use those contacts when you create emails, schedule meetings, assign tasks, and more.
So it's important to know how to create and manage your contacts.
If you already have a contact list from another program, you can import the list by clicking
the File tab, and going to Open, and Import. Then, you'll need to work through the Import
and Export Wizard. But if you don't have a file that you can import, then you'll have
to add them manually.
First, you'll need to make sure Contacts is selected in the lower-left corner. Right now,
the View pane is blank because it doesn't have any contacts, but you can double-click
anywhere in this area to create one.
There are a lot of different types of info you can add for each person, but you don't
need to fill in all of these fields. You will need to type their name, and then press the
Tab key. Then, you should check the File As field to make sure it's starting with their
last name. This is important because Outlook uses this information to sort all of your
contacts alphabetically. If this isn't correct, you can edit it so that it starts with their
last name.
Then, you can add the person's email address. If you're mainly using Outlook for email,
then this is all the information that you really need. But if you want, you can fill
in the other info such as the Company, Job Title, and Phone Number.
When you're done, you can either click Save & Close, or Save & New if you'd like to add
another contact.
I've added all the contacts I need right now, so I'm going to click Save & Close.
If you need to edit someone's information, you can just double-click their name, and
after you've made the changes you can click Save & Close.
You may find that you often send emails to the same group of people. Instead of typing
their addresses individually, you can add them to a Contact Group. Just click New Contact
Group (click command), and type a name for the group. Then, click Add Members, and select
Outlook Contacts. You can double-click each person that you want to add to the group.
When you're done, click OK, then Save & Close.
The next time you're writing an email, you can add the group to the recipients the same
way you would add a contact - either click To to browse for the group, or start typing
the group's name. When the name pops up, you can click it. So when you use a Contact Group,
you don't have to type the names individually, and you don't have to worry about accidentally
leaving someone out.
Of course, you'll need to make sure the contact group stays up-to-date. You can double-click
it, and then add or remove members as needed. If anyone in the group has changed their email
address, you'll need to click Update Now, which will pull in the most current information
from your contact list. When you're done, you can Save & Close.
So those are the basics of creating and managing contacts in Outlook.