We'll start off this week with some of the annoyances and feature requests readers sent in. I'll share more over the next few issues.

Attachments and CC/BCC

Dave wants “a check box or other option on CC and BCC to eliminate attachments - this allows all those crazed corporate wind bags that "cc" their entire department when delivering work or some project, then everyone saves a copy and so on. Referencing the file name only would (or could given that fact that the sender would control the feature) need be referenced in the body of the email.”

I won't mention Dave's last name or his employer, just in case his crazed wind bags read this, but Dave is right - Outlook needs an option to send attachments only to those in the To field. This is a popular request, one I've heard many times over the last 10 years.

Quick Click Flags

Christine writes: I have an Outlook issue that is driving me batty. I'm irritated by what I think is poor design on Microsoft's part but I'm also really floored that I am the only one (or one of the only ones from the 3 or 4 similar comments I was able to find) who have this peeve.

I sort incoming items that need follow up in two ways. First I assign categories to items to categorize them (ex: business, personal, charity etc) based on what they are about. Then I use quick flags to quickly assign a follow up date (either today, tomorrow, this week, next week, no date or custom). For reasons I cannot fathom though, Microsoft has chosen to make 3 of these flags (today, no date, and custom) red while the other 3 are varying shades of pink. This means that when I look at my inbox or to-do list, I can't visually tell the difference between when the 3 types of red items are due and I have to guesstimate on which shade of pink a flag is to tell whether it is due tomorrow, next week etc. I could use valuable column real estate and add a date due column and/or sort by due date but then I miss on the intuitive info that a colored flag provides (Isn't a flag all about providing visible info?) . What am I missing? I have read the Microsoft article about the difference between flags in 03 and 07 and how categories have been added but that doesn't seem to address this functionality. If these flags were different colors based on due date, the issue would be moot. Does you know how to change these flags to 6 discreet colors? Are there add in products that will do this? Is there another way to quickly assign due dates to items and then provide a visual indicator as to when these dates are.

I can assure you that the red and pink flags are not working for a lot more than a few people. Based on the questions I see, many people use the Quick Click flag and rarely use any other flags - if the flag is red, its due today, if its pink it’s not due today.

My suggestion is to use automatic formatting to highlight the text. Currently overdue items are red, you could use blue font for no due date, purple could due at least 2 weeks from now and pink for due tomorrow.
To do this, go into the Define Views dialog and make a copy of the current view. Add Automatic Formatting rules to the copy, using the Advanced tab to create the following filters:

Tomorrow: due date tomorrow

No date flags: due date does not exist
          flag status exists

Custom dates: use due date on or after 2 weeks from now
This will highlight items due more than 2 weeks out. You can create additional rules to highlight items due this week or next week if you want.

Why should you customize a copy of the view? If you accidently reset the default view you won't lose your customizations. You'll need to delete the custom view or open Outlook using the /cleanviews switch to remove it. If you have a habit of messing up views, make several copies of the view after you're satisfied with it. If you mess up a view, delete it and use a copy.

Printing Color Categories

Speaking of color categories, I’m seeing a lot of questions from users who want to see the colors of the categories when they print their monthly calendar in Outlook 2007.

The bad news: What you see in your printout depends in part on your printer, printer driver, and ink cartridge. You may have pale colors with one printer while others only print a color border around categorized appointments. If you're low on ink, you're more likely to have borders only. Backgrounds for all day busy events may be colored, or not, even with a full ink cartridge. Printing to a digital format then sending the digital copy to the print may not make a difference - you'll see colors in the digital copy but not on the paper.

The good news: Some printing bugs have been fixed so make sure you have the latest updates installed for Outlook. It's a good idea to check for updates for your printer driver too.

Calendar Printing in OWA 2007

While we’re on the subject of calendar printing, a user recently asked how to print a calendar in OWA 2007. OWA 2003 includes a printer button on the toolbar but the button is missing from OWA 2007 and the browser's printing capability doesn't print the calendar properly.

Try this: click on a date or time period the press Ctrl+P to bring up the printer dialog then click on the Options tab, and select Only the selected items. This will print just the calendar and its toolbars, not the navigation pane. While this isn't a perfect solution, it is a printout and you'll even print the colors used for categories.

I recommend using print preview since you'll probably need to change the zoom percentage before printing, especially if your browser is full screen on a high resolution monitor. If you adjust the browser window so it’s about 1024x768 before printing, the default settings might work fine. In the day and week views, the lines between time periods may be very faint and the day ends about 4 PM in portrait layout (unless you reduce the zoom setting), but it prints color categories.

If your users need more printing capability, Messageware's OWA Suite 2009 offers better calendar printing options.
http://www.messageware.com/products/exchange-2007/Exchange-2007-OWA.php