Understanding Outlook Web Access Client

New features in Outlook Web Access (OWA) 2003

Outlook Web Access (OWA) is used to send and receive e-mail through the Web. Outlook Web Access 2003 includes different levels of feature availability or user modes. Some OWA 2003 features are only available in premium mode.

The different OWA 2003 user modes are:

The following OWA features are available in premium mode:

The following OWA features are available in basic mode:

Using the New User Interface of OWA client

The Outlook 2003 client and the user interface of the latest OWA client are very similar. A few similarities include:

After opening OWA, the following basic panes are displayed:

The reading pane of the OWA user interface is the far-right pane. While the reading pane is activated by default, you can disable the feature. The reading pane displays the content of email message selected in the middle pane of the OWA user interface.

You can customize the reading pane as follows:

With OWA, you can also create a number of different folders. These folders are then displayed in the folders view.

You can navigate through the various features of OWA by simply clicking the button associated with the different OWA features. When you click the button of an OWA feature, the specific feature is opened in the center pane.

You can also change the default viewing order of email messages in the email folders. The default viewing order displays all recent messages at the top.

The Two-Line View feature of OWA displays the title of the email and the first line of a message to the user. This feature is enabled by default. You can change the two-line view to a different view.

How to change the size of the OWA user interface panes

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Place the mouse between the panes that you want to change the size of.
  3. Wait until the double arrow is displayed.
  4. While still holding the mouse down, move the pane border to the appropriate size and then let go of the mouse.

How to customize the reading pane of the OWA user interface

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click the reading pane icon to display its associated drop-down menu.
  3. If you want to place the reading pane on the right vertical pane, select the Right option.
  4. If you want to place the reading pane as a horizontal pane at the bottom of the user interface, select the Bottom option.
  5. If you want to remove the reading pane completely, select the Off option.

How to create new folders

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click in the folders view in the left pane of the OWA user interface.
  3. Right-click on a folder in the folders pane and then select New Folder from the shortcut menu.
  4. Provide a name for the new folder.
  5. Specify the location for the new folder. To do this, simply click the folder that should contain the new folder.
  6. Select the type of folder that should be created. The options are:
    • To create a calendar folder, choose the Appointment Items folder type.
    • To create a new contact folder, select the Contact Items option.
    • To create a journal folder, choose the Journal Items folder type.
    • To create a folder to contain email messages, select the Mail Items folder type.
    • To create a note folder, select the Note Items option.
    • To create a task folder, select the Task Items option.
  7. Click OK to create the new folder.

How to change the two-line view

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click on the drop-down menu for Inbox, above Infobar.
  3. The options that you can choose between are:
    • Messages; selecting this option removes the two-line view and displays the subject bars of the messages according to date received and time received.
    • Unread Messages; selecting the Unread Messages option displays only those messages which are unread.
    • By Sender; the option sorts messages based on the name of the sender. Each identified sender has a header with an associated plus sign. You can view messages of a specific sender by clicking the associated plus sign of the sender, or by simply double-clicking the name of the sender.
    • By Subject; the messages are displayed and sorted by subject line of the message. Each message that has a common heading is then grouped and shown in a hierarchy beneath the subject heading.
    • By Conversation Topic; similar to the By subject option. The main difference being that messages are grouped based on emails which have been replied, and as a conversation.
    • Unread By Conversation Topic; selecting the Unread By Conversation Topic option displays only those messages which are unread and also sorts the messages based on topic.
    • Sent To; messages are grouped according to recipient.

Using the Mail Features of OWA

A number of new mail features and enhancements are included in OWA 2003. This section of the Article explores these features.

You can use any of the methods listed below to create an email:

You can use any of the methods listed below to address an email message. When creating a new message, the following boxes are displayed:

An email is addressed by specifying either of the following information in one of the above mentioned boxes:

If you enter the name of the recipient, and not the email address, the name that you enter has to be verified by Exchange to the Global Address List (GAL) or a contact list. Names that have not been verified by Exchange appear as a single line of text - not underlined. Once a name has been checked and verified by Exchange, it is underlined. The box that contains the name changes, to a double-lined box. As new names are added, the names that are not checked are placed in the bottom of the box. Once a name is verified, it is placed in the upper box.

You can send the email by simply clicking the Send button. OWA at this stage informs you of any problems with regard to the names that you have specified in the To, CC, or BCC boxes.

