Windows XP: Outlook Express Stationery
Smart Computing Magazine - June 2008
 

Outlook Express provides a variety of default stationery designs ranging from simple backdrops with splashes of color to seasonal themes featuring distinct headers. The stationery function allows you to create, customize, and edit backgrounds to include in your emails. You’ll find about 15 default stationery options to apply to your outgoing messages. In addition, there are innumerable sites on the Web where you can preview, access, and download hundreds of unique stationery templates. Learn how to personalize your Outlook stationery any way you like, so your digital mail reflects your style the same way paper stationery can.

Create & Edit New Stationery

To select default stationery for your outgoing Outlook Express 6 emails, begin by clicking the Tools menu on the Inbox toolbar and selecting Options. Next, choose the Compose tab. Here you’ll see the Stationery area; make sure that Mail is checked in this area. Click Create New to open the Stationery Setup Wizard. This is where you will customize your background picture, position, and color, as well as set the font and margins. Click Next to create your new background.

Choose a particular stationery template by clicking the drop-down menu under the Picture checkbox. At this point, you can position your stationery vertically and horizontally using the selections in the Positions drop-down menus. You can also choose to tile the stationery design, replicating it multiple times vertically, horizontally, or across the entire page. Pick from a rainbow of colors listed in the Color drop-down menu (you may have to checkmark the Color box to access the drop-down menu) to fill the rest of your message and then click Next. Decide on the style, size, and color for the font in this stationery. Click Next and you’ll see options for setting margins; you can adjust the margins by clicking the Up and Down arrows in the Left Margin and Top Margin boxes. Click Next and then fill in the Name box and select Finish to complete your creation.

Use Stationery In Your Messages

Now that you’ve successfully designed your own stationery, you must apply it to your outgoing messages for your recipients to see what you’ve made. After making new stationery, you should return to the Compose tab where you first began the stationery creation process. First, click the Select button; it will open the Select Stationery window. Find the name of your recently created stationery, select it, and click OK. Now you will see this name in the Mail box. Click Apply and then OK to exit the Options window. It’s a good idea to test if you’ve actually applied the new template to your outgoing messages. To do this, click Create Mail; you should see the same design that you observed in the preview window.

If you prefer to add stationery to an individual message, select the Message menu and move your cursor over New Message Using to view a list of up to 10 recently accessed stationeries. Your customized template may be shown here; otherwise, you will need to click Select Stationery to find the correct file. Maybe you’ve already started composing a message and you decide to add stationery to your current message. In your new email, click the Format menu and point to Apply Stationery. Choose one of the recently used stationeries or click More Stationery for more options.

 Install Online Stationery

Although Outlook does provide templates with various patterns and colors, there are unlimited options on the Web you can use to personalize your outgoing messages. If you’re searching for free stationery, you’ll need to sift through quite a few sites for one that offers safe downloads, free of spyware and adware. The Cloudeight Stationery Library (www.thundercloud.net) is one such site with family-safe downloads and a large compilation of over 4,000 selections. Each collection, featuring the art of a specific artist or series, includes eight or more stationery designs. Templates from Cloudeight include audio, an image, and a Web page with scripting. When you download stationery from the site, these files will appear separately in your default stationery folder.

To navigate Cloudeight Stationery, first browse through the Library to find a collection that piques your interest. For instance, begin by clicking Reflections; a new window will open and the entire Reflections Collection should be available to you. Scroll to the middle of the Web page and select Download Reflections Collection, Standard Install. Next, a File Download window will open and ask you if you want to Run, Save, or Cancel; click Run. Your security software automatically verifies this download. An Internet Explorer Security Warning window will appear and ask you if you want to run the file; select Run. Next, you’ll be prompted to extract files to a specific location in your computer. Follow the prompts to continue downloading. The default location for your new stationery is C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\MICROSOFT SHARED\STATIONERY; you can find all of your Cloudeight stationery downloads here if you ever want to delete them. Click Start and you’ll see that a certain number of files have been extracted—this is normal. Finally, click OK.

Once you’ve completed the online stationery downloads, you can apply new templates to your outgoing messages. To do this, you should follow the steps outlined in the “Use Stationery In Your Messages” section. In the Select Stationery window, you should recognize the name of your stationery download as either a file or a labeled folder. Some stationery from Cloudeight may be in its own folder along with subfolders named for the different collections available on the site. Click your desired template and then select OK. At this point, you should test your outgoing messages to see if the stationery appears correctly in another Inbox. Send your mail with the appropriate stationery to a standard email address. If you have a second email account, you can send the message to yourself or send it to a friend who also has Outlook Express, so you’re able to verify what you sent.

 Remove Stationery Files

Maybe you think it’s time to wipe the slate clean and return to the simple, white email message. Removing stationery from a single outgoing message involves a few familiar steps. In your message window, select Format, drag the pointer to Apply Stationery, and hover over it until you see a list of stationery options. To clear your current stationery, click No Stationery. Your outgoing message should now appear completely white.

To uninstall the stationery from Cloudeight, you will need to access your default stationery directory. Begin by clicking the Start button and then click My Computer. Next, choose the C: drive section. Then go to Program Files and continue to Common Files. Select the Microsoft Shared folder; here, you'll find your online collection. Delete all three parts of the stationery you wish to eliminate (HTML [Hypertext Markup Language] document, JPEG [Joint Photographic Experts Group] image, and MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface] file). If you attempt to delete Cloudeight stationery through your outgoing message window, only the HTML file will be removed.

by Joanna Safford

©2008 by Smart Computing Magazine - all rights reserved

Original article here

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