Chris Pirillo » outlook

That Which Smells Like a Rose

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:44:07 +0000

Over on our questions and answers community, ageekmom asked everyone what their favorite scent or smell is. This may seem like something completely wacky for me to write about, but I cannot help but have a million things running through my head as I read the answers given thus far. I found myself agreeing with several of them, only to remember I’m supposed to choose ONE thing as a favorite. In a world with so many amazing foods, perfumes, flowers and coffees, how the hell am I supposed to choose just one?

Think about the things you smell every day without even thinking about them. Perhaps the smell of a freshly-washed baby makes you sigh contentedly. Perhaps you enjoy the smell of meat sizzling on a grill. Which outdoor scents work to restore your sense of calm? Can you even narrow it down to just one favorite smell?

The software found in our download center isn’t of the scratch ‘n’ sniff variety. However, you WILL find just about any titles you can think of – at the lowest prices.

That Which Smells Like a Rose

J Smiley Outlook Email: Problem and Fix!

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:37:45 +0000

J Smiley Outlook Email: Problem and Fix!

What’s up with that J, yo?

I’m going to assume you’re using Microsoft Outlook 2010 at this point – or you know someone who uses it. But even if you’re not in either camp, you should pay attention.

The following fix applies to every single Microsoft Office program that uses its universal AutoCorrect feature. I’ve tried to address this problem with the Office team directly, but have been routinely ignored. I’m not slagging Outlook, either; I used and loved Outlook 98 / 2000 for the greater part of a decade (because 2003 and 2007 were inferior for non-Exchange users in many ways, but that’s not what I’m writing about today).

Essentially, you’re going to fix a bug that Microsoft has kept open for several years. Well, it’s not a true bug – so long as you NEVER email someone who isn’t running Windows, and so long as you DO NOT use HTML email. Not likely. It bugs just about everybody who doesn’t live in Outlook.

For some inexplicable reason, somebody at Microsoft thought it wise to autocorrect “:)” as a truer smiley when composing rich text documents and/or HTML email – rendering it in a specific font face (WingDings). This is why people think you’re crazy for injecting a random “J” in emails – they don’t have the same font(s) installed on their machine! And even if you have WingDings installed, you may only still see a J where a smile should clearly be.

So, there’s a simple fix that’ll make your emails 100% more intelligible (as far as smiles are concerned). Delete the autocompletes.

Open Microsoft Outlook (if it’s not already open).
Fire up the Options panel (found under the File ribbon).
Click open the Mail tab. You should see a “Spelling and Autocorrect…” button. The “Editor Options” panel will launch.
From there, click the “AutoCorrect Options…” button. The “AutoCorrect: English (U.S.)” properties pane is what you should see next.
Under the default “AutoCorrect” tab, look to the “Replace text as you type” section.
Click the “Delete” button.
Repeat these steps for the other smiley autoreplacements.

Enough with the J stuff, already. ;)

I want to call your attention to another Office QA oversight. They mis-capitalized “AutoCorrect” (leaving the “C” in lowercase within this particular pane). That wasn’t my typo.

Yes, I notice the small stuff – and then I do my best to fix these problems for the entire galaxy. You could replace the WingDing’ed smiley with a UNICODE smiley, but you may run into other encoding issues at that point. If you want to have more fun with UNICODE characters, check out funicode.com.

J Smiley Outlook Email: Problem and Fix!

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:34:03 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

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I recently asked all of you to submit your screencasts to me for review. The best of the best will be chosen to be featured here, in my various channels and outlets. This provides content of a different perspective for our community, and gives you new exposure for your work! Jack has submitted another excellent screencast, this time showing us a nice comparison between different versions of Microsoft Office.

Jack wanted to show us some of the differences between Office 2007 and Office 2010. One of the biggest changes is that Office 2010 now fully supports 64-bit operating systems. Also, Web Applications (allowing you to co-author documents across the web in real-time) have finally been implemented in the newest release, as well. Office 2010 also includes a redesigned Office button, as well as a nice backstage experience.

Differences in Word include the search function. In Office 2010, it shows up in a navigation pane, instead of a small window. Also in Office 2010, you have a paste preview, letting you see what you’re going to paste BEFORE you actually paste it. There are also enhanced picture editing tools. There are new options for working with text, including changing plain text into Word Art, or using shapes and styles.

