It's Good to Share!
by Gary Woods

If your family has only one computer you've got to share but sometimes there's stuff you'd rather not share. Like email for instance. If you use 2003 with Windows XP the easiest way is to create separate logins. To do this go to the Control Panel and click on the Users icon, then create a new login name. Then when you use Outlook you will see only the collection of information for that login.

Okay, but what about if you wanted to share some stuff like a Family Calendar or Task List. In that case you should create a second Personal Folders file by choosing File, New, Outlook Data File. It's best to create a folder data allocation that's available to everyone so place it at something like C:\Outlook, and put the shared data file there.

Once you've created this data file, you'll need to add folders for each type of data you plan to enter. Right-click on the top folder in the new set of Personal Folders and select New Folders. Choose the data type like Calendar Items, Task Items, or whatever from the box labeled "Folder Contains." You may want to give each folder a distinct name like "Shared Calendar" or "Shared Tasks," or whatever.

To make the folders available to each user you'll need to log in to each account and open the new folder by choosing File, Open, Outlook Data File. From there just start sharing.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910