View Ribbon, Layout Group

Quick reference

View Ribbon, Layout

The Layout features allow you to control how you see your information.

When to use

You will rarely be using the Layout after you have it set up. Use this lesson to set your preferences.

Instructions

• Click the View ribbon and Locate the Layout section.​​​​​​

 

• The Folder Pane is the left side panel that contains your email folders.

• The Reading Pane shows the text of the email to the Right or Bottom of the Inbox list.

• The To-Do Bar is on the right side panel and shows a calendar, contacts, and/or tasks.

• The Message Preview allows a sneak peek into the email contents.                                

• With the Reading Pane set to Bottom, you can sort the columns by click the headings.

        

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• 00:04 In Microsoft Outlook, the View ribbon is possibly one of the most important ribbons
• 00:09 because you control how you want your Outlook to be laid out,
• 00:12 how you want it arranged.
• 00:14 It is ultimately your decision how you want to work.
• 00:18 So let's show you what the options are.
• 00:20 On the View ribbon, we have two sections we're going to focus on right now,
• 00:24 the Layout section, and the Arrangement section.
• 00:26 So let's start with the layout.
• 00:28 We have an option called Folder Pane.
• 00:30 Now, the Folder Pane is what has been called navigation pane
• 00:33 in previous versions.
• 00:34 So it goes by both names.
• 00:36 So when I click the Folder Pane, it's currently checked to be normal and
• 00:39 my favorites are showing.
• 00:41 So keep your eyes on the left-hand side on the panel on the left-hand side my screen.
• 00:45 I'm going to click Minimized.
• 00:47 Click, there it went, it just reduced in size.
• 00:50 So now, see this arrow right up here at the top?
• 00:53 I could expand that again, but then I have to hit the push pin to lock it into place.
• 00:58 So I am operating folder pane and
• 01:00 whether it's minimized or whether it's full sized, all right?
• 01:03 So either way, that is under the Layout and the Folder Pane.
• 01:08 Now I could turn it off entirely.
• 01:09 I don't recommend that.
• 01:11 You might forget it even exists, so I'm not a fan of turning it off.
• 01:15 Sometimes minimized, but mostly, I'll just have it on normal.
• 01:18 Now, I have favorites up on top.
• 01:20 Favorites, of course, shows favorite folders that I've put in there,
• 01:24 most often my current plans or my current projects.
• 01:27 So on the Folder Pane, I can turn that off or
• 01:30 I can turn it on, okay, just so you know it's there.
• 01:33 Also, I have Options on the bottom of the Folder Pane.
• 01:36 Now these are the options to show my navigation pane options,
• 01:40 which are these bottom right over here.
• 01:42 These are what we call the peek panes.
• 01:44 We want to take a peek into the calendar, peek into the contacts.
• 01:47 Well, you can uncheck Compact Navigation.
• 01:51 You can rearrange the order of these.
• 01:53 And you can tell it how many of these options you would like viewable.
• 01:57 So I've unchecked Compact Navigation.
• 01:59 I'm going to hit OK, and now it spells them all out in words.
• 02:02 I don't necessarily like this.
• 02:04 It takes up a half inch of my screen.
• 02:06 I prefer the compact navigation.
• 02:08 So that's just up to me, Folder Pane > Options > Compact Navigation.
• 02:12 And there we have it, back to the nice little symbols.
• 02:16 All right, let's talk about the Reading Pane.
• 02:18 Reading Pane is where you view the actual contents of an email.
• 02:22 So the Reading Pane, mine is set to the right.
• 02:25 Maybe you'd like yours set to the bottom.
• 02:27 Now, for a long time, I did have mine set to the bottom because I love
• 02:30 the nice long spreadsheet up on top, where I can read more of the subject,
• 02:35 read more of the TO line and the FROM line.
• 02:37 I can adjust these as well to whatever I like.
• 02:39 But on a smaller screen, I really like my reading pane on the right.
• 02:44 Well, who's the boss of it?
• 02:45 You're the boss of it.
• 02:46 You can put that reading pane wherever you'd like.
• 02:49 You can even turn it off.
• 02:50 Maybe you don't want a preview at all and you'd simply like to
• 02:53 double-click every time you want to read an email, and that is fine as well.
• 02:58 So that's all about the Reading Pane.
• 03:00 I wanna put mine on the bottom right now because then I can add my To-Do Bar.
• 03:03 Now the To-Do Bar allows me to put my calendar over on the right-hand side.
• 03:07 It allows me to put my people pane, so current contacts, or my tasks,
• 03:11 if I have tasks, if I use my tasks, those lists as well.
• 03:15 Now that looks very busy, but on a large screen,
• 03:17 it is a blessing to have that calendar hanging over there on the right-hand side.
• 03:21 Keep in mind, over on the bottom left of your navigation pane,
• 03:24 a simple floating your mouse over this calendar gives you a peek into your
• 03:28 calendar so you can save the room on your screen.
• 03:31 You don't have to have your To-Do Bar and you can turn it off entirely.
• 03:34 It's simply up to you.
• 03:36 Last thing is the Arrangement section.
• 03:38 Would you like to see a message preview of one line,
• 03:41 maybe a message preview of two lines?
• 03:43 because it'll show you kind of the contents of the messages.
• 03:47 I'm going to put this over on the right-hand side.
• 03:49 You can also arrange these by the From.
• 03:53 You can arrange these by the Subject right here.
• 03:56 And another way to do that is to simply click FROM, click TO, click SUBJECT.
• 04:02 To me, that's faster.
• 04:03 I rarely use these.
• 04:04 I set them up once and I don't use them after that.
• 04:07 I can reverse sort and I can also add columns,
• 04:10 which we will do in an entirely other video.
• 04:13 We will see you shortly, keep going.
• 04:15 You're learning how to control your working environment.

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