OL97: User Profiles and Information Services

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Outlook 97, Information Services enable you to control how e-mail systems address and deliver your mail, as well as how your mail and folders are stored. Information Services are stored in your User Profile. This article discusses User Profiles and how to create them as well as Information Services that are available with Outlook and how to add them to your user profile.

MORE INFORMATION

User Profiles and Information Services work hand-in-hand in order to enable you to take advantage of the feature set of Outlook. The following information explains each of these components.

User Profiles

A user profile is a group of settings that define how Outlook is set up for a particular user. For example, a profile may include access to a mailbox on Microsoft Exchange Server and specify that the Outlook Address Book appear in the Address Book dialog box. A profile can contain any number of information services.

Generally, you only need one user profile. If you sometimes need to work with a different set of information services, it may be helpful to create an additional profile to use those services. If more than one person uses the same computer, each person should have a separate profile to keep personal items secure.

You can copy an existing user profile, rename it, and then modify it as needed to create your profile. You can have Outlook start with the same profile every time, or you can select a profile to use each time you start.

To add a User Profile to your system, follow these steps

1. Double-click the Mail (or Mail and Fax) icon in Control Panel.

2. Click the "Show Profiles" button.

3. In the Mail and Fax dialog box, click Add.

4. Follow the prompts of the Inbox Setup Wizard.

To have Outlook prompt for a user profile, follow these steps

1. Start Outlook.

2. On the Tools menu, click Options.

3. On the General tab, under Startup settings, click "Prompt for a profile to be used" then click the OK button.

4. On the File menu, click Exit and Log Off.

Information services

The remainder of this document explains the different Information Services that come with Outlook and describes how to modify an existing profile in order to add a service.

Information services are settings that make it possible to send, store, and receive messages and items and to specify where to store addresses.

You can have multiple information services in a user profile. For example, you can have multiple sets of Personal Folders in a single profile and you can have Internet Mail, CompuServe, and The Microsoft Network in the same profile. However, you can not have two of the same Mail services in the same profile (for example, two CompuServes), they must be different services (Personal Folders are the exception).

With information services, you can control how e-mail systems address and deliver your mail and how your mail and folders are stored. You can specify the delivery location for incoming mail, the location of your Personal Address Book, and the use of any personal folder file you create. You can also set up information services to send faxes or connect to other e-mail systems.

For example, you might have the following two information services in your user profile: Microsoft Exchange Server for sending and receiving messages and a Personal Address Book for storing personal distribution lists.

Before you can use an information service, you must add it to your user profile.

Microsoft Exchange Server

The complete Outlook feature set is available with the Microsoft Exchange Server driver, which supports a server-based message store, message transport, and global address book. In this configuration, Outlook offers advanced e-mail functionality, group scheduling, personal information management, document explorer, and custom groupware applications.

NOTE: The Microsoft Exchange Server driver is included with Microsoft Outlook, but users must acquire a Microsoft Exchange Server client access license separately.

Internet Mail

With an Internet Mail configuration, Outlook functions as a full-featured e- mail client integrated with desktop information management and the Outlook document explorer. You store messages locally in a .PST file, and remotely connect to and download messages from an Internet mail service provider through the SMTP/POP3 driver. You store e-mail addresses in the Outlook Contacts module. The .PST file store and Internet Mail transport drivers are components of the Windows Messaging System included with Microsoft Outlook.

Microsoft Mail

Using the Microsoft Mail provider, you store messages locally in a .PST file, but work connected primarily through the LAN to a post office. The post office provides the messaging transport and central address book or e-mail directory. In this configuration, Outlook functions as a full- featured e-mail client integrated with basic group scheduling, (for example, sending and receiving meeting requests), personal information management and the Outlook document explorer.

Additional Components

Outlook Address Book:

The Outlook Address Book is an address book that is automatically created from contacts in your Contacts folder and includes an entry in the E-mail field or a fax telephone number field. Your contacts can be people inside and outside your organization, and you can have multiple e-mail addresses for each contact. When you update your contacts in the Contacts folder, the Outlook Address Book is updated as well. The Contacts folder appears as a separate entry under Outlook Address Book in the "Show names from the" box (Address Book dialog box).

Personal Address Book:

A Personal Address Book is a customizable address book best used to store personal distribution lists you frequently address messages to, such as a list of everyone on the racquetball team. If you use Microsoft Exchange Server, you can also add an address for a public folder to the Personal Address Book. Personal Address Book files have a .pab extension and can be stored on a disk.

Personal Folders:

Personal folders are folders that you create to store mail messages on your local hard disk or on another server. You add a main personal folder as a service to the User Profile and give it a file name. Personal folders have a .PST extension. For MSMail Post Offices, a personal folder is set up automatically because the Inbox and Outlook folders have to reside there.

Adding an Information Service

To add an Information Service to a user profile, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Services, and in the Services dialog box, click Add.

2. In the Available Information Services box, select the information service you want to add, and click OK.

3. Follow the prompts for adding specific information for the Information Service that you just selected.

An Information Service for Lotus cc:Mail is located in the ValuPack folder on the Microsoft Office 97 compact disc.