If you want to construct a more complicated distribution list, with some recipients on the To field, some recipients on the Cc field, and yet more recipients on the Bcc field, you have to use a message template where you explicitly assign recipients to each field.

For replies and forwarded messages, you can choose to attach the original text, to include and indent the text, or to add a prefix to each line of the original message or reply without including the original text.

Outlook enables you to specify default fonts to use for different situations when dealing with e-mail. Additionally you can individually configure default font settings for composing new e-mail and replying and forwarding.

If you frequently sign your messages using not only your name, but also additional information such as your job title and contact information, you'll appreciate Outlook's Signature feature. When enabled, it appends text of your choice to the end of every message that create and/or reply to.

When you enter text into an e-mail, Outlook recognizes certain values, such as Web and UNC addresses (such as a network resource), and automatically makes them hyperlinks. However, after you enter a space, Outlook stops creating the hyperlink because it has no way of knowing whether you've finished the address and are now typing another word or whether the address contains spaces.

Sometimes you just need to have a quick preview of an e-mail before deciding whether to open it. Outlook provides a feature called AutoPreview that shows the first few lines of your e-mails.

When you open an e-mail, it automatically is marked as read. However, if you are using the Reading Pane to view messages instead of opening them, you have a number of possible options for marking e-mails as being read.

Outlook message window does not show all message fields. There many fields hidden behind the Options button, where you can set message priority, delivery notifications, etc.

If you like visually appealing message templates called stationaries, you may want to set up Outlook to always use a particular stationery for all new messages.