Glossary

add-in A utility that adds specialized functionality to an app but does not operate as an independent app.

address book A storage folder within your mailbox that contains contact records and contact groups.

appointment A block of time you schedule on your calendar that has a defined start time and end time, and to which you do not invite other attendees.

appointment window The app window that displays the form in which you enter information about an appointment.

arrangement A predefined combination of grouped and sorted messages.

Cached Exchange Mode A feature that stores and synchronizes a copy of a Microsoft Exchange Server account on a user’s computer so that he or she can work offline, either by choice or due to a connection problem.

calendar A general reference to an appointment window, meeting window, or event window.

calendar item A general reference to an appointment, a meeting, or an event.

calendar item window A general reference to an appointment window, meeting window, or event window.

Calendar module The framework that provides the functionality to display and manage appointments, meetings, and events.

Calendar peek An interactive view of the current month’s Date Navigator and the day’s appointments associated with your default calendar, available from the Navigation Bar or the To-Do Bar.

category A name and associated color by which you can categorize, locate, group, and filter Outlook items.

client rule Or client-side rule. A rule that Outlook applies to messages after they arrive on your computer. See also server rule.

clip art Pre-made images that are distributed without copyright. Usually cartoons, sketches, illustrations, or photographs.

Clipboard A storage area shared by all Office apps where cut or copied items are stored.

contact A person about whom you save information, such as street and email addresses, phone and fax numbers, and webpage URLs.

contact card An interactive informational box that appears when you point to a message participant’s name or presence icon. The contact card contains contact information and options. The expanded contact card also contains information about the person’s position within the organization and distribution list memberships.

contact group A personal distribution list that you create within an address book, which can include contacts, other contact groups, Exchange Server distribution lists, mail-enabled Microsoft SharePoint libraries, and public folders.

contact index The alphabet bar located to the right of the contact list in People view, Business Card view, and Card view. Clicking a letter in this index scrolls the contact list to the first contact record that begins with that letter.

contact list The pane immediately to the right of the Folder Pane in the People module, which displays a list of contact records. Also, a SharePoint site list that stores contact information.

contact record A body of information you collect about a contact and store as an Outlook item.

contact record window The app window that displays the form in which you enter information about a contact to create a contact record.

content area The area to the right of the Folder Pane and below the ribbon, in which module content is displayed.

content pane The area of an email message in which you can enter and format message text, graphics, and other content.

contextual tab See tool tab.

conversation A means of organizing, viewing, and managing email messages that have the same subject line.

cursor A representation on the screen of the input device pointer location.

Date Navigator The small calendar displayed in the Folder Pane or in the Calendar peek that provides a quick and easy way of displaying specific dates or ranges of dates in the calendar.

delimited text file See separated text file.

desktop alert A notification that appears on your desktop when a new email message, meeting request, or task request is received in your Inbox.

dialog box launcher On the message window ribbon, a button in the lower-right corner of a group that opens a dialog box or pane containing features related to the group.

digital signature Data that binds a sender’s identity to the information being sent. A digital signature may be bundled with any message, file, or other digitally encoded information, or transmitted separately. Digital signatures are used in public key environments and provide authentication and integrity services.

distribution list A group of recipients stored in Exchange Server that can be addressed as a single recipient. Administrators can create distribution lists that are available in the GAL. Users can create personal distribution lists called contact groups and add them to their personal address books.

document workspace A SharePoint site that is used for planning, posting, and working together on a document or a set of related documents.

domain On the Internet and other networks, the highest subdivision of a domain name in a network address, which identifies the type of entity that owns the address (such as .com for commercial users or .edu for educational institutions) or the geographical location of the address (such as .fr for France or .sg for Singapore).

draft A temporary copy of a message that has not yet been sent, located in the Drafts folder.

email Short for electronic mail. The exchange of electronic text messages and computer file attachments between computers over a communications network, such as a local area network or the Internet.

email message A message that is sent over a communications network such as a local area network or the Internet.

email server A computer that stores email messages for an organization.

email trail An email message and all responses to that message. When an individual message receives multiple responses, the email trail can branch into multiple trails. You can view all the branches of an email trail in Conversation view.

encryption The process of disguising a message or data in such a way as to hide its content.

event An activity that is not associated with a specific time, or an activity that occurs over a period of more than one day.

event window The app window that displays the form in which you enter information about an event.

filtering Displaying items that meet certain criteria; for example, filtering the Inbox to display only unread items. Filtering does not delete files, it simply changes the view so that you display only the files that meet your criteria.

Folders list A view that displays all mailbox folders, public folders, and connected SharePoint lists in the Folder Pane.

