Make Outlook 2007 search ALL folders instead of just the current folder

Search in Outlook 2007 is awesome. Depending on the way you work, this little tweak will save you a little time every time you need to do a search for emails.

Outlook (by default) searches emails in the current folder you are in. The Search results also come up with a link at the bottom to "Try Searching all Mail Items". I find myself ALWAYS clicking on the Search All link as I rarely bother to move to the relevant folder first.

Here's a quick setting changing that will force Outlook to search all mail items by default.

Click Tools-Options.
Click the Search Options button on the Preferences tab to display the Search Options box.



Click All folders and then click OK.

Do you have any other Search tricks that you find useful. Share it with other readers by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Posts:
Human-Friendly Power Searches in Outlook 2007
Fixing Search Problems in Outlook 2007

Human-Friendly Power Searches in Outlook 2007

Did you know that Outlook let's you refine your searches using human-friendly "English" words. The following examples will get you started ...

If I want to find all emails that were sent by James Raman, I just need to type the following into the Search Box...
From: James Raman



If I want to find all emails with the word Rugby anywhere in the subject, I just have to type the following in the Search Box...
Subject: Rugby

If I want to find all emails with the word Rugby in the Subject that were sent by James Raman, I just have to type the following in the Search Box...
From: James Raman and Subject:Rugby

I can even refine this further to something like...
From: James Raman and Subject:Rugby and To:Sanjay

Other tags that you can use include BCC and CC.

This simple technique has greatly reduced the time it takes me to find emails. I hope you find it useful.

Do you have any other Search tricks that you find useful. Share it with other readers by leaving a comment on the blog.

Related Tips:
Fixing Search Problems in Outlook 2007

Displaying Multiple Time Zones in Your Outlook Calendar

Do you need to arrange a meeting with someone in another time zone? Or maybe you're traveling and need to know the time at home and at your temporary destination.

Here's a super simple tip to viewing two time-zones in your Outlook Calendar.

Display your Calendar in Outlook (either Day or Week view).

Right-Click over any of the time labels on the left hand corner to display the pop-up menu. (see big red dot in picture)


Click on Change Time Zone to display the Time Zone settings screen.



Tick the "Show an additional time zone" checkbox and enter the rest of the settings.
Click OK .

Your Calendar will now be displayed with both time zones.



You can choose to leave both time zones displayed or turn one off once you're done by following the steps above(but clearing the tick next to "Show an additional time zone").

Minimize Outlook to the System Tray

This is a great tweak if you frequently have many programs or documents open and you need more space on your Task Bar. A simple setting change will minimize Outlook to the System Tray instead of the Windows Task Bar.


Right Click on the Outlook icon in the System Tray.
On the menu that displays, click/tick Hide when Minimized.

Now when you minimize Outlook, it will now not show on your Task Bar. To display Outlook again after it is minimized, double-click the Outlook icon in the System Tray.

Color Code Emails in Your Outlook Inbox

Letting Outlook color-code emails can greatly improve your productivity by focusing your attention on the right emails. Here are a few simple tips ... using tools that are built into Outlook ... that you can use to achieve this.

Color messages sent only to you
If you don't respond to a message, that was addressed only to you, then no one will. Outlook's Organize feature makes it easy to highlight these messages so that you don't miss them.



Go to your Inbox.
Click Tools-Organize to display the Organize pane..
Click Using Colors (on the left) of the Organize pane.
Click the Turn On button next to "Messages sent only to me now appear blue". (Change the color from blue if you want)

Slight problem … You may find that this also colors email newsletters you receive in your Inbox as they are normally addressed to you (only) as well. I get around this by using rules to automatically move newsletters to a folder I have called Read Later.

Color messages sent by your boss, wife/husband, important clients etc
You can use the same Organize function to color code emails from specific people.



Go to your Inbox.
Click Tools-Organize.
Click Using Colors.
Change the drop-down next to Color Message so that it reads "from".
Type in the email address in the box provided (or select an email from that person in your Inbox and Outlook will fill in the box for you)
Change the color if you need to.
Click the Apply Color button.

Deleting Color Coding
If you need to delete or change the color coding at a later date.



Go to your Inbox.
Click Tools-Organize.
Click Using Colors.
Click Automatic Formatting to display the list of color formats applied to the folder.
Select the relevant item from the list and click Delete.

Advanced Color Coding
You can also use the Automatic Formatting screen described in the previous Delete section for more advanced color coding. Detailed instructions can be found on an earlier post titled Let Outlook highlight your important emails.

I hope these simple color coding tricks help make your Inbox more manageable.

Do you have you own email coloring tricks? Tell me more by leaving comments on the blog.

Word 2007 - Save automatically in the OLD format

Word 2007 (and the rest of Office 2007) introduced new file formats. Word files are now saved as docx instead of doc.

You may have a problem if you email these files to people who haven't upgraded to Word 2007 yet ... users of older versions of Word cannot read these files unless they download additional software.

I haven't figured out a good reason for saving files to the new format, so like me, you may find it easier to configure Word to save files in the OLD format by default.

Start Word.
Click the Office Button (round button/icon at the top left hand corner)
Click Word Options (lower right hand of the menu that opens)
Click Save in the list in the left hand column.
Choose Word 97-2003 Document (.doc) in the drop-down list.
Click OK.

If you have a good reason for actually wanting to use the new format, please let me know by leaving a comment.

vCard Follow-Up: Do vCards expose information about your activities?

Late last month I wrote an article on using vCards in Outlook.

A reader had the following question:

I have created the v-card repeatedly, but no matter what I do, Outlook (2003) recognizes that it's "me" making the card, and always includes all my personal information under the Activities tab. So whoever receives the v-card is able to look at my contacts, emails, calendar, etc. How can I remove that?

I must admit... the email SCARED me ... had I accidentally advised you to send all kinds of personal information out. Luckily for me ...

The person you send the vcard to will not see the activities you are seeing as the activities are NOT being sent with the card.

Instead ... the Activites page is being created on the users computer based on items it find on that users computer related to the contact.

When you are opening the vCard on your computer, Outlook is finding all the activities that relate to you in your Outlook. When the recipient opens it, they will only see any activities that they already have in their Outlook related to you.

You can verify for yourself that there are no activities being sent with your vCard by saving it to harddisk and then opening it with Notepad.