Outlook Options Menu

[Will Niccolls]

I'm curious what the prevailing opinions are regarding the Tools > Options
menu.

As someone who has configured hundreds of Outlook installations over the
past years, I still find myself searching various buttons and screens to
find the myriad of options and sometimes not finding what I know is there.
Often a quick visit to the Help menu is needed--sometimes I don't find
answers there either--(see my post about the reading pane below.)

Does anyone else find it cumbersome and not so user friendly? Besides the
Tools | Options, there is also the powerful View menu.

I'm always confident that I can find what I'll need to do--generally I think
its a fine Email, Calender, and address book program, but I often wonder why
the Options menu contains Mail Setup, Mail Format, and then on the
Preferences Tab, an Email Options button. Not to mention the options
associated with the Accounts setup. I'm not complaining about the number of
options per se, I enjoy the power and configurability. More it's a
navigation issue.

Back in older versions, I always figured they'd find a way to make it more
navigable. But here we are with Outlook 2k3, and it hasn't changed very
much. Apparently I'm in the minority on this? I do know that many users I
support have a far more difficult time than I in configuring the options.

I would LOVE to see one large Email Options screen, instead of separate
tabs. I imagine groups of options that are associated simply demarked by a
line or box--no more clicking back and forth, no more forgetting which
screen you already looked at. It is as if the designers want to save screen
space by using the Tab format for the menus. I say forget it--you don't
need the screen space during the typical operations you perform with these
windows, and you don't visit it vary regularly.

Reaction?

Will Niccolls

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not so sure you're in the minority. These are good thoughts.
My question is if you're configuring that many systems and have some good
ideas, why aren't you enrolled in Outlook 12 beta testing?

 

[Snowflake]

Ever since I got an at work Exchange Account in addition to my personal POP3
account, I"ve been stumbling through those menues & dialog boxes & options
settings trying to get the big picture to make both work either together or
seperately. I've also spent hours on the internet looking for a rosetta
stone or logically thought out instructions to configure Accounts, Profiles &
Groups. I have Outlook sort of working with constant complaints & errors
that I gave up on trying to fix so I could just read my mail.
Seems like once upon a time I used a competeing suite that put dozens of
printing options on a single check box page so you could see what you had
previously chosen. After a while you became familiar with every possible
setting and never got lost in options hell. What's wrong with all on one
page?

Not so sure you're in the minority. These are good thoughts.
My question is if you're configuring that many systems and have some good
ideas, why aren't you enrolled in Outlook 12 beta testing?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I'm curious what the prevailing opinions are regarding the Tools > Options
menu.

As someone who has configured hundreds of Outlook installations over the
past years, I still find myself searching various buttons and screens to
find the myriad of options and sometimes not finding what I know is there.
Often a quick visit to the Help menu is needed--sometimes I don't find
answers there either--(see my post about the reading pane below.)

Does anyone else find it cumbersome and not so user friendly? Besides the
Tools | Options, there is also the powerful View menu.

I'm always confident that I can find what I'll need to do--generally I
think its a fine Email, Calender, and address book program, but I often
wonder why the Options menu contains Mail Setup, Mail Format, and then on
the Preferences Tab, an Email Options button. Not to mention the options
associated with the Accounts setup. I'm not complaining about the number
of options per se, I enjoy the power and configurability. More it's a
navigation issue.

Back in older versions, I always figured they'd find a way to make it more
navigable. But here we are with Outlook 2k3, and it hasn't changed very
much. Apparently I'm in the minority on this? I do know that many users
I support have a far more difficult time than I in configuring the
options.

I would LOVE to see one large Email Options screen, instead of separate
tabs. I imagine groups of options that are associated simply demarked by a
line or box--no more clicking back and forth, no more forgetting which
screen you already looked at. It is as if the designers want to save
screen space by using the Tab format for the menus. I say forget it--you
don't need the screen space during the typical operations you perform with
these windows, and you don't visit it vary regularly.

Reaction?

Will Niccolls