Folder Pane The pane that appears on the left side of the Outlook app window in every module. Its contents change depending on the module you’re viewing. The Folder Pane can be minimized to display only folders that you designate as Favorites. Referred to in previous versions of Outlook as the Navigation Pane. See also Navigation Bar.

gallery A grouping of thumbnails that display options visually. Many galleries support the Live Preview feature.

Global Address List (GAL) The address book that contains all user, group, and distribution list email addresses in your organization. The administrator creates and maintains this address book. It may also contain public folder email addresses.

group An area of a ribbon tab that contains buttons related to a specific document element or function.

HTML In Outlook, an email message format that supports paragraph styles, character styles, and backgrounds. Most email programs support the HTML format.

HTTP A protocol used to access webpages from the Internet.

hyperlink A connection from a hyperlink anchor such as text or a graphic that you can follow to display a link target such as a file, a location in a file, or a website. Text hyperlinks are usually formatted as colored or underlined text, but sometimes the only indication is that when you point to them, the pointer changes to a hand.

InfoBar A banner near the top of an Outlook item window or the Reading Pane that displays information about the item.

information bar A banner across the top of the Outlook app window that displays information about the app and often contains commands related to changing the app status.

Information Rights Management (IRM) A policy tool that gives authors control over how recipients use the documents and email messages they send.

instant messaging (IM) The ability to see whether a person is connected to the Internet and to exchange messages. Most exchanges are text-only. However, some services allow attachments.

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) A popular protocol for receiving email messages. It allows an email client to access and manipulate a remote email file without downloading it to the local computer. It is used mainly by corporate users who want to read their email from a remote location.

junk email Unsolicited commercial email (UCE). Also known as spam.

justifying Making all lines of text in a paragraph or column fit the width of the document or column, with even margins on each side.

keyboard shortcut Any combination of keystrokes that can be used to perform a task that would otherwise require a mouse or other pointing device.

Live Preview A feature that temporarily displays the effect of applying a specific format to text or graphics elements.

meeting request A message form linked to an Outlook calendar item. Meeting requests are generated by Outlook to manage meeting attendance.

meeting window The app window that displays the form in which you enter information to place a meeting on your calendar.

message header Summary information that you download to your computer to determine whether to download, copy, or delete the entire message from the server. The header includes the Subject, From, Received, Importance, Attachment, and Size fields.

message list The pane immediately to the right of the Folder Pane in the Mail module, in which messages and received items are displayed.

message window The app window that displays the form in which you create or respond to an email message.

Microsoft Office Clipboard See Clipboard.

Navigation Bar The bar located near the lower-left corner of the app window, above the status bar, that includes the navigation controls. It can be displayed as a compact vertical or horizontal bar that displays only module icons (compact view) or as a larger horizontal bar with text labels (standard view). See also Folder Pane.

offline address book A copy of an address book that has been downloaded so that an Outlook user can access the information it contains while disconnected from the server.

Outlook Today A single-screen dashboard that displays the calendar events and scheduled tasks associated with your default email account for the current day, which you display by clicking your mailbox in the Folder Pane or by clicking Shortcuts on the Navigation Bar and then clicking Outlook Today.

palette A collection of color swatches that you can click to apply a color to selected text or an object.

People module The framework that provides the functionality to display and manage address books.

People peek An interactive view of favorite contacts and a search box associated with your default address book, which you display by pointing to People on the Navigation Bar or by pinning it to the To-Do Bar.

permissions Rules associated with a shared resource on a network, such as a file, directory, or printer. Permissions provide authorization to perform operations associated with these objects. Permissions can typically be assigned to groups, global groups, or individual users.

phishing message A technique used to trick computer users into revealing personal or financial information. A common online phishing scam starts with an email message that appears to come from a trusted source but actually directs recipients to provide information to a fraudulent website.

phishing site A website that prompts users to update personal information, such as bank accounts and passwords, which might be used for identity theft.

Plain Text An email message format that does not support character or paragraph formatting. All email programs support the Plain Text format.

plain text messages Messages that don’t support character or paragraph formatting in the message content.

point to To pause the cursor over a button or other area of the display.

Post Office Protocol (POP) A standard method that computers use to send and receive email messages. POP messages are typically held on an email server until you download them to your computer, and then they are deleted from the server. With other email protocols, such as IMAP, email messages are held on the server until you delete them. You can configure Outlook to manage the retention of messages on the POP server.

presence icon A colored icon that indicates the online presence and status of a contact.

print style A combination of paper and page settings that determines the way items print. Outlook provides built-in print styles, and you can create your own.

Quick Access Toolbar A customizable toolbar that displays frequently used commands and can be located above or below the ribbon.

