The Address Book is a convenient place for you to store e-mail addresses. You can add new contacts to your Address Book by typing them in or by adding them directly from e-mail messages.

Typing in contact information

1. On the toolbar, click the Address Book button. The Address Book window will open.

2. On the Address Book toolbar, click the New Contact button. The Properties dialog box will open.

3. Select the Personal tab and type the contact's first and last name in the name boxes. The full name is automatically added to the Display box. If you want a different name to appear in the box, type it in.

4. In the Add new box, type the contact's e-mail address, then click OK. The contact is now saved in your Address Book.

Adding a contact directly from a message
If you think typing is too much trouble, Outlook Express is one step ahead of you. This swift program can add contacts to your Address Book directly from an individual message.

1. In the message window, click the contact's name to select it.

2. Click the Tools menu, point to Add To Address Book, then click Sender.

3. The Properties dialog box will open. The e-mail address will already be filled in.

4. Add any additional information, then click OK. The contact's name is now added to your Address Book.

Adding all recipients
You can set up Outlook Express so that every time you reply to a message, the address of the recipient is automatically added to your Address Book. This program does all the work, doesn't it?

1. In the Outlook Express window, click the Tools menu, then click Options. The Options dialog box will open.

2. Select the General tab, then click the check box next to "Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book".

3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

Sorting names in your Address Book
Outlook Express can organize the contacts in your Address Book several ways. For instance, you can sort contacts in alphabetical order using someone's first name, last name, or e-mail address. You can also decide if you want the list in ascending or descending order.

To sort names:

1. Click the Address Book button to open your Address Book.

2. In the Address Book window, click the View menu, then point to Sort By.

3. In the sub-menu, click the options you want. For example, try clicking Name, First name and Ascending. Your Address Book list will be sorted in the order you specified.

Putting your Address Book to work
Grack! What if you're writing an e-mail and you can't remember the full name or address of the person you are sending it to? Instead of looking-up the information, you can fill in a partial name or address in the To: box. Outlook Express will search your Address Book to find an entry that matches and fill in the rest for you.

Here, give this a shot:

1. In the To: box, type the first few letters of a name in your Address Book. Outlook Express will try to complete the entry. If it doesn't, proceed to the next step.

2. In the message window, click the Tools menu, then click Check Names. A Check Names dialog box appears. If more than one person in your Address Book has the same first name, the dialog box displays all matching names.

3. If the name you want is shown, select it. Then click OK. The name will appear in the To: box of your message window.

You may, for instance, want to create a contact group that includes the e-mail addresses of everyone in your local Save the Trees club. When it comes time to send membership renewals or newsletters, don't bother typing a long list of e-mail addresses. Simply enter the name of the contact group and Outlook Express will handle the rest.

Using contact groups
I've recently created a contact group called Lonely Aliens. It contains the e-mail addresses of all the solitary green creatures in the galaxy. When I want to tell everyone about my latest adventures on Earth, I simply type the group name into the To: box, and my message will be sent to all members of the contact group. Astromatix!

Creating a contact group
I know you're wondering how I created this time-saving gem. No problem, friend. I'll let you in on the secret.

You can create your own contact group by:

1. On the Address Book toolbar, click the New Group button. The Properties dialog box will appear.

2. In the Group Name box, type a name for the group. Then, click the Select Members button. The Select Members dialog box will open.

3. In the Select Members dialog box, type in the names of the members or select them from the list, then click the Select button. The names of the selected members will appear in the Members list on the right.

4. Click OK to close the Select Members dialog box, then click OK to close the Group Properties dialog box. The contact group is now part of the Address Book list.

Adding addresses to a contact group
Does someone want to join your tree-hugging team? No problem. After you've created a contact group, you can add new addresses anytime.

To add contacts that are already in your Address Book:

1. Open the Address Book.

2. In the Address Book list, double-click the contact group you want to add names to. The Group Properties dialog box will open.

3. Click the Select Members button to open the Select Members dialog box.

4. In the contact list, click the name you want to add, then click the Select button.

5. Click OK to close the Select Members dialog box, then click OK to close the Group Properties dialog box. The contact is now added to the group.

3. Enter the new contact information, then click OK. The Properties dialog box will close.

4. Click OK to close the Group Properties dialog box.

Deleting addresses from a contact group
Uh, oh. Did certain members of the Save the Trees club forget to pay their annual dues? Don't hold a grudge. Just photon-ZAP their names from your contact group.

To delete names from a contact group:

1. In the Address Book list, double-click the contact group you want to delete names from. A Group Properties dialog box will open.

2. In the contact list, click the name you want to remove, then click the Remove button. The name is removed from the contact group.

3. Click OK to close the Group Properties dialog box.

Printing your Address Book
You never know when a bug is going to bite your computer. That's why keeping a hard copy of your address book is a grand idea. Outlook Express lets you print your entire Address Book, or just portions of it.

1. In the Address Book list, click the name or names of the contacts you want to print.

2. On the toolbar, click the Print button. The Print dialog box will appear.

3. To print all the information you have for each contact, select the option button next to Memo.

4. Click OK. The information you selected will be sent to your printer.

Saving your Address Book to disk
The trees on your planet are really plasmatic. That's why keeping a copy of your address book on a floppy disk is better than paper. I'll show you exactly how it's done. But before you begin, be sure to insert a disk into the floppy drive of your computer. Astromatix!

1. Open the Address Book.

2. In the Address Book list, select the contacts that you want to save to disk.

3. Click the File menu, point to Export, then click Address Book. The Address Book Export Tool will open.

4. In the Export Tool window, select "Text File (Comma Separated Values)" from the list, then click Export. The CSV Export dialog box will open.

5. Click the Browse button to open the Save As dialog box.

6. Fill in the following information:

(a) In the Save in box, scroll until you locate the floppy drive [A:], then click it.

(b) In the File name box, type a name for the file (e.g. Address Book), then in the Save as type box, select "Text Files".

(c) Click the Save button. The Save As dialog box will close and you will return to the CSV Export dialog box.

7. In the CSV Export dialog box, click the Next button, then click Finish. The CSV Export dialog box will close. A message box will appear confirming that the Address Book has been successfully exported.

Note: When you open the Address Book file from your floppy disk, it will automatically open using the Notepad program on your computer.

Were you paying close attention when @tom was showing you how to add names to the Address Book and how to create Contact Groups? We sure hope so because these two features are extremely helpful if you plan to use e-mail in your classroom. Take a look at the following scenarios and you'll see what we mean:

Are you worried that your students won't be able to spell certain names? The beauty of creating Address Book entries is that you only need to enter the first few letters of a name. Say for instance, your students type ROE in the To: box. Outlook Express will look for a match in the Address Book and try to complete the rest of the name.

Similar Contact Groups will make it easier to keep in touch with members of the parents committee or perhaps the teachers' association. Just one word of advice. Keep the e-mail addresses in your Contact Groups up to date. If someone leaves the parent committee, remove their address from the PTA contact group immediately. Nothing is worse than sending inside information to someone who is no longer involved with an organization.

If you plan to replicate the same Contact Groups in your own e-mail program, you may want to assign names to the groups rather than leaving it up to your students. After all, Team Pacific and Team Atlantic are probably easier to remember than Spice Girls or The Tragically Hip.