Overview

In this chapter and the next two, we finally reach the heart of Microsoft Outlook sending and receiving messages. Sending a message normally requires four steps:

• Addressing the message
• Composing the message and attaching files
• Sending the message (which places it in the Outbox folder)
• Delivering the message to the mail server that will forward it to the recipient

Each of these steps is essential (though, in many cases, delivery is automatic). We cover the first two in this chapter and the process of sending and delivering messages in the next.

Outlook 2000 offers you two different message editing tools and three different formats to send in plain text, rich text (RTF), and HTML. Besides the editor built into Outlook, you can also use Microsoft Word as an alternative e-mail editor (an option known as WordMail). Office 2000 also includes another new way of composing messages, called OfficeMail, that lets you to use any Office document as the starting point for a message.

Throughout the chapter, we review various settings that affect how Outlook sends a message. There are also some subtle differences between Outlook operating in Internet Mail Only (IMO) mode and the functions available in Corporate or Workgroup (CW) mode.

Using the New Message Window

Let's begin with a look at the New Message window, where you create messages. To start a new message, click the New Mail Message button, or press Ctrl+Shift+M. If you're currently in the Inbox or another mail folder, you can...