How to open shared folders using OWA perplexes many users, since there is no "Open shared folder" menu they can use. As long as you know the alias or SMTP address of the shared mailbox and the path of any shared subfolders, you can open shared folders while using OWA. Users will access rights to the mailbox need just the alias and will be able to see the full shared mailbox in OWA. You'll also need the proper permissions, which are the same as for sharing folders within Outlook: at least "Folder visible" on the mailbox root (Outlook Today folder) and Reviewer permission on the shared folders.

When logged into your mailbox with OWA, type the alias or STMP email address of the shared mailbox at the end of the URL. If you have the proper permissions, the mailbox will open. Should you only have rights to the calendar (or another folder), you’ll need to add "/calendar" or the folder name to the alias. Remove the username and folder name from the URL to return to your mailbox.

For example, if the URL you use to log into OWA is

https://owa.yourdomain.com/exchange

The URL to the shared mailbox would be

https://owa.yourdomain.com/exchange/sharing_user

Or

https://owa.yourdomain.com/exchange/sharing_user@domain.com

You can go directly direct to the shared calendar (or any other folder you have permission to view) by appending the user name and folder to your OWA URL:

https://owa.yourdomain.com/exchange/sharing_user/calendar

Subfolders are accessed by including the full path to the subfolder. (You may need to replace spaces in folder names with %20. )

https://owa.yourdomain.com/exchange/sharing_user/calendar/my%20calendar

Exchange 2007 includes an Open Other Mailbox dialog in the OWA interface, as a menu under the user's display name in the upper right corner of the webpage. Open the shared mailbox by clicking on the display name to show the Open Other Mailbox dialog and type the shared mailbox name (or partial name) in the field. You won’t be able to browse the GAL for the mailbox name, but it will resolve partial names and remembers recently opened mailboxes. You can also use the URL method to open the shared mailbox.

Users will need explicit logon permissions on Exchange 2007, set using the Add-MailboxPermission cmdlet:

Add-MailboxPermission -identity mailbox_alias -User user_alias -AccessRights FullAccess

Exchange 2007 SP1 adds this command (as well as Send as permissions) to the Exchange Management Console, accessed with a right click on the mailbox name.

An Outlook user recently asked "Is there a way to print reminders in Outlook?"

Outlook doesn't offer a predefined way to do this but you can create a custom view which will show the reminder times and print it. While it works as expected for individual appointments, recurring events will show only the reminder for the first occurrence. It also won’t display the new reminder time for snoozed reminder, as this doesn’t change the value stored in the reminder field.

The reminder is stored in the Remind Beforehand field, as a number in minutes, not as a specific date and time. Ie, it contains 15, not 10/31/2007, 12:45 PM.

You can easily convert it to a date and time with a custom field which subtracts the minutes in the Remind Beforehand from the start time's date and time:

DateAdd("n",-[Remind Beforehand],[Start])

This formula allows you to add, or in this case, subtracts the value of remind beforehand field from the minutes field of the appointment's start time.

Open the Field Chooser dialog, click New, enter a name for the field and select Formula for the field type. Type or paste the formula in the Formula field. Then drag the new field to the view.

A step-by-step version with screen shots can be found at
Creating a Custom Field for the Reminder Time
http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/remindertime.htm

A wish of many delegates is the ability to delete messages from the shared mailbox and have the items moved to the mailbox's Deleted Items folder, not their own Deleted Items folder.

This is one wish that the administrator can grant, provided the user has at least author rights to the shared mailbox's Deleted Items folder.

Add the DWORD DelegateWastebasketStyle, with a value of 4, to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\xx.0\Outlook\Options\General

Replace the xx with the correct Outlook version number. A value of 8 uses the default Deleted Items folder.

The Insert signature function found in the Outlook editor was often used to insert text blocks, leaving those who upgraded to Outlook 2007 without an obvious way to insert large blocks of text. While Autocorrect can be used, it had a limit of 255 characters, generally not enough to handle inserting boilerplate text blocks.

Enter Quick Parts, a new feature of Office 2007, replacing AutoText in older Office versions.

To create Quick Parts:

1. Type the text you want to use in a Quick Part into a new email message.
2. Select the text block and click the Quick Parts icon (look for it on the Insert ribbon)
3. Select Save selection to the Quick Part Gallery, at the bottom of the flyout.
4. Complete the New Building Block dialog and click Ok to save it.

To Use a Quick Part:
Click on the Click Part button and select the text block you want to insert.

Right click on a block for editing options and a menu of locations (header, footer etc) where it should be inserted. Edit properties brings up the Building Block dialog, allowing you to change the name, category or other options. The Organize and Delete dialog includes a preview pane to display the contents of selected blocks along with options to edit properties, delete blocks, and insert blocks.

While Word has a Quick Part gallery and Outlook uses Word as the email editor, they don't share quick parts. If you want the same text block available in both Word and Outlook you'll need to add it to each program's Quick Parts gallery.

To save short phrases as AutoComplete text, enter the text and select it, then open the Editor options (at the bottom right of the Office orb menu, formerly known as File menu). Browse to Proofing, Autocorrect button. You'll need to use a unique entry in the Replace field.

As handy as Quick Parts are, if they don't meet your needs, applications which can replace some of the functionality of the Insert Signature function include Outlook add-ins such as Sperry Software's Quick Text hotkeys Email Template. You can also use Windows macro utilities, such as ActiveWords, which can insert text blocks into Word, Notepad or other applications. Because ActiveWords works with Outlook Express and other applications, I use it to store the answers to frequently asked questions.

Quick Text Hotkeys
http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook/Quick-Text-Hotkeys.asp

Email Templates
http://www.emailtemplates.com/

Template Phrases
http://www.ablebits.com/outlook-templates-phrases/index.php

ActiveWords
http://www.activewords.com/

The words every administrator hates to hear: "it was always like that at my old job" came with a request from a user that when she opens Outlook, she wants several calendars open at the same time, automatically.

Yes, it is possible to have Outlook open multiple windows when it loads.

Open the Outlook windows you need and arrange them to your liking then always close Outlook using File, Exit. All of the windows close and Outlook restores them the next time you use it.

If you use Outlook 2003 or 2007 and want to open the Calendar module with the same calendars checked each time you'll need to use a Windows macro or scripting utility such as AutoIt to automatically enter the required keystrokes the open these other calendars

AutoIt
http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/