Outlook Tips

YOU HAVE MAIL--PART 2 OF 4

If you read the last tip, you know that you can set your computer to automatically notify you of newly arrived e-mail (choose Tools + Options, click to put a check mark in the Play Sound When New Messages Arrive Box, and then click OK). And you also know that the default notification sound is, as one subscriber put it, "a faint little beep." What can you do about it? Well, you can substitute some other sound saved on your computer for the new e-mail notification sound. How? By following these steps:

1. Click the Start button and choose Settings + Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, double-click the Sounds icon (which looks like a computer with a big speaker coming out of it).
3. When the Sounds Properties dialog box opens, type N. This brings you right to the New Mail Notification listing.
4. In the space under Name, you see the currently selected sound file (for example, it might show "ding.wav"). Click anywhere in that space to highlight the file name.
5. Type in the file name of the sound that you want to replace the little beep. (This file name will ends in .wav--for example, The Microsoft Sound.wav is that piano riff thing you hear when Windows starts.)
6. Click OK.
7. Choose File + Close.

Obviously, the only tricky part is finding the sound you want to use. If you're not sure what sounds you have on your computer or which of these sounds you want to use, you have at least these two neat options:

• Search your computer for every WAV file, listen to some of them, and choose one you like (and then follow the preceding steps).
• Record your very own voice to use as your completely cool, customized notification sound!

We cover each of these options in the next two tips. Pretty soon, you'll have a totally groovy sound letting you know that you have brand new e-mail sitting in your Inbox. Just think, you'll be the envy of all your friends!

YOU HAVE MAIL--PART 3 OF 4

In the last two tips, we showed you how to set Outlook Express to automatically notify you with a sound when new e-mails arrive and how to replace that dorky beep (ding.wav) default sound with one you like better. However, when it comes to figuring out what sound files you have on your computer and which specific sound you want to use, you may have to do your best Hardy Boys (or Nancy Drew, as the case may be) impression. Here's the method we suggest:

1. Click the Start button and choose Find + Files or Folders.
2. When the Find dialog box comes up, type this in the space next to Named: *.wav
3. Make sure C: appears beside Look In.
4. Click Find Now. A whole list of sounds that you can use for new e-mail notification pops up.
5. To preview a sound, double-click it.
6. When you find a sound that you like, right-click it and choose Properties.
7. In the middle of the General tab, you see Location information, providing the directory and pathname where the sound file is stored. Write down that info.
8. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.

Now do the following (NOTE: This is the same process we described in the last tip):

1. Click the Start button and choose Settings + Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, double-click the Sounds icon.
3. When the dialog box opens, type N. This brings you right to the New Mail Notification listing.
4. In the space under Name, you see the currently selected sound file (for example, it might show "ding.wav"). Click anywhere in that space to highlight the file name.
5. Type in exactly what you wrote down (all that directory stuff starting with C:\) for the sound you found.
6. Click OK.
7. Choose File + Close.

Now, as long as you've told your computer to notify you of new e-mail with a sound (choose Tools + Options, make sure there's a check in the Play Sound When New Messages Arrive box, and then click OK), you'll hear your special sound every time new messages land in your Inbox. But, as we mentioned in the last tip, you can make that new mail notification sound even MORE cool and customized. You can use your own voice! And that's what we cover in the next and final tip of this series.

YOU HAVE MAIL--PART 4 OF 4

If you read the last tip, you know how to find a neat sound file on your computer and use it as the notification sound for new e-mail arriving in your Inbox. If you didn't read the last tip, don't worry. This tip is much cooler, because it shows you how to record your voice and use it as your new e-mail notification sound. Follow these nine steps:

1. If you have a built-in microphone, skip to Step 2. If you don't have a built-in microphone, plug your external microphone into the jack on your computer (which has a little picture of a microphone next to it and/or the word "mic"). Then make sure the microphone is turned to the On position (usually the up position; you may see a little indicator light).
2. Back on the screen, click the Start button and choose Programs + Accessories + Multimedia + Sound Recorder.
3. When you know what you want to say and you're ready to record, click the Record button (the one on the right with the circle) to start recording. Keep your message short and be ready to click the Stop button (the one next to Record, with the square on it).
4. When you're finished recording your masterpiece, click the Stop button.
5. To hear what you created, click the Play button (the single triangle pointing to the right).
6. If you don't like what you hear and want to start again, just choose File + New and click No when the dialog box asks if you want to save your changes; then repeat Steps 3 through 5.
7. When you're ready to save your work, choose File + Exit and click Yes to confirm that you do want to save changes. The Save As dialog box appears so that you can name your sound file.
8. Of course, there are lots of name choices and lots of places to store the file on your computer, but assume out of convenience that you want to call the file "You Have Mail" and you want to store it in your My Documents folder. In this case, you would type in the File Name text box:
   c:\my documents\You Have Mail.wav
   NOTE: Of course, you can name the file anything you want and store it anywhere you want, but be sure to include the complete path and file name.
9. Click the Save button and you're all set--assuming you remember how to set a sound as your new mail notification.

For those who don't remember here's a reminder:

1. Click the Start button and choose Settings + Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Sounds icon.
3. Type N. Doing so takes you to New Mail Notification.
4. Click in the space below Name to highlight the file you're going to replace.
5. Type in the file name just as you did above. In our example, it was:
   c:\my documents\You Have Mail.wav
6. Press Enter. (You Have Mail.wav should now appear under Name.)
7. Click OK.
8. Choose File + Close.

Now, as long as you've set your computer to notify you of new e-mail with a sound (choose Tools + Options, make sure a check appears in the Play Sound When New Messages Arrive box, and then click OK), you hear your very own voice every time new messages land in your Inbox.

Of course, you can change or update that sound whenever you get tired of it. But we won't keep you any longer. We know you're probably dying to start recording all sorts of silly notification messages to yourself.

NOTE: You may need to do the following to ensure that your microphone is actually set to record:

1. In the icon tray on your taskbar, double-click the speaker to bring up the volume control menu.
2. Choose Options + Properties.
3. Click the Recording radio button and make sure a check mark appears in the Microphone box. (If a check mark isn't beside the Microphone box, click it to insert a check mark.)
4. Click OK.

SLAY THE DRAGGIN'

When it comes to selecting text, a lot of people seem to dislike the old "click and drag." Maybe it's just the word "drag" itself. It can refer to smoking, dressing up like a woman, pulling something along on the ground--come to think of it, "drag" does have a strange mixture of meanings. Perhaps it's not various meanings, but rather the strange action of clicking down and dragging that seems weird or difficult to a lot of people. Whatever the reason, the important thing is that other options are available to the user looking to select text from the preview pane that can later be copied and pasted elsewhere.

Following are two different methods for selecting particular text blocks (make sure to click a particular message in your message list before using either of these methods):

• Double-click to highlight a single word.
• Click in front of the text block that you want to select, hold down the Shift key, and then click behind the block of text.

And here are three more highlighting methods--at no extra charge--that you can use to select the entire body of a particular message (again, make sure to click a particular message in your message list before using any of these methods):

• Click anywhere in the preview pane and then press Ctrl + A.
• Triple-click (just like a double-click, but with three presses instead of two) anywhere in the preview pane.
• Hold down the Ctrl key and click anywhere in the preview pane.

So as you can see, you have several alternatives to taking a drag--an important thing to remember when peer pressure gets too tough.

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