Outlook comes with two types of built-in command bar objects, the Menu Bar and toolbars. Only one Menu Bar is allowed, but you can customize both it and the built-in toolbars. In addition, you can add custom toolbars to automate specialized or repetitive tasks. Fortunately, command bars are easy to configure and create in any Office application, including Outlook. Here are some of the various ways you can tailor Outlook to suit your working style.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Rearrange existing commands

Most of us use a few commands a lot, and seldom, if ever, use the rest. You can rearrange the commands on the Menu Bar or a toolbar, making selection a bit more efficient. To do so, choose Tools | Customize, click the Commands tab, and click Rearrange Commands. In the Rearrange Commands dialog box, select either the Menu Bar or Toolbar option. Then, choose the appropriate menu (if you selected the Menu Bar option) or toolbar (if you selected Toolbar) from the drop-down list at the top of the dialog box. The Controls list box will display the commands, including submenus, as they appear from top to bottom on the menu (or left to right on the selected toolbar).

You can add, delete, or move a command up or down (or left and right). Clicking Add will position the new item above or to the left of the selected command. You can also modify the selection by changing its caption and other attributes. Select Begin A Group if you want to add a separator above or beside the selected command. Clicking Reset removes all the customization in case you need to start over.

#2: Move commands the easy way

You don’t have to use the Customize dialog box to move commands on a toolbar. Hold down the Alt key, click on a button, and drag it to an alternate position or off the toolbar completely. To restore the tool, reset the toolbar or use the Customize dialog box to put it back.

If you remove a custom command, you’ll have to rebuild it if you ever need it again. Consider removing custom commands to a custom toolbar created for the purpose of storing custom commands you think you no longer need. Someday, you may want that command and you can simply restore it from the custom toolbar instead of rebuilding it.

#3: Disable personalized menus

The personalized menu feature displays only the commands you use the most often. You might find this feature more irritating than helpful, especially when you’re looking for a seldom-used command and can’t find it simply because Outlook isn’t displaying it. To disable this feature, choose Customize | Tools. In the Options tab, check the Always Show Full Menus option and click Close. This option will affect the entire Office suite, not just Outlook.

Developers can find the details for personalized menus in a file named msout11.pip in the C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office folder.

#4: Store your customization

Outlook stores the changes you make to command bars in a file named outcmd.dat. If you want to reset all of your command bars to their default settings, simply delete this file. But be careful. Deleting this file will wipe out all of your custom command bars.

If you’ve spent a lot of time customizing Outlook, store a backup of outcmd.dat in a safe place. Then, if you have to reinstall Outlook, restore your customized command bars by replacing outcmd.dat with your stored copy. You can also use outcmd.dat to copy your customizations to other systems. Simply save it over the exiting file.

#5: Create custom toolbars

To create a custom toolbar, open the Customize dialog box by choosing Customize | Tools. Everything you need is in one spot. Click the Toolbars tab and then click New. In the New Toolbar dialog box, enter a name and click OK. Outlook will create a new, empty toolbar. Just switch to the Commands tab to add built-in commands to the new toolbar by dragging them from the Commands list.

You can create commands for any folder or form, except for Note forms. Outlook displays custom toolbars in all views, but it’s smart enough to enable only those commands that apply to the current view.

# 6: Create hyperlinks for quick access

All of us have a folder we use more than the others. It might contain e-mail from family and friends or store critical information about your current project. Instead of wading through the folders hierarchy to access it, add a hyperlink command to a command bar.

First, display the Web toolbar (right-click any toolbar and select Web). Then, navigate to the folder in question so you can see its path displayed in the Web toolbar’s address box. For instance, if you selected the Inbox, the Web toolbar would display the path Outlook:Inbox.

Next, choose Tools | Customize, click the Commands tab, and choose Web from the Categories list. Scroll to the bottom of the Commands list box and drag the Folder command to a toolbar. Right-click the Folder command, choose Assign Hyperlink, and then select Open from the resulting submenu to open the Assign Hyperlink: Open dialog box. Enter the folder’s path in the Address field and click OK. Now, anytime you want to access that folder, just click the new hyperlink command. This shortcut also works for Web addresses and local files.

#7: Create a Mail To hyperlink

If you send the same e-mail message to the same list on a regular basis, you can create a hyperlink command to reduce some of your work. For instance, let’s suppose your group has a weekly meeting and before that meeting, you e-mail an agenda to everyone in the group. Now, there’s more than one way you could automate this task, but a hyperlink command is the simplest.

