Open Outlook and find Mail and Calendar

Microsoft Outlook is a program that keeps your email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and to-do lists in one place. Microsoft’s basic Outlook page (opened 10 November 2026) says your email account is the starting point. From there you can send and receive messages, turn a message into a task or an appointment, and store information about the people you write to so you do not have to remember every address.

This course teaches everyday workplace habits in Outlook, from finding Mail and Calendar through a simple appointment. It is not Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) training, not college credit, and not legal advice. It does not replace *Email & Online Safety Basics in Canada*, which goes deeper into scams, or *Everyday Computers and Smartphones*, which covers the Start menu, locking a shared computer, and signing out. Longer writing craft belongs in *Workplace Writing*.

Canada’s Skills for Success Digital skill (learning-steps page opened 10 November 2026) includes using online tools such as email, and knowing how to avoid phishing emails. You will practise those ideas here. Lesson 6 stays basic and then points you to the email-safety course for more.

To start Outlook on a Windows computer, use the Start menu the same way you start Word or Excel. Everyday Computers covers that menu in more detail. The first time Outlook opens on a computer, Microsoft says Auto Account Setup may ask for your name, email address, and a password. That is usually enough. If automatic setup fails, Outlook may ask for extra details such as a mail server name, which your email provider can give you. Later you can choose File > Add Account to add another account.

Do not type a real workplace password into this course. Use a tutor-approved practice account, or watch a tutor demonstrate setup. Practice screens here are drawings labelled “Practice screen — not the real Outlook.”

Outlook does not look the same everywhere. Microsoft publishes steps for classic Outlook, new Outlook, Outlook on the web, and mobile apps. This course teaches the desktop steps Microsoft publishes. If a label on your screen does not match, ask a tutor rather than guessing at a reset.

Once Outlook is open, look for a short list of the main areas: Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks. Microsoft calls this the quick access bar on some screens and talks about a Navigation bar on others. The idea is the same: those four names move you among the top features. They often sit along the bottom or the side of the window. On a phone or in the new Outlook, the same names may appear as icons. If you cannot find Calendar, look along the bottom edge and the left edge before you assume it is missing.

Mail is where you read and write messages. New messages usually arrive in the Inbox, which Microsoft names as a mail folder you can work from. Calendar is where you see your time and add appointments or meetings — you will do that in Lesson 7. People is the place for contacts, and Tasks is the place for to-do items. Both wait until Lesson 8. You only need to know they exist today so you do not hunt for a calendar inside a single email.

Click Mail when you want your messages. Click Calendar when you want your schedule. Switching does not delete your mail. It only changes what you are looking at. If you clicked Calendar by mistake and your Inbox seems to have disappeared, click Mail again.

On many desktop screens, Mail itself has three parts. A folder list on the left shows Inbox and other folders — Lesson 5 will teach you how to make a folder. A message list shows subjects and senders. A reading pane, a name Microsoft uses on its reply page, can show the contents of the message you selected. If the reading pane is empty, click a message in the list. You do not have to reply yet.

If someone else uses the same library computer, sign out when you finish, the way Everyday Computers teaches for a shared machine. Do not leave Outlook open on a public desk.

Today’s goal is to look around without sending anything. Opening Outlook is not the same as sending a message. You can read, switch to Calendar, and leave again without writing to anyone.

Microsoft’s first mail task is creating a new message with New Email, which you will do in Lesson 2. Today, notice where that command will live: from any mail folder, such as your Inbox, you choose New Email. You do not need to press it yet. Noticing the button now means you will not search the whole window later.

Also notice what you should not do on a first look. Do not type a real password into a practice screen. Do not open an unexpected attachment “just to see” — Lesson 4 and Lesson 6 cover attachments and suspicious mail. Do not choose Reply All on a large group while you are still learning the difference; that choice waits until Lesson 3. Curiosity is good. Clicking every button is not.

If setup asked for extra server details you do not have, stop and ask staff or your email provider. Guessing at server names can lock you out of a real account. That is another reason this course uses a practice account.

Write down the four names — Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks — in your own words. If your screen uses icons only, ask a tutor to help you match each icon to a name. Screens differ by version. A library machine may show classic Outlook while a workplace laptop shows the new Outlook. Both can still get you to Mail and Calendar.

When you know those two places, you are ready to write a clear message in the next lesson.

1. Start Outlook with a tutor-approved practice account. Do not type a real workplace password into this course.
2. Find Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks. Write where each one sits on your screen.
3. Open Mail and notice the Inbox (or the folder list).
4. Open Calendar, then return to Mail.
5. Notice New Email without sending anything yet.
6. If you are on a shared computer, sign out when you finish.

If you are in a study group: what looks different on your screen compared with a classmate’s? Name one matching word or icon you both found.