Does anyone know how to make Outlook your default mail program? I have tried several different thing and nothing works. I want to be able to click on an email address in Excel and have it open in Outlook, not Outlook Express. It’s driving me nuts, I hate Outlook Express.
Any help would be appreciated.
Jeff
jeff@oriented.org
Tried to de-install Outlook Express?
Be carefull though, when I installed MS Office incl. Outlook and tried to import my mail file I lost all the sender’s names, i.e. the message is there but no sender.
MS sucks big time!
I’d prefer not to reinstall. I don’t think that’s the problem. I just bought a new harddrive in May and reinstalled everything so…
And yeah it’s normal to lose your contacts unless you back them up by using the export command in the file menu. You have to back up your .pst file before you do anything.
I have another question on top of my original question. I backed up all my mail from work and brought it home and tried to import it in to outlook. Gave me an error, said I should have done this or that before I saved it the first time. Though what error message doesn’t make any sense. Does anyone know why I cannot import my .pst file? Anyone had any similar experiences?
Thanks,
Jeff
jeff@oriented.org
Internet Options in IE’s Tools menu. Then click programs, and then choose outlook for mail.
HTH
You have to back up your .pst file before you do anything
Maybe you missunderstood: I had a backup and it imported everything (message, date & time etc) but not the names.
wsmith,
Tried that, it doesn’t work. I changed all of them to default to Outlook. But everytime I click on an address it still goes to outlook express… Must be some other little thing that needs to be done… Any sugguestions?
Rascal,
I thought the .pst file also housed all your contact information? Maybe I’m wrong…
Jeff
jeff@oriented.org
JeffG,
I use Windows 2000 Professional and tested out WSSmith’s suggestion: Internet Options in IE’s Tools menu. Then, click programs, and then choose outlook for mail.
First, I set up my hotmail address in Outlook Express and then in Outlook. Next, I entered my email adress into Excel. Then I changed my default from Outlook to Outlook Express and back again, testing out the link each time. It worked with no problem in both programs. I don’t know what glich you might have in your operating system but at least you’ll know that in Win2000P, changing your default email program works. BTW, what operating system do you use?
Jeff:
I use Windows ME. And now we know from the previous poster that this method works on 2K too. I also remember using this method for Win98.
You said you use hotmail in both Outlook and outlook express. I know one can setup hotmail in Outlook express 6 but not in Outlook 2000, only Outlook XP. Therefore, are you using Outlook XP? Are you using WinXP?
If so, sorry I can’t help, as I have never used a machine running XP.
I’m using Win 2000 Professional also. I go into IE Explorer Browers, go to tools, click on Internet options, then change them to Outlook, reboot and everytime I click on something online or in excel or word Outlook Express still pops up. How can I change the default? Everytime outlook express pops up it asks me if I want to make it my default, of course I say no, but it continues… Is there another place in which I need to change the default?
Jeff
jeff@oriented.org
Jeff:
Are you “applying” the changes you make before restarting. Internet Options requires you to hit apply at the bottom right of the window before closing.
Yup, I’m a hittin’ it… Maybe I need to upgrage or reinstall IE…
Jeff
Jeff, you shouldn’t even need to restart. There’s certainly something quirky going on there. Hitting “apply” is all I had to do.
OUTLOOK QUESTION: I’ve got this weird situation. When I open Outlook, there’s a “(2)” next to my inbox indicating I’ve got 2 new messages. I even know what they are. Yesterday I sent myself a message from work. And this morning my parents told me they sent me a message. But there are no new messages in my inbox, including those 2 messages that should be there. Nor are they in my junk mail box or trash or anywhere else that I know of. Where could they be? How can I access them? Thanks. :s
Yes, I know some people prefer Mozilla to Outlook, but that still doesn’t answer my question.
Why does my home Outlook account say I’ve got two messages, but they’re not there in the inbox? Moreover, I just accessed my office Outlook account from my home computer and went to sent messages and can see taht I’m not imagining things – I did send a message to my home account yesterday from the office, and I’m able to access the message as a sent message from the office account, but I can’t access that message in my home account. How strange. Where could it be?
