One of the wonderful things about getting a new computer with a new operating system is that you get to also buy brand new software! Bill Gates does what he can to stimulate the economy by making sure all new computers are shipped with Vista. Does Vista work with Office 2000, the program that I have used for the past nine years? Of course not! I downloaded the fully functional version of Microsoft 2007 which does work with Vista. I also dowloaded for FREE Open Office. In two months I will have to decide to purchase Office 2007 or simply use Open Office. One program that I've already made the decision to buy is Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager. However, first I tried the less expensive Microsoft Outlook 2007.
First, What is OUTLOOK?Rather than assume you know what Outlook is, I will quickly tell you that it is Microsofts all in one program for managing e-mail, contacts, to do list and calendar. I used Outlook 2000 as the heart of my law office. Contacts held all the info and notes on all my clients and other contacts (courts, other attorneys, creditors, even friends). You can set tasks for each contact and schedule appointments and keep track of everything by either looking at your calendar or TO DO list. Contact is meant as an all in one organization program.
How Did Outlook 2007 improve Outlook 2000?Usually, when one is asked to shell out extra money for an "upgrade" one would expect improvements. You can now color code your categories, so if tasks and appointments are assigned categories, they show up in the colors you assigned to those categories. So if you look at your calendar it will be fillled with colors showing what category your days tasks and appointments include. The color assignment does NOT work with Contacts. Unless you actually open up a contact, you won't see what color it is. If you scroll through contacts and have assigned them to different categories, they all still show up the same. You may add as many categories as you want, and use 17 colors (16 colors plus clear)
In Contact 2000, if you hit task while you were in a contact, that task would show up on your task list, and under a detail list of the contact. For some reason, although you can still set tasks, it won't automatically show up if you hit details for a contact. So, under Outlook 2000, if I wanted to see all the tasks I had to do for John Smith, I would just hit details in his contact screen, and there they all were. In Outlook 2007, you would have to make sure you included John Smith's name on each task and search the task list.
In Contact 2000 if I wanted to schedule an appointment with John Smith, I could assign it from within his contact screen. Not only would it show up under Smith's details, it would also automatically appear on my calendar.
Contact 2007 improves this. Now if I want to schedule an appointment, I can't, not that way anyway. I can schedule a meeting though, just by opening John Smith's contact screen and hitting Meeting. Outlook then tells me I can't if John doesn't have e-mail. So, Outlook 2007 is improved by only allowing people that have e-mail to get meetings assigned. If you schedule a meeting in person or over the phone, you have to manually enter the meeting on your calendar and under John Smith's Contact details. Outlook refuses to allow you to automatically add an appointment, or to even modify the tool bar to allow you to add an appointment. Thanks Bill!
Another big improvement to Outlook 2007 is the new lack of customization. Under Outlook 2000, I could add or subract buttons from the tool bar, based on the ones I used the most, and hiding ones I hardly ever used. That functionality has been removed from Outlook 2007. Now I don't need to be bothered to try to make Outlook work the way I want, I just have to learn to use it Bill Gates way. In many instances what was one button click in 2000 is now two or three button clicks in 2007 Outlook.
Cross FunctionalityOffice 2007 Home and Student Edition comes with a program called OneNote. It is a multipurpose note taking program, and Outlook 2007 lets you store notes for each contact using OneNote. This allows for more complex notes than just the note taking box within each Contact field.
Outlook 2007 will also link to other Office programs, and I was happy to see will also link to Open Office files! This is a handy way to have any documents, spreadsheets or presentations linked to a particular contact.
RequirementsDonations to Bill Gates are required as are a computer running XP with service pack 2 or Vista. You should have at least 512 megs of RAM and a Pentium II. Todays computers should have no problem running this program. I had to update an older computer running XP with service pack 2, but after I did that, it worked just fine on it.
Various Views -
How to Organize Your To Do List!
Like previous incarnations of Outlook, 2007 offers various views. You can start the day with Outlook Today which shows you the days calendar events plus to-do list. You can also focus just on the To Do list seeing what you have to do by due date, category or day or week. You can also check out your calendar and see what appointments or court dates you have in the coming days or months. I do like the way Outlook lets me see my tasks and appointments in color on the calendar or by category.
I use a two category system, one for type of task (for me, as an attorney, my categories are bankruptcy, divorce, personal injury etc>), and for how the task is to be accomplished. IE is it a phone task, an online task, a Court task? That way, I can use the category list to see just what needs to be done for all my bankruptcies or I can see all the phone calls I need to make. I learned the Action step tasks trick from a book
Take Back Your Life with Outlook. Not only are my tasks categorized by what they are, they are categorized by how or where they will be accomplished. If I am going to the Plymouth Probate Court for example, I can run a task list of all my to dos that can be accomplished there. I can check files there, file a deed next door at the Registry and return library books at the Plymouth Public library. No regular to do list can do that!
Keep a couple panes open, your calendar and to do list, and you can drag and drop items from your to do list onto your calendar. This lets you quickly see how much you can really accomplish in a week. Seeing your calendar view also allows you to say NO when someone wants to know if you can do them one small favour. I used to over promise and under deliver, and Outlook helps me not to allow that to happen. Outlook 2007 does improve this.
Should I get Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2007 with Business Manager?I'll tell you right out, I bought Outlook 2007 with Business Manager. Why? Remember my complaints above about assigning tasks and appointments in Outlook? If you make all your Contacts Business Contacts, you may assign tasks from the Contact screen. They show up under the contact history list and your to do list. Back again is the appointment button. Instead of assigning an email dependant meeting, schedule an appointment for your client, and it appears on his history list and on your calendar. If you do use the Meeting button for a client with e-mail, it will open the email program so you can email an invite or confirmation of a meeting. If you have your phone wired through your computer, you can call by clicking the call button in business contact. Business Contacts offer more functionality than regular Contacts. It was simple to move all my contacts to business contacts as well.
E-MailE-mail control is a major function of Outlook and it continues to do a good job of it. All those viagra ads and letters from the widows of deposed Nigerian warlords can be assigned to their own folders quickly and easily. Myself I use a folder called junk for both. However, other items, like email from the bankruptcy court can be quickly linked right to their respective contacts. Tasks can also be assigned from the email. So if I get an email stating that a creditors meeting has been scheduled, I can immediately set a task to mail the required documents to the Trustee assigned for the meeting and to call my client to make sure they got the notice and are ready for the meeting. The program also automatically downloads it from my server.
SummaryI felt that things that could have easily been left in Outlook 2007 were stripped out and only included in Business Contact Manager. I was quite disappionted that customizing the tool bars to work best for me was no longer an option. I didn't choose this version, because the more expensive Business Manager offered the functionality that I had with Outlook 2000. I was happy with the additon of color, I am a visual person, and I already organize many of my office files by color. The ability to do the same with my calendar and to do list in Outlook was a welcome addtion. I can't give this program more than three stars though. It is good, but it seems more has been taken away than added. I feel it is quite unfair that every time Gates updates his operating system, the OS no longer works with programs that I know and forces me to upgrade to programs that I have to relearn. The program works, but not nearly as seamlessly as one would hope after many upgrades. (2000, 2003 and this, 2007). I also do not recommend it, because the Business Manager edition offers increased functionality although for more money.
Related Reviews:
Outlook 2007 Quick Steps ( a visual guide book)
Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager a more full featured Outlook program.
