Tech Update: Mozilla working on Thunderbird 3.1.7

            Mozilla corporation is currently distributing an update to the popular desktop email client Mozilla Thunderbird. The new version of the email program has not been officially announced yet, this will be done once the distribution to mirror servers worldwide has been completed.


This also means that there is no official release log yet, only the beta release notes are available and they list several fixes to improve stability and security of the email client, as well as several fixes to the program’s user interface.



The security fixes alone should be reason enough for Thunderbird users to update the email client as soon as the new version gets released by the development team.



A quick look at Bugzilla lists a total of 84 different bugs that have been fixed in Thunderbird 3.1.7 including a total of 26 different critical issues and one blocker issue. Most issues listed are related to crashes in the email client.



As part of Mozilla Thunder bird ongoing security and stability update process, we strongly recommend that all Thunderbird users upgrade to these releases. If you already have Thunderbird 3.1 or 3.0, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. You can also manually fetch this update by selecting "Check for Updates..." from the Help menu.


Thunderbird users who do not want to wait until the new release has been officially announced can download the new version from the Mozilla  server, one of the worldwide mirror servers, or sites like Softpedia which usually carry only the English language version.
                                                       

Known Issue: Message size increase after deleting part of message in Outlook.

       you've removed some unneeded text from a message that you received (a long signature and some old replies). Now you’ve noticed that now the message actually is larger. you were expecting it to be smaller since I’ve only removed text and not added any.

How is this possible and how can you prevent this?

This issue happens because when you edit a message, some style definitions of the default editing template and message specific settings are loaded into the message itself.

Normally, this is not a problem because Outlook filters out these style definitions which haven’t been used when sending. However, when you edit a message and save the changes, this filtering does not happen and the message gets saved with all the definitions and additional settings; used or not. This could add about 15 – 25KB to a single message.

There is no real way to prevent this and the impact is relatively small if you edited the message to improve readability. If you really want to decrease the message size as much as possible, you’ll have to convert the message to Plain Text.

This happens on outlook installed in Windows XP and Windows 7

How to add note to message in Outlook 2010

 

      There are several ways you can do this in Outlook 2010.

Custom flags
When you flag an item, you are free to choose the text for the flag. By default the text is set to “Follow up” and there is a list to choose some from as well, but you can type any text you want.

In order to type the text, right click on the Flag column in Outlook or press CTRL+SHIFT+G and choose “Custom…”.

Type your custom text for a flag

You can set the Start date and Due date to None.

Modify the subject

If your notes are only short, then you can double click the message to open it in its own window, and directly type your note in the Subject field.

Type in the message body

If your notes are a bit longer, then you can also type it directly into the message body. In order to do this, you must double click the message to open it in its own window. Then choose;

      Other Actions-> Edit Message

Once in edit mode, you can freely type in the message. When closing the item, make sure you save the changes to save your note.

Attach a Note

If you want to add a proper note, then you’ll have to write it in the Notes section of Outlook first. After this open the message and place it in edit mode as indicated above. Now you can drag and drop your note into the message and it will show as an attachment. You can delete the note from the Notes folder now as it will be saved with the message.

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

How to quickly add a selected text to new mail in Outlook

        This is one of the “hidden features” in Outlook which allows you to send copied text or files without first creating a new message.The trick is really simple.

First, copy some text or files from any application (it can be Outlook but it doesn’t have to be) by selecting it and pressing CTRL+C. Now go to Outlook and press CTRL+V. You’ll find that Outlook immediately creates a new message with the copied text in the message body or the copied files as attachments.

When do you use this?

This method is great to quickly forward only a portion of another message, document or website that you are reading.

you can also use it instead of the “right click-> Send to-> Mail recipient” method as it won’t be creating a Simple MAPI message then with the default warning text and functionality limitations you’d have to deal with otherwise.

If you use this in any other folder than a mail folder, then it will new a create a new item for that folder instead. So if you were to paste the text into a Task folder it will create a new task and if you were to paste it the Calendar folder it would create a new appointment, etc…

I use this to quickly create a task for a document that I’m working on. Pasting the file in the Tasks folder will create a new task with a hyperlink to the file instead of attaching the file, allowing me to easily open the file again when the reminder fires to continue to work on it.