Begin by choosing Tools | Customize and clicking the Commands tab. With File selected in the Categories list box, drag Mail Message from the Commands list box to a toolbar. Right-click the Mail Message command to display its properties. Since Outlook uses the New Mail Message icon, choose Text Only or select Change Button Image to pick a different icon for the command.

Next, click the Assign Hyperlink option and choose Open from the resulting submenu. In the Edit Hyperlink: Open dialog box, click E-mail Address in the Link To section (bottom left). Then, enter the name of your group’s distribution list or enter each individual’s e-mail address separately in the E-mail Address field. Add a descriptive subject and then click OK.

Each week, when you’re ready to send the meeting’s agenda, click the hyperlink command and Outlook will display a new e-mail form, pre-filled with the appropriate e-mail addresses and subject text.

#8: Use command bar shortcuts

Not everyone uses propecia insurance the mouse for everything. If you’re more at home using the keyboard, you probably appreciate keyboard shortcuts. There are a number for working with command bars. First, activate the menu bar by pressing F10. Then you can use any of these shortcuts:

#9: Create a button image

Use the Office Button Editor to create custom icons for your custom commands. It’s a bit limited, but it will get the job done most of the time. With the Customize dialog box open (Tools | Customize), right-click the command and choose Edit Button Image to launch Button Editor. Choose a color and then click a square or selection of squares in the Picture grid. You can also paste in a bitmap file that’s 32 x 32 pixels or smaller.

#10: Beware of the Reset option

If you add a custom tool to the Menu Bar or to one of Outlook’s built-in toolbars, you need to be careful about the Reset option. In fact, you might be better off creating a custom toolbar instead of altering the built-in Menu Bar or toolbars. It’s just too easy to reset them without realizing that you’re wiping out a custom tool — until later when you need it and it’s no longer there. To reset the Menu Bar or a built-in toolbar, all you do is choose Tools | Customize, click the Toolbars tab, select the object you want to reset, and click Reset. This will remove all customization from the selected command bar, so make sure that’s what you really want to do.

Fonts are a luxury that we often take for granted. But the fonts that are available on the system you use to create a PowerPoint presentation might not be available propecia instructions on the system you actually use to share the presentation. At best, the system will substitute a font that works well enough. At worst, the system will substitute a font that makes a mess. Don’t leave such an important visual tool up to chance.

The good news is that you can save the fonts you use in your presentation with your presentation. It won’t matter if the presentation system doesn’t have your fonts of choice because you’ll have them. Simply tell PowerPoint to save the fonts as follows:

The main reason I’m mentioning this feature is because it’s so hard to find in PowerPoint 2007 — although it’s right under your nose! This option’s still available via the Save As dialog box, but instead of being on the toolbar, the Tools control is at the bottom-left corner of the dialog box. I know things change, but geez…. Perhaps I can save a few of you the unpleasant I’m such an idiot feeling when you transition to PowerPoint 2007 and you can’t find the tools you need.

Network administrators need to know how to set up and manage multiple network interfaces.

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As more networks are rolled out and more computers are shipped with multiple connection methods, the need for a workstation to participate in more than one network is becoming more common. Working with multiple adapters in Microsoft Windows XP can be a little intimidating at first, but it gets easier once you get into it.

This blog post is also available in PDF format in a TechRepublic download.

There are three scenarios that would require you to use more than one network interface on a machine. In the first, you’re physically connected to two separate networks; this would obviously require multiple network adapters (Figure A).

Figure A

A single PC connected to two networks with separate adapters

In the second, you have two separate IP networks at the office and need to be able to access both of them (Figure B).

Figure B

A single PC connected to two networks with one adapter

In the third, you have a single network adapter but are connected to multiple networks (Figure C). For example, you could have a remote small office network with a DHCP-assigned RFC 1918 address, but you would also need to connect to your network at the main office via a VPN connection. In any case, you’d need to set up XP to recognize any and all of the networks that you participate in.

Figure C

A single PC connected to two networks with one adapter but two connections

The language

You can reduce possible confusion by keeping a couple of terms in mind while reading this article. An adapter is a piece of hardware that you install in your system or a piece of software that you install under XP that emulates a network adapter, such as the loopback network adapter. Connection describes an individual connection to a network. Depending on how your network is configured, this can include multiple addresses. I’ll explain more about this later.

My configuration

I’m using a laptop with differing types of network adapters and connections so that I can show you a wide range of options. I have two physical network adapters installed — an 11-Mbps wireless adapter and a fixed 10/100 jack on the side of the laptop. I also have a modem with a dial-up connection that I use when I’m on the road. Other than that, I have a whole host of virtual adapters and connections that I will also explain.

