please see Department, Programme, Module, & Hall Mailing Lists.
If you want to set up a mailing list which you manage yourself or to which people subscribe, including people outside of Loughborough University, please see Managed Lists (Majordomo).
If you want to send a file, also see below.
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I want to send a file to lots of people, or a large file to one person. How do I do this?
See our Distributing Files advice. If you want to send several files, also see below.
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I want to send several files. How do I do this?
Create a single zip file containing all of the files, then distribute that:
In Mac OS X, in Finder select the files to compress and from the File menu select Compress.
Once you have your zip file or self-decrypting archive, follow our Distributing Files advice.
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How do I find large e-mails (e.g. to Tidy my e-mail)?
Open Search Folders then open Large Mail.
For more details please see Using Search to find and delete large e-mail.
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How do I deal with attachments (e.g. to Tidy my e-mail)?
In the e-mail, select an attachment. In the Attachments tab select Save All and / or Remove.
For more details please see Attachments and Tidying my e-mail including Saving All attachments and Removing attachments.
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How do I turn on and set my Signatures?
From the Outlook menu, select Preferences. Select Signatures. You will get the Signatures dialogue.
You can + and name and create as many signatures as you wish; the signature itself is set up under Signature. You can format the text by highlighting it and from the Format menu selecting the option you want (this includes creating a hyperlink).
When you have created one or more signatures you can then either include a signature automatically in all e-mail messages, or just include one as and when required.
To automatically include a signature, click the Default Signatures... button. Select your account (usually Lboro) and then select the signature required; click OK.
To include a signature in an individual message, in the new message window click in the message body. In the Message tab click the Signatures button and select the signature from its name in the drop-down list.
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How do I set a Vacation Message?
Click the Tools tab, then click Out of Office.
Select the Send Out of Office auto-replies radio button.
Ensure that Send Out of Office messages is selected. Type your message in the Reply to messages with text box. This auto-reply message will be used for people in this Organization - i.e. the Loughborough University Exchange E-mail system (does not include students nor alumni).
If you want people outside Loughborough University Exchange E-mail System (students, alumni, and people not members of the University) to receive a message, ensure that More options is selected, select Send replies outside my company to, make a choice for the radio button options, and in the Reply once to each sender outside my company with text box enter the required message.
You can also use the OI am out of the office between option and associated options to automate turning the messages on and off.
Click OK when finished.
Note that you can also set your Vacation Message using Outlook Web Access (Premium or Light versions).
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From the Outlook menu select Preferences. Select Rules. Leave Exchange set in the left-hand menu and click + to add a rule, double-click an existing ruule from the list to edit it, or select an existing rule from the list and click - to delete a rule.
These rules will be run by Outlook itself rather than on the Exchange Server, so if you access your e-mail by Outlook Web Access the rules may not have run. For more details, see E-mail Rules.
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Why have my E-mail Rules stopped working now I'm on holiday?
Currently e-mail rules are run by Outlook 2011. If that is not running and you access your e-mail through web mail, then the rules will not have been applied. In theory you could instead set up rules to run all of the time on the Exchange Server using the Full version of the web mail system, but that required Internet Explorer to be your web browser. Your rules will be applied when you return to work and start up Outlook 2011.
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A member of staff is on long term sickness. How can I ensure that their e-mails don't go unanswered?
The manager of the member of staff must e-mail the Service Desk IT.Services@lboro.ac.uk requesting that their e-mail is forwarded to one or more other members of staff. We can not do this without an explicit written request from the relevant manager.
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I've deleted lots of e-mails (or made other changes), but when I go into Outlook on another computer, the deletions / changes have not happened.
If you make changes (e.g. delete e-mails) then close Outlook immediately, Outlook does not have time to replicate those changes to the exchange server. When you open Outlook from another PC the changes will not be on the server and therefore will not download to the second PC.
Customers can do either of two things:
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Make sure Outlook says All folders are up to date in the bottom right before closing.
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From the Tools menu select Send & Receive and then select Sync this folder to force a synchronise and wait until All folders are up to date to appear at the bottom right.
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Folders, Archive, and Sharing
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How do I create a new e-mail folder?
In the Navigation pane ensure that Mail is selected. Select the Organize tab, then click the New Calendar button.
Type in the Name you want for the folder, e.g. Urgent Mail.
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How do I create a new calendar folder?
In the Navigation pane ensure that Calendar is selected. Select the Organize tab, then click the New Calendar button.
Type in the Name you want for the folder, e.g. Social.
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How do I connect to the E-mail Archive?