Behavior and limitations

There are some things to note about this method though;

    * It does not work when you are in a Search Folder.
    * It does not work when your cursor is in the Reading Pane.
      Select a message or press SHIFT+TAB first to get the focus on a message before pressing CTRL+V.
      Pressing TAB will put focus on the To-Do Bar in Outlook 2007 and 2010 and will create a new Appointment instead.
    * It does not work when your selection is in the To-Do List.
    * Pasting a single file will put the name of the file as the subject, pasting multiple files will leave the subject blank.
    * Pasting one or more files into any folder other than a mail folder will create hyperlinks to those files instead of attaching those files.
    * Pasting one or more files in the Notes folder will paste the full path to the file(s) in a new note.
    * Pasting 5 items or more will display a warning that creating a new item could take some time.

These trick will work in Outlook installed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

How to enable a Read Receipt request in Outlook 2010

            After sending the email, sometime it becomes a frantic need to know when the recipient will start reading it, Outlook has an intrinsic feature which lets you know immediately when the person starts reading your message. By using Tracking, you can track down the email. This article elaborates how you can enable this feature.
Launch Outlook 2010, and from Home tab, click New E-mail.

Navigate to Options tab, and From Tracking pane enable Request a Read Receipt option, now click Send to send it to recipient.

By enabling this option, the recipient will be asked if he is willing to send the receipt back to the sender.

Upon clicking Next, Outlook will send a receipt containing time of reading mail back to the sender, with the same subject (RE). You will also notice on receiving receipt that, there is a small icon will be appeared adjacent to the Flag graphic, representing that, it is only the receipt, not the reply from the recipient.

On opening the receipt, it will be showing the time/date of mail, when it was sent and when it was read.

These steps can be followed on Outlook 2010 installed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

Outlook 2010: Missing Forward option in mails which are already forwarded once.

     When you forward or reply an email in Outlook, you can no longer see forward or reply icon in the orignal email that you have forwarded it or replied to it.

How do you get that back?

 

It’s unclear if the icons are still showing but do not reflect the reply/forward status or that the icons are not showing at all. Let’s first make sure the icon column is actually still showing.

Icon doesn’t reflect the status
If the icon has been added but it does not show the reply or forward status, then there could be various reasons why this is happening. The most common ones;

    * You replied to a message which was using a custom form;
      There is no solution for this.

    * You have a virus scanner that integrates with Outlook which is causing some    

       nastiness;
       Disable or uninstall this integration and try again;

    * You have an add-in installed which does something to special to a message;
      See if it works correctly in Outlook Safe Mode or when you disable all your add-ins.
   
    * The message has been replied to or forwarded with a mobile device;
      Not all devices or sync applications support syncing the forward/reply status as well.

    * If you are using the Outlook Connector you could be experiencing sync 

      issues between Outlook and the mail server. Check the Sync Issues folder for any 

      reports or items that experienced issues.

Adding the Icon column

The Icon column is enabled by default but could be missing. To verify that it is still there or to add it use;

Outlook 2010:

* First you need to click on "View" tab in menu bar.

* Under "View" drop down options click on "Arrange By".

 

* Now, at the bottom select the option "Custom".

* Finally click on the button "Fields".

 


If the the Icon column is not listed in the right panel, then you’ll need to add it from the Frequently-used fields panel on the left. You can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to position it correctly.

These steps can be followed in Windows Xp and Windows 7.

Outlook: Forward or reply icon missing in already forwarded mails

         When you forward or reply an email in Outlook, you can no longer see forward or reply icon in the original email that you have forwarded it or replied to it.

How do you get that back?

It’s unclear if the icons are still showing but do not reflect the reply/forward status or that the icons are not showing at all. Let’s first make sure the icon column is actually still showing.

Adding the Icon column

The Icon column is enabled by default but could be missing. To verify that it is still there or to add it use;

Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007:

* First you need to click on "View" tab in menu bar.
 
* Under "View" drop down options click on "Arrange By".

 

* Now, at the bottom select the option "Custom".

* Finally click on the button "Fields".

 


If the the Icon column is not listed in the right panel, then you’ll need to add it from the Frequently-used fields panel on the left. You can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to position it correctly.

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

Outlook: Mail's hang in Outbox

   you might have observed that outbox is having several messages waiting to get sent out. you have noticed that some of these messages have a date and are written in italics. Other messages have no date and are in Roman. Upon sending and receiving, the ones in italics get sent but the ones in Roman hang in the Outbox.