You can sort out these issues by selecting between the following options:

You can read a message by simply double-clicking the message. The message then opens in its own message window.

After opening message, the following options become available on the message toolbar:

You can also access these options by simply right-clicking a specific message in the message list and then selecting the appropriate option.

When sending messages through OWA, you can add an attachment to the email and send it.

When an attachment is received in a message, you can use either of these processes to read the included attachment:

You can assign message options to an email message that you are creating. The message options are categorised as follows:

How to use the Find Names feature

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Create a new message.
  3. Click the To button located at the left end of the box area.
  4. The Find Names dialog box opens.
  5. Type the name of the recipient. You can also enter a partial name.
  6. Specify where the search should be performed:
    • Global Address List (GAL)
    • Contacts List

    Click OK.

  7. All names that match the search criteria are listed.
  8. Select the name of the recipient.
  9. Next, click either To, CC, or BCC.
  10. Click OK.
  11. Click Close.

How to remove a recipient from the To, CC, or BCC boxes of a message

  1. In the message, right-click the name or email address of the recipient that you want to remove, and click Remove from the shortcut menu.
  2. The recipient is immediately removed from the box.

How to add an attachment to an email

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Create the email that you want to send.
  3. Click the Attachments button. The button is located beneath the Subject line.
  4. The Attachment dialog box opens.
  5. Browse to the file which you want to attach to the email.
  6. Click the file.
  7. Click Attach to attach the file.
  8. If you want to add additional attachments, simply click the Attachments button and repeat the process.

How to assign message options to an email message

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Create the new message.
  3. Click the Options button in the message toolbar.
  4. The Options dialog box opens.
  5. Select the appropriate Importance, Sensitivity, and Tracking Options.
  6. Click Close.

How to delete a message

To delete a single message (closed):

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click the item that you want to delete.
  3. Press the Delete key or click the X button in the toolbar.

To delete an open message:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Press the Delete key or click the X button.

To delete multiple messages:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Press the Ctrl key down.
  3. Use the mouse to select each message that you want to delete.
  4. Once all messages have been selected, proceed to press the Delete key or click the X button in the toolbar

To delete multiple messages (in a row):

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Press the Shift key down.
  3. Click the message at the top of the row.
  4. Click the message at the bottom of the row.
  5. Press the Delete key or click the X button in the toolbar.

Using the Calendar Feature of OWA

The calendar feature of Outlook Web Access 2003 provides the same functionality as that provided in Outlook client:

With OWA 2003, a calendar object is referred to as an Appointment.

You can choose between different views to view the calendar:

How to create a new appointment

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. In the toolbar, click New and then click Appointment.
  3. The Appointments dialog box is displayed
  4. If you want to use this appointment as an appointment and not as a new meeting request, then you have to use the default Appointments dialog box.
  5. In the Subject box, enter the subject.
  6. In the Location box, provide the location.
  7. Use either of these methods to set the start time:
    • Enter the start time in the Start Time box, and enter the end time in the End Time box.
    • Click the drop-down menu boxes alongside the Start Time box and End Time box, and then use the OWA calendar to set the appropriate time.
  8. If you want to flag the appointment as being important, click the ! icon within the toolbar
  9. Click Save.
  10. Click Close.

How to create a new meeting request

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. In the toolbar, click New and then click Appointment.
  3. The Appointments dialog box is displayed
  4. In the Subject box, enter the subject.
  5. In the Location box, provide the location.
  6. Click the Invite Attendees button.
  7. The Appointments dialog box changes to include the following additional boxes and buttons:
    • Required
    • Optional
    • Resources
  8. In the Required and Optional boxes, enter the usernames of the attendees for the new meeting request.
  9. If you want to find the attendees, click the Required button or the Optional button. When the Find Names dialog box, locate the attendees that you want to invite.
  10. To check the availability of your attendees, click the Availability tab.
  11. Click the drop-down menu boxes alongside the Start Time box and End Time box and set the appropriate time.
  12. Click the Appointment tab.
  13. Click Save.
  14. Click Close.

How to define recurring appointments/meetings

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. In the toolbar, click New and then click Appointment.
  3. The Appointments dialog box is displayed
  4. In the Subject box, enter the subject.
  5. In the Location box, provide the location.
  6. Click the Invite Attendees button and invite the desired attendees.
  7. Click the Recurrence button.
  8. The Recurrence Pattern dialog box opens.
  9. Choose between the following options:
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • Monthly
    • Yearly
  10. The options displayed to the right are determined by which of the above options you have selected. Select the appropriate options.
  11. In the Range of recurrence area, specify whether the recurrence continues or set when the recurrence ends.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Click Save in the Appointments dialog box.
  14. Click Close.

