About using e-mail and Outlook features in Excel

To send e-mail from Excel    To send data as an attachment, you need Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Exchange Client, or another 32-bit e-mail program compatible with the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI). Make sure Mapi32.dll is in the Windows System folder. To send Excel data as the body of a message, you need Outlook 2000 or later.

Some customization options, such as message tracking and voting, are available only if you’re using Microsoft Exchange Server.

To view e-mail sent from Excel To view attached workbooks, recipients need Excel 97 or later. To view Excel data sent as the body of a message, recipients need a Web browser or e-mail program (such as Outlook 98 or later) that can read documents in HTML format.

Sending data as the body of a message or as an attachment    Send Excel data as the body of a message when you want the recipients to get a range of data, a chart, or a PivotTable report, rather than an entire workbook. This approach results in a smaller message than if you attach an entire workbook.

Send the data as an attachment when you want recipients to get a whole workbook that they can open and edit in Excel. You can send workbooks as attachments from within Excel or directly from many e-mail programs.

If a recipient is using Microsoft Office 97 or earlier, it is better to send the data as an attachment. If you send Excel data as the body of a message, its formatting is lost.

Sending data versus routing data    When you send data from Excel, each recipient gets a separate copy of the message and any attachments.

When you route the data, you can only send the data as an attachment, and each recipient gets the message in turn. Use this method if you want each recipient to make changes to the workbook in Excel and see changes made by the previous recipients. You can turn on change tracking to allow each recipient to see who made each change. As the workbook is routed, you can track its status. After the last recipient makes changes, the attached workbook with all changes can be returned to you.

For routing to work, all recipients must use Microsoft Outlook as their e-mail program.

Sending for review    If you want to circulate Excel data to several people for review and comment, and want Excel to help you track this process, you can send the data to mail recipients for review. The Send for review feature is similar to using a wizard that organizes the steps for you, making sure you've turned on change tracking and helping you merge changes from any separate copies that are returned to you.

If Microsoft Outlook is your e-mail program and you're sending (not routing) Excel data, you can set the following message options.

Importance and sensitivity level    You can set the level of importance for a message to indicate whether the recipient needs to read your message immediately. If you want a reply to your message by a certain time, you can set a flag to remind the recipient to respond. You can also mark the sensitivity of the message content as private, personal, or confidential.

Security level    If you and the recipients of your messages use Microsoft Exchange Server, you can help add security to a message by adding a digital signature or by sealing (encrypting) a message to ensure that it isn't readable by anyone other than the recipients you select.

You must obtain a keyword to your security file from your system administrator to seal or digitally sign a message, and the recipients of your message must provide their passwords to open your sealed message or verify your digital signature.

These security features apply only within your organization and only if you and the recipients of your messages use Exchange Server. Your system administrator must set up the security features on your computers.

Tracking options    You can track your messages by receiving notification when your message is delivered or opened.

Delivery options    You can set delivery options that determine how and when your message is sent.

• Set an expiration date.

• Have replies to your messages automatically go to another user.

• Delay delivery of the message.

• Automatically save them in an Outlook folder.

Categories    To track and organize messages by a common element, you can assign messages to categories, such as Business, Key Customer, Personal, Gifts, or Goals/Objectives. Categories allow you to find, sort, filter, and group messages. For more information about categories, see Outlook Help.

When you want to make a workbook available to others but you don't want to send it through e-mail, you can post a copy of the workbook to a Microsoft Exchange public folder.

Tasks    You can use your Outlook task list to track tasks involving Excel workbooks, including recurring tasks. You can add a task for a workbook to your task list from within Excel. For example, if you need to review a workbook by a certain date, you can open the workbook in Excel and then add the review to your task list. You can also use Outlook to assign tasks that others must perform for a workbook or file.

Recording workbook activity    By using the Outlook Journal, you can automatically record work activity— for example, when each workbook was created or revised— for all workbooks. To track work for a single workbook, you can manually record the activity in the Outlook Journal.

Linking workbooks with a contact    You can link workbook tasks, workbook journal entries, and workbooks to a contact person so that you can keep track of all items related to that contact. For example, if you want to track a workbook by the name of the person who is responsible for it, you can link contact information to a workbook and to other related items, such as e-mail messages and appointments. For more information about linking tasks, journal entries, and workbooks to a contact, see Outlook Help.