What's New in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003?

You'll notice some changes as soon as you start Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. The toolbars and menus have a new look, for example. But the features that are new and improved in this version of Outlook go beyond just changes in appearance. Some changes won't be apparent to you until you start using the program.

The following table lists the new and improved features that you might be interested in as well as the lessons and topics in which those features are covered.

New or Improved Feature	What Does This Feature Help You Do?	Lesson	Topic
Junk E-mail Filter	The new Junk E-mail Filter evaluates whether a message should be treated as junk e-mail based on the time it was sent and the content and structure of the message. You can also use the Safe Senders List and Blocked Senders List to filter out additional messages to be treated as junk mail.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Filtering Messages
Desktop Alerts	When a new message arrives, the new Desktop Alert fades in subtly with the sender's name, subject, and a short text preview, so you can immediately see whether the new message is urgent, should be marked for follow-up, or can be safely ignored without interrupting your work in another program.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Managing Messages in the Inbox and Search Folders
Enhanced privacy features	Messages in HTML format often include pictures or sounds. Sometimes these pictures or sounds are not included in the message itself but are instead downloaded from a Web server when the e-mail message is opened or previewed. Junk e-mail senders have used this capability to their advantage by including something called a "Web beacon" in these messages. A Web beacon notifies the Web server when you read or preview the message, thus validating the e-mail address and often resulting in more junk e-mail being sent to you. To help protect your privacy and combat Web beacons, Outlook is configured by default to block download of this external content from the Internet. If an e-mail message tries to connect unannounced to a Web server on the Internet, Outlook blocks that connection until you decide to view the content. This feature also allows you to avoid viewing potentially offensive messages and, if you are on a low-bandwidth connection, to decide whether an image warrants the time and bandwidth to download it.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Managing Messages in the Inbox and Search Folders
Quick Flags	Quick Flags are new flag icons displayed next to all e-mail messages, which you can click to quickly flag the message for follow-up. You can view all Quick Flagged messages together in the new For Follow Up Search Folder.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Managing Messages in the Inbox and Search Folders
Search Folders	Search Folders are customized views of all e-mail items matching specific search criteria. Each Search Folder is like a saved search that is kept up-to-date, always monitoring all your folders for any item that matches that Search Folder's search criteria.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Managing Messages in the Inbox and Search Folders
Easier ways to create and organize rules	In addition to creating your own rules, now you can use several ready-made rules designed to help you manage incoming messages and stay informed. The redesigned interface provides an “at a glance” summary of your rules. In addition, you can now apply rules to incoming meeting requests and meeting updates as well as e-mail messages.	Managing E-Mail Messages	Managing Messages through Rules
Side-by-Side Calendars	You can now view multiple calendars next to your own calendar. The calendars scroll together and are color-coded and labeled to help you quickly compare schedules or schedule meetings. After you open another person's calendar, it is added to the Calendar pane in the Navigation Pane, where you can select the check box next to the person's name to show or hide his or her calendar.	Working with Calendars, Contacts, and Public Folders	Sharing Your Calendar
The Go menu	The new, top-level Go menu makes it easy to quickly switch between panes in the Navigation Pane. If you prefer to navigate by using keyboard shortcuts, you can use the documented shortcut keys on the Go menu, such as CTRL+1 for Mail, CTRL+2 for Calendar, and CTRL+3 for Contacts.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Customizing Outlook
The new file format for Personal Folders files (.pst)	Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 introduces a new file format for Personal Folders files (.pst) that offers greater storage capacity for items and folders and supports multilingual Unicode data. A file created with the new Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) format is not compatible with earlier versions of Outlook. For compatibility with earlier versions of Outlook, create a file by using the Microsoft Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders file (.pst) format. Outlook 2003 can view and create files of either type.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Creating a Personal Folders File
The new Distribution List functionality	You can quickly display all the names in a Distribution List by clicking the plus sign next to the Distribution List name. This makes it easy to add or remove a few names when addressing an e-mail message, without having to modify the Distribution List or start from scratch.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Creating and Using Distribution Lists
Enhanced privacy features	Messages in HTML format often include pictures or sounds, which are not included in the message itself but are, instead, downloaded from a Web server when the e-mail message is opened or previewed. Junk e-mail senders have used this capability to their advantage by including a Web beacon in these messages. A Web beacon notifies the Web server when you read or preview the message, thus validating the e-mail address and often resulting in more junk e-mail being sent to you. To help protect your privacy and combat Web beacons, Outlook is configured by default to block the download of this external content from the Internet. If an e-mail message tries to connect unannounced to a Web server on the Internet, Outlook blocks that connection until you decide to view the content.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Setting Up Secure E-Mail
Information Rights Management (IRM) --	IRM allows you to create messages with restricted permissions to help prevent messages from being forwarded, printed, copied, or edited by unauthorized people. The sender clicks Do Not Forward on the Standard toolbar to restrict permissions to the message.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Setting Up Secure E-Mail
Integration with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services	Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services or Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server help you to store and manage documents on a website. You can configure SharePoint to send you an e-mail notification when content on the website changes. Alerts notify you of changes to documents, list items, document libraries, lists, surveys, or even search results, helping you to be aware of changes to information that is relevant to your job.	Customizing and Configuring Outlook	Customizing Windows SharePoint Services Alerts
Collaboration with OneNote –	You can work with OneNote and send OneNote pages directly as e-mail attachments, without switching to Microsoft Outlook. You can also assign a task from within OneNote.	Using Outlook with Other Programs	Integrating Tasks from Microsoft OneNote
Exchange Server access through the Internet (RPC over HTTP)	Outlook can now connect to a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 through the Internet without the need to use slow and sometimes unavailable virtual private network (VPN) connections. This feature allows you to remotely access your Exchange Server 2003 account from the Internet when you are working outside your organization’s firewall without any special connections or hardware, such as smart cards and security tokens.	Working from Multiple Locations	Connecting to Outlook
Cached Exchange Mode	If you use a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account, it is recommended that you use Cached Exchange Mode. A local copy of your mailbox is stored on your computer, providing you with quick access to your information regardless of changing connection types. The information in your local mailbox is frequently synchronized with the Exchange server. If your connection to the Exchange server is interrupted, you can continue to work with your information. When a connection is restored, Outlook automatically synchronizes changes. The folders and items are once again identical. There is no need to switch to offline— you can keep working when a connection isn't available. You don't have to keep trying to reconnect to the server— Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 does that automatically. Cached Exchange Mode also frees you from having to set up Send/Receive groups, picking folders you want available offline and keeping those folders synchronized.	Working from Multiple Locations	Working Offline with Cached Exchange Mode
Reading Pane	The new Reading Pane is optimized for reading e-mail messages and, when used with the new multi-line layout, displays nearly twice as much information on the screen as the Preview Pane did, plus it enables you to respond to meeting requests and use voting buttons without having to open messages first.	Accessing Outlook on the Web	Viewing and Sending Messages in Outlook Web Access