Outlook 2007 still looks similar to the default Outlook 2003 interface. Outlook 2007 keeps the Navigation Pane, Content Pane and Reading Pane while adding a fourth pane, the To-Do Bar.
The To-Do Bar contains an overview of your day and more or less replaces Outlook Today. If you miss Outlook Today and want it back, click the icon next to "Personal Folders" or if you're on exchange, click the icon next to "Mailbox - your name" in the Navigation Pane.
You may have heard people recommending turning off the Reading Pane. They suggested this to help you avoid activating malicious scripts. This is no longer the case in Outlook 2007, which lets you safely read an e-mail message in the Reading Pane. The Reading Pane no longer activates such malicious scripts.
The newest feature that appears not only in Outlook 2007, but also in all Microsoft Office applications is the Ribbon. The Ribbon replaces the traditional menu and toolbars that show at the top of the window.
Any time you create or modify e-mail messages, calendar items, tasks items, contact entries and journal entries in Outlook -- you do it all through the Ribbon. To make it easier to find and use its features, the Ribbon groups common commands.
The Ribbon contains three parts:
- Tabs: Every tab consists of a group of activities related to the tab. For example, Message gives you quick access to editing tools and basic e-mail functions like attaching files and spell check.
- Groups: A tab contains groups of similar commands. The Format Text tab houses the Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, Zoom and Editing Groups.
- Commands: These are buttons, menus, and boxes for entering information. Copy, Hyperlink, Colors and Bold are Commands.
The Tabs, Groups and Commands in the Ribbon change based on the open item. Appointments, tasks, e-mail messages and contacts have different Ribbons. They may, however, share some Tabs, Groups and Commands.
While you could customize and delete menus and toolbars in previous versions of Outlook, you can't delete or replace the Ribbon. You can, however, minimize the Ribbon. To make more space, click the "Customize Quick Access Toolbar" down arrow located in the upper left-hand corner of the item and select "Minimize the Ribbon."
You can still access the commands through the Tabs and hide the Ribbon again by clicking the tab until the Ribbon disappears.
Quick Access Toolbar -- as its name implies -- gives you quick access to frequently used commands. Access the toolbar by clicking the Office button on the left of the Ribbon.
Like with most software products, you can quickly access many features in Outlook by right-clicking an item or empty space to view a menu.
