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Outlook Options

Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access provides several ways to customize program features, functionality, and appearance:

• Automatically reply to e-mail you receive
• Customize messages and message views
• Mark previewed items as read or unread
• Set up the spelling checker
• Set up e-mail security
• Help protect your privacy
• Change the color scheme
• Set date and time formats
• Customize your calendar view
• Set reminders for calendar items and tasks
• Customize address book searches
• Change your Windows password
• Recover items you've deleted

To customize these features, click Options in the Navigation Pane.

Options screen shot

Important: When you change any settings for the following options, you must click Save and Close for your changes to take effect.

Automatically reply to e-mail you receive

The Out of Office Assistant generates automatic replies to e-mail messages that you receive while you're away. Each time you activate the assistant, Outlook Web Access sends an automatic reply to someone the first time he or she sends you a message.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Options.
2. To enable the Out of Office Assistant, under Out of Office Assistant, click I'm currently out of the office.
3. In the text box, type the message you want people to receive when they send you e-mail messages while you're away.
4. To disable the Out of Office Assistant, click I'm currently in the office.

Customize messages and message views

Use the following procedures to customize your messaging options.

To change the number of items displayed per page in your Inbox or other folders

• Under Messaging Options, in the list next to Number of items to display per page, select a number. The higher the number, the longer each page takes to refresh.

To indicate what to display after you move or delete an item

• Under Messaging Options, in the list next to After moving or deleting an item, select an action. Outlook Web Access can open the next item in the list (the default), open the previous item, or return to the window you moved or deleted the item from and select—but not open—the next item in the list.

To enable pop-up message notifications on your computer when you receive new e-mail messages

• Under Messaging Options, select the Display a notification message when new mail arrives check box.

To be notified with a sound when new messages arrive

• Select the Play a sound when new mail arrives check box.

To append a custom signature to each message you send

1. Click Edit Signature.
2. In the Signature dialog box, type and format the signature you want to use, and then click Save and Close.
3. Select the Automatically include my signature on outgoing messages check box.

To set the font you use for new, replied to, and forwarded messages

1. Click Choose Font.
2. In the Font dialog box, select a font, style and size, and then click OK.

Mark previewed items as read or unread

Use the following options to determine whether items displayed in the Reading Pane will be marked as read or left as unread. Even if you view an item in the Reading Pane, you may want to leave the item marked as unread as a reminder to return to it later.

To mark items you view in the Reading Pane as read

1. Under Reading Pane Options, select the Mark item displayed in Reading Pane as read check box.
2. To set a delay for when the item is marked as read, type a number in the Wait [n] seconds before marking item as read text box. The default is five seconds.

To mark items you view in the Reading Pane as read after you select another item in the list

• Under Reading Pane Options, select the Mark item as read when selection changes check box. This is the default setting.

To leave items you view in the Reading Pane marked as unread

• Under Reading Pane Options, select Do not automatically mark items as read.

Set up the spelling checker

Use the following procedures to customize your spelling options.

To prevent the spelling checker from checking words in UPPERCASE letters

• Under Spelling Options, select the Ignore words in UPPERCASE check box.

To prevent the spelling checker from checking words that contain numbers

• Under Spelling Options, select the Ignore words with numbers check box.

To automatically check spelling before a message is sent

• Under Spelling Options, select the Always check spelling before sending check box.

Outlook Web Access also allows you to spell-check messages in several languages using language-specific dictionaries.

To select a dictionary

• Under Spelling Options, select a language from the drop-down list.

Change the color scheme

You can customize the appearance of Outlook Web Access by selecting a color scheme that matches your current Windows theme or color scheme.

To change the color scheme

1. Under Appearance, in the drop-down menu, select a color.
2. Click Save and Close.

Set date and time formats

To set the date and time formats used in your message folders and calendar items, use the drop-down lists to select your preferred format for the different styles.

Customize your calendar view

To set the day your calendar displays as the beginning of the week, select the appropriate day from the Week begins on list.

To set the times Outlook Web Access will display for each business day, select the appropriate times from the Day start time and Day end time lists.

To select when Outlook Web Access will begin numbering weeks for the current year, select the appropriate option from the First week of year list. The week numbers are displayed in the date picker window in Calendar. If you don't want weeks to be numbered, select Do not display week numbers.

Set reminders for calendar items and tasks

1. To receive reminder messages before your appointments and meetings, select the Enable reminders for Calendar items check box.
2. To receive reminder messages for tasks that are coming due, select the Enable reminders for Task items check box.
3. To also be reminded with a sound, select the Play a sound when a reminder is due check box.
4. In the Default reminder list, select the amount of time before the item occurs that you would like to receive a reminder.

Customize address book searches

You can select which address book to search first when resolving the name of a contact.

• To set your organization's address book as the first place to search, select Global Address List.
• To set your personal contacts as the first place to search, select Contacts.

Recover items you've deleted

After you delete an item from your Deleted Items folder it is permanently deleted. However, you can recover a deleted item if you change your mind about deleting it.

Important: Deleted items are recoverable only for a limited time.

1. On the toolbar, click View Items. Another way to open this window is to select your Deleted Items folder from the Navigation Pane, and then click Recover Deleted Items on the toolbar.
2. In the Recover Deleted Items dialog box, select the item you want to recover. Hold down CTRL or SHIFT to select multiple items.
   If the item you want to recover isn't there, it's likely that the recovery time has expired for that item.
3. To return the selected items to your Deleted Items folder, click Recover on the toolbar, or click Permanently Delete to permanently destroy the items.
    

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