Office 2010: Inside Outlook® 2010

I’ve been test driving the Technical Preview of Office® 2010 now for a while and wanted to share some of my experiences.  Outlook has the most noticeable facelift of the Office® suite.  Finally, the Ribbon Bar has made its debut in Outlook! 

First…

Out with the old…

Above: Outlook® 2007 Menu Bar

And in with the new!

 
Above: Outlook® 2010 Ribbon Bar

For someone who is familiar with the Ribbon Interface from other Office products, this is a welcome change and one that promises to improve our everyday efficiency in performing daily tasks.  All those Usability Studies Microsoft® has conducted over the years is paying off!  Upon casual glance, the first item I’m drawn to is the “Quick Steps” item.  What are these “Quick Steps” and how can I use them?

Quick Steps

 
Above: Outlook 2010 TP – Quick Steps Ribbon Bar Item

In short, Quick Steps are exactly what they seem to be; instant one-click menu items to perform a task.  Want to send an email to your team at work?  No problem, just click “Team E-Mail “ and a new email is generated with the email addresses of your team members already populated.  Now I know what your thinking right now… “How does Microsoft know who my Team members are?”   It’s simple… through Satellite technology and with some help of the Patriot Act, they’ve been able to monitor who you communicate with the most and they know everything.   OK… not quite 🙂  It will require a little effort on our part to set this “Quick Step” up.

Clicking the icon in the bottom right to expand the Quick Steps Ribbon Bar will do the trick.  A Dialog window appears that allows for editing the defaulted items or creating new ones.

Above: Outlook® 2010 TP – Manage Quick Steps Dialog Box

Backstage

Another notable difference is the “Backstage View” that is visible by clicking on the Office Logo on the left-side of the ribbon bar.

The new Office Backstage view provides options for Account Settings, Mailbox Cleanup, Rules & Alerts and Printing.

Above: Outlook® 2010 Backstage View

What?  Reply To with Meeting!

Lastly, it’s a welcome change to be able to have the option to Reply To an email with a Meeting Request rather than drag the item into the Calendar.

In Outlook® 2007 we were presented with many possible actions, but alas, no easy way to initiate a meeting as a response to an email.

Above:  Outlook® 2007 Other Action Options

In Outlook® 2010, we have the option to respond to an email with a meeting request via the Actions Menu or via my other favorite, the Quick Steps menu.

Above: Outlook® 2010 More Action Options

Another notable item while viewing the Ribbon Bar on the email message is worth mentioning.  We keep the ability to send the message to OneNote® as was provided for in Outlook® 2007.  If you haven’t tried out OneNote®, I would strongly encourage you to give it a whirl as it really does make life much easier.  I make notes in meetings, my personal life and other projects.  OneNote® keeps these items organized and is integrated with Outlook® 2010 so that I can create meetings, tasks and emails from within the OneNote® application.

Lastly

My final favorite is the ability to create my very own Ribbon Bar item.  This is not the Quick Access Bar at the very top left… oh no!  This is my very own user customizable Ribbon Bar with items I use the most often.  Microsoft is making it really easy for the Office user to customize Office for the way they work!  Isn’t this the way software is supposed to work?  Kudos Microsoft!

Above: Outlook® 2010 Customized Ribbon Bar

Microsoft Office® 2010 is by far the best Office version yet in my opinion.  I’m dismayed at the inability to use Office® 2010 with Office Live! as no add-in exists as of yet but I’m still holding out hope 🙂   I’m anxious for the release to manufacturing for this one.  Till next time.

Clubhouse Tags: clubhouse, office 2010, outlook, Quick Steps, Ribbon Bar, backstage, customize, how-to, integration, One Note