Outlook: Adding Public Folder Shortcuts

In Outlook 2000 and Outlook 97, we could browse in the Folder List to a public folder, right-click the folder, and choose Add to Outlook Bar to add a shortcut to the Outlook Bar. How do we do that with the navigation pane in Microsoft Outlook 2003?

Outlook 2003 de-emphasizes the Outlook Bar, renaming it the Shortcuts pane. To add a public folder to the Shortcuts pane, click Add New Shortcut in the pane.

You might find adding a public folder to the appropriate subject area pane (Contacts, Calendar, and so on) more productive. To accomplish that task, you must first add the folder to your Public FolderFavorites hierarchy: Display the Folder List in the navigation pane, right-click the folder, then choose Add to Favorites. Outlook will automatically add the folder--for example, a Contacts folder--to the Public FoldersFavorites hierarchy and to the list of Other Folders on the Contacts navigation pane. If you're working in Cached Exchange mode, Outlook will automatically download the items from that folder to your local cache.

Note that the procedure is a little different for message and post folders. After you add the folder to Public FolderFavorites, in the Folder List navigation pane, right-click the copy of the folder under Favorites and choose Add to Favorite Folders. This command will add the public folder to the Favorite Folders display in the Mail navigation pane.