Showing them all

In Windows XP, all network connections — dial-up, LAN, VPN, or FireWire (IEEE 1394) are shown in the Networking control panel. (Figure D)

Figure D

A listing of all the Windows XP network connections

You can see in Figure D that there are four categories of network interfaces under Windows XP. Dial-up connections are just that — connections to a dial-up ISP. I have only one, and I use it when I can’t connect to anything faster. Next on the list are my LAN or high-speed Internet connections. I have two adapters: an Intel 10/100-Mbps adapter and an 11-Mbps 802.11b D-Link wireless Ethernet adapter.

Next are Network Bridge adapters, which include my FireWire and VMware bridge network connections. Network Bridge connections work a little differently from other connections because they’re assigned addresses from a pool reserved by the actual bridge adapter, which is a piece of software. Often, bridge connections are used to communicate between the host (the Windows XP machine) and the remote end — a device such as a digital video camera or a certain kind of VMware session.

Finally, my VPN connections are listed. I almost always have one connection open to my work network when I’m working at home, and I keep Outlook running over it. (I’ve blacked out the name and IP address of the connection for security reasons.) The last connection is TechRepublic Tunneling Test, which I was using for testing.

Two physical connections

I’ll first go over installing two separate network adapters in a Windows XP machine because they’re the easiest to understand and troubleshoot. This connection method corresponds to Figure A.

In this scenario, there is a physical adapter for each individual connection on the machine. On the laptop that I’m using to write this article, these adapters could be considered the two physical jacks — the wireless adapter and the one on the side of the machine.

I’ve configured the Intel adapter, which is wired directly to my home network, to use DHCP for its address and have provided a static address for the wireless adapter to use. However, I haven’t provided the wireless adapter with a default gateway. Providing multiple default gateways to a Windows 2000 or XP machine can seriously confuse network issues, because the machine won’t know which one is the real default gateway.

To see IP addressing information, I issue the command ipconfig /all at the command line. Listing A shows the results for the two physical network adapters in my machine.

Listing A — Windows IP Configuration

This listing shows me the IP address, network mask, gateway, and almost all other information related to networking that I would need. Notice that the names of the connections correspond to the names in Figure D. I’m also told whether this is a DHCP-assigned address.

When I attempt to ping an address on either network, Windows XP will use the appropriate interface. When you try to traverse beyond the routers that connect the workstation to these networks, things become a little trickier. After the router, your Windows workstation has no way to determine what lies beyond. It only knows about what is directly connected to it, unless you provide it with static routes or install the RIP Listener Service. For this reason, one of your connections must include a default gateway. This is the device that your Windows XP workstation will consider its “next hop” on the network when you attempt to access services that are beyond your directly connected networks.

To modify an address on an adapter, bring up a list of network connections by selecting Start | Control Panel | Network Connections. If you’re using Windows XP’s default Category View, browse to Start | Control Panel | Network And Internet Connections | Network Connections.

Note: I will not be using Category View. I find it less efficient than the classic view of the Control Panel.

Next, double-click the connection you wish to work with and click the Properties button to bring up the information related to that adapter. This screen will look similar to the one shown in Figure E.

Figure E

Adapter information

To bring up the TCP/IP properties, click TCP/IP and then click the Properties button. You will see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure F.

Figure F

TCP/IP properties

To change the TCP/IP address, enter the information you need and click OK.

Single NIC, multiple networks

Next on the list of complexity is connecting a workstation to two logically separate but physically connected networks, as shown in Figure B. This setup might occur, for example, if (1) you have separate departments using separate address spaces, (2) certain users need to be able to connect to services offered by both departments, and (3) everything is connected via switches with routers only at the edge of the network. This setup may also be done for security reasons, particularly when sensitive information is put on the network address space that isn’t connected to the router that goes out to the Internet.

In any case, you’d propecia insomnia need to be able to get workstations attached to both networks, which is actually a very easy task. First, decide which connection will have the default gateway. For the same reasons I mentioned earlier, using more than one gateway can be problematic. I always use the router with the connection out to the Internet as the default gateway because it lets me avoid adding routes to every host on the Internet — that wouldn’t be much fun.

Second, the address for the network connected to the Internet router must be assigned. When you assign multiple addresses to a NIC, they all must use static addressing. For my example, I’m going to use my wireless adapter and work with the IP addressing. I’ll then statically assign the second address.