What is the difference and how can you fix this without needing to recreate the messages?

If the message is not in italics and doesn’t hold a date, it is not ready for submission and will hang in your Outbox until it gets resubmitted again.

This hanging issue often happens when the message gets opened (via a double click) from the Outbox, for instance, in order to modify something. If you do, do not use the Close button when done modifying the message, but make sure to press the Send button again to put it back in the queue.

Another visual difference is the icon of the message itself. Messages which are ready to be sent hold the stamped sending envelope icon while messages which are not ready to be sent hold an open envelope icon with the message outside of the envelope (which is the same icon as messages which are saved as a drafts). the same reasons contribute for above issue in Windows XP and Windows 7.

 

Outlook 2010: Flag details missing after de-flagged

        In Outlook 2003 when an item is flagged, and subsequently marked Complete, the email would show the date and time it was de-flagged and marked as complete. In 2010, it is only showing the date.

How do you get it to show both the completed date and time again?

You cannot change that flagging behavior,What you can do is adding the "Flag Completed Date" column to your view and customize the date layout for that column to include both the date and the time. Now when you hover on a message, you’ll see a tool tip popping up with the date and time when it got marked as completed.

   1. click on the "View" tab and then select the button "View Settings".

        
   2. Click the Columns… button

   3. Set the dropdown list “Select available columns from” to “All Mail fields”.

   4. From the “Available columns” list select “Flag Completed Date”.

   5. Press the “Add ->” button.

      You can leave the column at the bottom.

   6. Press OK to return to the View Settings dialog.

   7. Press the “Format Columns…” button.

   8. Select “Flag Completed Date” from the “Available fields” list.

   9. Set the “Format” list to a date format that contains the time and date in the   format that you like.
      This formatting is based on your date and time settings in Windows.
  10. Press OK and OK again to close the open dialogs and to return to your folder view.
      Hover on the message to see both the date and time for the message that has been flagged as completed.

These steps can be followed in Windows Xp and Windows 7.

Outlook: Unable to backup huge PST files

            When you are backing up your pst-file in outlook you get an error that tells me that there isn’t enough room on the external drive to back up the file. This cannot be correct; the file is listed as being only about 4.2 GB, and the external drive you trying to back it  has up to 31 GB of free space! Any clue as to what’s going on here?

In which format is the file system of your external hard disk?
My guess is that you are using FAT32. In that case your maximum file size is 4GB. To overcome this limitation you’ll have to convert the file system to NTFS.

To do this open a Command window (for instance via Start-> Run; cmd) and type;
convert b: /fs:ntfs

Note 1: Replace b: with the drive letter of your external drive.

Note 2: On Windows Vista you’ll have to do this from an elevated command prompt. To do this press the Start button-> type; Command-> right click the Command application and choose Run as administrator-> confirm the warning message and/or supply administrator credentials if requested.

Note 3: To see the current file system format, right click the drive in Explorer and choose Properties.

Note 4: There is no way to convert the file system back to FAT32 without formatting the entire disk.

Note 5: Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME cannot read NTFS formatted disks. Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7 and any Windows Server product have no issues with it.

Tips to impove IMAP performace in Outlook

Several users may have complain that Outlook 2007 freezes (or becomes extremely slow) until the synchronization between IMAP server and Outlook data file is complete.

If you are also frustrated with Outlook slowness, read some simple tweaks to help you improve the performance of Microsoft Outlook with IMAP:

Click "Tools" and then "Send/Receive Settings." Click "Define Send/Receive Groups," then "Edit" and tick the "Inbox" check box. Select the "Download complete item including attachments." Change the "Spam" folder in the same way, but select the "Download headers only" option. Click "OK" to continue.

Adjust the time that your mail client queries the IMAP server for more messages. This is purely a preference setting and is not necessary to improve speed except that the more frequently you check your mail, the more up to date your in-box will be. Close the "Send/Receive Settings" menu to return to the main Outlook screen.

 

 

Click "File" and then choose "Work Offline" from the menu. This option will keep Outlook from querying the IMAP server every time you try to open a message and speed up load times.
.

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

How to import calenders in Windows Live mail

                 

            

                To import a calendar from a program such as Outlook into Windows Live Mail,  you can import the calendar into Windows Live Calendar on the web. When you use your Windows Live ID to sign in to Windows Live Mail on your PC, your online calendars will automatically sync with your Windows Live Mail calendars.