Using the Advanced Features of OWA

The search Address Book feature is an OWA 2003 feature. To access the Address Book, click the open book icon on the Infobar. The Find Names dialog box opens.

You can search the Address Book, using any of the criteria listed below:

To start a search, click the Find button.

If you want to move an email message from one folder to a different folder;

If you want to mark messages as read or unread;

  1. Select the message.
  2. Right-click the message and select either of these options:
    • Mark as Read
    • Mark as Unread

If you want to view information on the user entries in the Global Address List (GAL), you can use the user property sheets.

  1. Locate the user in the Address Book.
  2. Select the name of the user and then select Properties. For users in email messages simply double-click the username.
  3. The Properties page of the user opens, displaying information on the user:
    • First name
    • Last name
    • Initials
    • Alias
    • Display name
    • Address
    • Title
    • Company
    • Phone numbers
    • Office

Another new feature in OWA 2003 is the Spell Check feature. To use the Spell Check feature, follow the steps below:

  1. In the message that you are creating, click the Spell Check icon in the toolbar.
  2. If this is the first time that the Spell Check feature is initiated, specify the language that should be used.
  3. Click Check Document for Spell Check to check the message.
  4. When Spell Check finds errors, the errors are highlighted in the main box.
  5. Any suggestions are listed in the Suggestions box. If you want to choose a word here, click the word and then click Change.
  6. If you want to manually change a highlighted word, enter the new word in the Change To box and then click Change.
  7. If you want to ignore the reported word, click the Ignore button.
  8. The Spelling dialog box is no longer displayed when the entire message has been checked.

In OWA 2003, another new feature is message context menus. The message context menus become available when you right-click a message in the message list. The options that become available are listed here:

In OWA 2003, folder context menus are also included. The folder context menus become available when you right-click a folder in the folder list. The options that become available are listed here:

With OWA 2003, you can configure server-based rules. This basically means that any rules created in Outlook 2003 are automatically displayed in OWA 2003. Rules created in Outlook 2003 are also displayed in OWA 2003.

To create a rule using the Rules Editor:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. On the shortcut bar, click the Rules button.
  3. The Rules Pane is displayed in the right pane. All currently configured rules are listed here, and the order in which the rules are listed indicates the order in which the rules are applied.
  4. If you want to change the order of rules listed in the Rules pane, use the Move Up button and the Move Down button.
  5. If you want to create a new rule, click the New button.
  6. In the Rule Name box, enter a name for the new rule.
  7. In the When a message arrives area of the Edit Rule dialog box, use the available options to define the criteria which will determine when the rule is implemented.
  8. Use the options in under Where The, to define a specific sender of the email message. When an email message arrives from the specified sender, the rule is implemented.
  9. Use the options in under Subject Contains, to define a text that should be matched. The rule is then implemented when an exact match occurs.
  10. Use the options in under Sent To if you want the rule to match according to names or lists in the recipients list.
  11. In the Then area of the Edit Rule dialog box, use the available options to define what action should occur when a match is found.
  12. If you want to move the message to a specific folder, select the Move it to the specified folder option.
  13. If you want to copy the message to a specific folder, then select the Copy it to the specified folder option.
  14. If you want to delete the message, select the Delete it option.
  15. If you want to forward the message to a specific user or to a specific a distribution group, select the Forward it to option.
  16. Specify who should receive the email.
  17. Enable the Keep a copy in my inbox checkbox if you want to keep a copy in the inbox.
  18. Click Save.
  19. Click Close.

With Outlook 2003, you can save regularly used searches in the Search Folder folder list. For searches and search folders created in Outlook 2003, any users of OWA can use these searches.

To use the search feature:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access Client.
  2. Select the folder that you want to search.
  3. Click the Search icon in the Infobar.
  4. The Search dialog box opens.
  5. If you want to search any subfolders of the selected folder, click the checkbox next to Search Subfolders.
  6. In the Look in the Subject for these words box, enter the search criteria for the Subject line.
  7. If you want the search also performed on the message body, select the checkbox next to Also search message body.
  8. If you want the search performed based on the sender of the email, enter the information in the From box.
  9. If you want the search performed based on whom the email was sent to, enter the information in the Sent To box.
  10. Click the Find Now button to start the search.
  11. The search results are displayed in the Search Results box.
  12. To view the results, simply double-click the result.