The differences in Excel include graphs in single cells, instead of only within sheets like in Office 2007. Formatting tools have also been ehanced and upgraded.

There are also many interesting and excellent differences found within Outlook, Publisher and other Office applications. Thanks, Jack, for this sneak peak at what we can expect when we grab Office 2010 for ourselves!

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Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:43:54 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

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Recently I threw down the gauntlet, asking all of you to submit your best screencasts. I plan to highlight the best of the best here in my channel, and help promote yours. Jack has sent a few in to us now, and they’re fantastic. This one gives you a quick (but excellent!) overview of Microsoft Office 2010.

Jack started off by letting us know that Office 2010 is only available at this time for developers and technical reviewers. Included features include support for 64-bit, enhanced Office button that leads to a back room of sorts, and web applications for Word and Excel.

The enhanced UI includes a minimizer to give you more work space. This hides the toolbar until you click the button again. The new Office button leads you to a backstage experience where you can edit, save, print or share your documents.

New features in Word 2010 include an improved search function. It opens in a new pane that won’t cover up your document. Other new features include a paste preview, which is very nice. Others include improved picture editing capabilities and more text effects.

Some things new in Publisher 2010 now have pages show up in the side window pane, instead of at the bottom. Powerpoint features include new animations and a video editing capability. Excel doesn’t have too many new features, but it does have a few nice improvements.

Outlook 2010 has a new conversation view, that allows you to group conversations, and even clean them up… allowing you to focus on the most important feature.

Jack did a great job with his screencast. Don’t worry if yours wasn’t chosen to be featured today, though. We’ve received a lot of excellent submissions. We’re still going through them all, and plan to upload one per day (when videos are normally uploaded).

Remember, you need to upload your screencast video to Geeks, and then send me an email with a link to your video, a short description, and of course – tell me where we can find you on YouTube (or wherever you want to be found online).

Keep those submissions coming!

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Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

How to Synchronize and Coordinate Schedules

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:33:20 +0000

How to Synchronize and Coordinate Schedules

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On an average morning, I wake up and check my email. Then I worry about going about the rest of my day. There are many times when I need to coordinate my schedule in order to accommodate other people and meetings. I can never get anywhere with schedules, because I end up with an email thread that is 14 pages long! Have you ever noticed how some people are insanely focused on setting up a phone call to talk about something you could have already covered in an email? When it comes to coordinating schedules and getting people on the same page, you may want to Doodle!

Doodle is a free service that you don’t even have to sign up for! Use it to schedule an event, such as a meeting, business lunch, conference call or even a family reunion. Create a poll with your choices, and email out your link. Then, watch as the votes come in so that you can choose the best time for everyone!

You can also use Doodle to choose what movie to see, or find the newest hot restaurant to visit. You can use Doodle with your calendar (Outlook, iCal, etc), on Facebook, or even from your mobile device.

Doodle may not be a drawing service, but it certainly does make it much easier (and more fun!) to get something scheduled.

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How to Synchronize and Coordinate Schedules

How to Set up a Phone Call Reminder for Free

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:31:53 +0000

How to Set up a Phone Call Reminder for Free

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Instead of asking the live community to remind me to do things, I could use Outlook. But what if I’m not sitting at the desk at the time the reminder goes out? What do I do at this point, when I just need something like a phone call reminder. There’s a website that allows you to send phone reminders to yourself for free – without even having to register for an account! Wakerupper is the web’s easiest telephone reminder tool.
Schedule reminder calls on the web. It couldn’t be simpler.

Set a wake-up call at a specific time.
Remind yourself of important events.
Remember to take medication on time.
Escape from a boring date or meeting.
Remind child or spouse to do chores.
Set reminders for tasks and follow-ups.

Wakerupper is a telephone reminder service that aims to make telephone alerts as simple as possible. Just enter the number of the phone you would like to be called, the time you want the call to be placed, and an optional 140-character reminder message. That’s it – you will receive a call from Wakerupper at the time you have specified and your message will be delivered.

As long as you’ve scheduled your reminder at least three minutes into the future, it will work. Any number within the US or Canada can be called by the service. This is an excellent way to remind yourself of important things, instead of having to rely on services that may or may not work (or be able to reach you!) when you need it to.

