The Outlook Express software includes an address book for storing e-mail addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses. By using the Address Book (Contacts on Macintosh) you won't need to remember and type complete e-mail addresses every time you send an e-mail message. Enter the contact name in the To: box and Outlook Express will enter the related e-mail address for you.

You can also create groups of Address Book entries. When you type the name of a group in the To: box of a new message, the message will be sent to all members of that group.

To access your Address Book Click the Addresses button on the Outlook Express toolbar (Contacts with Macintosh).

To add a name to your Address Book

1. If the Address Book (Contacts on Macintosh) is not already open, click the Addresses button (Contacts with Macintosh) on the Outlook Express toolbar.
2. Click the New button on the Address Book toolbar. With Outlook Express 6, click New, then click New Contact.
3. In the Properties window (Contact window with Macintosh), enter the person's first name, last name and e-mail address.
4. With Windows, enter a Nickname to distinguish this person from others with similar names, or simply to shorten the name. Outlook Express will recognize this nickname when you type it in the To: box of a new message.
5. With Windows, click the other tabs at the top of the window to enter other information about the person as desired.
6. Click OK when you're done.

To Check Names

Sometimes a single person has more than one e-mail address, or two people may the same name. To distinguish between multiple email addresses where the names are identical, Outlook Express uses the Check Names feature. If it's unclear which of several possible addresses you mean to send your e-mail message to, when you click the Send button, the Check Names dialogue box will appear. Select the intended e-mail address from the list, then click OK.

To edit an entry in your Address Book

1. If the Address Book is not already open, click the Addresses button (Contacts on Macintosh) on the Outlook Express toolbar.
2. Double-click the desired entry in the Address Book window.
3. With Windows, click the Name tab, then click on the email address. Click Edit.
4. Make any necessary changes.
5. Click OK.

To create a group (Windows)

1. If the Address Book is not already open, click the Addresses button (Contacts with Macintosh) on the Outlook Express toolbar.
2. With Windows, click the New button on the Address Book toolbar, then click New Group...
3. Enter a name for your group in the Group Name box.
4. To add members from your Address Book, click Select Members.
5. Click on the addresses to be added to the list, then click the Select button.
6. To add a member not in your Address Book, click New Contact.
7. Click OK when you're done.

To create a group (Macintosh)

1. If the Contacts window is not already open, click the Contacts or Address Book button on the Outlook Express toolbar.
2. Click the Mailing List or New Group button on the toolbar.
3. Type a name for the group.
4. With Outlook Express 4, click the Contacts folder in the list at left (not the toolbar button, which will be greyed out). Drag items from the contacts at right onto the icon of the new mailing list.
5. With Outlook Express 5, drag items from the contacts window onto the new mailing list window.
6. Click the close box of the Contacts window when you're done.