Collaborating with Others Using Outlook & Exchange

Collaborating with Others Using Outlook & Exchange

Communication is an important part of everyday life and is the lifeblood of the educational process. Messaging systems have historically enabled textual e-mail and very little else, but there is much more that a campus-wide messaging system should offer. Individuals need to share schedules, tasks, files, and conversations. When you use Microsoft Outlook with Exchange server, this rich collaborative environment is available.

In this hands-on session, you will learn how Microsoft® Outlook® and Microsoft® Exchange® can be used to enhance communication. These tools will become your command post for communication management. You will empower yourself, your colleagues, and your students to collaborate, reserve resources, use e-mail, and schedule meetings and activities.

Before You Begin

Outlook is a desktop information management program that is designed for individuals who require a level of communication beyond the basic e-mail programs. It includes workgroup tools that help you manage your messages, appointments, contacts, and tasks; track activities; open and view documents; and share information. Exchange is the server software that supports the functionality of Outlook. Together they can transform messaging in your environment and enhance communication between students, faculty, and staff.

Collaborating with Others Using Outlook & Exchange

Touring Outlook

Before you start communicating, become familiar with the features of Outlook. The following illustration shows the Inbox view:

Using Outlook

Imagine that you have been appointed to be the chair of the online learning task force. It is your job to organize the efforts of all of the individuals on the team and to produce a recommendation to the institution on how to best implement an online learning solution. You will be scheduling the kick-off meeting, calling monthly meetings, sharing information, and communicating with the members of the group.

This section describes how to create public folders and store information in them, use e-mail, configure e-mail options, use calendaring, and use group scheduling.

Using Public Folders

Public folders are a secure place to store email and other messages on an Exchange Server. They allow individuals to carry on threaded conversations, share calendars, and use customized messaging and collaboration applications.

The following illustration shows a threaded discussion in a public folder:

To create Public Folders

Start Outlook.
If the list of folders isn’t visible, click Folder List from the View menu.
Expand PublicFolders in the list by clicking the + symbol next to it, and click AllPublicFolders.

From the File menu, choose New and then click Folder. Type online learning in the Name box and then click OK. (Keep in mind that you are creating an online repository for information to be shared by the group and therefore only one folder needs to be created.)

To use threaded messaging

In the Folder List, click the online learning folder you just created. Click the New button on the toolbar
-or-
Click New from the File menu and then click Post in This Folder.

Follow the procedure in the “Using E-mail” section to address and send a message to users in your group. The subject of the message should contain a query to members requesting information about existing online learning programs at other institutions that could be researched to give direction to your program.
The other users in your discussion should respond to your message by double-clicking to open it and choosing Post Reply from the toolbar.
Choose a few of the member’s replies and respond to them. You are having a conversation through e-mail much like you would have in person.
After you have generated messages beyond the original message, you need to change the view. Click Current View from the View menu and click By Conversation Topic. This view allows a topic-by-topic view of all of the discussions in a folder. A separate discussion is a message that is not a reply to any other message. To view the items in a topic just click the + next to the topic and it will be expanded. To close a topic, click
the – next to it.

Notice in the view you are currently in that the replies to messages are indented from the original message. This allows any authorized individual to view the messages in the order that the discussion progressed. This is the “thread of the messages” and one of the great features of public folders.

To post documents in Public Folders

Open a new document in Word. Type Online Learning Requirements and then center this text on the page.

From the File menu, click SendTo and then click Exchange Folder.
Expand the Public Folders by clicking on the + symbols until you can click the folder you want. Click the Online Learning folder to place the document in it. Click OK to close the dialog box.

You can save documents from any of the Office 2000 suite of programs to public folders in this way. This is just one of the many integrated features of Office 2000.

Using E-mail in Outlook

E-mail has become a crucial part of daily communication. In education, email has become a convenient way to interact with students outside of class, collaborate with peers from all over the world, and to just keep in touch with others. Outlook makes using e-mail easy and effective.

To send an e-mail message

On the Actions menu, click NewMailMessage.
-or-
In Inbox view, click New Message.

Type the email addresses of the individuals to whom you want to send the message in the To box separated by semi-colons.
-or-
Click the To button and then double-click the individuals from your Contacts or the GlobalAddressList. Click OK.
Type the subject of your e-mail in the subject box and then press Enter to move to the body of the message.
Type the text of your message in the area provided (you may also change the formatting of the text, include graphics, and attach files).
Click Send.
-or-
Click Send from the File menu.

Your message will be sent immediately. By default, a copy of your message is saved in the sent items folder.

To read messages

Double-click the message you want to open.
-or-
Preview the message by clicking once on the message and viewing it in the Preview pane.

To reply to the message, click Reply and type your message. This sends your response to the originator of the message.
-or-
To send your reply to everyone who received the original message, click Reply to All and type your message.
-or-
To send the original message to someone else, click Forwardand enter the recipient’s email address in the To box. You can also add to the message if you want.
When you are finished typing your response, click Send.

To use the Address Book

Choose AddressBook from the Tools menu.