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How to Set up a Phone Call Reminder for Free

Reasons I Use Outlook

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:16:19 +0000

Reasons I Use Outlook

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I’ve been using Microsoft Outlook for about 9 years now. It’s an excellent personal information manager… from mail, to tasks and notes, to the calendar. Here is Lisa’s list of reasons why she uses Outlook, as well.

It’s much faster to get into your email using Outlook, than it is having to open a browser and log into a webmail client. All you have to do for Outlook is double-click the icon on your desktop, and it’s all right there.
It’s SO easy to set up. There are tours, guides and instructions every step of the way to get you started.
You can use an Exchange server with it. This will allow you to share information and schedules with others, such as your co-workers or family.
Outlook has excellent little reminder sounds built in, so you never forget an appointment or task!
You can personalize pretty much everything, from your signature to setting up a reading pane.

As I said before, I use Outlook as well, and love it. It keeps everything in one place for me, and makes it much easier to manage it all.

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Reasons I Use Outlook

Top 5 Reasons Eudora is Better than Apple Mail

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:31:19 +0000

Top 5 Reasons Eudora is Better than Apple Mail

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I personally use Microsoft Outlook 2007 in an Exchange environment for my email. I’ve used Eudora in the past, and wasn’t very happy with it. However, CalgaryGuru sent me the top 5 reasons he uses Eudora instead of the Apple Mail. By the way, he is also using Tiger (10.4) and not Leopard (10.5).

Images pasted into Apple Mail are automatically converted to .tif format. If I wanted them as a .tif, I would have saved them that way.
With Apple Mail, you can only send messages that are plain text or Rich Text Format. You can’t send an HTML email.
Speed… the more saved messages you have, the slower Apple Mail gets. For power users, this is crippling when trying to work.
Apple Mail has no formatting controls in the message window.
If a message has styled text and images both, Apple Mail will send it out twice. With Eudora, you can send them as one regular message.

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Top 5 Reasons Eudora is Better than Apple Mail

Thunderbird or Outlook for Email?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:57:16 +0000

Thunderbird or Outlook for Email?

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – I have been using Outlook since it came out in 1998. Until recently, I wouldn’t have recommended using Thunderbird, but that has changed. Both are good clients, but it depends on what exactly you’re looking for, and your preferences are.

The first email client I ever used was VMS. After that came Elm (via Unix), Eudora, Pegasus, and finally Outlook Express. When Microsoft Outlook became available in 1998, I switched to that, and have used it ever since. I currently run Outlook 2007 on Microsoft Exchange 2003 .

racedude from our live chat channel asked me today which email client he should be using… Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. He says that he doesn’t use any of the features that come with Outlook, he just reads email with it. Until recently, I wouldn’t recommend Thunderbid, as it seemed to have been left behind while Firefox was developed further. However, Mozilla has recently begun updating Thunderbird, and it’s a pretty good email client now.

Both programs will do essentially the same thing. Take a look at the features and previews of each, and see which better fit your needs and lifestyle.

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Thunderbird or Outlook for Email?

Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:31:00 +0000

Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Poor Big John Midland. Every time he launches a Microsoft Office application the Windows Installer box comes up. Uninstalling and re-installing hasn’t helped the issue. Luckily, I have a very good idea what the problem is.

Most likely, a third party extension is causing this trouble. I asked John what version of Winows and Office he runs. He’s using Vista and Office 07. Both are still relatively new programs, and still have some bugs in them. He doesn’t recall installing anything new that would hook into Office. But that is probably the trouble here. I advised John to go through Microsoft Word and Outlook both to check active addins. Disable them one by one, and see if any of them fixes the problem. If not, then he needs to go through his programs, and uninstall or disable (one at a time again) any programs… such as Adobe Acrobat Professional… which tie into Office. I’d bet the farm that he will track down the problem through this method of madness.

John is a regular chatter on our >http://live.pirillo.com/ channel. If you’ve had this problem, and have suggestions for him, come by and talk with him!

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Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:22:27 +0000

Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

Oh, there’s more content coming down the pike – Jake’s still busy encoding interviews he did at CES a few weeks ago. Until then, I’m pushing my own personal envelope and inviting you along on a ride across town. Since I spend a fair amount of time in my own car, traveling to get a fine cup of Peet’s Coffee every day (if I can escape the hell of my home office), I thought I’d bring the recorder along with me today – if only to share my thoughts on Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 – two products I’m now using on a daily basis. If this one-way carversation works, then I’ll be thrilled witless.

Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:15:30 +0000

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Stop the presses – I’ve finally moved from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007! Granted, I didn’t have much choice in the matter. The decision was reached after I tried using Outlook 2000 on Windows Vista – and that experience was painful, at best. Then again, my Windows Vista experience has been nothing short of “so-so” to this point (far too many ghosts in the machine).

I’m still getting used to Outlook’s haphazard UI, but at least most of the speed issues with it have disappeared. Search is only as good as the last time the index was updated, however – which is frustrating if a message has just arrived and I can’t find it again by keyword. I’ll miss Net Folders, too.

Despite leaping to the new version, my outlook on Outlook remains the same; Microsoft needs to overhaul their PIM. And don’t even get me going on the mess that’s Windows Mail – as opposed to the slightly-more usable Windows Live Mail Desktop. Thunderbird kicks their respective digital asses (though none of ‘em are true personal information managers).

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Is Microsoft’s Outlook Team on Crack?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:09:22 +0000

Is Microsoft’s Outlook Team on Crack?

I’ve been playing with Outlook 2007 for a few weeks now, trying to get over the fact that it falls short of “impressive” in nearly every way. I wasn’t sure why HTML email messages were looking as though they had fallen out of the ugly tree – until I read this Campaign Monitor post that claims Microsoft takes email design back 5 years:

Previously you could send a HTML email in the comfort that the majority of your recipients would have very good CSS support. Other email clients were also catching up. Thunderbird uses the Firefox rendering engine, the new Yahoo! Mail beta has great CSS support. Things were looking good for us CSS based email designers. Unfortunately, that all goes down the toilet now.

What goes in the toilet – HTML email newsletters in general, or Microsoft Outlook? Not sure why people are so surprised about this turn of events; I’ve been telling you that every release of Outlook (beyond the 2000 client) has been craptacular. Then again, maybe Microsoft completely agrees with my “email is dead” argument? The jury is still out on this one.

Is Microsoft’s Outlook Team on Crack?

Syncing Outlook, OS X, Google with Ease

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:47:59 +0000

Syncing Outlook, OS X, Google with Ease

Not sure how it happened, but I ran into The Holy Grail of Synchronization – how to synchronize Microsoft Outlook (multiple locations), Google Calendar, Gmail, iPod, and mobile phone with Funambol, ScheduleWorld. I took the time to dig deeper, largely because I’ve been wanting to sync Outlook with Google (and Google with iCal) for a while now – and I’m still using Outlook 2000, which keeps certain syncing tools out of reach.

Standards to the rescue! Engtech, as described, pointed me to ScheduleWorld: “An experiment in a new kind of rich Internet application, built on the foundations of open standards that enables you to access your data from virtually anywhere using a growing number of interoperable devices and software.” Yes, it’s absolutely free – and absolutely 100x more useful than you may realize:

Sync between countless devices, platforms (iPod included!)
Simple and fast Calendaring, Scheduling, Tasks, Notes
Global address book (LDAP!)
Java Micro Edition (JME/J2ME) Client for mobile phones

Whoa. As recommended, I downloaded the Outlook SyncML client (which runs independently). Took a small bit of troubleshooting to get going, but the problems were remote – and cleared up quickly by Mark Swanson (ScheduleWorld mixmaster). In no time at all, I was able to do what I’ve always wanted to do – sync calendars, tasks, and notes through simple software, as well as have a network-accessible address book. Dude, ScheduleWorld is absolutely amazing – and free.

Syncing Outlook, OS X, Google with Ease

Chris Pirillo » outlook

That Which Smells Like a Rose

J Smiley Outlook Email: Problem and Fix!

Microsoft Office 2010 Comparison Screencast

Microsoft Office 2010 Screencast

How to Synchronize and Coordinate Schedules

How to Set up a Phone Call Reminder for Free

Reasons I Use Outlook

Top 5 Reasons Eudora is Better than Apple Mail

Thunderbird or Outlook for Email?

Microsoft Office Windows Installer Problem

More Outlook HTML Email Problems

Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 Thoughts

I’m Using Microsoft Outlook 2007

Is Microsoft’s Outlook Team on Crack?

Syncing Outlook, OS X, Google with Ease