OWA 2003 Adds Outlook Features

The release of Exchange Server 2003 beta 2 as a public beta earlier this month opens the door for many more organizations to experience the improvements planned for Outlook Web Access (OWA) and the next desktop version of Outlook, currently code-named Outlook 11. Client enhancements were one of the main product goals for Exchange 2003. Microsoft has done a lot of work to make OWA more like desktop Outlook than ever before--a significant feat given all the changes in Outlook 11.

OWA 2003 actually comes in two versions: a "rich" version for users with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 5.0 or higher and a basic version for other users. Microsoft recommends the basic version for dial-up users and others with slow network connections.

In the rich version, OWA 2003 users will first notice the changes in the opening view. Like Outlook 11's new interface, OWA 2003's opening view is more colorful than in previous versions and shows a reading pane on the right-hand side, not at the bottom. You should be able to read almost all your messages in the reading pane. With the reading pane displayed, the default view shows each item in the message list in a two-line display, leaving room for a new follow-up column. Click once in this column to mark a message with a red flag for later action. Right-click in the flag column to see a choice of six flag colors.

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