Tag Archives: Microsoft Outlook

How to find your email signature folder in Outlook

…and how to edit it

If you use Outlook to send and receive emails, you’re probably also using the ’email signature’ facility that allows you to create a custom bit of text and images that appears at the end of the emails you write.

The problem is, the in-built email signature editor in Outlook is very basic! If you want to create something a bit more complex, sometimes the only option is to do it manually.

Each email signature is made up of three files – signature.rft, signature.html, and signature.txt. These are three different versions of the same signature but used for different types of emails, for example, plain text or rich text. (Note: where I’ve used the word ‘signature’ in the file names in this paragraph, for your email signature, it will be whatever you have named it e.g. ‘My Email Sig.txt’)

Together with these three files there is usually also a directory (aka folder) which contains the corresponding images.

If you can find these files, edit them manually, and save them as they are, you’ll be able to do a lot more in terms of layout and functionality than if you’re just editing these through the Outlook email signature editor.

Firstly, create the files (the signatures folder is created when the first email signature is saved):

  1. Open Outlook, click the ‘tools’ option from the top row of options, then click ‘options’ from the drop-down menu
  2. From the ‘Options’ dialogue box that pops up, click the ‘mail format’ tab then click ‘signatures’
  3. from within the ‘Signatures and stationery’ dialogue box, click ‘new’, give it a name, then press OK then save.
from within the 'Signatures and stationery' dialogue box, click 'new', give it a name, then press OK then save.

from within the ‘Signatures and stationery’ dialogue box, click ‘new’, give it a name, then press OK then save.

Now to edit the files:
To find these files we’ve just created:

  1. Go to file explorer – either press ‘Windows key’ + E or go to my computer
  2. Type ‘%APPDATA%’ (without the quotes) into the address bar at the top and press enter or from My Computer navigate from C: to ‘Users’, ‘Your user name’, ‘appdata’
  3. from ‘appdata’ click on ‘Microsoft’ then ‘signatures’ (please note this folder won’t exists until you’ve created your first email signature through Outlook)
Open the file explorer, and type '%APPDATA%' (without the quotes) into the address bar at the top then press enter

Open the file explorer, and type ‘%APPDATA%’ (without the quotes) into the address bar at the top then press enter

Go to file explorer - either press 'Windows key' + E or go to my computer

Go to file explorer – either press ‘Windows key’ + E or go to my computer

  • The text file can be easily edited using Notepad or similar. This is the signature that is included when the mail format is ‘plain text’ meaning you can’t have any pictures included and you have limited control over formatting and fonts.
  • The HTML file can be edited using Notepad if you know HTML, or alternatively, you may need a visual HTML editor to make changes.
  • The RTF file can be edited using MS Word or similar. The RTF anf HTML files are included when you send your email in rich text format
  • Don’t forget to stick to the hyperlink format and include any images you include in the respective folder within the signatures folder

How to take a screen capture and send it by email

This tutorial is about taking a shot of your computer screen and sending it – very useful when asking for technical support by email. This assumes you are using a PC and a local email client such as Outlook.

  1. Get whatever it is you’d like to get a screen capture of up on your screen
  2. Press the ‘PRTSC’ button. This is short for ‘Print Screen’ and will take a snapshot of your computer screen before sending it. Note: if you’re sending a screen capture of a website, you can press F11 to go full screen before taking the capture (press F11 again to exit full screen mode)

    PRTSC - press to take a screen capture

    PRTSC – press to take a screen capture

  3. Open your email client and open a new email
  4. With the cursor in the body of the email at the appropriate place, press and hold ‘CTRL’ then press ‘v’ once. This will paste the screen capture from your clipboard into the email.