To accomplish this, I’ll use a single network adapter with multiple network addresses. (You may have heard the terms “multihoming” or “binding multiple addresses” associated with this action.) To perform the action, bring up the TCP/IP properties for the network adapter that you wish to work with. On my system, the screen shown in Figure G shows my current configuration, with a single address assigned to the network adapter.

Figure G

Current configuration of my wireless adapter

To add an address, click the Advanced button, which will bring up a second properties screen, as shown in Figure H.

Figure H

Advanced TCP/IP properties

You need to work with three areas. The first is the IP Addresses section, which is where you’ll add the second IP address. You can see in Figure H that there is already one address assigned. The second section lists the default gateways currently defined on the machine. You can see that a single gateway is already defined. Finally, the network metrics section defines the order in which network information will be used. This information can be used to alleviate problems with multiple default gateways, but it isn’t always 100 percent reliable.

Adding a second address

To add the second address, click the Add button in the IP Addresses section of the window. You’ll be presented with a window that asks for the IP address and subnet mask for the new address, as shown in Figure I.

Figure I

Adding a second IP address

That’s all you need to begin accessing resources on the second network. Listing B shows the network parameters from an ipconfig /all command for this adapter. Notice that there are two entries for IP address now listed. This shows that Windows XP can communicate with both the 10.10.10 and the 10.10.11 networks over this single physical network connection.

Listing B

Other types of connections

Windows XP can also work with other types of connections, such as VPN adapters, as evidenced by Figure D. In essence, these types of connections make use of one of the actual physical connections but show up as a separate, virtual connection, as shown in Figure C.

In the example shown in Figure D, a VPN connection was established over the WAN Miniport (PPTP) to a specific IP address. The WAN Miniport is a virtual port established in XP for just this purpose. The ipconfig /all listing for this connection is visible in Listing C. The IP addressing information in Listing C is DHCP assigned from the VPN server in my office, as are the remaining parameters, such as DNS servers and WINS information. Other than the fact that it is a software adapter and uses a real adapter to do its work, the VPN adapter works like the other adapters I have shown you.

System tray tip

Finally, I find it useful to enable icons in the system tray to get at-a-glance information about my network connections without having to open the Networking control panel (Figure J).

Figure J

Network information in the system tray

This information is more useful if you rename the network connections with something more descriptive than Local Network Connection. You can enable a system tray icon for any adapter — hardware- or software-based — by selecting the Show Icon In Notification Area When Connected check box on the properties page for the adapter.

If you query your Access database to generate a mailing list, but the list contains duplicate names and addresses, this helpful trick will save you some time. See how tweaking the query properties can ensure a list with unique entries.

You’ll get more mileage out your advertising dollar if you eliminate duplicate mailings to the same address. One way to do this is to use query properties to remove duplicates from your mailing lists.

For example, say you just performed a query on your Orders database to obtain the names and addresses of all customers whose order balance is typically below $100. You would like to send them a special coupon for new orders totaling more than $100. A quick glance at the data indicates that there are a number of duplicates in the list. (There is more than one order per customer.)

Rather than spend time removing the duplicates one by one, rerun the query with the Unique Values property set to Yes. Follow these steps:

Figure A

1. Click in the Unique Values property box and select Yes (Figure B).

Figure B

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1. Clear the Show check box under the Balance field used as the criterion for the query.
2. Click Run.

The query should now list only one record for each customer. Be sure to clear the Show check box under any criteria fields; otherwise, it will override the Unique Values property setting.

I tend to think of styles in terms of entire documents, or even sections or paragraphs. Applying formats to individual words or phrases is often easier accomplished manually, usually as an afterthought, but only if you’re applying the formats just once.

Repeating the manual process is inefficient. Fortunately, there’s a shortcut — the Ctrl + Y keystroke combination. This shortcut remembers the last set of formats applied. By set, I mean multiple formats applied to a selection. There are two limitations with this shortcut:

To use the Ctrl + Y shortcut to quickly apply multiple formats, do the following:

1. Select the first word or phrase.
2. Choose Font from the Format menu.
3. In the Font dialog box, select the appropriate formats.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to the document, where Word will have applied the specific formats to the previously selected text (step 1).
5. Highlight the next word or phrase that you want to format and press  Ctrl propecia health insurance + Y to apply the same formats chosen previously (step 3).
6. Repeat step 5 until you’re done applying that particular set of formats.

This shortcut is most useful when you’re in a position to apply multiple formats to an entire document — usually after you’ve created the document and you’re reviewing it.