Outlook addins :: MS Outlook for Business

Archive for Outlook addins

Should you let Outlook Rules Control your Inbox?

Posted by: standss | Comments (2)

Friday, May 4th, 2012

Rules are a handy feature in Outlook that can automatically move emails out of your Inbox to any other chosen folder but… I personally almost never use Outlook Rules (I’ll write about exceptions next week) to move emails.

So why don’t I use Outlook Rules?

You might be aware of this phrase “Out of Sight, Out of Mind“, this is exactly what could happen if you let rules control your inbox. You might receive an important email from a client but even before you sight it, the email would be moved to a different folder leaving you unaware (and you most likely won’t take the required action).

I like to see ALL emails that I have not read or I have read but not taken action yet in one place… my Inbox… in fact the Inbox shows me the emails that I still need to work on.

I don’t use Rules because emails would be moved out of the Inbox before I’ve had a chance to even read them.

I move the emails out of the Inbox AFTER I have finished with it.

You can move the emails manually (by dragging and dropping) or…

You can use an Outlook addin like QuickFile for Outlook which speeds up the process. QuickFile lets you file up to 90% of emails at the click of one button by displaying an additional button inside Outlook for you. The button displays and links to the folder you are most likely to file the currently selected/open email.

This gives you more control over your Inbox and how emails are to be handled.

Next week I’ll have a post on when it makes sense to use Rules.

What are your views on the use of Outlook Rules? let us know by leaving a comment below.

Related Post

Take Control of Your E-mail Inbox

Categories : Outlook Email Filing & Management Tip, Outlook Email Tips, Outlook as a Business Tool

Comments (2)

The Easy Way to Enable Disabled Addins in Outlook

Posted by: standss | Comments (1)

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Did you know that there is a built-in feature in Outlook that disables addins automatically?

Have you come across a time when you open Outlook in the morning only to find that your favourite outlook addin is missing from the toolbar/ribbon?

There is no need to panic, this post shows you simple steps you can follow to enable the disabled addins.

The steps will differ slightly based on the version of Outlook you are using:

In Outlook 2003

Open Outlook
Click Help on the menu bar >About Microsoft Outlook
Click the Disabled Items button
Select the file related to the addin
Click Enable
Restart Outlook

In Outlook 2007:

Open Outlook
Click Help on the menu bar >Disabled items…
Select the file related to the addin
Click Enable
Restart Outlook

In Outlook 2010

Open Outlook
Click the File tab >Options
Click Addins from the right panel
From the Manage: drop-down list, select Disabled items and click the Go button
Select the file related to the addin
Click Enable
Restart Outlook

This should now enable the disabled addin.

Hope you will not panic the next time an addin is disabled, enabling it will only take you a few clicks.

Let us know if this tip is helpful by leaving a comment below

Categories : General, Outlook Installation/Setup

Comments (1)

Take Control of your Outlook Inbox (Not the other way around)

Posted by: standss | Comments (0)

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Getting overwhelmed with the numbers of emails in your inbox everyday? Do you feel overpowered by the emails in your inbox?

Stop for a second and think, does every email need my immediate attention? The answer might just be NO.

I have seen clients with hundreds and even thousands of e-mails in their Inboxes. Their Inbox is a massive filing cabinet and action-list rolled into one.

Your Inbox needs to be used like a To-Do list. It should contain only the e-mails that you still need to read or take action on.

After reading any e-mail:

Keep it in the Inbox if you still need to take action on it
File it OUT of the Inbox into another folder if you need it for future reference
Delete it if you don’t need it for future reference

Once you get into the habit of doing this, you will be amazed at what a useful tool your Inbox will suddenly become.

Don’t use the Deleted Items folder for filing old e-mails

Some users take control of their Inbox by Deleting the e-mails so that they end up in the Deleted Items folder.

They are using Outlook’s built in Trash Can to store their important e-mails???

Please don’t do this!

It is very easy to accidentally clear out your Deleted Items folder and lose all your e-mails. In fact there are automated tools that do this for you to reclaim space on your hard-disk.

Delete item’s that you don’t want to keep! File your important e-mails in project folders created inside Outlook!

Get started NOW with a “Still to File” folder

If you have hundreds of e-mails sitting in your Inbox, here is a quick way to get started.

Create a folder inside your Inbox and call it “Still to File”. (Right Click on your Inbox and click New Folder)
Drag all e-mails that you have already worked on out of the Inbox into this new folder.

You will now only have e-mails in the Inbox that still need your attention.

Doesn’t it feel good to be able to easily see only your still-to-action e-mails in one place?

When you get a bit of time, remember to clear out the e-mails from the Still To File folder into dedicated folders for each project or case that you are working on.

Tip 4 in our e-book shows you how to create a Project based E-mail Filing System in Outlook…
Click Here to download your own copy of the special report.

