About Options

Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access provides several ways to customize program features, functionality, and appearance:

To customize these features, click Options in the Navigation Pane.

Important When you change any settings for the following options, you must click Save and Close for your changes to take effect.

Automatically reply to e-mail you receive

The Out of Office Assistant generates automatic replies to e-mail messages that you receive while you're away. Each time you activate the assistant, Outlook Web Access sends an automatic reply to someone the first time he or she sends you a message.

In the Navigation Pane, click Options.
To enable the Out of Office Assistant, under Out of Office Assistant, click I'm currently out of the office.
In the text box, type the message you want people to receive when they send you e-mail messages while you're away.
To disable the Out of Office Assistant, click I'm currently in the office.

Customize messages and message views

Use the following procedures to customize your messaging options.

To change the number of items displayed per page in your Inbox or other folders

Under Messaging Options, in the list next to Number of items to display per page, select a number. The higher the number, the longer each page takes to refresh.

To indicate what to display after you move or delete an item

Under Messaging Options, in the list next to After moving or deleting an item, select an action. Outlook Web Access can open the next item in the list (the default), open the previous item, or return to the window you moved or deleted the item from and select—but not open—the next item in the list.

To enable pop-up message notifications on your computer when you receive new e-mail messages

Under Messaging Options, select the Display a notification message when new mail arrives check box.

To be notified with a sound when new messages arrive

Select the Play a sound when new mail arrives check box.

To append a custom signature to each message you send

Click Edit Signature.
In the Signature dialog box, type and format the signature you want to use, and then click Save and Close.
Select the Automatically include my signature on outgoing messages check box.

To set the font you use for new, replied to, and forwarded messages

Click Choose Font.
In the Font dialog box, select a font, style and size, and then click OK.

Mark previewed items as read or unread

Use the following options to determine whether items displayed in the Reading Pane will be marked as read or left as unread. Even if you view an item in the Reading Pane, you may want to leave the item marked as unread as a reminder to return to it later.

To mark items you view in the Reading Pane as read

Under Reading Pane Options, select the Mark item displayed in Reading Pane as read check box.
To set a delay for when the item is marked as read, type a number in the Wait [n] seconds before marking item as read text box. The default is five seconds.

To mark items you view in the Reading Pane as read after you select another item in the list

Under Reading Pane Options, select the Mark item as read when selection changes check box. This is the default setting.

To leave items you view in the Reading Pane marked as unread

Under Reading Pane Options, select Do not automatically mark items as read.

Set up the spelling checker

Use the following procedures to customize your spelling options.

To prevent the spelling checker from checking words in UPPERCASE letters

Under Spelling Options, select the Ignore words in UPPERCASE check box.

To prevent the spelling checker from checking words that contain numbers

Under Spelling Options, select the Ignore words with numbers check box.

To automatically check spelling before a message is sent

Under Spelling Options, select the Always check spelling before sending check box.

Outlook Web Access also allows you to spell-check messages in several languages using language-specific dictionaries.

To select a dictionary

Under Spelling Options, select a language from the drop-down list.

Note The spelling checker is available only to licensed users of Outlook Web Access, which provides the spelling-checker technology. For more details and information about the providers of the spelling-checker technology, see About Outlook Web Access.

Set up e-mail security

You can help make your e-mail messages more secure by using a message encryption protocol called Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME). With S/MIME you can digitally sign your messages to help protect them from tampering while in transit. The digital signature also certifies to the recipient that the message is from you. You can also encrypt the message contents to help prevent unauthorized recipients from reading the message.

To use S/MIME with Outlook Web Access, you must have the following:

Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later.
A computer that allows you to download and install the S/MIME Control.
Valid digital certificates for sending digitally signed e-mail messages or receiving encrypted e-mail messages.

To download and install the newest version of the S/MIME Control on your computer, under E-mail Security, click Download. If an older version of the control is already installed on the computer, under E-mail Security, you may need to click Re-install to update it.

When the control is installed on your computer, the toolbar on the new message form will contain the following buttons:

Allows you to digitally sign the message.
Allows you to encrypt the contents of the message, including attachments.

