Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell: a Power User's Quick Reference [Paperback]

Tom Syroid (Author), Bo Leuf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000 | Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)

With most of the books currently on the market for Outlook 2000 falling into the instant-learn, limited-scope "Dummies" category, the need for an up-to-date and comprehensive reference book such as Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell is high. This book is for typical Nutshell readers: sophisticated computer users who need a comprehensive, functional reference to the product.

Outlook is much more than just an email client. It is a powerful and versatile program that includes contact, calendar, notes, task, and journal tools all tightly integrated to give users quick access to vital information and fast, easy ways to share that information. You can arrange virtual conferences with NetMeeting, send Office documents through Outlook Mail, and save calendars as web pages and publish them to the Web.

Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell is organized intuitively, beginning with a program overview examining Outlook's interface and structure along with setup and installation issues. The chapter on program insights delves deeper into the program, looking at data structures, forms, and categories. The second part of the book drills down into Outlook's individual components and their associated commands, and the last section covers some sophisticated connectivity and collaboration issues as well as file management and encryption. There are also some special sections devoted to working with VBA, using Outlook as an Exchange client, and exploring how Outlook works with Palm devices.

This book covers:

• Program data structures, forms, and views
• Adaptive menus and toolbars
• Outlook's component interaction
• Connectivity and collaboration tools
• Importing and exporting
• Working with VBA
• Outlook as an Exchange client

The authors worked extensively with Microsoft engineers on the alpha/beta releases of Outlook 98, and bring to the book a wealth of knowledge and experience. They have provided a comprehensive task index, designed to speed up the process of locating important information as well as tips and tricks about the program.

Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell is a must-read for any user who wants to get as much out of this software as possible without wasting time weeding through hundreds of pages of useless information.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Microsoft insiders say that Outlook will become a sort of omnipresent information center in the future, synthesizing data from many sources into a convenient display. Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell acknowledges that Outlook already is the main productivity tool for many users. The book gives a wonderfully detailed look at Outlook 2000, and it does a great job of showing (many undocumented) ways to customize the program, largely without having to know how to program it.

Though the book has some plain-vanilla information on how to bring about specific effects, it will also show you how the various components of Outlook interact with one another and how you can adjust them. This is the most valuable aspect of the book. Explanations of why you might want to customize Outlook in certain ways, plus some new ways to use the software, are also really useful. The book doesn't ask what Outlook can do; instead it asks, what can it do for you? The book's design is also very helpful: numbered tips contain nuggets of information that don't fit into the general flow of the text. The titles of these tips appear in a special index, so it's easy to turn directly to Tip 77, "Quick Swap Time Zones," for example. Altogether, this book is a model technical publication for the power user. --David Wall

Topics covered: Microsoft Outlook 2000 for power users, with emphasis on little-used features and customization. Tips and tricks address organizing and finding information, managing and editing e-mail, importing and exporting files, and interacting with Microsoft Exchange Server. The book also covers synchronizing Outlook data with Palm devices, introduces customization with VBA, and provides a complete interface reference.

About the Author

Syroid is a systems consultant and freelance writer. He specializes in small business networking, NT Server administration, and training users how to avoid crashing Microsoft Office. Current topics of focus include Sunday afternoon porch-sitting, the NFL, and finding new and creative ways to break software.

Bo Leuf has extensive experience in technical communication and teaching, coupled with a deep understanding of cross-platform software product design, user interfaces, and usability analysis. He maintains several professional and recreational Internet Web sites, including one that provides commercial Web hosting services for others. This Internet presence provides a platform for experimenting with various collaborative and sharing technologies.

An independent consultant in the computing sector in Sweden for over 25 years, Bo has been responsible for software development and localization projects. Training issues came to the foreground during a number of years as head of a language school specializing in an immersive teaching methodology. He is currently a freelance consultant and author, specializing in software documentation, translation, and design-team training. He is a regular contributor of feature articles to Datormagazin, Sweden's largest and most prestigious computer periodical.

Product Details

• Paperback: 642 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565927044
• ISBN-13: 978-1565927049
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,915,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you use outlook, buy this book, June 27, 2000

By 

Rob Campbell (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell: a Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)

Anyone who has struggled to learn anything useful from a "How to be a Dummy in 24 Hours for Idiots" will love this book. I found the answers to half a dozen annoying questions in my first 15 minutes of browsing. The authors explain the underlying structure of the Outlook/Exchange data model so that Outlook's myriad ways of looking at and working with your data finally make sense.

If you use Outlook, either by choice or by corporate fiat, buy this book.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Outlook!, May 19, 2000

By 

Scott Loftesness (Menlo Park, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell: a Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)

Finally, there's an Outlook book for us -- folks who knowenough about Outlook to be dangerous but who also feel that there'smore hidden away under Outlook's covers that we just couldn't (or wouldn't!) take the time to find or understand.

I suspect I'm like a lot of you -- I pretty much "live" in Outlook all day. By that I mean that it's the primary application I use all day, every day.

I've been a fan of O'Reilly's Nutshell handbooks for years -- and this one maintains the tradition of brevity and density of content while being entertaining to read. In addition to the expected full complement of reference information, there are a large assortment of tips sprinkled throughout that provide some new ideas about how to make better use of Outlook.

If you're looking for a great helper in making Outlook more useful and effective, this is the book to get.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Desk Reference, May 14, 2001

By 

Jennifer B. Barton "Beth Barton" (McKinney, Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell: a Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)

Problem with Outlook is that there are a lot of books out there that tell you that they will teach you how to use Outlook but when you buy them they are essentially This is how you send an e-mail, this is how to make a journal entry.' My company even paid for a local college to train us on Outlook which turned out to be a dismal failure. In other words, it is not easy to learn the power of Outlook.

That being said, I searched through bunches of books for something that would teach me how to use Outlook. The fact is, Outlook is a multi-faceted, reasonably complex piece of software and there is no book out there that is going to teach you everything you need to know about it. This is as good as you are going to get for the moment (if someone knows a better one, please e-mail me). They basically unleashed a team of people on Outlook and tore it apart and reported the result. What I like most about this book is that it is not reserved in saying 'Outlook won't let you do that'. It also warns you of potential ways of blowing up the system - some that would not be obvious. I don't know how good it will be for upper level stuff like tieing Outlook to databases or giving other Lotus like abilities, but I am still working on archiving so it will be awhile anyway.