There are three general groups people fall under when it comes to Microsoft Outlook, and those are:
- People who master the program and all of its features
- People who use the program for e-mail but haven’t explored much else.
- People who are all together unfamiliar with the system.Only the first group, the masters, are exempt from the necessity to learn Microsoft Outlook to its fullest extent. You will be hard pressed to find a company that does not use Outlook. It is vital you know this program to make yourself a prime job candidate, not knowing it can seriously hinder your chances at a job. Even if you are already employed, Outlook can greatly improve your work life by saving you time and energy. It is the ultimate one stop shopping source for organization and communication at work. The ACTS Learning Center owner Steven Patterson explains why.
Businesses use Outlook for a few reasons, the major two being the fact that Outlook offers more than just an e-mail system, but an entire organization system – you can schedule meetings, keep track of clients and vendors, schedule announcements, and more. The second reason is its universality. Everyone uses Outlook, and that is a huge benefit for compatibility purposes. E-mails can be written without concern that something will not attach or translate, because everyone is on the same system. Taking the time to learn Outlook is one of the most worthwhile things you can do, since you will have an extremely difficult time finding a company that does not use it. Your knowledge will always be extremely useful. Plus, Outlook is not complicated, so that time that you take will not even be that long. That’s what Outlook is all about: speed, simplicity, and organization.
Each section of Outlook is like a mini program for you to learn. First, there is e-mail. Simple enough, right? Well, yes. So, why go to a class to learn how to e-mail? Because there is more than just typing a message and hitting “Send.” Outlook is the sort of program that you really should be able to use to its fullest potential. Learn how to create your address book, and how you can import contacts from other applications. Learn formatting and how to add attachments in different document types. You can learn how to make Outlook a shared program so that employees can be on the same e-mails and access the same information. Sync Outlook to company Blackberrys so employees on the go stay in the loop. Post public folders on a server so that your client can access information. You can even coordinate Outlook and Skype for video conferencing or calls.
Then there is the calendar, which is really more like an interactive planner. You can enter appointments and meetings on the calendar and use this application to actually plan this event: how long will it be, who will be attending, are you completely unavailable during this time or can you take calls, etc. Then, everyone in the company can see this event. So for example, if you post a meeting on your schedule onto the calendar and mark yourself unavailable, then people know not to send calls to you, and when you will be available again. You can also use the calendar to invite people to the meeting without even going into the e-mail section. When you create the event, it will let you enter contacts and it will then send them notification and they can either accept or reject. The calendar will also give you periodic reminders of your upcoming events.
Along the same organizational lines, Outlook also offers a journal tool, a task manager, a content manager, and note taking. Basically, all these tools work together so you can quickly and easily outsource your information and need for organization and planning to the program. As you can see with Outlook, these are each simple processes on their own, but you should really take the time to learn each one so your possibilities are really endless.
