To allow someone else to send mail on your behalf you must make them a 'delegate'. Delegates are also used to manage your calendar.

The return address will be your own.  However, if the recipient has Outlook the name will be in the format: <Delegate> on behalf of <Boss(you)>

Note1: If you only want someone to be able to view your information, don’t use the Delegate feature, use the Permission feature.

Note2: The "on behalf of" designator is a protective feature so the recipient has some idea that these words might not be your own.  "on behalf of" can be removed but only by the system administrator.

1. Add the delegate

Go to File… Account Settings… Delegate Access

What do all these options mean?

On the first screen. Applies to all delegates

My delegates only, but send a copy of meeting requests and responses to me (recommended)

You will both get an a copy of the request and any responses. However, the boss will not see the Accept, Decline options.

Delegate / Boss

My delegates only

Only the delegate will ever see emails related to meeting requests

My delegates and me

You will both get actionable meeting requests. In a case of conflicting responses, a warning will be displayed:

On the second screen. This screen is specific per Delegate

Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me (Default: Checked)

This would be used if you have a 2^nd or 3^rd delegate. These people shouldn’t get any meeting requests but should be able to adjust the calendar if required.

Note: that if calendar permissions are given without the delegate option then the updates to changed appointments would not be able to be sent (since this requires the send as permission).Generally if you want someone to be able to change your calendar you should make them a delegate.

Automatically send a message to delegate summarizing these permissions (Default: Unchecked)

This just sends a brief summary email to the delegate when you close the window.

Delegate can see my private items (Default: Unchecked)

Outlook allows you to mark an contact or calendar entry as private (a checkbox) in order to hide the details from delegates or other people that have access to your mailbox.

If you check this box, even private items will be visible to this delegate.

This is from the Rethinkit Tech Tips Blog

A large Mailbox is both slow and costly – it should be archived every 6 months or so to bring the size down.

What is archiving? 
Archiving is the process of moving mail items from the Exchange server mailbox (a paid service) into a local file (a free location).

(Archives are called a personal storage file or .PST, you may see it as ‘Personal Folders’ or ‘Archive Folders’ in Outlook)

How will I find the mail once it’s archived?
Archiving will automatically preserve your folder structure but put the messages in a ‘Folder’ underneath your main mailbox.

When you use Outlook Search and choose ‘All Folders’ your archives will be included in the search.

Note: Email in archive folders is not on the central server and therefore a) does not sync with other Outlooks / devices). It’s up to you to make sure the corresponding .pst file gets backed up. Also, these archives have nothing to do with (and should not be confused with) a FINRA archiving service (e.g. CarbonEmail).

How to Archive

1. Choose File... Archive
(or in Outlook 2010: Use File..Info… Cleanup Tools… Archive)

Outlook 2003                        Outlook 2010

2. Here’s the important part.  Choose a date and a filename and click OK
For the filename, put the file somewhere you will be able to get it from later and that you would normally include in a backup.

(A good location would by ‘My Documents\Outlook Archives’)

3. You will see archive activity on the bottom right of your screen.

4. That’s it

Optionally, you should now change the name of the archive.

When it's finished you will see the 'Archive Folders' underneath your mailbox on the left side of Outlook.
You should change its internal name from ‘Archive Folders’ to match the filename:

a. Archive Folders… Right-click… Properties….Advanced…

b. Change the internal name and click OK.
Note: The filename can only be changed when Outlook is closed, in which case Outlook will prompt for the new location.

Check your mailbox size. Here’s how to know how big your mailbox actually is.

Right-click your Mailbox and click ‘Properties’ then ‘Folder Size’

Choose the 'Server Data' tab and the total size is shown
An average size for a mailbox should be under 200MB. (NOTE: 1,000 KB = 1MB).

This is from the Rethinkit Tech Tips Blog

You have probably noticed that you can search for mail using the search box in the top right of Outlook.

This searches the CURRENT FOLDER,  to search ALL MAIL (including archives) click the All Mail Items button.

Also, to add the From, To, etc boxes (as shown in first picture above) to specifically search those areas, use the More button as shown here.

Have your .PST (Outlook archives) files taken over? MailScavator lets you select all your PST files and re-organize them by date and size. You will end up with files named "Jsmith 2007.pst" etc.

Go Industrial on your PST Files!

Turn this:

Into this:

How to use Mailscavator

First, download MailScavator here.

It's easy.   Basically follow the blue numbers in the program from 1 to 6.

(You can be running Outlook while using this program.  In fact you can watch it doing everything better if you have Outlook open.)

1. Click Select Outlook Profile if it's not selected already

2. Click select PSTs to search and put check marks in the PST archives you want to search.
(Use Add PST files to add other PSTs to search)

3. Select a folder where the new organized PST files should be placed.

4. Give the PST files a desired name and Split by Year (Or Quarter or whatever is desired)

5. Leave the Search page alone since we won't be filtering anything.

6. Change Logging to None (since it will go much faster).
Change Operation to Move

Click START!

