Using Stationery

In those days, long past, when people used to actually write letters to each other, a lot of effort and thought went into selecting the right paper. You can do the same in Outlook Express too. You can personalize your emails with your own backgrounds and graphics. Like everything else, there is an easy (and limited) way to do this or the harder way. Since these pages are basically for the new user, let us stick to the easy way.

Microsoft has outfitted Outlook Express with quite a few samples. You can use these or create your own. Let us start with taking one of the samples Microsoft delivers with Outlook Express and use it as the default Stationery.

Click on Tools then Options and select the tab Compose. Check the option Mail under Stationery and then click on Select. In the window that opens select a stationery by clicking on its name. The preview appears in the box on the right. When you find one that you like, click on OK. Before you close the Options window, click on the tab Send and ensure that the Mail Sending Format is set to HTML. Click on OK. Now click on the New Mail button. Great huh? Ok you now have a personalised email, that is better than sending those plain ones. But you are not yet quite happy. You want one that is absolutely unique. So what do we do? Easy we make our own!

For this purpose Microsoft has provided a wizard that helps you create new stationery without having to worry too much about the technical side. Start the wizard from the Compose tab (Tools > Options > Compose) and this time click on Create. Click on Next after reading the introduction. Select a picture file from your computer that you would like to use. The picture has to be in .jpg or .gif format. For a banner it should have the size of about 100 x 600 pixels, for a side bar 600 x 100 pixel. For a repeating square about 100 x 100 pixel. (If you don’t want a picture on your email letterhead, leave the box Picture unchecked and click on Next.) Next place the picture at the top, bottom or center of the email. Then align it to the left hand or right hand margin or center it horizontally by clicking and selecting on the fields next to Position. Use Tiling to repeat the picture (or not to repeat it) according to your wishes. Then choose the background colour you want to use for the email. Check the preview window to see if your wishes have been accepted then click on Next . Choose the default font , size you want for your email, and its colour (make sure it shows up well against the background). Click on Next when you are finished.

If you have used a sidebar (try not to use a sidebar on the right, because the text could overlap) then set a left margin so that the text starts after the bar. If you have a banner, then set the top margin accordingly. Click on Next when you are finished.

Give the stationery you have created a name. If you have different accounts and are creating stationeries to match the account, it is a good idea to preface the name of the stationery with the account name or a tag that identifies it to the account. Select the name with care, so that you can easily know what it is later. For example, yahoo-chat friends or main-family or love-kissesnhugs. Click on Finish.

You can create and use as many stationeries as you desire, but only one can be default. This is the stationery that is used everytime you click on New Mail. If you do not want to use the default stationery while composing a mail, click on the arrow near New Mail and select one of the stationeries listed there (the last 8 used) or on Select Stationery to call up all the stored ones.

Experienced users would have already noticed that the stationery files are stored as html pages. Create your own html page and place it in the file C:\Program Files\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery. Set it as default using the description above.

Download site from Microsoft for additional stationery.