What's Up With the New Item Button? (Outlook 2007)Today I found myself asking, "What's up with the new item button?" This question came naturally when I noticed that the New Task button was visible on the Standard toolbar, even though I was looking at my mail. Then when I started poking around a bit, the button suddenly changed back to the New Mail Message button. It seemed weird, but what the heck was Outlook doing? It turns out that Outlook was just trying to be helpful. The key to the mystery was the fact that I had been working in the Tasks section of the To-Do Bar. Here's what happens: Normally, when you are in a view, the new item button is set up for whichever item is most appropriate to the view. In Mail views, it is a New Mail Message button. In Calendar views it is the New Appointment button. In Contacts, a New Contact button. Note: If you don't yet recognize the types of new item buttons by sight, hover the cursor over the button and a tooltip will appear with its name. Don't forget that Outlook 2007 must be the selected application for the tooltip to appear. However, if you click a Task in the To-Do Bar, the button changes to a New Task button. Furthermore, it stays that way until you change views, or click any other kind of item in the view. Presumably, the idea is that if you are working with tasks in the To-Do Bar, you're more likely to create a new task than a new message or appointment or contact. Curiously, clicking an appointment in the To-Do Bar doesn't change the button to a New Appointment button. Instead, clicking an appointment in the To-Do Bar causes the button to revert to its default state. So there you have it. If you are in a Mail, Calendar, or Contacts view, and click a task in the To-Do Bar, you can expect the new item button to change to a Task button and stay that way until you click some other kind of item to reset the button. Strange but true. Now you know what's up with the new item button. From here you can:
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