A few things to note:

- Since this operation moves mail out of the archive.pst, you should make a safe copy of your original archive.pst files.

- The archive.pst will be empty when you are done and can be deleted.  If you choose to keep it, the file size will not go down unless you 'compact' the PST using the advanced properties of the PST in Outlook.

- MailScavator uses the received date by default (instead of Outlook's default of modified date - see step 5).  We think most people expect to split by received date.

MailScavator has other uses:

- Doing an eDiscovery type search across any number of PSTs with any number of date ranges and other search criteria.

- Collecting stats about senders / receivers.

- Allows you to attach and detach multiple PST files to your profile at once (rather than Outlook's one by one approach).

Outlook combines the concept of sending mail on someone’s behalf,  accepting meeting invites, and permission to view/edit someone’s calendar into two areas called delegates and permissions.

For security reasons, these options are controlled from the owner’s mailbox and not from the subordinate’s mailbox.

It’s a small tangle but it does make sense.  Here are all the options and how to set them properly.

Q1: Do you need to be able to send mail on the owner’s behalf as well as the possibility to accept or deny meetings on their behalf?
               Note: Delegates cannot see the owner’s inbox.

A: If NO, see Q2.  If YES, follow these directions

In Outlook you are known as a delegate and must be added to the delegate list on the owner’s Outlook.

(If you just want permission to view or edit a calendar without being able to send mail or accept meetings then stop and go to Q2 below)

Outlook ’03, ’07: Tools… Options… Delegates

Outlook ’10 : File… Info… Account Settings… Delegate Access

When you add the delegate, Outlook gives you the same permissions choices you would get in Q2 (below):

If you check ‘Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me’, then they will get the owner’s meeting requests and the option to accept or deny them.

If you check ‘Delegate can see my private items’ then even items marked ‘Private’ can be seen by the delegate otherwise they only see the word ‘Private’.

Outlook ’03, ‘07 displays these additional options when a delegate is added. 

In the first (recommended) option, the manager gets a copy of requests, but not the option to accept or decline (now only the delegate can do that)

(This is recommended to avoid conflict problems between a simultaneous accept and decline from the owner and delegate)

Q2: Do you need to see the owner’s Calendar / Contacts ?

A:

You must be listed on the Calendar… (right-click) Properties… Permissions tab on their Outlook.

<or>

Use Calendar… (right-click) Share to bring you to the same screen

<or>

When you add a delegate (see above) you will be asked if these permissions should be added also.

Add the person and choose their Permission Level

Choose Reviewer for Read-Only access

Choose Publishing Editor for Read-Write access

Q3: Do you need to see their Inbox?

A:

You must be listed on the Inbox… (right-click) Properties… Permissions tab on their Outlook.

Additionally, for the Inbox to be visible, you must have Read Permissions to the parent folder of the Inbox , called the Mailbox folder.

Q4: Now that I have permission, how do I see the calendar / contacts of the owner?

A:  Click Open a Shared Calendar and choose the owner

Q5: Now that I have permission, how do I see the inbox of the owner?

A: Right-Click on your mailbox and choose 'Properties...'

1. Click Advanced... then click the Advanced tab.

2. Click 'Add' and enter "john smith" or "jsmith@domain.com" or "smith"

3. Choose the mailbox and Click OK

4. Close all open windows.

Now you should see the mailbox underneath your own mailbox on the left side of Outlook.

Q5: I’m already a delegate, how do I send mail on the owner’s behalf?

A:

1. Compose a new message

2. You need to do this once to see the From field: Choose  View... From (Outlook ’03) Or Options… From (Outlook ‘07/’10)

3. Click  'From...' choose the name you would like to send from (make sure you click 'From' and choose from the Global Address List the first time)

Q6: How do I include a resource mailbox (like a conference room) in the meeting?

A4:

1. On the Attendee Availability tab of a meeting request, add "Resource: Board Room".
   Hint: Type ‘Resource’ press enter then right-click the red-squiggly line
2. Make sure you add as a resource. (click the little icon next to the attendee and change it to a house).

1. You should get a dialog indicating a successful booking.after you send the appointment.

Note: if you forget and add the resource as a required or optional attendee, the request will bounce back to them from the resource mailbox as a reminder that since the booking was not made properly, the resource is still available.

Some general notes

- Ideally, you should only have one delegate to avoid conflicting responses and duplicate or missing calendar entries.

- Don’t use delegate feature if you only need to view a calendar.

- Always send updates to ALL.

- Keep recurring meetings to a minimum (unless it’s just your calendar only).

See here for a complete list:

Outlook meeting requests: Essential do’s and don'ts

Best Practices for Delegating in Outlook

Here’s how create a desktop shortcut that opens Outlook to a specific folder.

1. Get properties of that folder in Outlook and copy the Location field and put the name of the folder at the end

\\Public Folders - jsimotas@rethinkit.com\All Public Folders\rethinkit.com\Public Contacts

2. Right-click on your desktop and create a shortcut to notepad.exe (trust me it’s easier)

3. Then edit the target of that shortcut to have the following format note all the quotes and the “outlook:” in front

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OUTLOOK.EXE" /select "outlook:\\Public Folders - jsimotas@rethinkit.com\All Public Folders\rethinkit.com\Public Contacts"

Hint: If you want an expanded folder list then create a shortcut to any child of the folder you want expanded.