To remove the S/MIME Control

In Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs.
In the list of installed programs, select Microsoft Exchange Outlook Web Access S/MIME, and then click Change/Remove.

Help protect your privacy

Outlook Web Access helps you control unwanted and unsolicited messages ("junk e-mail") and block links to external content that can make you the target of junk e-mail messages.

Turn on the junk e-mail filter

Under Privacy and Junk E-mail Prevention, select the Filter Junk E-mail check box.
To add or modify e-mail addresses or domains in your junk e-mail lists, see Manage junk e-mail.

Block external content in HTML e-mail messages

HTML messages you receive can include links to external content, such as pictures or sounds. These links aren't the kind that are underlined (hot) and that you click on. They are references in the HTML source code to an external location on the Internet, such as a Web site. When you open or preview the message, your computer downloads the external content so that the picture can be displayed or the sound played. This is typically done by legitimate senders to avoid sending large messages.

However, junk e-mail senders use the downloading of external content by your computer to verify your e-mail address as "live." Once they know there is a real person associated with your address, you can then become the target of more junk e-mail. External content used to identify you in this way is called a Web beacon.

To prevent Outlook Web Access from downloading Web beacons, under Privacy and Junk E-mail Prevention, select the Block external content in HTML e-mail messages check box.

Choose how to reply to read receipt requests

In addition to requesting a read receipt for e-mail messages you send, you can, as a recipient, choose whether to send a read receipt whenever one is requested of you.

To send a read receipt automatically whenever one is requested, select Always send a response.

To never send a read receipt, select Do not automatically send a response.

Change the color scheme

You can customize the appearance of Outlook Web Access by selecting a color scheme that matches your current Windows theme or color scheme.

To change the color scheme

Under Appearance, in the drop-down menu, select a color.
Click Save and Close.

Set date and time formats

To set the date and time formats used in your message folders and calendar items, use the drop-down lists to select your preferred format for the different styles.

Note The date and time formatting options may vary, depending on the language configured for Internet Explorer. Outlook Web Access uses the browser language setting to provide region-specific options.

Customize your calendar view

You can customize your calendar using Calendar options.

To set the day your calendar displays as the beginning of the week, select the appropriate day from the Week begins on list.

To set the times Outlook Web Access will display for each business day, select the appropriate times from the Day start time and Day end time lists.

To select when Outlook Web Access will begin numbering weeks for the current year, select the appropriate option from the First week of year list. The week numbers are displayed in the date picker window in Calendar. If you don't want weeks to be numbered, select Do not display week numbers.

Set reminders for calendar items and tasks

To receive reminder messages before your appointments and meetings, select the Enable reminders for Calendar items check box.
To receive reminder messages for tasks that are coming due, select the Enable reminders for Task items check box.
To also be reminded with a sound, select the Play a sound when a reminder is due check box.
In the Default reminder list, select the amount of time before the item occurs that you would like to receive a reminder.

For more information about reminders, see About Calendar reminders or About task reminders.

Customize address book searches

You can select which address book to search first when resolving the name of a contact.

To set your organization's address book as the first place to search, select Global Address List.
To set your personal contacts as the first place to search, select Contacts.

Change your Windows password

Click Change Password. You will be directed to a Web site set up by an administrator in your organization for this purpose. Contact your server administrator for more information.

Recover items you've deleted

After you delete an item from your Deleted Items folder it is permanently deleted. However, you can recover a deleted item if you change your mind about deleting it.

Important Deleted items are recoverable only for a limited time. The amount of time you have to recover an item is configured on the computer running Exchange Server. For more information, contact a system administrator in your organization.

In the Navigation Pane, click Options.
Under Recover Deleted Items, click View Items.
Tip Another way to open this window is to select your Deleted Items folder from the Navigation Pane, and then click Recover Deleted Items on the toolbar.
In the Recover Deleted Items dialog box, select the item you want to recover. Hold down CTRL or SHIFT to select multiple items.
Note If the item you want to recover isn't there, it's likely that the recovery time has expired for that item.
To return the selected items to your Deleted Items folder, click Recover on the toolbar, or click Permanently Delete to permanently destroy the items.