IT Tips - December

It Tips – December

                                                                            

The last month of 2011 is already here. Time for the holidays!!

In the spirit of the season, I have a gift for everyone! ….A BRAND NEW IT TIP!! (Cue applause)

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

·         Outlook Reading Pane

·         Deleted Outlook folders 

·         Ctrl/Shift + Left Click

Outlook Reading Pane

Outlook is configured to display the “Reading Pane” by default. The reading pane is the section of your Outlook window that previews selected messages. It gives you a quick and easy way to view email contents. I use it and find it very helpful. My excursions around the Iredale Campus have led me to believe that most of you like the reading pane as well.

The preview pane can be toggled and I have the Jedi skills to tell you how to toggle it. There are two reasons you may find this information useful. First, you may want to fight the machine, rebel, and disable it. On the other hand, you may have inadvertently disabled the reading pane, and desperately want it back. You’re thinking, “Keith, stop blabbering and tell me how.” Fair enough.

This is an easy one. First, from your Outlook window click on View, then mouse over “Reading Pane.” From here you can disable the reading pane or change its position.

You have three options: 

·       Right – This setting will put the reading pane on the right side of your Outlook window (default)

·       Bottom - This setting will put the reading pane on the bottom of your Outlook window

·    Off - This setting will disable the reading pane

Reading Pane Options

For those interested in digging deeper, there are a few handy options regarding the reading pane.

Finding the reading pane options is easy: click on Tools -> Options. From there click on the “Other” tab and then click the “Reading Pane” button.

There are three options here as well:

·    “Mark items as read when viewed in the reading pane” – Checking this box will cause an email to be marked read when it’s clicked and viewed in the reading pane. The sub setting below tells Outlook how long to wait (in seconds) before it marks the email as read.

·     “Mark item as read when selection changes” – This box is checked by default. It causes an email to be marked read when it’s viewed in the preview pane and then a different email is selected.

·       “Single key reading using space bar” – This box is also checked by default. It allows you to mark en email read by selecting it and pressing the space bar.

Deleted Outlook Folders

I have another quick Outlook tip for you this month. When you delete an email it goes into your ‘Deleted Items’ folder. These deleted emails can be found by simply clicking on the Deleted Items folder. In the case of deleted folders there is an additional step.

Deleted folders are nested in the Deleted Items folder. That means you have to click on the + next to the Deleted Items folder to expand it. You will then see folders that you have deleted. This will help if you accidentally delete an important folder and can’t find it.

Ctrl/Shift + Left Click

Do you love tediously selecting things one at a time to arduously complete a task? If so, have fun, the rest of us will give this tip a try. J

Pressing and holding the Ctrl or Shift key while clicking allows you to select multiple items. They do so in different ways.

Ctrl + Click

Ctrl + click will select individual items and keep them selected for as long as you hold the key. For example: you can select multiple email messages you wish to delete by simply holding Ctrl and clicking each message. As long as you’re holding the Ctrl key each message you click will be selected without de-selecting the previously selected messages.

You will be able to make selections like this:

Shift + Click

Shift + click will allow you to quickly select a range of items. It’s as simple as this: click the item at the beginning of the desired range, hold down the shift key and click the item at the end. Your computer will select both clicked items and everything in between!

Like this:

Crtl/Shift + click will work in most places on your computer where objects are clickable. Play around with it – but don’t break anything! J        

Have a great month, everyone!

-Keith

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