Microsoft Outlook 2010 – Social Connectors & Screen Clipping

I was able to download and install the final version of Microsoft Office 2010 earlier this week. I’ve been reading reviews of both Office 2010 and the Microsoft web apps, yet to be released. I wanted to see Outlook 2010 as it now has the ‘ribbon’ interface, the ‘social’ aspect and a built in screen clipper.

This week, I want to talk about OSC (Outlook Social Connector), and the Screen Clipper.

Outlook 2010 Social Connector (Linked In & My Space)

I was very interested to see how Outlook was going to integrate with Linked In. After installing Outlook 2010, I went to  the download area and downloaded the connector.  Before running/installing, I exited Outlook. Next, I reopened Outlook and I connected my Outlook to my Linked In account (see screenshot below). I’m only interested in Linked In, although My Space is available right now. They will be adding Facebook and others later, but no dates have been posted.

You’ll see the ‘My Site’ right above. I haven’t figured this one out yet!

After you’re connected with your Linked In account, check the settings. Mine defaulted to the ‘update without prompting’, and I left it at that. You can also choose how long you want updates to show in Outlook.

So after you’re set up, then you’ll need to adjust your Outlook ‘view’ settings. I have mine set so I have a reading pane over on the right. With this view, you can then expand the window (see below), to show what comes up in the social connector part as you scroll through your emails.

Besides getting any Linked In updates from your contact, Outlook 2010 will pull in all emails and appointments you’ve had with your contact. You can even click on a little paperclip and have it sort all your emails from someone by attachment.  If I set my view where it does not have a right or left reading pane, then I don’t see the below ‘social and email’ windows.

I also noticed that I had a new category in my contacts that was labeled, ‘LinkedIn’. When I scrolled through this list, I saw that all my Linked In contacts were put in here. If my ‘connection’ had a picture on Linked In, it was in here too. I’m still waiting for the pictures to appear in my Outlook. I read this can take about a day to show up. I’m not sure why I need another set of contacts and wonder if this  will mess something else up. When I add Facebook in later – will I get another set of contacts? Hope we get some input on this.

Benefits of Using Outlook 2010 and the ‘Social Connector’

• Your contacts updates will sync seamlessly with LinkedIn, so if a colleague changes jobs or email, it’s taken care of.
• If there’s someone you receive emails from regularly, but aren’t connected via Linked In, check the ‘connect’ box while you’re in your Outlook and a request will be sent.
• As you scroll through your in-box, it’s nice to have all emails, status updates & appointments from a  person all collected and organized neatly for you.
• If you want more Linked In information on your contact, just one click from Outlook will take you to Linked In.
• Privacy settings (taken from msdn blog – the design of the OSC is such that your privacy and permissions settings on each of the networks you use are represented and respected within this experience. For example, if your profile photo and job title are publicly listed on a given network, then OSC users will see your photo and job title when receiving an e-mail from you (if they use that same network). Similarly, if you choose to restrict profile access on a given network, the OSC will respect that privacy. The goal of the OSC is not to create another social network or set of privacy settings for you to manage, but rather to bring the networks you already value and use to the Outlook experience.

Caution: Read the Outlook Blog Comments – I scrolled through the comments and saw quite a few people had problems with the installation and use of the beta connector (released Feb. 2010). The Connector still is a beta product and I’d use caution before installing on your production machine.

Outlook 2010 Screen Clipper

If you enjoy the Microsoft Snipping Tool, you’ll really appreciate the Screenshot Clipper automatically built into Outlook 2010.

I sometimes send screenshots via email from Facebook to my sister who is not on Facebook. With the built-in clipper, all I have to do is click on the “insert’ tab and then click on the ‘Screenshot’ drop down. This is where it gets a little tricky if you want to capture part of a screen. If you want to capture a picture and some text, then you will first have to have the window up and not minimized. So, after you click the ‘screenshot’, then click on the ‘screenclip’ button at the bottom of the popup. The maximized window will then appear, it will appear to ‘frost over’ and then a tool will appear to cut out what you want. It’s then inserted into your email.

If you want to capture an entire screen and you have multiple browsers or office programs open, you’ll see a list from which to choose. Simply navigate to and click on that window and the entire screen will be inserted into your email. Your captures can then be adjusted and you can even use the nifty built-in picture tools to add effects, borders, etc. to your snip.

Other Posts You Might Like

• September 23, 2010 -- Top 5 Microsoft Outlook 2010 Calendaring Tips
• June 17, 2010 -- Microsoft Office Web Apps – Free
• July 10, 2009 -- Windows Live Mail-POP Account Enabled