Microsoft Exchange is server software that manages electronic mail, shared documents, and calendars. Although Microsoft Outlook does not require a Microsoft Exchange server, Outlook offers more functionality when used in conjunction with a Microsoft Exchange server.

Before you can use Outlook with the FUHSD Exchange server, you will need a network account, which you should already have.  If you are doing the Microsoft Outlook installation, you will be prompted for how you will use Microsoft Outlook. You will use Outlook in conjunction with an Exchange server, so choose Corporate Support rather than Internet only.

Microsoft Outlook performs many tasks, and each task is known as a Service. The first time you start Outlook you should add the services you want to use. To do this:

1. Choose Tools and select Service.

2. Click Add to add a service.

3. Select the service you want to add. A brief description of the standard Microsoft Outlook services appears below. You will be using Microsoft Outlook with an Exchange server.  Select Microsoft Exchange Server as a Service. In the dialog box, type the name of your Exchange Server and your name on that server. The FUHSD Exchange server is called exchange2k and your mailbox is your network login name.

In addition to the standard Windows bars, menus, and tools, the Outlook Bar on the left of the screen contains shortcuts to the most common Outlook folders, such as Outlook Today, your Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. To use the different components of Outlook, click the appropriate icon in the Outlook bar.

The title of the folder you are currently viewing is displayed in its own title bar. In the example below, the title of the open folder is Inbox. The main window is divided with folder item headers in the top half and a preview of the selected item displayed in the lower half.

Use Outlook's View menu to look at what is displayed in different ways. For example, you can show or hide the Outlook Bar or Preview Pane.

To send a message in Microsoft Outlook, choose New from the File menu and select Mail Message.

In the New Message window, type the e-mail address of the recipient, a subject for your message, and the text of your message. You can also format text, but note that if the recipient is not using Outlook, your formatting may not display properly. When you are ready to send the message click the Send button on the toolbar.

To check your messages, click the Inbox icon in the Outlook Toolbar.

To reply to a message, select the message in the top pane and click the Reply button on the toolbar. The Reply to All button sends your reply to everyone who received the original message. Use this feature only if you want everyone to see your response. Outlook also has a Forward button on the toolbar to forward a message to another e-mail address.

Outlook has multiple Address books. The Global Address list contains all users and distribution lists on your Exchange server. A Personal Address Book stores your own list of addresses and distribution lists.

To create a Personal Address Book of your own addresses, you must add that Service.

1. Choose Tools Services and then click Add.

2. Select the Personal Address Book and click OK. Outlook will prompt you for a location to store the Personal Address Book (.pab file). By default, Outlook will store it in the Outlook folder on your hard disk.

3. Choose Exit and Log Off from the File menu and restart Outlook. Your Personal Address Book should now be available.

To add or edit entries in your Personal Address book, choose Address Book from the Tools menu or click the Address Book tool on the toolbar.

In the Address Book, click the New icon on the toolbar to enter a new address entry. When you want to send mail to a user in your Address Book, click the To: button while composing the mail to display your address book.

As you receive more messages, you will want to manage your e-mail more efficiently. Microsoft Outlook has many ways to help you organize your mail.

When you have hundreds of messages in your Inbox, it’s not always easy to locate the message you want. Outlook has Sort and Find features to help.  To sort message headers in the top pane, click the heading of the column you want to sort. For example, to sort the message headers by date click the Received heading. Click the heading again to reverse the sort order.

If sorting doesn’t help, you can search for text in a message. Click the Find button on the toolbar and enter the text you want to find in the dialog box. Outlook will search for your text and display the first message that contains it.

To delete a message, select the message in the top windowpane and press the Delete key on your keyboard or click on the delete tool (the X) on the toolbar. Outlook transfers the message to the Deleted Items folder. To retrieve a message from Deleted Items, open that folder, select the message and choose Edit, Move To Folder and select the folder to move it to.

You can also right-click on messages in the top pane to display a list of commands like Print, Delete, Reply, Move To, and others or "drag and drop" the message from its current location to the desired destination folder.

Use folders to help organize the messages you receive. For example, you can transfer all correspondence with your parents into a folder called Personal.

1. To create a new folder, choose File New and then select New Folder.

2. Type a name for the folder in the dialog box, and select the type of information the folder will contain. Finally, select the destination for the folder in the dialog box and click OK.

3. To move a message to another folder, select the message and choose Edit and Move to Folder or Copy to Folder if you want to copy the message to another folder.

Microsoft Outlook also has a sophisticated scheduling program. Click the Calendar button in the Outlook toolbar to use the scheduling feature of Outlook. 

To schedule a new appointment:

1. Choose File New and select Appointment.

2. Enter information about the time, date, and location of the appointment.

3. If your meeting is recurring, click the Recurrence button to specify the details of the meeting.

4. Click Save and Close to schedule the meeting. It will now appear on your Outlook calendar.

Outlook can also be used to schedule meetings with other users on your Exchange Server. To schedule a meeting with multiple people:

Select File New and choose Meeting Request.

1. Click the To: button to select the people you need to attend the meeting.

2. Specify a Subject, Location, Date and Time. If your meeting attendees also use your Exchange server, you can check their availability by clicking the Attendee Availability button. It will display the schedules of the other meeting attendees. You can even have Outlook select the first date and time that all parties are available by choosing AutoPick.

3. The meeting appointment is sent like an e-mail message. Attendees will be prompted to accept or decline and send automatic notification back to you.

You can create new tasks in Outlook while viewing your calendar by clicking the taskpad and typing the task. When you press Enter, the task is added to your To-Do list. You can also create new tasks by clicking File/New/Task. Tasks are kept in the Tasks folder and are also displayed in your Outlook Today view of the week ahead. Tasks can be sent to others on the Exchange server.

Like appointments and tasks, you can create "sticky" notes and/or journal entries which can be saved for yourself and/or sent to others on the Exchange Server.

Public folders which can be viewed and shared by others on the Exchange Server can be created by the server administrator.