Using the Navigation Pane
The Navigation Pane replaces the Outlook Bar and contains shortcut icons you click on to access folders. Click on one of the four main tabs, “Mail,” “Calendar,” “Contacts,” or “Tasks,” to open a different Outlook folder.
Show or Hide the Navigation Pane
On the View menu, click Navigation Pane to display the column on the left side of the Outlook window that includes panes for other folders. Deselect Navigation Pane on the View menu to hide it. Only the entire Navigation Pane can be hidden. It is not possible to remove, hide, or rearrange individual panes although you can resize the folder pane at the bottom, reducing each pane to an icon. Also, you can resize the navigation pane itself by dragging its right border.
Favorite Folders, available only in the Mail pane, contains e-mail folders that you frequently use displayed at the top of the Mail pane in the Navigation pane. You can’t remove this pane, but you can remove all the folders in it to decrease its size by right-clicking each folder and then clicking “Remove from Favorite Folders.” As you remove folders, the “All Mail Folders” pane moves further up in the Navigation Pane.
In the Mail pane, you can add e-mail folders frequently used to the Favorite Folders pane by right-clicking on the folder and choosing “Add to Favorite Folders” on the shortcut menu. Only e-mail items can be added to this pane.
In the Favorite Folders pane, you can put folders in any order by dragging them (unlike in the All Mail Folders pane where they appear in alphabetical order). If you want a view that doesn’t display Favorite Folders, you can use Folder List view by clicking the Folder List icon 
at the bottom of the Navigation Pane.
All Mail Folders
- Deleted Items holds messages you delete until you “empty the trash” by choosing Tools>Empty “Deleted Items” Folder or set Outlook to automatically “empty the trash” when you exit the program by choosing Tools>Options and then clicking on the “Other” tab. Check the box next to “Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting.”
- Drafts stores messages created but not sent, items you are revising. You can drag and drop any messages to this folder, however.
- Inbox holds your new e-mail messages
- Junk E-Mail contains any message filtered by the Junk E-Mail filter and moved to this folder.
- Outbox stores all outgoing email until processed by the mail server. All messages created offline are stored in the Outbox; once you’re online, email is sent automatically. (Outlook by default goes online. To set it to work offline, go to Tools>E-Mail Accounts>View or change existing e-mail accounts). Any message still in the Outbox can be cancelled.
- Quarantine holds messages with attachments not able to be cleaned by the virus scan.
- Search Folders are virtual folders that contain views of all e-mail items matching specific search criteria—messages are not stored in Search Folders. In Mail, there are three default Search Folders—For Follow Up, Large Mail, and Unread Mail. Any flagged e-mail items appear in the For Follow Up Search folder. Items larger than 100 kilobytes appear in the Large Mail Search Folder. All unread e-mail items appear in the Unread Mail Search Folder. These default Search Folders can be modified or deleted, and you can create your own. When you delete a Search Folder, the messages aren’t deleted because they are only viewed in this folder. However, if you open a message in a Search folder and then delete it, it is deleted from the Outlook folder where it is stored.
- Sent Items holds a copy of each message sent if you have selected this option in Tools>Options (on the Preferences tab, select E-mail Options. Then, check the option to "Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder"). You can recall and replace messages using this folder.
In the Calendar pane, you can view other people’s shared calendars side by side with your own calendar. The Share My link allows you to quickly share your own calendar. The Date Navigator now appears in the Calendar pane and the TaskPad is off by default.
In the Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal panes, you can also use the Share My links to quickly share your folder or open another person’s shared folder. You also can switch views easily by selecting a different view under Current View.
At the bottom of the Navigation Pane, click on the icon to Configure Buttons 
, click Add or Remove Buttons, and then click the button you want to add such as Journal, Folder List, or Shortcuts.
The Folder List pane shows all folders, including Public Folders, and has links for folder sizes and file management. By default, Outlook opens in the Mail Pane, so you have to switch to the Folder list each time you start Outlook.
The Shortcuts pane has links to Outlook Today and Microsoft Office Online. You can add new shortcuts as needed. If you create your own Outlook folders, you can add shortcuts to them that will appear on the Shortcuts bar.
You can move the icons by clicking on them and dragging them to new locations. Shortcuts to My Computer and My Documents are no longer part of Outlook, and the Office Shortcut Bar is not available in Microsoft Office 2003. However, you can use the Windows XP Start menu or the Windows Quick Launch bar in Windows XP or Windows 2000 to quickly access these while working in Outlook or to open an Office program, file, or folder.
On the Start menu, go to All Programs, and then to Microsoft Office. Right-click the Office program you want to add to the Start menu, and then click Pin to Start menu. You can remove a program from the pinned items list by right-clicking the program and then clicking Unpin from Start menu. You can change the order of the programs on the pinned items list by dragging a program to a new position.
To add a file or folder to the Windows Start menu, in My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the file or folder you want to add, and then drag it to the Windows Start menu.
Navigate Using the Go Menu and Shortcut Keys
Besides using the Navigation Pane in Outlook, you can use the Go menu as well as shortcut keys. For example, choose Contacts on the Go menu to open that folder or use the shortcut keys Ctrl + 3 as shown.
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