I have two Internet service providers. One is a local provider I use at home, because I like their speed and service. For business trips, I use an account with a national Internet service provider, to avoid having to access the Internet via a long-distance call at exorbitant hotel rates. While on the road, I have no trouble receiving mail from your regular ISP, but when I try to reply to e-mail, I get an error message that says something like This server does not allow relaying.
A1:
Most ISPs restrict access to SMTP servers for sending outgoing mail—typically, the mail server checks your IP address before allowing you to connect to the SMTP server. This step verifies that you are an authenticated user on the network, as is the case when you dial in directly. If you connect from another ISP, the server doesn't recognize your IP address and blocks your attempt. This configuration prevents unauthorized users from hijacking the mail server to unleash a flood of spam, but it also prevents you from connecting to the outgoing mail server to relay messages. On the road, set up another Internet mail account, and adjust your configuration so you send mail through the SMTP server that belongs to the account you dialed in with, but receive messages on your regular POP3 server. To make sure that recipients send replies to the right address, be sure to specify your regular (home) mail account as the Reply-To address on this new account.
I set a reminder on an Outlook item, but I never received a pop-up reminder.
A1:
It sounds obvious, but Outlook must be running if you expect to receive reminders. Outlook displays past-due reminders the next time you start the program, but these reminders don't do you much good if you've already missed an important meeting or appointment. To ensure that Outlook runs every time you start your computer, place a shortcut to the program in your Startup group. And if you use reminders, avoid shutting down Outlook except when you plan to turn off your PC.
Outlook was running, but I still never received a pop-up reminder for an item.
A1:
Check the folder the item is stored in. This problem is most common when you use rules to automatically move incoming messages to a folder other than the Inbox. Outlook monitors only four specific folders for reminders and follow-up flags: Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks. And it monitors only the data store that is designated as the one to receive incoming messages. If an item is in another folder, even if it's a subfolder to one of these folders, Outlook will allow you to set the reminder, but it won't pop up the notice when you expect it. When you move the item back to one of these four folders, you'll see an Overdue reminder immediately.
none When I view information using a built-in Outlook view, some fields are missing, or the sorting and grouping options aren't what I want.
A1:
Outlook makes it too easy to customize the built-in views, which is usually the cause when fields disappear from standard views. Fortunately, it's also easy to return a built-in Outlook view to its original settings. If you've messed up the Messages view of the Inbox or the Address Cards view of the Contacts folder, for example, just choose View, Current View, Define Views, and then select the view name and click Reset. This option is not available for custom views.
Removing Multiline Addresses from Your Contacts Folder
When I open the Outlook data I exported to another program, the file contains stray characters that I didn't put there. What's happening?
A1:
Your exported data contains stray characters that cause problems when you try to open the file in another program. The culprit might be multiline addresses from your Contacts folder. In some export formats, Outlook includes carriage return characters with each line of the address, and the program you're using to import the data interprets these as end-of-record markers. Try exporting your data again, this time using the Comma Separated Text format, which adds carriage returns only at the end of a line.
I tried to move an item from one folder to another, but Outlook opened the form for a new item instead.
A1:
You can move items only to folders capable of storing that type of item. If you try to move one type of item (such as an e-mail message) to a folder intended for a different item (such as the Contacts folder), Outlook assumes you want to create a new item, just as if you had dropped the original icon on the folder's shortcut in the Outlook Bar. Choose a different destination folder.
