You can create a contact in one of a few ways. First, you have to be in the contacts folder. Then, perform one of these actions:

-          Click on the New button on the standard toolbar

-          Press Ctrl + N

-          Click on the File menu, choose New and click Contact

-          Click the Actions menu and choose New Contact

-          Right-click in a blank spot in the main contacts window and choose New Contact

 

If these commands seem familiar, it’s because they’re almost the same as the commands for creating a new mail message or a new calendar appointment!

 

When you follow the above steps, you’ll see this window:

 

 

You’ll see our old friend the main menu at the top, as well as the standard toolbar. Here’s an overview of the toolbar’s buttons:

 

	Saves your changes and closes the window.
	Saves your changes and opens a new, blank contact.
	Prints your contact.
	Attaches a file to the contact.
	Opens the reminders and flags box.
	Displays a map for the contact’s address in an Internet Explorer window.
	Opens a new message to the contact you have selected.
	Opens the new call box so you can call a contact. (If you click the ▼ next to the icon, advanced options will appear.)
	Opens the previous contact. (Greyed out if there is no previous item.)
	Opens the next contact. (Greed out if there is no previous item.)

 

The rest of the window is dedicated to fields you can fill out. There are literally dozens of fields on a few different tabs. Here’s how these fields work:

-          You can type in any of the white boxes you see.

-          The large white box at the bottom is for notes.

-          The only field that must be completed is Full Name.

-          If you click on a button (for example ) an extra window will pop up to help you fill in the details. Here’s the Full Name window:

 

 

As the check box at the bottom indicates, these helpful windows will appear when Outlook thinks there’s a problem with the name, phone number, or address you’ve entered.

 

As well, whenever you see an options arrow (▼) beside a button, it means you can click on it for more options. Here’s an example:

 

 

So, we can click on the Car option, and enter the number for this person’s car phone. Then, we can use the menu to switch back to business and see the business phone we’ve entered. This menu works the same for other items with a ▼ beside them such as the e-mail and mailing address fields.

 

We also have these components at the bottom of the Contacts window:

-          Contacts button: You can link your contact to other contacts. (Linking will be covered in the Intermediate level.)

-          Categories: You can place each contact in a category. These will be covered in detail in the intermediate level.

-          Private: Marks the contact as private so it can’t be seen by other users when using shared folders.

 

That’s about all there is to the new contact window. Basically, you just open it up, fill in the information you need, and click Save and Close. It’s that easy!