Sorry if my answer came off as a smart-ass reply. Let me explain:
To tell you the truth, I can’t answer your question. And that would’t be so bad except I am a A+, Network + certified Computer Tech with 25 years experience. I also have my MCP in Windows 2000 and Exchange.
Back in the DOS days Microsoft support was ok to deal with, now it is almost impossible to get any answers unless you buck up with their support deals.
Most people can’t access the source code to find solutions to problems like yours.
With open source, at least any one could go in and look for answers, probally you wouldn’t yourself, but you could find a tech friend that could. It is also easy to post on a forum to get answers in the open source world.
After 20 years of working with MS products, I like OS software for some of the reasons mentioned above.
Hope you find an answer.
Cheers
[quote=“smithwinston7”]Jeff:
I use Windows ME.
[/quote]
Let me help. Take Win ME off your computer, then take your computer to the temple and Bie Bie it for 2 days. Then wash it in the laundry.
Then install Win 98, win200, or Linux. WinME is broken and should not be in existence let alone on a computer.
If you are still reading this then you still have ME on you computer. Get it off. Realy!@!!@#$$%
JeffG,
the answer is probably out there. Somewhere on usenet, the net, or Microsoft’s Knowledge Base.
[quote=“JeffG”]Does anyone know how to make Outlook your default mail program? I have tried several different thing and nothing works. I want to be able to click on an email address in Excel and have it open in Outlook, not Outlook Express. It’s driving me nuts, I hate Outlook Express.
Any help would be appreciated.
Jeff
jeff@oriented.org[/quote]
Jeff - Did you try the option in Outlook? It’s not in the most obvious place:
Click Tools… Options. Choose the “Other” tab. Select “Make Outlook the default program for…”
[quote=“bobl”]Sorry if my answer came off as a smart-ass reply. Let me explain:
To tell you the truth, I can’t answer your question. And that would’t be so bad except I am a A+, Network + certified Computer Tech with 25 years experience. I also have my MCP in Windows 2000 and Exchange.
Back in the DOS days Microsoft support was ok to deal with, now it is almost impossible to get any answers unless you buck up with their support deals.
Most people can’t access the source code to find solutions to problems like yours.
With open source, at least any one could go in and look for answers, probally you wouldn’t yourself, but you could find a tech friend that could. It is also easy to post on a forum to get answers in the open source world.
After 20 years of working with MS products, I like OS software for some of the reasons mentioned above.
Hope you find an answer.
Cheers[/quote]
Sorry Bobl but I have to disagree. You suggest that you’re better off asking a stranger for support with open source software than you are asking for support with Microsoft software. I actually did a Google newsgroup search to find the answer I posted. I would argue that with the popularity of MS software you’re more likely to find an answer because other people have probably encountered the same problem.
In regards to reviewing the source code - I think you would have to have a very good friend, indeed, to be able to talk them into pouring through the millions of lines of source code for Outlook and Excel to figure out why it is using Outlook Express rather than Outlook. After all of that, you would probably find that it was in one of the millions of lines of Windows code. It’s just not practical for somebody to debug a program like you suggest.
I should come clean at this point and tell you that I work for Microsoft. Not in any of the product groups but in I.T. I too have had my share of frustrations with tech support. I’ve been frustrated by putting in calls to Microsoft, Sony, and Dell where I get the first guy in line for tech support calls that suggests that I reboot, reinstall, etc.
My wife works for a school district that no longer orders from Dell because they require all IT staff to carry a thousand-dollar certification for each I.T. employee that must be renewed anually.
It’s not limited to Microsoft, I’ll tell you that much. The whole industry is that way.
That being said, I’m definitely not against Open Source. I use DreamHost for my web hosting. They’re on Linux/MySQL, etc. I do it because it’s cheaper and I’m interested in learning how to use the other stuff. I love all the free stuf that’s available on Dreamhost and I would certainly not pay for hosting just so I could use IIS and SQL Server.