Getting Outlook help from Newsgroups

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While Outlook 2007 will provide some fantastic new features that enable you to view RSS feeds directly inside Outlook, Outlook 2003 provides no such capability without an additional add-on like the free RSS Popper. Another source of great information comes from Newsgroups which are populated by MVP (Most Valued Professionals) who are recognised by Microsoft as really knowing their stuff. Again, Outlook cannot read these natively but add-ons like NewsLook can provide this capability, for a fee.

Anyone using Windows has a licence to use Outlook Express which does include a News Reader. You can even add a button inside Outlook to allow you to launch this News Reader without having to track down that launch icon for Outlook Express. Here's how:

  1. Click the Toolbar Options arrow at the end of one of Outlook's toolbars.
  2. Click on Add or Remove Buttons then Customize
  3. Click on the Commands tab and in the Categories list click Go
  4. In the Commands list click News and drag it onto the toolbar where you'd like it to appear.
  5. Click Close and now click your shiny new News button

Now you need to subscribe to some useful Newsgroups. Just search for any newsgroups that contain microsoft.public.outlook and pick the ones that are of most interest to you. Remember, if you post a question to a newsgroup, don't disclose your email address but do provide precise details of your problem and the software that you are using. If you ask the question nicely, a Microsoft Outlook guru will almost certainly respond nicely!