You can choose between six flag colors of the Quick flags feature to set importance levels for email messages and to set reminders.

To use the Quick flags feature:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. The flag icon appears to the right of the message in the middle-pane.
  3. Double-click the flag icon.
  4. To set a flag color, right-click the flag.
  5. Select the flag color by simply clicking it.

There are now a number of keyboard shortcuts available in OWA client:

Customizing OWA Features

There are a number of OWA features that can be customized. You can access the features that can be customized by clicking the Options button in the shortcut bar. After changing an option, click the Save button to save the change, and then click Close. After the change is saved, the change is immediately effected.

How to configure the Out of Office Assistant feature

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click I am currently out of the office. The Out of Office assistant feature is enabled.
  3. Specify the text that should be returned to the sender.
  4. If you want to disable the Out of Office assistant feature, click I am currently in the office. Any text previously specified when you enabled the Out of Office assistant feature is maintained until you enter a new text or manually delete it.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Click Close.

How to configure the Automatic Signatures feature

You can configure an Automatic Signature that will be displayed at the bottom of new email messages. An Automatic Signature provides information on the sender of the message.

When configuring an Automatic Signature, you can use either of these methods:

To configure the Automatic Signatures feature:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Under Messaging Options, click Edit Signature.
  3. Specify the text that should be added to a message.
    1. Set the following configuration options:
      • Font and font size
      • Color
      • Whether bullets and styles should be used.
    2. Select the Automatically include my signature on outgoing messages checkbox to automatically include the signature in each message.
    3. Click Save.
    4. Click Close.

How to configure Reading Pane options

Reading Pane options pertain to the message list when you have enabled Auto Preview. Through configuration of the Reading Pane options, you can define when a message being previewed can be marked as read.

The different options that you can configure are:

How to recover deleted items

With OWA 2003, you can recover deleted Outlook items that have been removed from the Deleted Items folder. You can only though recover these items if the purge date configured on the Exchange server has not passed.

To recover deleted items:

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Navigate to the Outlook Options area.
  3. Navigate to the Recover Deleted Items area.
  4. Click View Items.
  5. The Recover Deleted Items dialog box opens.
  6. Select each item that you want to recover.
  7. Click the Recover button.
  8. Click Close.
  9. All items specified to be recovered will be displayed in the locations from where they were previously deleted.
  10. If you want to purge items completely, then you have to select the Permanently Delete option. After this option is selected, you will be unable to recover those items in the Recover Deleted Items dialog box.
  11. Click OK.
  12. Click Close.

Using the Contact Features of OWA

Contacts make it possible for you to create your own list of users so that you can send email messages to these users. You can also create distribution lists for users in the Global Address Lists (GAL) and for users in a contact list.

There are a number of different contact views that you can choose between:

How to create a new contact

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click New and then Contact in the Infobar.
  3. The New Contact dialog box opens.
  4. Provide the necessary information for the new contact.
  5. Click Save to save the new contact in the contact list.
  6. Click Close.

How to find names in contacts

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click the Address Book icon.
  3. The Find Names dialog box opens.
  4. In the Look In box, select Contacts.
  5. The search will now be performed in Contacts and not the GAL.

How to create a distribution list

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click New and then Distribution List in the Infobar.
  3. The New Distribution List box opens.
  4. Provide a name for the new distribution list.
  5. Enter the name of each user that you want to add to the new distribution list in Add to Distribution List and click Add. You have to add users one by one.
  6. Click Save
  7. Click Close.

How to modify the information on a contact

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Double-click the contact whose information should be modified.
  3. Click Save to save the contact information in the contact list.
  4. Click Close.

How to delete a contact

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Select the contact that you want to delete.
  3. Press the Delete key, or click Delete on the Infobar.

Using the Task Features of OWA

Tasks in OWA can be created and viewed. You can define due dates and reminders. The different Task Views that you can choose between are listed here:

When you receive a task reminder, you can open the task by clicking Open Item. You can then choose between the following options:

How to create a new task

  1. Open Outlook Web Access.
  2. Click New and then Task in the Infobar.
  3. The New Task dialog box opens.
  4. Provide the necessary information for the new task.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Click Close.

Outlook Web Access Best Practices

A few best practices for using Outlook Web Access are listed here:



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