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Outlook Express in the Classroom is produced by ACT360 Media Ltd.
in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright 1998. All rights reserved.


It won't be long before you start receiving all sorts of e-mail messages. Homework questions, PTA annoucements, Save the Trees newsletters and, my favorite, party invitations! After awhile, your Inbox may start to look a bit chaotic. Fortunately, with Outlook Express you can use digital folders to bring order to your e-mail.


Creating a new folder
Your students are anxious to start their science fair projects and have been sending you their astromatic ideas via e-mail. To keep these messages separate from your regular mail, you can create a new folder and store science fair-related messages there.

To create a new folder:

    1. In the Outlook Express window, click the File menu, point to Folder, then click New Folder. The Create Folder dialog box will open.

Use these commands to create a new folder


    2. In the Folder name box, type a name for the folder. For example, Science Fair.

Name your folder


    3. In the Folder List box, select where you want to place your new folder.

Choose a location for your new folder

    4. Click OK.



Moving messages to a folder
Hyper-pow! You've created your first folder. Now you can move or copy messages to it. Here's how to give your messages a lift.

To move a message to a folder:

    1. In the message list, select the message you want to move by clicking it.


    2. With the message(s) selected, click the Edit menu, then click Move to Folder. The Move dialog box will open.

Use this command to move your messages to a folder


    3. In the Folder List box, click the destination folder, then click OK to close the Move dialog box. Your message will be stored in the specified folder.

Select a folder to store your message



Deleting a folder
Too much confusion in your e-mail? Then simplify. If you have a folder that's old news, you can delete it. ZAP! Just be careful. When you delete a folder and its contents, they're totally vaporized. They don't appear in the Recycle Bin or in the Deleted Items folder.

To delete a folder and its contents:

    1. In the Folder List, click the folder you want to delete.

    2. On the toolbar, click the Delete button. Or, click the Delete key on your keyboard.

select the folder to delete


    3. A message box appears asking if you are sure you want to delete the folder.

Are you 100%, positively sure you want to delete the folder?


    4. If you are sure, click the Yes button.



Note: The Inbox folder, the Sent folder, the Deleted Items folder, and the Drafts folder cannot be deleted.



As captain of the SS Outlook Express, it's up to you to delegate duties. A good place to start is by charting destinations for all your incoming messages.


Directing incoming messages to specific folders
Instead of moving messages to folders manually, you can tell Outlook Express to do it for you. Simply tell this trusty program which messages to look out for and what it should do with them.

In the following example, I'll show you how to automatically move messages written by Teacher Trudy to a file folder called Science Education.

    1. In the Outlook Express window, click the Tools menu, then click Inbox Assistant. The Inbox Assistant dialog box will appear.

Meet your co-pilot...the Inbox Assistant


    2. Click the Add button to open the Properties dialog box.

Click the Add button


    3. In the Properties dialog box, type the criteria that will be used to filter messages. In this example, the filter is all messages from Teacher Trudy that discuss whales.

    (a) In the From box, type Teacher Trudy's e-mail address.

Type an e-mail address here


    (b) In the Subject box, type a word that Teacher Trudy might include in her message titles.

Enter a subject here


Note: If any part of a message subject matches the text Whales, the Inbox rules will apply to it. For example, if a message titled Blue Whales comes in, the Inbox Assistant will act on it.


    4. In the "Perform the following action" area, click the Move To check box, then click the Folder button. The Move dialog box will appear.

Add a check mark, then click the Folder button


    5. In the Move dialog box, select the destination folder for the filtered messages. For example, Science Education.

select the science education folder


    6. Click OK to close the Move dialog box. The name of the destination folder will be displayed in the Properties dialog box, next to the Folder button.

    7. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box, then click OK to close the Inbox Assistant dialog box.




A student wants to browse the Smithsonian site. Another wants to ask Bill Nye the Science Guy the origins of sneaker odors. Even the class hamster is signed up to surf the Web. You have managed to keep everyone happy in your one-computer classroom, but now multiple e-mail accounts have made the situation extra tricky.


Setting up another e-mail account
With Outlook Express, everyone in your class can use the same computer to check their individual e-mail accounts. Simply configure this snappy program to receive messages for everyone's accounts and to direct the messages to individual folders.

To add a new e-mail account:


    1. In the Outlook Express window, click the Tools menu, then click Accounts. The Internet Accounts dialog box will appear.

    2. Select the Mail tab. You will see a list of the accounts that are in Outlook Express.

See which accounts Outlook Express currently checks


    3. Click the Add button, then click Mail. The Internet Connection Wizard dialog box will open.

This command will open the Internet Connection Wizard


The Internet Connection Wizard will lead you through the steps of configuring the new account. After you complete its instructions, click the Finish button to return to the Internet Accounts dialog box. The new account is displayed in the Accounts list box.




