Outlook spam filter being allowed to die
Microsoft has announced that they’ll stop updating the Outlook spam filter (“Smartscreen”) at the end of this month – on 1st Nov 2016. This might be a worry, but not a disaster, for most Outlook users and we’ll explain why. What’s Happening From 1st Nov 2016 there will be no more updates to the system […]
One-way Translation options in Outlook
Sometimes we wonder what happens in Microsoft development meetings because the software we get from those discussions seems so out of touch with reality or even sense. Today’s example comes from Outlook for Windows and it’s curious ‘one way’ translation feature. Office for Windows has good language translation options, though Microsoft continues to ignore the […]
Using emoji in Microsoft Office
Emoji are those funny little icons that appear in text/SMS messages and some emails. Emoji have become quite the thing. More are being added to mobile phones, especially Apple devices. Originally intended to show emotions in text messages, they’ve expanded to other uses and overlap with many common symbols from Wingdings etc. They aren’t just […]
Outlook Categories in Outlook Web Access
Ellen F writes: ” Thanks for this: Outlook Categories – Why and How , which Microsoft of course doesn’t tell us about. However, I’m using Outlook Web Access and I can see how to apply categories to my emails but cannot figure out how to assign text labels to the colors. There’s no “Home | […]
How to safely (securely) send an Office document
How can you send an Office document safely and securely to another person? A simple question with no simple answer. Who you are guarding against? A random snooper at the recipient’s end who accidentally finds the document, or someone targeting your or your data, such as a commercial rival, nosey journalist, law enforcement, the […]
Outlook 2013 – why Link Contacts?
In Outlook 2013 you may have noticed the ‘Link Contacts …’ item on each contact card. We’ll explain why it’s there and what it can do for you. Link Contacts is different from ‘Contact Linking’ that’s been available in many versions of Outlook. Contact Linking lets you connect a contact with a specific appointment, task […]
Outlook window positions explained
Getting Outlook windows into the positions you want, and keeping them there, is one of those mysteries that Microsoft offers to us mere customers. We’ll try to explain what’s going on but, alas, can’t guarantee any solid answers. Most Outlook users have more than one window open at any time. They use the right-click on […]
Access ‘permanently deleted’ Outlook items
Finally, in this series about the ‘not so permanently’ deleted Outlook items, how do you recover a supposedly ‘permanently’ deleted item? Or maybe check to see if something you want wiped from your computer has truly been removed. All this is embarrassingly easy (embarrassing to Microsoft). There are various tools on the Internet that will open […]
Pros and Cons of Outlook’s non-deletion
The fact that Outlook doesn’t ‘permanently’ delete items (like it says it does) has advantages or disadvantages depending on your need. Both needs are, thankfully, rare but worth keeping in mind. Cons These days we’re all more concerned about data privacy and where information can be stored without us realizing it. Microsoft is misleading customers […]
How to REALLY delete Outlook information
So now we know that an Outlook item is not ‘permanently deleted’ even if Microsoft says so. How can you truly delete an Outlook message, appointment etc. You might want to truly delete when you’ve received something in error (as in the Aussie case) or simply want to prevent sensitive information being grabbed from your […]
Broken link in Outlook 2013
There’s a vital but broken web page link in Outlook 2013 that stops people adding to one of it’s most promoted features. Outlook 2013 comes with some ‘Social Connectors’ to link contacts to Facebook and Sharepoint. For others you click a link ‘Connect to another social network’ (In Outlook Contacts, go to the View tab, […]
Speed up IMAP in Outlook
Here’s a simple way to speed up Outlook when connected to accounts via IMAP. In short, make Outlook work offline at all times except when connecting to send/receive messages. Go to Send / Receive and click Work Offline On the Outlook status bar it’ll show ‘Working Offline’. Then go to Send/Receive | Send/Receive Groups. For […]
G20 leaders passport info might still be leaked
Office Watch dug into Outlook after yesterday’s story about passport details of the G20 Leaders being leaked accidentally. It’s quite possible that there’s a copy of the G20 leaders passport info still on a computer in the Asian Cup Local Organising Committee’s offices, based on the information provided in the Immigration Departments report. The organization […]
Email Security fail releases prisoner
An amazing story of failed email security in the UK, not sure if it’s funny or tragic. We are sure it’s another example of failed email security and how Microsoft, among many, could prevent it. A prisoner managed to get a smartphone into his cell. He then created a fake domain, similar to the UK […]
Hyper-V causes Windows Indexing fail
Recently we mentioned a report about consistent failures of Windows Indexing that was finally solved by disabling Hyper-V. We’re now confident that there’s a conflict, because we’ve had two more reports from readers of the same problem and solution. ” Thanks for the coverage of Windows indexing problems. I spent a lot of time on […]
Delve goes public for businesses
After a preview period, Microsoft Delve has gone public for Office 365 Business users. More links into Delve have also been announced. Delve is a new form of search tool which bring in relevant data from a selection of sources. Some are private like a Sharepoint site, corporate address book , OneDrive for business etc. […]
