The Entourage main window is divided into three main areas: buttons for Entourage’s main functions at top left, a list of folders for your email on the left, and a big viewing area for your messages, calendars, tasks, and so on, on the right (Figure 10-1) What you see in the main viewing area depends on which Entourage function you’re using; see the box on Entourage Functions. Like changing stations on a car radio, you can switch among Entourage functions by clicking the six buttons at the upper-left.
Figure 10-1. When you’re using Entourage’s email function, the standard window displays a folder list, a list pane showing all of the messages in a particular folder, and an email-specific toolbar. There’s also an information bar at the bottom of the screen that shows how many messages are in a chosen folder, how many are selected, and what schedules (if any) Entourage has on deck. Don’t miss the Fonts tab in Entourage → Preferences → General, where you can specify the type size and style you prefer for reading and printing your email and other Entourage components.
When you first launch Entourage and complete the Setup wizard (described in a moment), the Mail button at the upper left is already selected. But mail is only one of Entourage’s functions. The six big icons at the upper-left corner of the Entourage screen correspond to the following features:
Mail. This, of course, is the big workhorse feature: email. This chapter covers the Mail feature in detail.
Address Book. Your electronic “little black book”—home to not just the email addresses in your social entourage, but also phone numbers, home addresses, and so on. The Address Book also features predefined Address Book viewsthat let you find subsets of your data—every member of your family, for example. You’ll find the complete details starting on Address Book.
Calendar. Plan your day, your week, your month…if you dare, plan your year! You can manage your schedule and track important events using the Entourage Calendar. Once again, a set of views can quickly show you only work- or family-related events, recurring appointments, or whatever. See Working with Views for details.
Notes. Memo-pad-like musings that you can attach to names in your address book, tasks in your to-do list, and so on. See Notes for details.
Tasks. Your to-do list. When you click this button, the right side of the screen shows the list of tasks you’ve set up for yourself. See Tasks and the To Do List to read everything about Tasks.
Project Center. The master control center from which you can track the email messages, documents, notes, pictures, tasks, and calendars associated with your current projects, and begin new ones. It’s your one-stop project clearing house (see Project Center for details).
Figure 10-2. Top: Drag any of the window dividers to resize the panes according to your needs. Bottom: If you prefer to see the main information in the largest view, use the View (or Calendar) menu to hide everything that can possibly be hidden. This option is especially effective when you’ve opened multiple Entourage windows, as described in the box on The Toolbar.
Unlike Word, Entourage has only one toolbar (see Figure 10-3), which changes to reflect your current activity. For example, if you’re working with email, the toolbar’s buttons all pertain to email functions; if you click the Calendar button, the toolbar gains calendar-appropriate commands. You’ll encounter these commands in the context of the email, newsgroup, calendar, address book, notes, and task discussions in this and the following chapters. The six Entourage view buttons at the left end of the toolbar persist through every view.
Figure 10-3. Entourage’s toolbar commands change to match the Entourage function you’re using, for example, switching from email icons (top) to calendar icons (middle). Control-click the toolbar to choose the display options or open the Customize Toolbar palette (bottom), and its complete catalog of available toolbar buttons.
Entourage 2008, for the first time, lets you customize its toolbar. If you find that you never use the Categories button or frequently need to forward messages as attachments, for example, consider customizing the toolbar so you only see the buttons you really need. Control-click (or right-click) the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar from the shortcut menu to display all the possible buttons for the current Entourage function. Drag new buttons onto the toolbar or drag unwanted buttons off it. Along with buttons, you’ll find spaces and separators to help you perfect your toolbar.
If you find yourself getting carried away with adding buttons—or just need to maximize a small screen—choose Use Small Size from the toolbar’s Control-click menu. This menu also gives you an option for displaying the buttons as Icon Only, Text Only, or Icon & Text—otherwise known as right brained, left brained, and information overload.
If you’re a keyboard-command maven, you may prefer the ultimate toolbar customization—removing it entirely. That way, since there are keyboard commands for virtually every button in the toolbar, you can keep your hands on the keyboard, and minimize onscreen clutter. Choose View → Hide Toolbar to liquidate the button bar and give yourself another vertical half inch of screen real estate. Alternatively, click the little oblong button in the upper-right corner to hide or reveal the toolbar.
Note
The Toolbar control button, lodged in the upper-right corner of nearly every Mac OS X window, is a cause of great confusion for many otherwise-savvy Mac fans. Apple added this button when they moved the two buttons that had been in that corner to the left to join the Close button. You’ll find this button in all Office document windows, where it toggles between showing and hiding the toolbar. In Finder windows it hides the toolbar and the Sidebar—and regularly instigates frantic tech-support phone calls after an inadvertent mouse click.