Outlook 2002 has shrunk the Find command that appears above a folder
list so that it's much more convenient to leave it on the screen now
than with Outlook 2000. It's so convenient that I almost forget about
the Advanced Find tool (Ctrl+Shift+F). Advanced Find works much like
the Filter capability for views, only it shows the results in a
separate table view in the Advanced Find dialog. Even if you use Find
most of the time, Advanced Find's features are worth exploring.
One of the big advantages of Advanced Find is that it lets you search
across multiple folders, as long as all the folders are in your
Exchange mailbox or are in the same Personal Folders .pst file.
Another plus is that you can save your searches with the File | Save
Search command, then launch them from desktop shortcuts or even from
the Outlook Bar.
For example, I set up a search for all items in my Personal Folders
.pst file (searching all folders) that are unread and received today.
I saved the search to my Windows desktop, then dragged the saved
search file to my Outlook Bar. That created a shortcut to launch
Advanced Find with my search parameters, making it very easy to check
for all my unread messages, no matter where Rules Wizard filed them.
Another key feature of Advanced Find is that it's not a one-time
search. If you leave a search open, Outlook keeps the window updated
as new items arrive. So, if I leave my Today's Unread Messages search
open and come back to it after lunch, I can tell at a glance what new
items I've received in all my folders.
More tips for Advanced Find:
-- To add fields to the view (like the To field if you're searching
Sent Items), right-click the column headings, and choose Field
Chooser. You can then drag any field to the column headings.
-- You can also group by any field. Right-click the column headings,
choose Customize Current View, and then click Group By.
Note, however, that these layout changes are not persistent between
Advanced Find sessions. If you want to reuse a layout, you'll need to
save the search. |
