Making Outlook Work For You: RSS Feeds: Using Outlook to Get Your Favorite Information

Subscribing to RSS feeds is one of the best and most underused features in Microsoft Outlook. RSS stands for "really simple syndication." Most of us have certain web sites we visit frequently to read current articles. I am a huge cycling fan, and come spring time, I am ready to read about the spring classics in Europe to find out about my favorite racers and to start choosing a virtual cycling team for the Tour de France.

Most commercial web sites give users the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds from their site. This allows us to have new articles delivered directly to us without having to go search for new articles. Outlook can efficiently manage RSS feeds for you. You can even subscribe to this blog, Making Outlook 2010 Work For You (url at the end of this post).

1. The first step is to find the RSS feed icon or page. Most web pages have an RSS feed icon as shown below or an RSS feed page on which is listed the different RSS feeds that are available.

RSS Feed Icon

2. After finding the RSS feed icon or page, right click on the icon or link and Copy link address.

3. Open Outlook, right click on the RSS Folder in the Navigation pane, and select Add a New RSS Feed. The New RSS Feed dialog box will open.

4. Paste (Ctrl+V) the copied url in the dialog box and click Add.

5. A new RSS feed folder will be added to your RSS Feeds.

After subscribing to an RSS feed, you can open and read the headlines of that article or click on the link in the article to read the full article on the web site.

You can also share RSS feeds with other Outlook users by opening one of the RSS feed and clicking on the Share This Feed button.

You can delete an RSS feed by deleting the RSS feed folder to which you subscribed in your list of RSS Feeds in the Navigation pane. You can also manage from the Account Settings dialog box (File tab, Account Settings button, Account Settings).

Below is a list of some of my favorite RSS feeds. You can copy the urls below or search and find some RSS feeds of your own.

Making Outlook Work For You:
http://makingoutlookworkforyou.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
VeloNews: http://velonews.competitor.com/feed/
Road Cycling: http://www.roadcycling.com/news/rss.xml
Epicurious - New Recipes: http://feeds.epicurious.com/newrecipes
BCom Teacher Exchange: http://bcommteacherxchange.wordpress.com/feed/
Mental Floss: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/feed/atom
Microsoft OneNote: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-onenote/rss.aspx

If you're a cycling fan, check out the pictures below. I was able to attend the start of Stage 3 of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California in Auburn, California. I was able to get pictures with George Hincapie and Taylor Phinney...very fun day!