Outlook: Disabling Add-Ins to Improve Performance

Is your Outlook being slow? One way to help improve the performance is to disable add-ins that you aren't using. When you startup Outlook, a number of add-ins load alongside the main application. These often are adding features that you might not even realize are available. It's nice, but it could be affecting your experience negatively depending on how powerful your computer is.

Try going through the list of add-ins and disabling those that you feel you won't need. To do this, go to the 'File' tab and click on 'Options'. From the options on the left-hand side of the window that appears, click on 'Add-Ins'. At the bottom now you should see a 'Manage:' combo box. Make sure that you have 'COM Add-ins' selected, and then click the 'Go...' button just next to it.

[For anyone that has the 'Developer' tab enabled on the ribbon, just go there and click on the 'COM Add-Ins' button - you'll end up with the same dialog box open.]

Now, you're going to see a list of add-ins with checkbox controls next to their names. Go ahead and scroll through this list and uncheck any add-ins that you would like to disable. As an example, I personally never make use of the social connector. I unchecked the box next to 'Microsoft Outlook Social Connector'. I also have disabled a number of different add-ins that are from third-party software applications that can integrate with Outlook.

When you have finished making your selections, click on the 'OK' button and restart your Outlook to see if your situation has improved at all. It could be that you won't notice much of a difference, or you might be missing features that you normally would use. Don't worry - if you want to get something back, just repeat the instructions in this post and put checkmarks next to add-ins to enable them once again. Everything is reversible!

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Access: Export to E-mail

Here's a tip that will hopefully save you some time. The other day someone was talking to me about a report that they were pulling from Microsoft Access and saving as a PDF so that they could then e-mail it to someone.

That's two steps, though! If all you're looking to do is to send someone a report from your Access database by e-mail, then you should start using the Export to E-mail feature! When you have opened the report that you would like to send, go to the 'External Data' tab on the ribbon. Now click on the 'E-mail' button.

This lets you choose the output format, and then it conveniently opens up Microsoft Outlook and attaches it to a new message. All that is left to do is to enter the recipient(s), type a message, and click 'Send'! It's as simple as that.

Of course, if you're wanting to keep that exported file somewhere other than your 'Sent' folder, then perhaps this won't suit you. In any case, I hope this helps some other people!

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OneNote: Password Protect Sections

Have some super secret stuff kept in a OneNote notebook? Me too. It would be really unfortunate if someone stumbled across all of my plans to take over the world and I'd forgotten to do something as simple as password protect it.

Right-click on any of the section tabs in your notebook, and then click on 'Password Protect This Section...'. A pane will appear on the right-hand side of your screen. Click on the 'Set Password...' button and then enter your password. Be careful when you are setting this - you won't be able to get back in if you've forgotten the password.

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PowerPoint: Animation Painter

If you've applied an animation to an object in PowerPoint and you want the same effect to be applied to another object, consider trying out the Animation Painter! It's just like the Format Painter that you might already be familiar with.

First, select the object that has the animation that you would like to copy to another object. Then, go to the 'Animations' tab on the ribbon and click on 'Animation Painter' (in the 'Advanced Animation' group). Next, click on the object to which you would like to apply the animation.

Just like the Format Painter, you can also double-click on the Animation Painter button and then you are free to click on numerous other objects to apply the animation. When you are finished, click once on the Animation Painter button again or press the Esc key on your keyboard.

This can really make your life easier if you are working with a lot of different elements. Sometimes I find it time-consuming to go through the process of setting up each animation individually.

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