Set and Enable Vacation Out of Office Away Message On Outlook

So we switched from Lotus Notes to Outlook and I just so happened to be going on vacation that afternoon.  How do I set up and enable my away message on Outlook telling people I will be out of my office and away from the computer?  It is easy to set up an activate your away message on Outlook, though I found it much different than Lotus.

This works on Outlook 2010 and probably other versions as well. The only thing I am not sure of is if this works on home versions on Outlook or only on business / commercial versions. Keep reading though to find out.

Change or Make Unread Outlook Email Messages a New Color Like Red

OK, so you are using Microsoft Outlook for your email program

and you noticed that the difference between your read and unread emails is some bland light black and a bold black.  Why not make the unread emails change to a different color like read or blue or green or any color you like?

Adding color or giving unread outlook emails a new color is pretty s easy to do.  Let's look at how to change that color:

Step 1

Presuming you have Outlook open and you are looking at your inbox (but you could also be in draft, sent items, etc) click on the VIEW tab at the top of the screen.

Step 2 

Then just to the left, a little bit down from the view tab you’ll see Change View, View Settings and Reset view.  Click on the one in the middle VIEW SETTINGS”

Step 3

“Advanced View Settings” window appears. Click on the CONDITIONAL FORMATTING button.

Step 4

Make sure that UNREAD MESSAGES is checked (actually I left them all checked but in the least make sure UNREAD MESSAGES is checked)

Step 5

Then click on the FONT button in that same little window.

Step 6 

Then choose your color  (you can also change font size etc as well )

Click OK  (believe it or not I actually forgot to do this : -) .. Now you are all set.  I hope this helped you to Change or Make Unread Outlook Email Messages a New Color Like Red

Another Helpful Post .... Do You find that your emails instantly turn from bold to light black as though they are 'read' on Outlook (2010 or similar versions)?  I wrote a post on how to keep Outlook from turning emails to 'read' without opening. Check it out