Creating E-Mail Templates In MS Outlook 2003
Creating e-mail template in outlook is a great way to save time and limit errors on commonly used e-mail message. Here is a step-by-step guide to creating E-Mail Templates with MS Outlook 2003.
What Are Outlook E-mail Templates?You can think of an e-mail template as a form in which you simply fill-out some information then click send. Outlook e-mail templates are useful with e-mail merges or if you need to have a standard e-mail reply message. You can always use e-mail templates if you want to send the same request e-mail over and over.
In Outlook 2003, you can create an email message, and save it as a template so that you can use it again. This will help save time and improve productivity.
Prior to creating the template, you must disable the option that uses Word as your email editor. To do this, select Tools, Options, and select the Mail Format tab. De-select Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages , then click Apply, OK.
From the Outlook menu, select File, New, Mail message. Complete the Subject portion of the message and type any desired text in the body of the message. If you will be sending the email to the same individuals on a regular basis, you might also want to complete the “To” portion of the email.
From the email message menu, select File, Save As.
In the Save As dialog box, select Outlook Template in the Save As File Typebox. Name the template anything you wish and select Save. NOTE : If Outlook Template is not an option, it is because you did not de-select the option to use Word as your email editor.
Close the template. Respond Yes if you are asked to save changes.
Because you turned off the option to use Word as your email editor in order to create the template, you should now turn it back on. From the Outlook menu, select Tools, Options, and on the Mail Format tab, select Use Microsoft Office Word to edit email messages . Click Apply, then click OK.
Using the Template
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From the Outlook Inbox menu, select Tools, Forms.
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Select Choose Form.
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From the Look In drop down box, select User Templates in File System
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Select the template, and click Open.
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Add or revise text in the email as needed.
Finally Click Send to send the email.
Assigning the Outlook Template to a Toolbar Button
If you want, you can assign the template to a button on your Outlook toolbar. To do so:
Select Tools, Customize from the Outlook Inbox menu.
Select the Commands Tab.
Select any button in the Commands section of the dialog box, and drag and drop it on your Outlook toolbar. When you release the mouse button, right click on the toolbar button you have added.
Select Change Button Image from the drop down menu and select a new image for the button.
Right click on the button and select Assign Hyperlink from the drop down menu that displays. Click Open. Browse to the email template. Note: In most cases, the template will be located:
C:\Documents and Settings\[%username%]\Application Data\Microsoft Template
Select the template, click OK and close all dialog boxes.
From now on, to access your template, just click the appropriate toolbar button.
