OL97: User Profiles and Information Services (162203)

MORE INFORMATION

User profiles and information services work hand-in-hand to allow you to take advantage of the feature set of Outlook. The following information explains each of these components.

User Profiles

A user profile is a group of settings that defines how Outlook is set up for a particular user. For example, a profile may include access to a mailbox on Microsoft Exchange Server and specify that the Outlook Address Book appear in the Address Book dialog box. A profile can contain any number of information services.

Generally, you only need one user profile. If you sometimes need to work with a different set of information services, it may be helpful to create an additional profile to use those services. If more than one person uses the same computer, each person should have a separate profile to keep personal items secure.

You can copy an existing user profile, rename it, and then modify it as needed to create your profile. You can have Outlook start with the same profile every time, or you can select a profile to use each time you start.

How to add a User Profile

1. In Control Panel, double-click either the Mail or the Mail and Fax icon.
2. Click Show Profiles.
3. In the Mail and Fax dialog box, click Add.
4. Follow the prompts of the Inbox Setup Wizard.

How to Receive a Prompt for a User Profile

If you have set up more than one profile on your computer, you can have Outlook prompt you for the profile that you want to use when it starts. To do this:

1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. On the General tab, click Prompt for a profile to be used under Startup settings, and then click OK.
4. On the File menu, click Exit and Log Off.

This takes effect the next time that you start Outlook.

Information Services

The remainder of this document explains the different information services that come with Outlook, and describes how to modify an existing profile in order to add a service.

Information services are settings that make it possible to send, store, and receive messages and items and to specify where to store addresses.

You can have multiple information services in a user profile. For example, you can have multiple sets of personal folders (.pst) files in a single profile and you can have Internet e-mail, CompuServe, and The Microsoft Network (MSN) in the same profile. However, you can not have two of the same e-mail services in the same profile (for example, two CompuServes), they must be different services (personal folders (.pst) files are the exception).

With information services, you can control how e-mail systems address and deliver your messages. and how your messages and folders are stored. You can specify the delivery location for incoming mail, the location of your Personal Address Book, and the use of any personal folders (.pst) file that you create. You can also set up information services to send faxes or connect to other e-mail systems.

For example, you might have the following two information services in your user profile: Exchange Server for sending and receiving messages and a Personal Address Book for storing personal distribution lists.

Before you can use an information service, you must add it to your user profile.

Microsoft Exchange Server

The complete Outlook feature set is available with the Exchange Server driver, which supports a server-based message store, message transport, and global address book. In this configuration, Outlook offers advanced e-mail functionality, group scheduling, personal information management, document explorer, and custom groupware applications.

NOTE: The Exchange Server driver is included with Microsoft Outlook, but users must acquire a Microsoft Exchange Server client access license separately.

Internet E-mail

With an Internet e-mail configuration, Outlook functions as a full-featured e-mail client integrated with desktop information management and the Outlook document explorer. You store messages locally in a .PST file, and remotely connect to and download messages from an Internet mail service provider through the Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) driver. You store e-mail addresses in the Outlook Contacts module. The .pst file store and Internet e-mail transport drivers are components of the Windows Messaging System included with Outlook.

NOTE: To configure the Internet E-mail service, you must know your user or account name, your password, and the POP3 and SMTP server names used by your Internet service provider (ISP). If you do not know this information, please contact your ISP.

Microsoft Mail

If you use the Microsoft Mail service, you store messages locally in a personal folders (.pst) file, but work connected primarily through the Local Area Network (LAN) to a postoffice. The postoffice provides the messaging transport and central address book or e-mail directory. In this configuration, Outlook functions as a full-featured e-mail client integrated with basic group scheduling, for example, sending and receiving meeting requests, personal information management, and the Outlook document explorer.

How to Add an Information Service

Use the following steps to add an information service to a user profile:

1. On the Tools menu, click Services, and then click Add.
2. In Available Information Services, click to select the information service that you want to add, and then click OK.
3. Follow the prompts for adding specific information for the Information service that you selected.

If the information service you need is not in the list, you may need to install it separately.

Additional Services

The following are the additional information services.

Outlook Address Book

The Outlook Address Book is created from contacts in your Contacts folder and includes an entry in the E-mail field or a Fax telephone number field, and you can have multiple e-mail addresses for each contact. When you update your contacts in the Contacts folder, the Outlook Address Book is updated at the same time. The Contacts folder appears as a separate entry under Outlook Address Book.

Personal Address Book

A Personal Address Book is best used to store personal distribution lists that you frequently address messages to, such as a list of everyone on the racquetball team. If you use Exchange Server, you can also add an address for a public folder to the Personal Address Book. Personal Address Book files have a .pab extension, and can be stored on a disk.

Personal Folders (.pst) Files

Personal folders (.pst) files are folders that you create to store messages on your hard disk, or on another server. You add a main personal folders (.pst) file as a service to the user profile, and give it a file name. Personal folders (.pst) files have a .pst extension.

An information service for Lotus cc:Mail is located in the ValuPack folder on the Microsoft Office 97 compact disc.

For additional information about how to set up these services, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: