Black Belt Custom Views in Outlook 2003

My last blog entry showed how you can use the Copy Folder Design feature to clone one folder view to another in Microsoft Outlook 2003. This is great if you only need to customise a couple of folders but this next black belt technique requires getting to grips with a well-hidden feature in Outlook called the Custom View Organizer.

For your pioneering journey into this mysterious feature I recommend you first create a new test folder containing a few unimportant items, perhaps just some stuff from your Deleted Items folder that you no longer need. Then click on this test folder so if you mess up you won't ruin your day by formatting important emails in some weird experimental way!

Now you've done that, let's go exploring. Select View, Arrange By, Current View, then Define Views. Welcome to the depths of the Custom View Organizer.

You can now create a fresh custom view by clicking New or a new view based on an existing view by clicking Copy.

The Type of View you are probably most familiar with for mail items is Table and for calendar items it's Day/Week/Month*. Select one of these then be sure to choose All Mail and Post folders in the 'Can be used on' option.

Now just customise your view as you wish and click OK then Close. To apply your new view to an existing folder is now as easy as highlighting the folder and selecting View, Arrange By, Current View then picking out your newly created view name from the list.

The cool thing about working this way is that if you ever decide to edit your view using the Custom View Organizer, all of the folders you have set to use this view will instantly be updated with any customisation changes you make. Very handy!

(* Some of the 'Type of view' choices in the Create New View dialog box can be pretty cool if used in a smart way. Try out the icon view type to create a blank canvas containing only icons for each item in a folder. This view is great if you're a visual kind of person like me because you can switch off icon auto-arrange (right click, customise current view, other settings) and move the stuff in this Outlook folder around like an Army General manoeuvring troops on a model battlefield. Just be sure to switch on the Reading Pane so you can see what lies behind each icon when you click on it. Or give the timeline view type a whirl to see your emails on a, er, timeline. And, to be honest, the card view is only really useful for contacts unless anyone else out there can think of any other intelligent use for this. I can't.)