own business cards

Edit Business Card Dialog

This dialog allows the EBC to be customized. You can modify the visuals of the card using the controls on this dialog. The fields list control lets you choose the fields that you want to include on the EBC, as well as the order in which they appear on the card. For each field, you can edit the content, change the font and color and have a label next to it. A Blank Line will let you separate the fields in the EBC and design them as you wish.

Choosing a background

A good way to really customize the look of your card is to add a background image to your EBC.In this example, I’ve used an image produced by Neal O. – a coworker at Microsoft – as the background for my EBCs. You can choose anything, including a logo of your company.

Notice that I’ve selected Background Image as the layout and Fit to Edge as the Image Align setting. If you use an image that shouldn’t take up the whole card, you can select a different layout for the image.

Choosing fields and text color

I’ve made some changes to the fields to make them prettier with my new background. You can use the Add and Remove buttons, along with the arrow buttons to add, remove, and reorder fields on your EBC.

In this example, I’ve changed the order of my title and my department; introduced blank lines so that my phone and e-mail is aligned to the bottom; and colored the fields white, so that they’re easier to read. Finally, I’m adding the last field I want to include in my EBC, the Business Fax.

Design Finished!

Finally, once the card is the way you want it to look, click the OK button, and you’ll return to your contact, with the new EBC design in place. Your EBC is ready to use.

Now that you've created a new EBC, you'll want to use it to spread your contact information or company details.  One good way to do that is to include the EBC in your e-mail signature, so that every e-mail sent includes your contact details and the business card.

Setting up a signature with an EBC

From the main Outlook window, select Tools, Options, then click on the Mail Format tab, click Signatures, and click New to create a new signature. You can also edit an existing signature, if you already have one created.

Customize the signature with any text you wish to add, then click the Business Card button to open the Electronic Business Card selector. Select the EBC that you want to add to the signature, and click OK. You can also adjust the size of your EBC using the drop down on this dialog, if the default card size is too large for your signature.

Now that you've built a new signature using your EBC, try sending a new e-mail message.  You'll see that your new signature, including your Electronic Business Card, is included in the new message: