Launching A New Message or An Appointment, Without Switching to Outlook Window 

We are often very busy in many applications such as Excel, PowerPoint or a Web Browser.  While you are busy in the window you may want to quickly send an email or place a calendar entry or an appointment, or even a meeting.  Most people would stop and switch over to Outlook application, then create a new message or switch to calendar and create an entry, and return to their previous application.  This method is the traditional longer way to accomplish such an action. 

A shortcut and a better work flow is to just Right-Click on the Outlook icon on your Windows Taskbar (usually at the bottom of the Windows screen), and choose New Email Message, New Appointment, New Meeting, New Contact or New Task.  Any one of these will bring up the New Entry window for the item selected, without leaving the current application such as Excel, PowerPoint or the Web Browser.  You can just enter the items and save the content, and continue to do what you were doing previously.  You do not have to switch over to Outlook.