Tools then Accounts then Advanced then Delegates tab then under "People I am a Delegate for" click + and search for StaffMailArchive.
For further details please see Connect to the E-mail Archive from Outlook 2011.
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In the e-mail archive, how do I add a new folder and set its retention period?
Each department chooses an administrator to maintain this. Please speak to this person. To view the list of Archive administrators for any part of the Archive, log in to the Archive Administrator Interface and then use the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page to select the Archive area.
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In the e-mail archive, for how long do e-mails last in the different folders?
Each department chooses for themselves. Each department chooses an administrator to maintain this. Please speak to this person. To view the list of Archive administrators for any part of the Archive, log in to the Archive Administrator Interface and then use the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page to select the Archive area.
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How do I move mail to another folder (in or not in the archive)?
Drag and drop, or command and click (right-click) and select Move, or press Command+Shift+M.
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Please see our Sharing Folders web page, and for Manager / Secretary working, our Manager / Secretary Working web page.
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How do I set up Manager / Secretary working?
Please see our Manager / Secretary Working web page.
Connecting
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How do I connect from Outlook 2011?
See our Getting Set Up page and our Connect to E-mail Archive page.
You need to precede your Username with LUNET\ (the last character is a backslash), for example LUNET\itpr. As a further option from home, you might also consider using Outlook Web Access at https://email.lboro.ac.uk.
E-mail Addresses
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How do I find Loughborough e-mail addresses, and how do I distinguish between two people with the same name?
Follow these steps:
In the new Mail dialogue (or in the new Meeting dialogue), click the book button next to To.
The Select Names dialogue box will be displayed. Ensure that Search Names Only and Lboro directory are selected. (If you choose Address Book you can search through your existing Contacts list.)
In the Search box start typing the name of the person you are looking for. However, if the person you are looking for is a Postgraduate Research student, type (pg) and then a space and then start typing their name. Similarly use (s) for a student.
Select the required person, then click To, Cc, or Bcc as appropriate. If there are duplicates, add them both to your e-mail and close the Contacts Search.
Ensure that the new mail window is the current window (click on it if necessary), hover your mouse over the relevant name in the To box.
Click on the last of the buttons - Open Outlook contact in the pop-up tool tip.
Under the General tab you can find the department the person is registered with. Under the Member Of tab you can also see what groups the person belongs to - this includes the department and the Modules and Programme if the individual is a Postgraduate research student. Close this dialogue box and return to the Select Names dialogue.
Once you have found the required individual from the duplicates, delete the others from your mail message.
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How do I change my name as known by the system?
For example, my first name, as known by the system in the Address Book, is not the one I use as I use an abbreviated version or I use my second name.
Staff who are not Research Students: Send an e-mail to S.M.Clarke@lboro.ac.uk (Human Resources), asking to change your "preferred name in Trent". (Trent is the HR information system, which feeds this information into the e-mail directory.) You should include your staff number, name, and department, and the name you prefer to be known by (e.g. "Rob" rather than "Robert".) This could take several days to be changed.
Research Students: Send an e-mail to StudentEnquiries@lboro.ac.uk or telephone 222472 (Student Records in the Academic Registry) asking to change your "preferred name in Student Records". You should include your student number, name, department, and the name you prefer to be known by (e.g. "Sam" rather than "Samantha"). This could take several days to be changed.
Calendar
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I have shared my Calendar folder. How do I stop others from seeing what a particular appointment / all day event / meeting is about?
Either select or open the item, and then in the Appointment tab click the Private button.
![[Private]](o2011-images/private.png)
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All Day Events in Outlook are, by default, set to "Free" rather than "Busy". As a result I have been double-booked. What can I do?
Some All Day Events you will want to be "Free" such as Birthdays, and perhaps Open Days or a Conference important for your department but which you are not attending. Some All Day Events such as a Training Course or Conference which you are attending you will want to be "Busy". Microsoft has for many years recommended that you treat these latter as Appointments lasting during working hours e.g. starting at 9:00 and ending at 17:30, but this is certainly not as appealing when the event lasts for more than one day. The default in Outlook is that All Day Events will be set as "Free", and Microsoft have not made it easy to change which is the default in Outlook. Please, then, be careful when you create an All Day Event to check that the Free / Busy setting is correct.
Please also note that currently when you use Outlook Web Access to create an All Day Event that this inconsistently sets it as "Busy" by default. We have asked Microsoft to look at this anomaly. In the meantime, please be extra careful when creating All Day Events in Outlook Web Access that the Free / Busy setting is correct!