IT Tips - June 2013

It Tips – June 2013 

Summer has arrived and it looks like nature is in sync with our calendar. This marks three days without rain, it’s a miracle! 

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

·         Recover Deleted Items in Outlook

·         Quickly Search a Webpage (Ctrl + F) 

Recover Deleted Items in Outlook

When you delete Outlook items, such as email messages and calendar appointments, they go to the Deleted Items folder. This, for the most part, is common knowledge. Though where the deleted items go when you empty the folder isn’t as well known. It’s safe to assume they go to “email heaven” because there are no guarantees. However, there is a small period of time in which these “permanently” deleted items can be recovered.

There are three phases that Outlook items go through when they’re deleted.

1.       First, you delete the item from your Inbox, calendar or other some other Outlook folder. This causes the item to move to the ‘Deleted Items’ folder. 

2.       Next, you empty the Deleted Items folder and they are “permanently” deleted. (This should be done regularly. A best practice is to set Outlook to automatically empty the deleted items folder when you exit Outlook.) 

3.       Finally, the emptied items sit in limbo for 14 days until they are officially gone forever.

During those 14 days in limbo, you can recover most of what you deleted.

This is the part where you tell us how to recover the files, right?

Yup! First, you’ll need to access webmail.

If you’re unsure how to access webmail or you don’t know what it is (shame on you!), please have a look here.

Once you’re logged in to webmail, right-click on the “Deleted Items” folder and click “Recover deleted items”

The “Recover Deleted Items” window will appear. From here, you can recover Outlook items that have been emptied from your Deleted Items folder in the last 14 days.

The items can be sorted to help find that email you wish you hadn’t deleted.

You will also notice an icon to the left of each object. These icons help you to identify what type of Outlook item it is (email, calendar appointment, contact etc…).

Once you’ve located the item, right click it and choose “recover”.

Now, choose the folder where you’d like the item to be recovered and click “Recover…”

You can resurrect your deleted
items like Dr. Frankenstein

Your recovered item will rise from the dead and return to the specified folder.

Note: you cannot view the items from the Recover Deleted Items window. You will need to restore them before they can be viewed.

Quickly Search a Webpage (Ctrl + F)

If I asked you to list your top 5 hobbies, would scanning through documents and webpages for certain words be one of them? If so, I’m sorry to spoil your fun because there is an easier way. (Plus, that’s a really weird hobby…)

Many applications make use of the “find” feature. This feature can be accessed in web browsers, word processors (such as Word) and even Excel. All you need to do is press Ctrl + F on your keyboard.

Here is how it works:

Let’s say you’re on the insanely useful IT Tips table of contents webpage. You come to this page every time you have a tech question (right?). You are looking for the Webmail tip, but can’t seem to find it by scanning the page with your eyeballs. Now is the time to accept the failure of your ocular spheres and give the find feature a try!

Press Crtl+F on the keyboard and you’ll see a search box appear.

Note: The appearance of the search box will vary from application to application. This is what you’ll see in Internet Explorer:

Now, type your search terms and click find (or press the Enter key). I searched for ‘webmail’ in this example.

The find feature will scan the entire webpage for the word I entered and stop at the first match. If the word “webmail” existed in more than one place, you could continually click ‘Find Next’ and cycle through each instances of the word. Find will highlight each instance of your keyword(s).

This feature is invaluable if you’re always looking at vast webpages or huge spreadsheets. Give it a try!

 

Have a great month, everyone!

-Keith

Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you have a something that you think will make a good tip. You’ll get credit on the blog for your contribution and I might give you a high-five!