Want to learn Microsoft Outlook 2007 fast? Want to become a confident and productive user of this powerful program without having to memorize a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo? In this course, you'll see what's new in Outlook 2007 and get up and running quickly with the most important aspects of the program, from basic e-mailing to automating your work with rules. You'll learn security basics and how to perform maintenance tasks, like backing up your data. You'll even create a Google Gmail account for class assignments and personal use. You'll also interact with other students and an instructor whose Outlook books, articles, and online courses have helped thousands of people like you learn the essentials of earlier editions of Outlook. Whether you're new to Outlook or you've been using it for years, you're sure to learn something useful in every lesson.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Are you ready to get organized and become more efficient? For a lot of people, Microsoft Outlook 2007 is the answer to increased productivity in the workplace and at home. We'll start with a whirlwind tour of the interface and the help systems so you can get familiar with the program if you're new to it. Then we'll get you hooked up with a Google Gmail e-mail account you can use with this course and ever after. We'll wrap up the lesson with a look at keyboard shortcuts that can make navigating Outlook a breeze.

Friday - Lesson 02

Now that you have an e-mail account, it is time to put it to use. In this lesson, you'll learn how to send, receive, and reply to e-mail messages. We'll also go over Desktop Alerts, Outlook's way of notifying you that you have new messages to read or tasks to do.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Now that you have the e-mail flowing, it's time to see how Outlook can help you manage it. Today, we'll look at how you can simplify your life by handling all your e-mail accounts in one place. You'll also see how you can use message groups and flags to keep track of conversations and organize your inbox. Plus, you'll love how Outlook helps you file messages with rules that do all the work of a personal assistant.

Friday - Lesson 04

Outlook contacts can do everything the proverbial little black book could do—and a whole lot more! In this lesson, you'll see how you can create contacts and use the information they contain in other areas of Outlook, like the address fields of an e-mail message. You can even search your contacts, making it easy to find information about that guy, John, whose last name you can never remember, or the phone number of that little restaurant on Santiago Street.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

These days, there are many ways to communicate electronically. Outlook 2007 works with two new technologies (instant messaging and RSS feeds) to expand the ways you can communicate. So today, we'll take a quick look at instant messaging programs and how they work with Outlook. Then, we'll dive into RSS feeds, a popular new way to get news and other information delivered right into Outlook folders.

Friday - Lesson 06

It's time for a big change of gears. So far in this course, we've been using Outlook to communicate. But Outlook can also manage your personal information. In this lesson, we're going to focus on the personal information manager side of Outlook, starting with the calendar. The calendar got a major makeover in this version, so even if you're an Outlook veteran, you'll find a lot of new tips and tricks in this lesson.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Do you have tasks you need to do? Why not let Outlook help you keep track of them instead of relying on 50 random scraps of paper, each with a different notation? In this lesson, you're going to see how Outlook can help you keep track of all the stuff you need to do. You'll learn how to set automatic reminders that tell you when it's time to get cracking on a particular task so you'll always get your work done on time!

Friday - Lesson 08

If you're wondering how to keep track of all the stuff that doesn't fit into e-mail messages or calendar appointments or a to-do list, you'll find all the answers in this lesson. Outlook's notes and shortcuts will be your new best friends. You'll learn how top use notes to store bits of information and shortcuts to tell you where you stored something on your computer. These tools make life a lot easier!

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

It's time to talk about managing your Outlook information again. We'll go back to talking about folders and rules in this lesson, but this time we'll have a different emphasis. You'll also find out how you can print information you want to take with you when you're away from your computer.

Friday - Lesson 10

No matter how well you organize and manage information, there will come a time when you want to get old items out of the way without losing them. In this lesson, you'll learn how to archive your old information and back it up. We'll also talk about the tools you can use to help you find a specific item among the hundreds or thousands of items you may have stored.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

There's a dark side to everything, and the unfortunate thing about using any e-mail program is that it's a door into your world. Spammers, hackers, phishers, and other individuals who want to spy on you, impersonate you, or even steal from you might try sneaking in through Outlook. Today, we're going to talk about Outlook's security measures and how you can use them to protect yourself from these unscrupulous people.

Friday - Lesson 12

Microsoft put huge efforts into making Outlook easy to use. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it does everything exactly the way you'd like it to. In this final lesson, we'll look at some ways you can customize Outlook to make it work more the way you want it to.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Bill Mann.

Bill Mann has been writing about software and the Internet for over 15 years and has relied on Microsoft Outlook to keep him organized and on track since it first became available. He is the author of more than 15 books, including two about Outlook: "How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003" and "How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007." He has led online courses on Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007, and he is a contributing editor to OutlookPower magazine. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Requirements:

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, any edition (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins); Windows XP or Vista; Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

Note: This course is not suitable for Macintosh users, nor for users of any of older versions of Microsoft Outlook.

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