Have you heard about the Outlook Boot? Check out some of the awesome features.
Frequently used text (Templates) feature
This feature allows you to define any number of pre-defined frequently used text fragments and then to insert them into any email with single click.
Firstly you need to define your templates. To do this, use “Edit templates…” menu item either in Mail compose Ribbon (Fig. 1) or from context menu (Fig. 2 – this is only available in Outlook 2010 due to technical limitations)
Fig.1 Accessing Frequently used text feature from ribbon
Fig.2 Accessing Frequently used text feature from context menu
In options dialog you can use “Add” button to add a new template and specify its name and then type text corresponding to this template in the right pane. To delete existing template use “Delete” button; if you want to rename existing template just single-click it in left pane and type new name
Fig.3 Options dialog
When templates are ready you can use them with either ribbon or context menu by clicking on template name (“Template 1”, “Template 2” on Fig. 1-2). This will insert your text into cursor position
Reply All with attachments
This simple tool allows you to reply easily to emails with many recipients without losing attachments as opposed to standard Outlook’s Reply to All which excludes all attachments from reply. The feature is accessible both from main Outlook window and from email viewer (Fig. 4 and 4.1)
Fig.4 Accessing “Reply All with Attachments” feature
Fig.4.1 Accessing “Reply All with Attachments” feature
Auto-responder
Auto-responder is a powerful and easy to use alternative to Outlook Rules. Here are some of supported features:
- Easy configuration using one-time, daily and monthly rules
- Email filtering allows you only auto-respond to emails you want to
- Remote control via email: you can change auto-responder settings remotely just by sending yourself an email
After installation you’ll see auto-responder split button in main Outlook window. Pressing/unpressing it enables or disables auto-responding and configuration is accessible from dropdown menu:
Fig.5 Auto-responder button in main Outlook window
Selecting “Options…” from dropdown menu allows you to configure general auto-responder settings and to define custom auto-respond rules. General settings (Fig. 6) include following:
- Enable/disable auto-responding
- Auto-check for emails every N minutes
- Enable/disable remote control by email
- Set remote control email subject
Fig. 6 General auto-responder setting
Same options dialog also allows you to manage auto-respond rules. To add new rule click “Add” button, enter task/rule name and configure task settings in right pane. There are 3 different types of auto-respond tasks with different options:
- One-time task – simple non-recurring task. You just define begin/end dates when it should be active and it responds to all emails between these dates automatically. After that task expires
Fig.7 One-time task
2. Daily task – recurring task where you can define active weekdays and start/end hour
Fig.8 Daily task
3. Monthly task – use it when you’re absent from computer for long time, days and months
Fig.9 Monthly task
There are 3 common settings for every type of task:
- Enable/disable task temporarily
- Response email text. You can edit it in separate window by clicking “Edit” link to the right of “Response text”. Text of response email can contain some variables like start/end date/time for task and similar. More details provided in editor window itself
Fig. 10 Response email editor
Email filtering – allows you not to respond to certain email addresses. Clicking “Edit” link to the right of corresponding field opens following editor dialog where you can edit list of emails:
Fig. 11 Email filtering configuration
Remote control by email
To use this feature you need to enable it in General options (Fig.6) and then send email with given subject to account your Outlook is checking. Here’s example of such email:
Subject: AutoResponder
subject: Out of office: %s
body: I’m out of office from %StartTime %StartDate until %EndTime %EndDate
startdate: 04/08/2011 08:00:00
enddate: 04/30/2011 15:00:00
weekdays: 1000001
starthour: 8
endhour: 21
startday: 8
endday: 30
months: 111111111111
You don’t need to specify all these fields at once. Just specify those appropriate to your task type and those you want to change (for example, enddate)
Please also pay attention to date and weekdays/months fields format. You always should use this format regardless of your regional date/time display settings
Mail encryption
Mail encryption feature allows you to protect your correspondence in seamless way; you just press “Encrypt with OutlookRobot” button in mail composer window and then when sending this email OutlookRobot will encrypt it and all attached files. On receiving side encrypted email will be recognized by your counterpart’s OutlookRobot and decrypted automatically
Note: this feature only works if both sender and recipient use Outlook and have OutlookRobot installed
How to encrypt message
Just press “Encrypt with OutlookRobot” button when composing new email. Then write and send your email as usual. It will encrypted automatically in the moment of sending
Fig. 12 Encrypting email
How to read encrypted message
You need Outlook with OutlookRobot add-in installed in order to read encrypted messages sent by another OutlookRobot user. If you have both then such emails should be decoded automatically, but in some cases it requires manual decoding
If you receive encrypted message similar to one on Fig. 13 then you should decrypt it manually using “Decrypt email” button on toolbar / ribbon.
Fig. 13 Decrypting email manually
Fig.3 Options dialog
When templates are ready you can use them with either ribbon or context menu by clicking on template name (“Template 1”, “Template 2” on Fig. 1-2). This will insert your text into cursor position
