Using Outlook Newsreader

[Jonathan Finney]

I use newsgroups regularly but I've never really spent much time finding
out how to use Outlook Newsreader (which I understand is just Outlook
Express with a skin limited to news functions).

Whenever I go back to a conversation I have previously participated in, I
have to select the group (fair enough), then after the headers have been
downloaded, I click on the From header (to sort by name), type the first few
characters of my name and scroll down to the conversation I want, open the
branch so I can see if there are any new postings.

As my use of newsgroups is limited, it's not too much of a pain, but I
can't help but think there must be a better way to deal with news so I just
got to see the conversations I'd previously participated in. I can't
imagine that the guys who post on these groups all the time (who's
contribution is so valuable), work in this way.

Is there a better way to manage newsgroup postings? Another product,
perhaps? Or am I just not using Outlook Newsreader correctly?

 

[Snarky Parker]

The simplest way is to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H. This can toggle your
view between normal and "Show Replies to My Messages". If you have the client
setup correctly, your conversion will be a thread showing your message at the
top and all responses under it. Also, your message should be colored red.

To configure your client for this format, click on Tools > Options > Read [tab]
and enable "Automatically expand grouped messages". Click on Apply & OK.
Then click on View > Current View and then verify that "Show All Messages" and
"Group Messages by Conversation" are enabled.


| I use newsgroups regularly but I've never really spent much time finding
| out how to use Outlook Newsreader (which I understand is just Outlook
| Express with a skin limited to news functions).
|
| Whenever I go back to a conversation I have previously participated in, I
| have to select the group (fair enough), then after the headers have been
| downloaded, I click on the From header (to sort by name), type the first few
| characters of my name and scroll down to the conversation I want, open the
| branch so I can see if there are any new postings.
|
| As my use of newsgroups is limited, it's not too much of a pain, but I
| can't help but think there must be a better way to deal with news so I just
| got to see the conversations I'd previously participated in. I can't
| imagine that the guys who post on these groups all the time (who's
| contribution is so valuable), work in this way.
|
| Is there a better way to manage newsgroup postings? Another product,
| perhaps? Or am I just not using Outlook Newsreader correctly?
|
| --
| Jonathan Finney
|
|

 

[Jonathan Finney]

Nice one, Snarky!

That's a whole lot better.

...and much easier than I'd anticipated.