Outlook 2003 has a new capability in previews that allows each message to take up two lines instead of one. Because the Reading Pane is displayed by default on the right side, some people find that this new capability makes it easier to handle e-mail messages without ever opening them.

You can configure Outlook to automatically use the two-line preview when it doesn't have enough screen room. To configure this setting, do the following:

1. On the View menu, point to Arrange By, point to Current View, and then click Customize Current View.
2. Click Other Settings.
3. Change the number for Use multi-line layout in widths smaller than x characters.

For example, a setting of 80 characters means that whenever the list of message headers is reduced to a width of fewer than 80 characters, Outlook automatically displays a two-line preview.