You have two options when importing a calendar into Windows Live Calendar: create a new calendar and import the information into it, or import the information into an existing calendar.

   1. Save the calendar on your computer as an ICS file (.ics file extension).
   

   2. Go to the Windows Live Calendar webpage.
   

   3. Sign in with your Windows Live ID.
 

   4. On the toolbar above the calendar, click Subscribe.
 

   5. Select Import from an ICS file, and then click Browse.
 

   6. Browse to the ICS file, click it, and then click Open.
 

   7. Select Import into a new calendar.
 

   8. In the Calendar name box, type a name for the calendar.
 

   9. Next to Color, select a color for the calendar.
 

 10. Click Import calendar.
 

 11. Click Done.

How to flag mails as irrelevant after specific time in Outlook 2010

How can I mark a message, similar to flagging a message, as “irrelevant” after a certain date?

For this Outlook has the “Expires after” message option. When the set date is reached, the message will appear in a Grey strike through font for easy recognition.

Setting the expiration date

You can set an expiration date on a message, in the Message Options dialog. For this you’ll first have to open the message by double clicking it. You can then find the Message Options dialog in the following way;


Outlook 2010

Open the mail you want flag and then click on "File" tab and then select "Properties" option.

In this dialog you can select the “Expires after” option and set the date and time after which the message would be no longer relevant to you.

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

Outlook 2010: Organize

Where can you find the Organize feature in Outlook 2010?

The Organize feature itself has been removed in Outlook 2010 mainly because it was made up of 5 other features which are still there;

    * Move to folder
      Home tab-> Move

    * Rules and Alerts
      Home tab-> Rules

    * Categories
      Home tab-> Categorize

    * Conditional Formatting
      View tab-> View Settings-> Conditional Formatting…

    * Views
      View tab-> Change Views

you can find this option for Outlook 2010 which is on Windows XP and Windows 7.

Outlook 2007 attachment issue: Restrict safe list sender attachment download

         Pictures in messages from some senders are not downloaded unless you click a bar above the message. Pictures in messages from others download as soon as the message is opened. can you create some kind of list that allows this to occur?

Yes, Outlook can allow you to create this type list

Follow below steps:

Outlook 2007

Open outlook and then click on the option "Tools",

Now select the option "Trust Center" under which find Automatic Download section.

Go head and disable option: Permit downloads in e-mail messages from sender and to recipients defined in the Safe Senders and Safe Recipients Lists used by the Junk E-mail filter.

These steps can be followed in Windows Xp and Windows 7.

Attachment issues in outlook: word attachments

              

               

              When you receive a .doc attachment in Outlook, and double click on it, Word opens it in Reading Layout (two pages side by side) instead of normal mode. Opening a document outside of Outlook opens normally inside Word. Is this a Word issue or a Outlook issue, and how can you fix it?

That is a Word option. Outlook doesn’t control how attachments are being opened.

To change this behavior and always open the message in the Print Layout;

Word 2003

 
Open office Word app and then click on "Tools" option, now select "Options"
Click on the tab "General" and then select "Allow starting in Reading Layout" option

Word 2007

 
Open office 2007 Word and then click on Office Logo.
Then select the Word Options and then select "section Popular"
Now Open e-mail attachments in Full Screen Reading view

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

Restrict attachment download for all senders in Outlook 2003.

 

                 

                    Pictures in messages from some senders are not downloaded unless you click a bar above the message. Pictures in messages from others download as soon as the message is opened. can you create some kind of list that allows this to occur?


Yes, Outlook can allow you to create this type list

Outlook 2003

Click on "Tools" tab, then select "Options",

Now select "Security" tab and then click on the button: Change Automatic Download Settings.

Now disable option: Permit downloads in e-mail messages from sender and to recipients defined in the Safe Senders and Safe Recipients Lists used by the Junk E-mail filter.

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

How to create custom voting option in Outlook

         When enabling the voting option in your email, you can freely type in the space for the possible answers. Just make sure you separate each answer with a semicolon ( ; )

To set up voting on an email, 

Outlook 2003: 

 

After completing you new mail composition press the "Options" button and select the option" Use voting button" and then type in the space for the possible answers.

 

 

Outlook 2007 and 2010:

After completing new mail composition select the tab "Options" then find an option "use voting buttons", Now select custom and then  type in the space for the possible answers.

These steps can be followed in Windows Xp and Windows 7.