The address book is what you see when you click on ‘To’ in Outlook. Most people want to see their contacts in that list. Outlook defaults to showing your corporate global address list (GAL). Here’s how to switch it.

1. Choose Tools... Address Book (or press Ctrl-Shift-B)

2. Inside that window, choose Tools... Options

3. Show this address list first:  Choose Contacts.  This is what first comes up when you press To:.

You don’t really care about these:

Keep personal addresses in: Choose the same list.  This isn't really used anymore.
Check names in this order: Use the up and down buttons to prioritize.  The server lists should come first, then your lists.

Outlook 2007 Addressing Options

Outlook 2010 Addressing Options

If you are a New Yorker going to London and have a 5pm meeting (UK time), it's tempting to schedule your appointment at 5pm (in NY time).  Don't do that!

Schedule them in New York time (noon) and once you get there , tell your computer, Blackberry, whatever that you are in a new time zone (some devices do it automatically).  Then your appointments will all appear correctly AND you will know in local time about things happening in NY.  Might want to turn those alerts off at night!

You should always schedule the time in the 'real' time (that is,  in the actual time it occurs in your own time zone) and not try to 'trick' the calendar.

Fortunately, Outlook 2007 gives you an easy way of doing it.  This is not required but makes it easier for you than doing the mental calculations .

The result will be the same - the appointment shows up in local time on your calendar and also in the correct local time on the traveler's (or foreigner's) calendar.

1. Click on the 'Time zones' button to show the time zones next to the times.

2. Change the Time zone to the local time zone of the meeting and set the time according to the local time.

3. An optional trick is to pick one time zone for the start and a different one for the end so you can 'see' what it means on both sides.

Outlook meeting requests are easy to use but also easy to misuse.

Here is a best practices guide straight from the Outlook team at Microsoft:

Outlook meeting requests: Essential do’s and don'ts

Some excerpts…

Send updates  After modifying one of your own meeting requests, remember to click Send Update to send the updated request to all recipients.

Keep meetings from vanishing   If you run Outlook on two computers and accept a meeting while using one of them, don't delete the meeting request from the Inbox on the other computer. If the request is still there, accept it again. Deleting a request on one computer after accepting it on another computer can cause the meeting to disappear from your calendar.

Try not to delete a meeting request outright because this is one way that meetings get "lost."

Don't move meeting requests   Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar.

Remove it right   If you receive a meeting cancellation, click Remove from Calendar to remove the meeting from your calendar. Deleting the cancellation from your Inbox won't remove the meeting from your calendar.

Don't auto-accept requests   If you have granted one or more persons delegate access to your calendar or if you have delegate access to someone else's calendar, turn off automatic acceptance of meeting requests. By turning off automatic acceptance you avoid problems with delegate workflow.

Further reading

Best Practices for Outlook 2007

Using Outlook Categories is better than using subfolders for two reasons:

- You can assign multiple categories to an item

- Categorization is saved with the item so you won’t lose it by moving things around.

(Tip: you can assign categories just by dragging and dropping in the ‘arrange by categories’ view)

Master Category Lists

This is the ‘pick list’ of categories that can be assigned to an item (contact, calendar, mail).

What’s important to know is that categorization is stored with the item and will stay with it regardless of whether it’s on the Master List.

So the Master List isn’t all that important – you are not going to lose categorization of your items no matter what you do.

However, the Master List is useful when categorizing items to know what you’ve used before.

How to add to the Master Category List

You can see from the pictures below that Outlook 2007 no longer shows you a separate list.  Instead it shows you a combined list of the Master List plus any categorizations for your item.

If the category isn’t yet part of the Master it says “(not in Master Category List)”. To add it…

1. Select the category and click ‘New…’

2. Click OK.

Note: other users (delegates)will need ‘owner’ permissions on the CALENDAR folder in order to edit the Master Category List (for any folder)

Converting

When you first install Outlook 2007 you may want to upgrade to colored categories.  This just assigns colors to your categories in the new format.

Mailbox (right-click)… Properties… Upgrade to color categories.

Making sure all your contacts’ categories are in the Master Category List

1. View… Current View…By Category

2. View… Arrange by… Categories

3. View… Expand / Collapse Groups … Collapse All Groups

4. Then, starting at the bottom (it’s easier)

a. Click on the plus to expand the group

b. Right-click the first contact… Categorize…All Categories

c. Then click the category that says “(not in Master Category List)” and click New… OK.

d. Click the minus and move up to next group

Where the Master Category Lists are stored

Outlook 2007 (colored and named) categories are stored in the default message store (mailbox or pst).  i.e. with the data – better.

Outlook 2003 (named) categories are stored in the registry (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Categories). i.e. on that machine – not so good.