If you use Outlook heavily like me, then you probably now how much of a pain it is to open Mail, then Calendar, then Task, and vice versa. Even opening your Calendar in different windows can be a hassle at time, especially for me. Here is a quick and easy way to have your inbox, contacts, and more on the desktop with Outlook On the Desktop. The end result will look something like this:
Using Outlook on the Desktop
Frist things first is to download and install, link below, make sure you don’t have Outlook open during the installation. After the installation is complete run Outlook On the Desktop. Immediately you will see what Outlook On the Desktop can do, put Outlook on the desktop! Go down to the notification area and right click on the Outlook On Desktop icon to open the menu screen.
From the menu you can see all the cool things you can do with it. Frist click on preferences to Outlook on the Desktop Preferences. Here we can edit the opacity, how big and where it is located on the desktop. Play around with this until you find the perfect spot.
After you are finished adjusting the look, go back to the menu and click on Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Notes, or Tasks to change your Outlook On the Desktop. You can switch between each different feature by continually doing this or by adding a new instance for each one. To do this click on Add Instance in the menu.
Enter a new name for the instance. I will call mine Tasks, since I will be using this instance to show my tasks.
Then you want to select what Outlook feature you want to use. For me I will be using Tasks, hence the name Tasks….Go to the menu and highlight your instances name to open the menu. Then select what Outlook feature you want to view from the top.
Make sure to go back to the Preferences to move and set the opacity for your new instance. You will see the new name of your instance with an arrow, highlight to get the full menu and click on Preferences.
If you want to add other folders than your Inbox or different calendars go to the Instance you want to change, or add a new one, and click Select Folder from its menu.
The Select Folder window will open allowing you to chose the folders, or Outlook items you want.
They will appear in the Outlook On the Desktop instance menu, under Select Folder.
Conclusion
Outlook on the Desktop is a neat little app that isn’t perfect. It has some problems and some features that the full blown version of Outlook has. Nevertheless Outlook on the Desktop is still a must have for Outlook fanatics.
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