How Can I Get Outlook to Start Automatically?

If Outlook is normally the first application you open when you start your computer, it probably makes sense to have it automatically open for you. To accomplish this, you need to place a shortcut to Outlook in your Startup folder. Exactly how you do this varies depending on the version of Windows that you are running. Therefore, we've listed instructions for accomplishing this task for both Windows 2000 and Windows XP, as follows:

Windows 2000:

1.	From the Windows Start menu, select the Settings menu and then click Taskbar & Start Menu.
2.	When the Taskbar & Start menu Properties dialog box appears, select the Advanced tab.
3.	In the Customize Start menu section, click on the Add button.
4.	When the Create Shortcut dialog box appears, click the Browse button to display the standard Browse for Folder dialog box.
5.	Browse until you locate the Outlook executable file (usually located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE) and then click the OK button. (Note that the applications are listed below the folders, so when you browse to the desired folder, scroll down until you locate the Outlook application file.)
6.	When you are returned to the Create Shortcut dialog box, click the Next button to display the Select Program Folder dialog box.
7.	From the list of folders, select Startup and click the Next button.
8.	At this point, you'll see a dialog box entitled Select a Title for the Program. Type the name that you want to appear in the Startup folder. Most people simply use the value Outlook. Click the Finish button when done.
9.	Finally, when returned to the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, click the OK button to finalize your changes.

Windows XP:

1.	Select All Programs from the Windows Start menu and go to Microsoft Office.
2.	Using the right mouse button (instead of the left), drag the Outlook shortcut to the Startup folder. (If Windows XP will not allow you to drag the Outlook shortcut.
3.	A context menu appears with three options: Move Here, Copy Here, and Cancel. From that menu, select the Copy Here option. Windows then adds the shortcut to Outlook to the Startup folder.