1 - How do I stop Outloook XP from turning on the preview plane
everytime I create a new folder, or someone creates a new public
folder?

2 - I often need to check a co-workers calendar.  I have to go to the
file menu and select open->other user's folder.  Is there a way to
make a shortcut or something to make this process faster?

3 - How can I download Public folders into my Offline file (OST)?

Thanks Much...

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Clarification of Question by sherpaj-ga on 01 Nov 2002 02:40 PST

There is one thing I noticed.  When you open someone else’s calendar,
a shortcut (of sorts) remains in the submenu of the File menu.

This isn’t quite what I was looking for.  I wanted something more like
a link in the Outlook Bar.

But now I have a bunch of these things on the submenu of my File menu.
 How do I get rid of them????

To answer question 1, see Table 1-1 "Startup switches and their
purposes" from "Microsoft Outlook Version 2002 Inside Out" (Outlook
2002 is Outlook XP) at:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/5021f.asp#176

To summarize: what you need to do is add the "/nopreview" command-line
switch to your default Outlook shortcut.

See this part of the page to see how to change the command line for a
Windows shortcut:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/5021f.asp#172

For your second question, follow these steps:

1.  Open the user's calendar as you describe.
2.  Using the favorites menu, add it to your list of favorites.
3.  Go to the "other shortcuts" outlook bar and click "Favorites".
4.  Your favorites should be showing in the right-hand side of the
screen.
5.  Drag the favorite you created from the right-hand side to your
outlook bar.

For your third question, try dragging the folder of the public group
you want available offline to the "Favorites" group of your public
folders.

To answer your question about the shortcuts remaining in the File
menu, try this procedure:

1.  Start up regedit.exe
2.  Hit Ctrl+F to bring up the Find... dialog
3.  Enter the name of the user that appears in the menu

One of the search results that comes up will be the registry key to
delete to remove it from your file menu.  If you would like, you can
post your findings here and I'll take a look and see which one it
would be.

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Request for Answer Clarification by sherpaj-ga on 13 Nov 2002 12:29 PST

Concerning the following:

"For your second question, follow these steps: 
1.  Open the user's calendar as you describe. 
2.  Using the favorites menu, add it to your list of favorites. 
3.  Go to the "other shortcuts" outlook bar and click "Favorites". 
4.  Your favorites should be showing in the right-hand side of the
screen."

I am getting stuck on step #2.  When I open up thier calendar, and I
go up to the favorates menu (in the menu bar) and select "Add to
favorates", it doesn't do anything.

Any clues?

---

Clarification of Answer by mmastrac-ga on 13 Nov 2002 14:50 PST

Hmm.  It seems that you cannot add a favorite link to a user's
mailbox/calendar if they are not part of your profile.  (see this
reference on outlook links:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/links.htm).

You will need to add the user's mailbox to your profile.  This can be
accomplished by going to the Tools menu and selecting "E-mail
accounts".  Double-click the "Microsoft Exchange Server" item.  In
this dialog, select the additional mailboxes that you want to open.

Once you've got these items selected, they should appear in your
folder list.

Questions 2 & 3 are easy:

2. If you have an Exchange Server, then you can go to the Tools |
E-mail Accounts | Microsoft Exchange | Properties and add an
additional account for each user whose calendar you need to open. That
user will have to give you permissions to their root mailbox (not
their Inbox, but the root mailbox) and the calendar. Then you'll see
their mailbox (containing only the folders you've been given
permission to; ie Calendar) on your folder list and you'll be able to
drag & drop it to your Outlook bar.

3. Drag and drop the public folder to your Public Folders | Favorites
group. Then they'll be synched to your .OST.

-Coach-