How to increase attachemnt size limit in Outlook 2010.

 

Outlook 2010’s attachment limit

 
        With Outlook 2010, the maximum size of an attachment has been set to 20MB. When you try to add a file which is larger than 20MB, Outlook will give you an error and will not allow you to add the attachment. This is in order to prevent the message from becoming stuck in the Outbox and to prevent you from needlessly uploading such a large attachment.

Increasing the limit

Note: Below mentioned step is registry tweak please backup your registry before performing below steps and be careful while handling registry. 

 
If your ISP allows for larger or smaller attachments and you want Outlook to match this limit, then you can increase or decrease this limit via a Registry tweak. If you are connecting to an Exchange server, then you do not need to modify anything as Outlook automatically modifies the limit then to the set limit configured on the Exchange server.

The setting is stored in the following location in the Registry;

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences
Value name: MaximumAttachmentSize
Value type: REG_DWORD

The value that you need to use is in KB. So if you know the amount of MB supported by your ISP, then you need to multiply that by 1024 to get the value that you need to enter. To allow for an unlimited size, you can set the value to 0.

Examples;
2MB-> 2048
5MB-> 5120
10MB-> 10240
50MB-> 51200

These steps can be followed Windows XP and Windows 7. 

---

Outlook 2010: Auto correction

 

          This feature is missing in Outlook 2007, or at least; that works a bit different from previous versions of Outlook/Word.

In Outlook/Word 2003, there was an AutoComplete feature for AutoText entries that worked with a pop-up suggestion.

In Outlook/Word 2007 and 2010, you’ll have to press F3 when typing the name of your saved Quick Part.

In most cases it is not needed to type the entire name of the Quick Part. You only have to type the part of the name until it becomes unique when compared to other names of your Quick Part.

Example
Assume you have 3 Quick Part entries named;

    * Regards
    * Thanks for this
    * Thank you

To insert the Quick Part named “Regards”, you can just type the letter “r” and press F3 ton insert the entire Quick Part.

To insert the Quick Part named “Thanks for your feedback”, you must at least type “thanks” before pressing F3 to insert the Quick Part.

To insert the Quick Part named “Thank you”, you must at least type “thank “ before pressing F3 will AutoComplete the Quick Part (note the space behind “thank”).

These steps can  be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.

How to assign different sounds for different senders in outlook

      


       When you receive an email from a certain contact, you can get a different “new email” sound than the default?

Yes, that is possible by using Outlook rule.

follow below steps:

   1. click on Tools then select Rules and Alerts

   2. New Rule

   3. In the section “Start from a blank rule” choose;
      Check messages when they arrive

   4. In the next screen you can select the conditions.
      In our case we select “from people or distribution list”

   5. In the bottom screen, click “people or distribution list” to select the address(es) from your Address Book.

   6. Click Next to go to the Actions screen

   7. Here select “play a sound”

   8. In the bottom screen click “a sound” to select a sound file from your hard drive
      (note that you should use a wav-file for this)

   9. Click next to advance to the next screen to set any exceptions when needed.

  10. Once you’ve done that (or don’t need that), click Next to give the rule a name.

  11. Click Finish and then OK to close the open windows.

These steps can be followed in windows XP and Windows 7.

How to create today’s unread mails search folder in Outlook

     


                  Do you want to conveniently manage all your mail you’ve received today even when you have rules configured which scatter them across different folders?
 

     "Today’s Unread Mail" Search Folder. As the name suggests, it contains all the emails you have received today but haven’t read yet. As it is a Search Folder, it doesn’t matter in which folder you have received the message.

Steps to be followed:

   1. Start with a New Search folder;
          * Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007
           Click on File then New Now select Search Folder.
         
   2. Scroll to the bottom of the New Search Folder dialog and choose;
      Custom-> Create a custom Search Folder

   3. Press button "Choose"

   4. Name: Today’s Unread Mail

   5. Press button "Criteria"

   6. On the Messages tab set the following condition
      Time: received today

   7. On the More Choices tab set the following condition
      Only items that are: unread

   8. Press OK

   9. Press button "Browse"

  10. Deselect the option "Outlook Today" and select the following folders;
      Drafts, Inbox, Outbox
 
  11. Verify that the option "Search in sub folders" is enabled

  12. Press OK to close the open dialog

These steps can be followed in Windows XP and Windows 7.