S
sriram.sitaraman
from http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6270_11-5243615.html
Problem
Microsoft Outlook 2003 has many "features" designed to make the user
experience more pleasant, such as AutoPreview, Reading Panes, and
Group-By settings. However, many users prefer the less feature-laden
interface of Outlook versions past. For the traditionalist, the
features equate to clutter that needs to be removed.
Unfortunately, and inexplicably, changing the current view settings in
all Outlook 2003 folders at once is not as intuitive as it should be.
Outlook 2003 implies that users will have to separately change the
view for each individual folder. Changing the parameters of the
Current View would seem to be your best choice for achieving a global
change, but the changes do not translate to all of the Outlook
folders.
However, there is in fact a way to get your preferred settings applied
to all folders. It is one of those odd user-discovered tricks that
work, but defy rational explanation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit where credit is due
A note of acknowledgement and gratitude goes to Izzy, who posted the
meat of Solution 1 on Ask Leo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solution 1
The steps outlined here will turn off AutoPreview, Reading Panes, and
all Group-By settings. Keep in mind that you can use this method to
apply other changes based on your personal preferences.
Create a Shortcut for OUTLOOK.EXE and place it on the Desktop.
Edit the Shortcut properties and add the /cleanviews switch to the
target line so it looks something like this:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /cleanviews
Start Outlook using the shortcut.
Select the Inbox folder.
Navigate the menus to View | Arrange By | Current Views | Define View.
Select Messages and click the Modify button.
Click the Group By button and uncheck Automatically Group.
Click OK.
Click the Other Settings button and set Reading Pane to Off.
Click OK, twice.
Now this is the tricky part! Click on any other view listed in the
dialog box OTHER THAN Messages and click Apply (Last 7 days, for
example).
Navigate the menus again to View | Arrange By | Current Views | Define
View.
Now choose Messages and click Apply.
Your new custom view will now be applied to all of your Outlook
folders. However, this will not happen instantly. It will take some
time for Outlook to work its way through your folders. If you have
numerous folders and a deep hierarchy, you may have to click on the
intended folder, then click another folder, and then click the
intended folder again to get your view to display correctly.
Not exactly an elegant solution to be sure, but it has worked in all
of the testing we have done at TechRepublic. If you encounter
problems, please share it with us in the article discussion; perhaps
we can figure out a better solution.
Problem
Microsoft Outlook 2003 has many "features" designed to make the user
experience more pleasant, such as AutoPreview, Reading Panes, and
Group-By settings. However, many users prefer the less feature-laden
interface of Outlook versions past. For the traditionalist, the
features equate to clutter that needs to be removed.
Unfortunately, and inexplicably, changing the current view settings in
all Outlook 2003 folders at once is not as intuitive as it should be.
Outlook 2003 implies that users will have to separately change the
view for each individual folder. Changing the parameters of the
Current View would seem to be your best choice for achieving a global
change, but the changes do not translate to all of the Outlook
folders.
However, there is in fact a way to get your preferred settings applied
to all folders. It is one of those odd user-discovered tricks that
work, but defy rational explanation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credit where credit is due
A note of acknowledgement and gratitude goes to Izzy, who posted the
meat of Solution 1 on Ask Leo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solution 1
The steps outlined here will turn off AutoPreview, Reading Panes, and
all Group-By settings. Keep in mind that you can use this method to
apply other changes based on your personal preferences.
Create a Shortcut for OUTLOOK.EXE and place it on the Desktop.
Edit the Shortcut properties and add the /cleanviews switch to the
target line so it looks something like this:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /cleanviews
Start Outlook using the shortcut.
Select the Inbox folder.
Navigate the menus to View | Arrange By | Current Views | Define View.
Select Messages and click the Modify button.
Click the Group By button and uncheck Automatically Group.
Click OK.
Click the Other Settings button and set Reading Pane to Off.
Click OK, twice.
Now this is the tricky part! Click on any other view listed in the
dialog box OTHER THAN Messages and click Apply (Last 7 days, for
example).
Navigate the menus again to View | Arrange By | Current Views | Define
View.
Now choose Messages and click Apply.
Your new custom view will now be applied to all of your Outlook
folders. However, this will not happen instantly. It will take some
time for Outlook to work its way through your folders. If you have
numerous folders and a deep hierarchy, you may have to click on the
intended folder, then click another folder, and then click the
intended folder again to get your view to display correctly.
Not exactly an elegant solution to be sure, but it has worked in all
of the testing we have done at TechRepublic. If you encounter
problems, please share it with us in the article discussion; perhaps
we can figure out a better solution.