You can display or hide a Reading pane that displays the header and partial contents of the selected message.

Most people prefer to have Outlook display the Inbox when the application is started. The following tip enables you to specify which folder you would like to be displayed when you start Outlook.

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.

You can configure Outlook to display a message of your choice when a new e-mail arrives.

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.

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 want to be sure that someone has received your message, you can request a delivery receipt.

Outlook, like other Office applications, supports AutoCorrect - a feature that allows Outlook to correct common spelling and typing errors and to replace characters with symbols. You also can use AutoCorrect as a shortcut, which means you can type a small string of characters and have those characters replaced by a longer string.

Sharing Contact Groups can be a great timesaver when multiple people need to continuously e-mail the same groups of individuals (for more details see Sharing Contact Groups). You can easily import a Contact Group that was e-mailed to you as an attachment.

This option controls which address book you see when you open the Address Book (via clicking Ctrl+Shift+B) and when you click the To, Cc, or Bcc buttons when composing e-mails.