IT Tips - October 2014

IT Tips – October 2014 

The beautiful new Bryant building is just around the corner! It’s the final countdown!

 

What’s Inside:

Tech Section

·         Junk E-Mail in Outlook 2010+

·         Creating Hyperlinks (links) in an email.

 

Junk E-Mail in Outlook 2010+

There is another facet of Outlook that has changed in version 2010+.

Sidebar: If you’ve been confused by the plus sign I keep appending to 2010, it means above. Outlook 2010 and above.

Whew, I’m glad we cleared the air. Plus signs can be intimidating.

Let me continue so I quit rambling.

The location of the Junk E-mail folder hasn’t changed. It’s still located at the bottom of your folder list underneath “Sent Items” and “Deleted Items”.

 

I know that it’s easy to forget, but it’s a very good idea to check on this folder regularly. Sometimes there are false-positives in which legitimate email (not junk) gets trapped in there.

It’s also a good idea to delete the junk that accumulates in the Junk E-Mail folder. That way we’re not using expensive server space to store junk. I mean, why would we keep junk?

There are two common questions that come up in regards to junk E-mail.

1.       “I have spam coming into my Inbox, how do I make it go to the Junk E-Mail folder?”

2.       “Billy Bob’s email messages always erroneously end up in my Junk E-Mail folder. How can I make that stop?”

 

True to form, I have a solution for both of these quandaries.

 

I have spam coming into my inbox and I need it to stop. NOW!

As usual, you’re shouting at me and it hurts my feelings.

There is a very simple way to block a sender in Outlook 2010+.

First, right click on the spam email that you’d like to block.

Now mouse over “Junk” and click “Block Sender”.

You should see the following message:

Any future email sent to you by this sender will now automatically go into the Junk E-Mail folder. It will also move the message that you right-clicked into the Junk E-mail folder. 

Billie Jean’s email always ends up in my Junk E-mail folder and it needs to stop.

Again with the demands…

First, navigate to the junk E-mail folder and find the message that shouldn’t be there.

Next, right click the email and mouse over junk. However, this time, click on “Not Junk”.

You should now see this message:

Leave the checkbox next to “Always trust e-mail from” checked and click OK.

This will do the opposite of “Block Sender”. All future email sent to you by this person will now go into your Inbox rather than the Junk folder.

Note: You can also choose “Never Block Sender’s Domain”. This is useful if you work with several people from the same company whose messages keep getting trapped in Junk. It will allow all senders from that person’s domain (the domain is the part after the @ sign – E.g. janeiredale.com).

 

How can I manage my Safe and Blocked Senders lists?

Great question!

If you erroneously added someone as a blocked or safe sender, you can manually manage the safe and blocked senders lists. To do so, follow these steps:

On the “Home” tab of Outlook, click on “Junk” and then “Junk e-mail options”.

From here you can manage your safe and blocked senders lists.

 

Creating Hyperlinks (links) in Email Messages

When you email a website link to someone does it look like the picture below?

Wouldn’t it be super rad if it looked like this instead?

I bet you’d like to know how I did that. Well, too bad. I’m not telling.

I’m kidding. Please don’t be mad.

It’s really easy.

First, highlight the text that you want to turn into a link.

Next, right click the highlighted text and choose “Hyperlink”.

Finally, enter the website URL (AKA address) into the “Address” field and click OK.

That’s all there is to it! The selected text should now be underlined and colored blue which indicates that the hyperlink has been applied.

Note: You can test the hyperlink before sending the email by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and clicking on the link. 

 

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