Using the Research services available in the Research task pane in Outlook 2003, you can search for definitions, stock quotes, and other related references and insert them directly into your e-mail message. The Research task pane opens next to your message so you can use the dictionary or thesaurus, search the Web, or even get Translation services without leaving Outlook.

The Research task pane allows you to read foreign language e-mail messages more easily by using a single-click translation of a word, phrase, or the entire e-mail message. This translation is especially useful in multinational corporations where many people do not natively speak the predominant language, which is typically English.

The Research task pane also puts you in easy reach of Research services that supply business and financial data. For example, you may want to learn more about a company's revenue or stock price history.

Use the Research task pane

Looking up information, such as a dictionary definition of a word, is easy: Hold the ALT key and click a word in your message. To translate, do the following:

Note  The Research command is only available when you compose an e-mail message using Microsoft Office Word 2003 as your default e-mail editor.

1. In Outlook, open a message and select a word, phrase, or the entire message.
2. On the Tools menu, click Research.
3. In the Research task pane, select Translation from the list.
4. Using the From and To lists, select the language you want to translate from and to.

Note  You can also translate text in an open task or Calendar item, such as a meeting request.

You can also enter search text in the Research task pane. Search will look up the information in a variety of Research and Reference services that are categorized under the following headings:

• All Reference Books contains a dictionary, thesaurus, and translation service.
• All Research Sites contains an encyclopedia, MSN Search, and other research Web sites, including third-party premium, fee-based content.
• All Business and Financial Sites contains company profile and stock quote services such as Gale Company Profiles and MSN Money Stock Quotes.

  Note  Not all languages support this category. Available services also depend on your location and whether you are connected to the Internet to work online.

To narrow your search, you can specify a category or an individual service contained within a category. For example, to insert stock quotes into a spreadsheet, it might be faster if you search for them directly on the MSN Money Stock Quotes Web site.

Note  If you are not connected to the Internet and are working offline, you only have access to Research services that are installed with Microsoft Office 2003: a thesaurus and bilingual dictionary.

Learn more about the available Research services

When you are connected to the Internet and working online, more services may be available. To find out more about the available services, in the Research task pane, click Get services on Office Marketplace. Some of the services available are as follows:

Activate Research services for searching

You decide which research services you want to use for searching. In the Research Options dialog box, you can:

• Activate research services that are already on your list of services.
• Update or remove services.
• Enter additional services.

When a service is already installed but not activated, select its check box to include it in your next search. If you haven't used an installed service for a while, you may want to update it so that it's current. And if you don't plan to use a service anymore, you can remove it from the list.

To include additional services, enter the Internet address of the provider whose services you want to add to the list of available services. For example, if you have Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 installed, you can add a SharePoint Portal Server site to the list of All Intranet Sites and Portals. In the Research task pane, click Research Options, and then click Add Services. In the Address box, type:

http://your root directory/_vti_bin/search.asmx

Control the use of the Research task pane

To help filter out potentially offensive content or to prevent unauthorized people from changing your search settings, you can use parental control settings and password protection to control the use of the Research task pane.

Parental control options and a password can be specified in the Parental Control dialog box. In the Research task pane, click Research Options, and then click Parental Control.