Outlook Pocket Guide by Walter Glenn.
Like it or loathe it, Microsoft Outlook is the de facto e-mail and PIM (Personal Information Management) software in many companies. It also comes bundled with Microsoft Office on many home computers. Wherever you use it Microsoft Outlook is a powerful tool, but not, unfortunately, extremely intuitive or without its quirks and frustrations. In fact O’Reilly publishes ‘Microsoft Outlook Annoyances’ which deals directly with these issues. With a more positive outlook (pun intended) O’Reilly also publishes Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell (new version on the way)—a thorough guide to all of Outlook’s components. But for the everyday user looking for a quick guide to using a new part of Outlook, a quick reference on Outlook functionality or trying to solve a how-to question, Outlook Pocket Guide is what is needed.
The book is about A5 size and 1 cm thick. I tested it, and to my surprise it did fit perfectly into my trouser pocket. The book is, as you naturally expect from O’Reilly, well organized and presented. Diagrams and screen shots are used sparingly but effectively. The table of contents could perhaps give one more level of detail but there is a good index and subsections are clearly marked in bold face at the bottom of each page.
The book is split into ten parts. Part I covers how Outlook works—useful background reading but you’ll want to skip to the later parts if you just want to know how to do something. In the following order, these parts cover general tasks (finding, organizing, configuring, viewing and customizing), mail tasks, calendar tasks, contact tasks, task tasks, notes tasks and journal tasks. The chapter headings themselves show that the book is very task focused and this is the real differentiator of this Pocket Guide over other user guides. There is no more than half a page of introduction for each of the chapters, which are then split up into the main usage area and then further split up into paragraphs which specifically answer the italicized question they are headed with. For example under ‘Changing Contact Views’ you will find ‘View contacts as address cards?’, ‘Browse through an address card view’, ‘Make address cards fit better in the display pane?’ and so on. The answers are no longer than 10 lines and give the clear steps you need to follow or menus options you should choose to solve the problem at hand. If alternatives are available these are also provided, and differences between Outlook 2000 and 2002 are explained.
The final two parts of the book are perhaps the most useful for advanced or power Outlook users. Part IX is a concise reference guide on commands, file locations, view and print styles, internet headers, startup switches and keyboard short cuts. The last of these at least should be of use to everyone. Ctrl+Alt+I to get back to the Inbox is my favorite and there are many more to help speed up Outlook navigation. Part X lists some interesting internet sites, books and tools. Such a well compiled list of quality resources is an invaluable addition.
As with all O’Reilly books Outlook Pocket Guide has its own page at www.oreilly.com where any amendments will be posted. Unlike other O’Reilly books though, there is no online version available at http://safari.oreilly.com—not surprising as the book is intended to be a quick-to-hand reference guide and is not really suited to an online format.
Overall a valuable addition to any Outlook user who wants to be more productive and get quick answers to Outlook questions…without the fluff.
