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Outlook 2002

Of all the programs included in Office XP, Outlook 2002 contains the least to email home about. It has some useful additions and ties in well with other applications -- Word 2002 in particular -- but is more a vehicle for other application improvements than an innovative product in its own right.
Written by Laurence Grayson, Contributor

Microsoft Outlook 2002

0.0 / 5
Not yet rated

pros and cons

Pros
  • Improved remote operation usable group scheduling colour coding in calendar improved WordMail integration.
Cons
  • basic features remain unchanged some irritating feature implementations.
  • Editors' review
  • Specs

Of all the programs included in Office XP, Outlook 2002 contains the least to email home about. It has some useful additions and ties in well with other applications -- Word 2002 in particular -- but is more a vehicle for other application improvements than an innovative product in its own right.

Outlook 2002 now has AutoComplete for email addresses (something that Lotus Notes and Outlook Express have had for some time), and allows you to select which account you want to use to send individual emails -- assuming you have more than one set up. It has also removed the boundaries between Internet and Exchange modes, so you can create Exchange, POP3, IMAP and HTTP within a single email profile, with the inclusion of Hotmail account support.

One of the more interesting features is the integration of Instant Messaging (IM) support. If you have MSN Instant Messenger 3.5 or later (it's not included in the install), Outlook will inform you if members of your 'buddy list' are online, so you can talk to them directly instead of sending an email.

Outlook 2002 automatically selects Word 2002 as its default email editor, choosing HTML as the default format. This means that you benefit from Word's new features, although you still get AutoCorrect and spell check with the internal email editor. However, plain or rich text would be a more secure choice for the default format.

For complex schedules, you can now colour code both individual and recurring appointments, as well as setting rules for automatic colour coding ('red' for appointments that contain the word 'urgent' for example). If reminders have piled up, they're presented in a single list that you can dismiss entirely rather than a group of pop-up windows that all have to be closed individually. Also, if you receive an invitation to a meeting that you can't attend, you can propose alternative meeting times rather than simply turning it down flat.

Outlook 2002 will now remove any unnecessary line breaks from emails, making them word-wrapped and much easier to read. You can also click on links and open attachments from the preview pane.

Notebook users who swap between offline, dial-up and LAN connection will appreciate Outlook 2002's profile editor, as it allows you to set send and receive rules based upon the connection state. You may only want to download mail headers when using a dial-up link to avoid downloading a 2MB attachment at hotel telephone rates, for instance.

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A lot of these improvements are only new to Outlook 2002, having been available elsewhere for some time, and it still doesn't support newsgroups. Nevertheless it's a solid enough product, and forms the basis for tools within other office applications.