Each course may offer textual information and / or video contents that demonstrate Outlook 2010 features, commands or the interface.

Lets take a closer look at the training courses offered over at Microsoft’s Office website.

• Make the switch to Outlook 2010 – Training Switch from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2010. This course explains how to do familiar tasks, such as send e-mail messages and use the calendar.
• Tame your Inbox: Organize messages by conversation – Training Ever wish you had a smarter, handier way to arrange your Outlook Inbox? Now, learn how Date (Conversations) can simplify and clarify your view. [link]
• Getting started with Outlook 2010 – Article If you know Outlook 2007, used an earlier version of Outlook, or have never used Outlook before, explore these resources to begin learning. [link]
• Download Office 2010 training – Article Get free, downloadable versions of many Office 2010 training courses. They’re in PowerPoint 2010 format, so you can customize them for group training. [link]
• Get familiar with the Outlook Calendar – Training Learn how to use the Outlook 2010 calendar to create appointments and meetings, set recurrence, tasks and reminders, and create all-day events [link]
• Use e-mail signatures in Outlook 2010 – Training Learn how to use e-mail signatures. This course shows you how to create signatures, use handwritten signatures, pictures, and complex layouts. [link]
• Use electronic business cards in Outlook 2010 – Training Learn how to create electronic business cards. This course shows you how to edit and format them, and use downloadable card templates. [link]

Here are our recommendations to get started. First, you should take a look at What’s new in Microsoft Outlook 2010 to get a feel for the new features in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Outlook users who are currently using another version of Outlook should take a look at the video training series “make the switch to Outlook 2010″ that demonstrates core features in the email client.

The training series for Outlook are probably best suited for inexperienced users, and users who have little computing experience. Still, users who have not worked with Outlook 2010 yet may benefit from the training courses as well, regardless of their experience level.

Outlook Password Recovery, and Outlook Express Password Recovery are two free programs to recover the password of a pst file used by Microsoft Outlook.

The two programs are compatibility with lots of Outlook versions and editions, including:

• Microsoft Outlook 2010/2007/2003/XP/2002/2000/97
• Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 and above

Outlook Password Recovery

outlook password recovery

The program offers a basic user interface after installation and startup. The recovery process completes in two steps. In the first step, the user selects a pst file from the local computer system and clicks on the Recover Password button afterwards. The existing password is then displayed in the field below from where it can be copied and entered into Outlook to access the data in the email client.

The password is almost instantly displayed in the client, which makes Outlook Password Recovery a software for the troubleshooting toolbox. [download]

Outlook Express Password Recovery

The software is even easier to use. A click on the Recover button in the interface displays all user accounts, email addresses and passwords in the interface.

outlook express password recovery

Both password recovery tools are compatible with all recent Microsoft operating systems, including 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Vista and XP. The only drawback is that both need to be installed on the system, before they can be used. Still, nice to have tools in case of password emergencies.

Users of Microsoft Outlook 2010 may have noticed that the email client is not nearly as flexible when it comes to sending large file attachments. A limit of 20 Megabytes seems to have been hard coded into the email client. The settings do not offer any option to increase or decrease the attachment size limit.

Outlook 2010 users who try to add an attachment exceeding the 20 Megabyte limit receive a notification that “the attachment size exceeds the allowable limit”. That could be a problem if the email provider supports larger attachment sizes. It is obviously possible to split the attachment but this would mean more work both for the sender and recipient as the attachments need to be split, and joined.

outlook 2010 attachment exceeds limit

Most Outlook users do not know that it is possible to change the attachment size limit in the email program. The process requires manual editing of the Windows Registry, and it is recommended to create a system restore point or other form of backup before proceeding (see backup registry for pointers).

Open The Windows Registry editor by pressing Windows-R, typing regedit and the enter key in the end.

Navigate in the left Registry structure to the key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences

Move the mouse to the right window over blank space and right-click there. This opens a context menu, select New > DWORD (32-bit) value from the list.

Name the new value MaximumAttachmentSize. Double-click the new parameter after it has been created and change the default value to another one. The new value has to be entered in Kilobytes. The easiest way to calculate the Kilobyte value is to multiple the Megabyte attachment size that you want, say 30, with 1024. You would in this case change to decimal in the window, and enter 30720 as the new value of the parameter to increase the attachment size limit to 30 Megabytes.

Setting the value to 0 removes the attachment size limit completely, which means that Outlook will try to send emails regardless of their size. Please note that this does not mean that they are accepted by the Internet Provider. (via NirmalTv)

Eligible are families, students and small businesses that own 5 PCs or less from the United States. Each selected participant will receive a preview copy of Microsoft Office 2010, access to web versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint plus dedicated support by a program manager and various other sources.

Participants specifically get:

• Microsoft Office 2010 pre-installed on a “loaner” laptop PC – before it ships!
• 24-hour unlimited e-mail support Monday – Friday, with phone support for escalations
• Monthly webcast training and Q&A sessions
• Community site access, so you can connect with other participants and easily use resources like feature videos and announcements
• FREE copy of Microsoft Office 2010 (when available)

This does come at a price. The loaner laptop and Microsoft Office 2010 have to be used on a daily basis and Microsoft expects participants to take part in surveys, trainings and calls with the chance to be invited to share the story on an even broader level by being featured in case studies and videos.

The Microsoft Office 2010 Real Life Stories program is available to US citizens only at this point in time. They can submit an application at the official website until June 30.

The main problem that arises when using the Word HTML rendering engine is that Microsoft Outlook 2010 will not support web standards like CSS or background images. This could very well mean that Outlook 2010 users will be stuck with broken HTML emails for the next years after the release. Below is an image that is showing a HTML email in both Microsoft Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2010:

Microsoft Outlook 2000 was using the Internet Explorer rendering engine to display HTML emails. Microsoft mentions benefits that Outlook users gain by using Microsoft Word as their email authoring tool which include automatic styles and templates and SmartArt among other benefits. It would also not be in the best interest performance wise to use a different rendering engine for the display of HTML emails. (via Email Standards)

The initiators of the Fix Outlook protest website are making use of Twitter to rally protesters from all over the world. Every Twitter user that mentions fixoutlook.org in their tweets will automatically partake in the protest. The avatar icons of users will be displayed on the Fix Outlook website. Currently more than 15500 users have already joined the protest.