Introduction to Outlook Mobile Service (Outlook 2007)
On this page, we'll talk about the basics of Outlook Mobile Service. In coming days, I'll be adding pages with:
Outlook Mobile Service BasicsOMS can be a little confusing. It gives Outlook a limited ability to talk to mobile phones using text messaging (a phone's SMS capability) and multimedia messaging (a phone's MMS capability). The idea is to tie your mobile phone and Outlook closer together with these abilities:
Let's talk a little more about each of the OMS abilities. Send Text or Multimedia Messages from OutlookTexting using your phone can be slow (and painful). And it seems silly to be sitting in front of your computer, with its huge monitor, ergonomic keyboard, and broadband Internet access, yet have to laboriously tap out a message on your phone keypad. Outlook gives you a very nice interface for sending text messages (and multimedia messages when supported) from that computer of yours. It's a lot like creating an e-mail message, with added bonuses like an Emoticon String button for adding smileys to messages, and a Preview pane that lets you see what your message is likely to look like on a phone screen. Create a message, select recipients from the address book, and click Send. Fast and easy.
OMS makes it super easy to compose text messages in Outlook. Forward Messages and AppointmentsWhile having all of your e-mails and appointments appear on your phone would likely drive you to distraction, getting that urgent message or meeting notice from your boss right now can be a lifesaver. OMS has its own dialog box for creating rules related to these kinds of notifications.It works similarly to Outlook's regular rule-making tools. But the OMS rules deal with sending SMS or MMS notifications to your mobile phone. When you create them, they get added to Outlook's list of rules, where you can edit them just like other Outlook rules. Use the Mobile Address BookFiguring out which of you contacts you can reach by mobile phone can be a pain. When you set up OMS, Outlook creates a mobile address book for you. Outlook contacts with mobile phone numbers listed are automatically added to the mobile address book.You can use this address book both when you are creating a mobile message in Outlook and when sending a normal Outlook e-mail message. This allows you to send messages to regular e-mail accounts and to mobile phones simultaneously. Receive Reminders and Calendar SummariesIt can be very helpful to have a summary of your schedule appear on your phone each day. And having your reminders appear there, in addition to on your computer, can make all the difference when you are on the move and away from your computer at a crucial time. OMS gives you a rich collection of ways to get reminders and calendar summaries delivered to your phone. The following figure will give you some idea of the flexibility and control you have:
Lots of options for receiving Reminders and Calendar Summaries. That's the end of this Outlook Mobile Service introduction. From here you can:
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