In the Show Names from the box, select the list of names you want to be displayed. The Global Address List is the list of all users and groups within Exchange. Contacts are the addresses that you have personally entered into Outlook. Contacts are usually individuals who are not on the Global Address List.
To edit the information for a contact, double-click the contact.
Click the New Message button on the toolbar while you are on a name to automatically add that name in the To box of a new message; this action also places the cursor in the Subject box.
Add a personal distribution list by clicking File and New entry. Click New distribution list and then click OK. Type Online Learning in the Name box.

Click Select Members and then double-click the individuals you want to add to the list. Click OK, click Save and Close and then close out the address book by clicking the X in the upper right corner of the address book window.

Multiple names can be selected by using standard windows file selection techniques. You can also access the contacts by clicking Contacts on the Views bar.

To use views

You can change the way in which your messages are displayed. This can help you to quickly read and respond to important messages or messages from certain senders.

Choose Current View from the View menu and then select the view you want from the list.

The available views are:

Messages – Default view with one line for each message.
Messages with AutoPreview – Same as the Message view with three lines of the message added.
By Follow-up Flag – Messages sorted by type of follow-up flag.
Last Seven Days – Messages that arrived in the last seven days.
Flagged for the Next Seven Days – Shows flagged messages that are due in the next seven days.
By Conversation Topic – Messages grouped by subject.
By Sender – Messages grouped and sorted by sender.
Unread Messages – Messages that have not been read.
Sent To – Messages displayed by recipient (instead of by sender).
Message Timeline – Messages arranged in chronological order on a timeline.

Using the Calendar

Everyone has a schedule. You have classes to teach, students to counsel, and the faculty for the online learning task force to organize. You will also need to have the necessary resources to successfully implement the new online learning curriculum at your institution. What an overwhelming task this could be. Next, you will use the group scheduling feature of Outlook to assist you in juggling all of these tasks.

To schedule appointments

You can put your office hours into your schedule so your students will know when you are available. Of course, you can schedule all of your other appointments as well.

Click Calendar on the Views bar and then click NewRecurringAppointment from the Actions menu.

To schedule your weekly office hours, type the Start time and End time as appropriate and make sure the boxes beside the appropriate days are checked.

You do not anticipate that this schedule will change so leave No EndDate selected and then click OK.
Type Office Hours in the Subject box and then click Save and Close.
You also have an annual vacation during the Winter Holidays. Click NewRecurring Appointment from the Actions menu and type 4 days in the Duration box.
Select Yearly and Every December 23 in the Recurrence pattern section and then click OK.
Type Winter Vacation in the Subject box and then click Save and Close.
Repeat to add other recurring appointments, such as faculty meetings, classes, or family activities.

To schedule meetings

From the Actions menu, click Plan a Meeting and then click the InviteOthers button.

Double-click the OnlineLearninggroup from the Global Address List and add Meeting Room 203 and Eike Projector #2 to the Resources box by selecting them and clicking the Resources button. Click OK.

View the busy times of the proposed attendees and click AutoPick to have Outlook find the best time based on the options in the drop down list.
If you want to see the members of the Online Learning group individually, click the + to the left of the group name and the list will be expanded. Keep in mind that the list will be replaced with its members. This process is not reversible.
Adjust the Begin and End times to schedule the meeting for tomorrow from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and then click MakeMeeting.
Type Online Learning task force kick-off in the Subject box and then click Send.
The users are sent an e-mail message indicating your request for a meeting and are given the opportunity to accept or decline the invitation.
You can double-click the meeting and then select the AttendeeAvailability tab to view the list of responses or to add individuals to the meeting.

We have just explored two of the sections of Outlook. The other sections are:

Outlook Today – An at a glance view of your day.
Contacts – Your personal list of individuals and all pertinent information about them.
Tasks – Your list of to do items.
Journal – A timeline of activity on your computer.
Notes – An electronic area for posting notes.

Getting Help

You can get help from the online Helpat any time while you are using Outlook. To open the online Help, click Microsoft Outlook Help on the Help menu. If you have an Internet connection, you can also point to Office on the Web on the Help menu and choose from several resources that may be of interest to you such as Product News, Frequently Asked Questions, andOnline Support. You can also go to for all the latest information.

Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice.Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted.

Microsoft Corporation retains sole ownership of all published In and Out of the Classroom materials. Microsoft grants permission for educational institutions and Microsoft OEMS and Solution Partners to reproduce these materials for staff development purposes (only). Altering materials or reselling materials is strictly prohibited.

Microsoft, BackOffice, FrontPage, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer logo, the Microsoft Office logo, NetMeeting, Outlook, PowerPoint, Where do you want to go today?, Windows NT, Windows, the Windows logo, and the Windows Start logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Acknowledgments

This workshop was created in partnership with Scott Sample and S&T Consulting, an information design and development firm:

S&T Consulting project team: Sara Bosarge, Blake W. Bratt, Beth Harmon, Carolyn Emory, Amy Krzysiek, and Tonya Stumphauzer.

Collaborating with Others Using Outlook & Exchange