    Insert screen capture into your email

    Insert screen capture into your email

Updating your password in Outlook 2010 tutorial

It is very simple to update your email collection (POP3) password in Outlook 2010 by following the steps below:

  1. Open Outlook
  2. Click on the ‘File’ option at the top of the page
  3. you’ll now have an option for ‘account settings’ – click here

    Open Outlook 2010, click 'file' option at the top of the screen, then click on 'account settings'

    Open Outlook 2010, click ‘file’ option at the top of the screen, then click on ‘account settings’

  4. click on the account you’d like to change then select ‘change’

    Click on the email account you's like to change then select 'change'

    Click on the email account you’s like to change then select ‘change’

  5. from the ‘account settings page, type in your new password in the ‘password’ box

    From the 'account settings' page, type in your new password into the 'password' box then press 'next'

    From the ‘account settings’ page, type in your new password into the ‘password’ box then press ‘next’

  6. click ‘next’
  7. click ‘finish’

How to use Gmail as your SMTP server using Outlook

This tutorial will show you how to use your free Gmail SMTP server to send emails from your personal email accounts using Outlook (this example uses Outlook 2007 but still applies in principle to the other versions of Outlook and other local email clients)

This has been prompted by the news that many Virginmedia customers have recently been informed that they will no longer be able to use their Virginmedia SMTP address to send emails other than from their Virginmedia email address. This tutorial will show you how to use your Gmail SMTP address instead


Step 1.

Open Outlook and select ‘tools’ (from the top menu) then select ‘account settings’

Open Outlook and select 'tools' (from the top menu) then select 'account settings'

Open Outlook and select ‘tools’ (from the top menu) then select ‘account settings’

Step 2.

Highlight the account you would like to modify then press ‘change’

Highlight the account you would like to modify then press 'change'

Highlight the account you would like to modify then press ‘change’

Step 3.

From the ‘internet email settings’ page, select ‘more settings’

From the 'internet email settings' page, select 'more settings'

From the ‘internet email settings’ page, select ‘more settings’

Step 4.

Fill in the information in the three boxes on the ‘general’ tab (the name you’d like to call this account can be anything, you can leave organisation blank and the reply-to addrsess is the address you’d like people to reply to)

Fill in the information in the three boxes on the 'general' tab

Fill in the information in the three boxes on the ‘general’ tab

Step 5.

On the outgoing server tab, fill in the following

  1. tick the box that says ‘my outgoing server requires authentication’,
  2. tick the ‘log on using…’ option
  3. in the ‘user name’ box, type in your full Gmail email address
  4. in the password box, type in your Gmail password (the same one you’d use to log into your Gmail account)
  5. un-tick the ‘require secure password authentication’ and ‘log into mail server before…’ options
On the outgoing server tab, fill in the following

On the outgoing server tab, fill in the following

Step 6.

No need to change anything on the ‘connections’ tab

Fill in the following on the ‘advanced’ tab

  1. change ‘incoming server (POP3)’ to 995
  2. tick the box ‘the server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)’
  3. change ‘outgoing server’ to 587
  4. from the drop-down options, change the ‘use the following type of encrypted connection’ to TLS
  5. leave ‘server timeouts’ as is
  6. un-tick the ‘leave copies of the messages on the server’ (…which will download the actual email to your computer as opposed to just a copy – this helps avoid duplication)
  7. tick ‘OK’ to take you back to the ‘internet e-mail settings’ page
Fill in the following on the 'advanced' tab

Fill in the following on the ‘advanced’ tab

Step 7.

Back on the ‘internet e-mail settings’ page, click next to save the changes

Back on the 'internet e-mail settings' page, click next to save the changes

Back on the ‘internet e-mail settings’ page, click next to save the changes

 

 

 

 

Convert text to lower-case, upper-case or capitalised the easy way!

CAPS-LOCK

CAPS-LOCK = SHOUTING

This tutorial is specifically for Microsoft Word and Outlook, however, as with many keyboard shortcuts, they’ll often be supported by many other applications

Ever accidentally hit the CAPS LOCK button and written a whole paragraph in capitals? Or how about got one of those shouty emails all in caps that are difficult to read?

Good news – there is an ultra-simple way to swap between capitals and lowercase! It’ll even capitalise the starts of paragraphs for you!

Simply, highlight the offending text, hold down ‘SHIFT’ and press ‘F3’. That’s it!

In Outlook, you’ll have to click reply or forward first to make the text area editable but it still works!

Very handy!