Microsoft Outlook Screen


Outlook’s opening screen can vary considerably depending on how your version is currently set up. If you installed Outlook on a new system, your Outlook screen will differ from an Outlook screen that appears if you upgraded from a previous version of Outlook. When upgrading, Outlook retains most of the screen arrangement you previously used.

Mainly the time of Outlook opens in the Outlook Today view. The Outlook Today view is distinct by a folder inside Outlook called the Outlook Today folder. It shows an overview of messages, to-do tasks, and appointments for the time period.

Outlook stores email and other kinds of data in a series of folders. These folders work much the same way as they do in Windows Explorer; that is, you can move things into the folders, create new folders, rename folders, and delete folders. You can create folders that file Outlook email and other data into compartments where you can easily locate your data later. Outlook folders appear on the left side of your Outlook screen in most of Outlook’s views. For example, if you click the Mail button in the lower-left corner of your screen, Outlook displays your Inbox and lists the other mail-related folders in a window pane against the left side of your screen.

Check Outlook Today
Select Microsoft Outlook from your Windows menu. Outlook will probably open in the Outlook Today view. Click to cross off any tasks you’ve completed for today. As you continue to complete tasks, you can click to cross them off, too. The Outlook Today view displays all your appointments for the current period. Click on any item on the Outlook Today view to see the details for that item. For example, clicking on an appointment opens a window with that appointment’s details.

Display Your Inbox
Click the Inbox link in your Messages section to display your email. If you have to-do notes, Outlook displays those in the To-Do Bar pane to the right of your screen. Not every Outlook user manages to-do tasks inside Outlook. You can hide your To-Do Bar by clicking its Close button to give your email more room.

View Your Calendar
Click the Calendar button from the feature buttons in the lower-left portion of your Outlook screen to display your calendar. Click on any date in the month in the upper-left corner of your window to see the appointments you have for that date.

To search for an appointment or other calendar item (such as a holiday), type what you’re looking for in the Search box. As you type, Outlook narrows down the items found in your calendar that match your search term.

Click the Day, Week, or Month buttons at the top of your calendar to view your calendar in those different time segments. Outlook will still show any appointments in each day, but when you’re viewing a week or a month, there won’t be as much room to read the entire appointment’s text, in most cases. You can double-click any appointment’s text to open a window that shows more details for that appointment.

View Your Contacts
Click the Contacts button from the feature buttons in the lower-left portion of your Outlook screen to display your contact information. Click any letter button to the right of the contacts that display to jump to contacts stored under that letter. Outlook can display your contacts in a business card format, but you can quickly change the contact display to a format in which you see more contacts at one time by selecting from the list of Current View options on the left side of your Outlook window.

View Your To-Do List and Notes
Click the Tasks button from the feature buttons in the lower-left portion of your Outlook screen to display your to-do list. Drag any column dividers left or right to adjust the width of the columns. You can change the way your to-do tasks appear on your screen by choosing from the list of items on the left of your screen with the heading Current View.

Outlook also acts as a repository of notes that you write and manage. These notes look like the yellow sticky notes you write on and like the comments that appear in Excel cells. To see or manage Outlook notes, click the Notes button in the lower-left portion of your Outlook screen.