Directing mail from a new account Fifteen e-mail accounts, and three messages for each account everyday. Yikes! You'll have a hodge-podge of messages in your Inbox within a week. You can avoid potential chaos by directing messages from different accounts to separate folders.

Here's how...

    1. Create a folder for the new account.

    (a) In the Outlook Express window, click the File menu, point to Folder, then click New Folder. The Create Folder dialog box will appear.

Create a folder to store the re-directed messages


    (b) In the Folder name box, type a name for the new folder (e.g. Lisa's Mail).

    (c) In the Folder List box, click the location where you want to create the new folder. Click Outlook Express to create a top-level folder (rather than a sub-folder).

    (d) Click OK to return to the Outlook Express window. The new folder is displayed in the Folder List.

    2. Click the Tools menu, then click Inbox Assistant. The Inbox Assistant dialog box will open.

Open the Inbox Assistant


    3. Click the Add button. The Properties dialog box will appear.

Select the Add button


    4. Click the Account check box, then in the Account list box, select the new account.

    5. In the "Perform the following action" area, click the Move To check box, then click the Folder button. The Move dialog box will open.

Select the check box, then click the Folder button


    6. In the Folder List, click the folder you just created (e.g. Lisa's Mail), then click OK. Any incoming messages for the new account will be directed to the designated folder.

    7. Click OK to close the Move dialog box, click OK to close the Properties dialog box, then click OK to close the Inbox Assistant dialog box.


Repeat the steps shown above for each new account you want Outlook Express to check. Pretty soon everyone in your class will be able to use the same computer to retrieve their e-mail messages.


Retrieving messages when there are multiple accounts
When you click the Send and Receive button, Outlook Express automatically checks all mail accounts. Burly Bob, however, is very touchy about privacy and will not like it if you download his messages. To avoid irking Bob, you'd better learn how to check for your messages only.

To check messages for only one account:

    1. Click the Tools menu, point to Send and Receive, then click your account name. Outlook Express will download any new messages and direct them to your personal folder. (Whew!)

Here's how to download messages that belong to you--and ONLY you.



I always seem to be misplacing things--space goggles, rocket keys, galactic maps... Luckily, Outlook Express has a feature that practically guarantees I'll never lose a single e-mail message.


Searching for a message
Looking for a message can be as difficult as finding a satellite dish in an asteroid belt-- especially if you wrote that message long ago. No fear. Outlook Express has a handy tool to help you find misplaced messages.

To search for a message:

    1. In the Outlook Express window, click the Edit menu, then click Find Message. The Find Message dialog box will open.

    2. If you want to search in a specific folder, select the name of the folder from the Look in box.

You can also specify the folder to look in


    3. Set the criteria for your search. For example, if you are searching for a message sent by the school librarian on the subject of dinosaur bones:

    (a) In the From box, type the name of the sender (e.g. Emma Bookfan).

    (b) In the Subject box, type a few words that might appear in the message subject (e.g. dinosaur bones).

Tell Outlook Express what to look for


    4. When you're finished filling in criteria, click the Find Now button.

Select this button to start the search


Outlook Express will look for the message. Any messages that fit the criteria will be displayed at the bottom of the Find Message dialog box. If nothing is found, you will see 0 message(s) on the screen. If you want to start another search, click the New Search button. Happy hunting!



E-mail in a One-Computer Classroom

In an ideal digital world, every student would have a computer on their desk top. The reality, however, is the one-computer classroom. Fortunately, the Inbox Assistant in Outlook Express makes e-mail in a one-computer classroom bearable. This feature helps you check multiple e-mail accounts and sort incoming messages to separate folders.

Let's see what the Inbox Assistant can do in this classic, one-computer classroom.


Multiple Classes, One E-mail Account
Barbara is a high school English teacher. She has classes of 7th, 8th and 9th graders who rotate in and out of her one-computer classroom. Her students don't have individual e-mail accounts, but the school gave Barbara one e-mail address to use with her classroom computer.

Barbara is coordinating a collaborative story writing project for four of her classes. Her 7th and 8th graders are going to use Outlook Express to compose stories with partnered classrooms around the United States. How will Barbara manage the flow of e-mail messages with only one computer and one e-mail account? 




The Inbox Assistant Solution




Barbara starts by creating four new folders in Outlook Express. She names them Block A, Block B, Block C and Block D. Barbara knows that each of the partnered classes will be using a unique e-mail address. So, she sets up the Inbox Assistant to look for these e-mail addresses. When the program spots one of the addresses in an incoming message, Barbara wants it to move the message to the appropriate folder.


Barbara has set up the Inbox Assistant to automatically sort incoming messages to separate folders. Now, when her Block C students check their e-mail, they simply click the Block C folder. Way to go, Barb!