We all like to put our stamp on things. Whether it's a simple printed card or an e-business card, it's important for us to share our vital statistics with colleagues, prospective clients and even friends. Today, it is just as vital to leave our calling card as it was when they first came into circulation in the 19th century.

The first calling cards were hand-drawn and came in an array of colours and designs. There was even a special etiquette to how calling cards were delivered and addressed, and messages were conveyed in the way in which the corners of cards appeared: a folded top left corner meant the visitor had come in person; or unfolding another corner showed that a servant had been sent with the card; a folded bottom left corner signified a farewell; a folded top right corner meant congratulations; and a folded bottom right corner expressed condolence.

The entire design of the card was given careful consideration. Edges were sometimes gilded, daintily pierced, stamped, fancy razor cut and scalloped. Some had hand-applied fringe borders or braiding. A small photograph mounted on thick board was left as a carte-de-visite - literally a record of your visit. Often it was only a view of the head and shoulders. They were immensely popular in the 19th century, surpassed only by tintypes (an image mounted on metal) in popularity.

A carte-de-visite was much cheaper to buy than images made from the earlier processes of photography. They were also less delicate, requiring no velvet-lined cases, which made them ideal for mailing to friends. Carte-de-visite photographs of famous actors, members of royal families, and works of art were also commercially available. The immense popularity of these card photographs led to the publication and collection of photographs of prominent persons. Cardmania spread throughout Europe and then quickly to America. Albums for the collection and display of cards became a common fixture in Victorian parlours.

As the need for these cards grew, so did the requirement for photographic equipment. Different types of cameras were devised. Some had a mechanism which rotated the photographic plate, others had multiple lenses that could be uncovered singly or all together.

But by 1860 the carte-de-visite craze had reached its climax, and in the early 1870s, carte-de-visite cards were overtaken by "cabinet cards". Cabinet cards remained popular into the early 20th century, when Kodak introduced the Brownie camera and home snapshot photography became a mass phenomenon.

The carte-de-visite has long since been relegated to scrap books and prized collections, but we have never lost that need for putting our personal stamp on things. Today, a carte-de-visite has been replaced with an email and virtual business card; but it's just important that we know who has been calling on us before we answer the door.

You might have received an email message from someone you don't recognise and have racked your brains to try to remember if know them. If your organisation upgrades to Microsoft Outlook 2010 you will have the ability to access information about co-workers who send emails without needing to leave your Inbox.

By using Office Communicator with Outlook 2010, you can call in on, accept, or decline visitors even from within Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Hover your mouse pointer over the name of the person who has sent a message to enable you to view more details about the sender. And by expanding the card you can see their full contact information. The Organization tab allows you to see people within your company if your organisation uses Exchange and Active Directory.

The top of the Contact Card opens when you right-click an email address, allowing you to access data for the contact, including job title and department, phone numbers, and the person's scheduled events on the calendar. You can display the whole Contact Card by double-clicking an email address.

The Contact Card enables you to send an email message to the contact; start an instant-message conversation; or call the contact using Office Communicator. Click the Options button to do more: look up the record in your address book, create an Account or Business Contact record for the contact if a record doesn't already exist; schedule a meeting; and make a video call.

To create a record from a Contact Card, open the top of the Contact Card, by right-clicking on an email address. Point to Create in Business Contact Manager, and then click the type of Account or Business Contact record that you want to create, then Save and Close to store the new record.

And it's easy to customise your contact cards by editing the fields that are displayed on Contact Cards. Simply click the File tab, select the Business Contact Manager tab, then select Customize, and then click on the Choose Contact Card Fields. In the Choose record type list, click the record type for which you want to change the Contact Card. Then, in the Available Fields list, click a field, and then click Add to insert a new field. Although it's only possible to display eight fields in the card, you can remove fields to customized specifications. In the Fields on Contact Card list, click the field that you want to exclude, and then click Remove. To move a field up or down the list, click the field, and then click the up or down arrow buttons to move the field to where you want it on the Contact Card. If you want to undo all of your changes, click Reset. The default display settings for the Contact Card are restored.

So, there you have it, Microsoft Office Outlook 2010's own version of a 21st century carte-de-visite - with more panache and less pizzazz.