Quick Step A feature with which you can perform up to 12 actions with an email message in your Inbox by clicking one command.

recall To instruct Outlook to delete or replace any unread copies of a message that was already sent.

recurring item A calendar item or task that occurs repeatedly on a specific schedule. You can specify an appointment, meeting, or event as recurring, and specify the frequency of recurrence. Outlook then creates a series of items based on your specifications.

redundant message A message whose content is wholly contained within another message. Redundant messages are moved by the Clean Up tool.

reminder A message that appears at a specified interval before an appointment, meeting, or task that announces when the activity is set to occur. Reminders appear any time Outlook is running, even if it isn’t your active app.

resend To create a new version of a sent or received message.

resolving The process of matching a user name to the information on a network server, resulting in the user name being replaced by a display name and the name underlined.

ribbon A user interface design that organizes commands into logical groups, which appear on separate tabs.

Rich Text Format (RTF) An email message format that supports paragraph styles, character styles, backgrounds, borders, and shading, but is compatible with only Outlook and Exchange Server. Outlook converts RTF messages to HTML when sending them outside of your Exchange network.

rules Sets of criteria defining specific actions that Outlook takes when the criteria are fulfilled.

screen clipping An image of all or part of the content displayed on a computer screen. Screen clippings can be captured by using a graphics capture tool such as the Screen Clipping tool included with Office apps.

ScreenTip A note that appears on the screen to provide information about the app interface or certain types of document content, such as hyperlinks within a message.

Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) A protocol that supports secure mail features such as digital signatures and message encryption.

separated text file A file that contains unformatted text organized into fields and records. Records are separated by carriage returns; fields are separated by a specific character such as a comma, tab, colon, or semicolon. Separated text files might have the file name extension .txt or .csv.

server rule Or server-side rule. A rule that Exchange applies when receiving or processing a message, before delivering it. See also client rule.

shortcut menu A menu that shows a list of commands relevant to a particular item. Sometimes referred to as a context menu.

sizing handle A small circle, square, or set of dots that appears at the corner or on the side of a selected object. You drag these handles to change the size of the object horizontally, vertically, or proportionally.

SmartArt graphic A predefined set of shapes and text used as a basis for creating a diagram.

spam Unsolicited commercial email (UCE). Also known as junk email.

status bar An app window element, located at the bottom of the app window, that displays indicators and controls.

tab A tabbed page on the ribbon that contains buttons organized in groups.

task list The pane immediately to the right of the Folder Pane in the Tasks module, in which tasks or flagged items are displayed.

task originator The person who creates a task, specifically when assigning the task to someone else.

task owner The person to whom a task is currently assigned. After a task has been assigned, the task originator can no longer update the information in the task window.

task window The app window that displays the form in which you enter information to create or manage a task.

Tasks module The framework that provides the functionality to display and manage tasks and flagged items.

Tasks peek An interactive view of the tasks associated with your default email account, which you display by pointing to Tasks on the Navigation Bar or by pinning it to the To-Do Bar.

Tasks view An arrangement of the Tasks module, displaying a list of tasks associated with a specific email account in the content area. See also To-Do List view.

third-party add-in A software program created by one company (the “third party”) that extends the capabilities of an app created by another company.

thread In email and Internet newsgroup conversations, a series of messages and replies that are all related to a specific topic.

thumbnail A small representation of an item, such as an image, a page of content, or a set of formatting, usually obtained by scaling down a snapshot of it. Thumbnails are typically used to provide visual identifiers for related items.

title bar The horizontal bar at the top of a window that displays the window name and window-management buttons.

To-Do Bar An optional pane that can be displayed on the right side of the app window, to which you can pin the Calendar peek, Contacts peek, and Tasks peek.

To-Do List view The default arrangement of the Tasks module, displaying a list of incomplete tasks and flagged items for your default email account in the content area. See also Tasks view.

tool tab A tab containing groups of commands that are pertinent only to a specific type of document element such as a picture, table, or text box. Tool tabs appear only when relevant content is selected.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) An address that uniquely identifies a location on the Internet. A URL is usually preceded by http://, as in http://www.microsoft.com. A URL can contain more detail, such as the name of a page of hypertext, often with the file name extension .html or .htm.

unique message A message that contains content that is not present in other messages. Unique messages are not moved by the Clean Up tool.

view Different ways in which Outlook items can be arranged in the Outlook module window.

View Shortcuts toolbar A toolbar located near the right end of the status bar that displays buttons for switching between views of the current module.

web beacon A graphic that links to a webpage and is embedded in a message for use as a signaling device.

work week The days and times you define within Outlook as available for work-related activities.