Outlook 2010 contain some features which are difficult to use or comprehend by novices and that’s why they are concealed by Outlook Dev-team. In this post we will be exploring two new functions provided by Outlook 2010 which is not very apparent by default. Connection Status and Test E-mail AutoConfiguration are for viewing the connection status and testing email protocol and server configuration settings, respectively. Though both features are made be used with MS Exchange Server, you can use it with IMAP account as well.
Launch Outlook 2010, hold Ctrl key and right-click the system tray icon. You will see two new options in the context menu, i.e; Connection Status and Test E-mail Auto Configuration.
Click Test E-mail AutoConfiguration to verify and check the email server configuration. Even though we have mentioned earlier that Microsoft Exchange integration is preferable, you can also check out the configuration details about the IMAP account you are using. Upon click, it will lead you to Test E-mail AutoConfiguration dialog. Click Test to start the configuration setting test.
While it is testing you can also view the detailed log of each process by switching to Log tab. For viewing the complete XML file, click on XML tab.
After the testing is completed you can see the results, for IMAP account it will show complete details of the account like Protocol, Server, Port, Login Name, SSL (enabled) etc.
Now if your account is properly configured with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010, then you can use Connection Status feature. Just click on it and it will bring up Microsoft Exchange Connection Status dialog, you need to connect it first by clicking Connect/Reconnect button. It will show the information like; Server name, Type Interface, etc
You can also check out another hidden feature in Outlook 2010 for advance searching, called Query Builder.
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