The great strength of Microsoft Outlook 2000 is in the range of features it contains and it's inter-operability with the rest of the Office range.Ostensibly an e-mail client, contact organiser and daily calendar, there's so much to Outlook is frightening. Everything it does it does well and the support for both POP3 and IMAP mail is welcome for those of us lucky enough to be able to use IMAP.
In addition to the basic features there's a nifty set of electronic post-it notes built in and if you happen to be in an office which uses Microsoft's Exchange Server you can pass all kinds of information (including tasks and events) to other users on the same system.
One of the really nice features (though it has been criticised as a potential virus nightmare) is the ability to script new events within Outlook using the Visual Basic Scripting edition - ina nutshell, if Outlook doesn't do something you way you'd like it, it's possible to whip up a quick script to handle the job.
The feature set is so big there's not enough space to go into detail here but Outlook is a serious mail package for the power user, though if you have the money an investment in the whole Office suite is a good idea.
I couldn't live without my copy of Outlook... it provides me with a set of tools I can use to make managing my email and my work day so much easier.The tasks feature is invaluable - anyone who has a very busy schedule, and often has projects or tasks to complete on a deadline, will soon realise how much more efficient you become when you utilise this feature. Drag an important email over the tasks icon and set a reminder for yourself to action it.
The notes feature is handy for saving short notes, or memos to yourself, and the calendar allows you to add in meetings and reminder with the greatest of ease.
Outlook 2000 will send and receive email in plain text or html format, so you will have access to all those fancy web like emails that are often sent nowadays, plus you can use their built in stationary feature to add a little colour, or a professional look to your outgoing mail.
If you are on several mailing lists, the rules wizard will assist you in filtering your emails into different folders, so your inbox doesn't get clogged with messages. This feature allows you to have all emails from a certain person, or with a keyword or phrse in the subject line automatically filed into the folder of your choice.
Attachments are easy to handle, with attached files appearing at the bottom of the message, simply click on it to open. All in all it's a great package.
