SureDesk™ User Guide

For some users Microsoft Outlook 2013 can be an adjustment from the older versions of Office.   Luckily there are various customization options that can make Outlook 2013 more comfortable to use.

Changing the theme

If you find Outlook is too “bright”, “white” or hard to look out you can change the theme with the following steps. 

1. Go to File -> Office Account



 

2. There are two theme options to choose from:
   • Office Background changes the texture of ribbon at the top of the screen.
   • Office Theme changes the color theme of Outlook. There are only three choices White, Light Gray, and Dark Gray.

   

Navigation Strip

You can free up space by condensing the navigation bar. 

The default navigation bar:

 

1. In the View tab click Folder Pane.

   

2. Click Options…
3. Select Compact Navigation.

The compact navigation bar:

Customizing inbox message display

It is possible to customize how messages appear in your inbox.  For example you may find it is hard to distinguish unread emails from read emails.  You can change unread emails to appear bright blue to help distinguish it from read emails.

1. In the View tab click View Settings.

   

2. Click Conditional Formatting.

   

3. On this screen you can change the settings of existing rules such as for unread Messages or you can add a rule.

   

Message previews

Default Outlook 2013 gives you  a preview of the content of an email message in your message view.  You can change this to remove the preview or make the preview even larger.

1. In the tab View click on Message Preview.

   

2. A drop down menu will appear where you can choose how many lines of preview you would like.

Gridlines

Gridlines are the dividing lines between messages in your message viewer. You have the option of several different types of lines or no lines at all.

1. In the tab View click on View Settings.

   

2. Click Other Settings.

   

3. Find Grid line style: dropdown menu and select the option you would like.

   

    

To-Do Bar

By default the To-Do Bar is disabled in Outlook 2013. If you miss the To-Do Bar from previous versions of Outlook follow the below steps:

1. In the tab View click on To-Do Bar.

   

2. Select what you would like displayed in the To-Do Bar.