Move E-mails out of your Inbox at the click of a button

You can greatly reduce the time it takes to clear your Inbox while increasing the chances that your e-mails are filed in the correct folders using a special Outlook add-on…

QuickFile for Outlook is an inexpensive user-friendly Outlook add-on that greatly simplifies the filing of e-mails to the correct folders.

Find out more about how QuickFile can simplify your e-mail filing by Clicking Here.

There is a fully functional demo version that you can download and try out for yourself.

Do you have your own ways to take control of your Inbox, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Categories : Outlook Email Filing & Management Tip, Outlook Email Tips, Outlook as a Business Tool, QuickFile for Outlook

Comments (0)

Changing the Font of Email Notes in Outlook

Posted by: standss | Comments (0)

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Don’t like the font of your email notes in Outlook? Here’s a quick tip on how to change it.

Yesterday we received a feedback from an existing Email Notes for Outlook user:

“…my biggest complaint is that I do not like the typeface on Email Notes.”

We chose the default font because it looks (a little) like hand written notes but several users have told us that they don’t like it.

I suspect that there many users who have been “putting up” with our font selection. Here’s how you can change the font to something you like.

Start Outlook
On the EmailNotes Toolbar/Ribbon > click More > Click Settings…

Email notes settings screen

On the Settings screen as shown above, you can select the Font, the Font-size and the default color of the note you wish to use. (You can see a preview of your selections just below it)
Click OK

Alternatively, you can access the Settings straight from the Notes screen:

Select a email you want to add notes too > click on the Add Notes button on the EmailNotes toolbar/Ribbon

Emailnotes settings from notes

Right-click anywhere on the notes screen > select EmailNotes Settings
Make the changes as preferred and click OK

These settings will now be applied to all the notes that you create.

If you haven’t tried Email Notes for Outlook yet, you can download a fully functional 30 day trial of Email Notes for Outlook here.

If you are an existing Email Notes user and have any suggestions or ideas to further improve EmailNotes, please let us know by leaving a comment below or email us at news@addins4outlook.com

Customer Story: How I use Email Notes for Outlook in my business

Categories : Email Notes for Outlook, Outlook Email Tips, Outlook as a Business Tool

Comments (0)

Outlook Tip: Add Attachment to Email using Drag and Drop

Posted by: standss | Comments (2)

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Adding attachments to email is no big deal, even beginners would know how to do this (Click on the Attachment button and browsing the file).

But the problem with this method is that there is a possibility you might forget to add the attachment to the email. Why?

Because we send hundreds of emails in a day (not all require an attachment), the most obvious sequences of steps are, open a blank email > enter the email address > subject > content > and then click Send.

If an email needs an attachment, it would likely be the last thing you will add and so there is chances you will miss it. Which means you will again have to send another email with the attachment wasting your time and maybe annoying your clients/customers.

Here is how you can use Drag and Drop to add an attachment to the email first and then enter the other details

Open Outlook
Click on the Inbox
Go to the location where you have saved the file you wish to attach
Drag and Drop the file in the Inbox.

This will now open a blank email with the attachment added. You can now enter the email address, subject (this will be the same as the name of the attachment but you can always change it), enter the content and click Send. Simple and Safe!

For those who still prefer the traditional method of adding attachment, you can try SendGuard for Outlook. This simple Outlook addin automatically prompts you if it feels that an email is missing an attachment. You can focus on the more important stuff like the email content while this outlook add on runs in the background and protects you when needed.

Did you find this tip useful? Let us know by leaving a comment below

Categories : Outlook Email Tips, Outlook as a Business Tool, SendGuard for Outlook, Sending emails

Comments (2)

Adding missing information to Outlook emails (just like sticky notes)

Posted by: standss | Comments (4)

Monday, January 9th, 2012

Emails don’t always have all the information I need. Sometimes I have to get additional information by phone calls… or asking someone else in the office.

Other times I get ideas about what I want to put in a reply to an email… but I am not quite ready to send out the reply just yet?

How can you save this additional information with your emails… so that you don’t have to waste time gathering the same information again in the future?

I used to print the important emails and then handwrite notes on them… the problem was that it wasn’t easy to find the printed copies again when I needed them.

So we created Email Notes for Outlook. When I say we… I mean my team and 30,000 or so readers of our newsletter/blog. In fact… this product was mainly designed by our readers.

Here’s how you can use Email Notes to IMMEDIATELY jot down any thoughts you have while reading an email. The notes get added to the email (just like sticking a note to a piece of paper) for your later reference:

Select an email and click Add Notes button on the EmailNotes toolbar
Type in your notes
Click on Save button to save the note contents

EmailNotes Screen

Email Notes has made writing notes on emails AS EASY AS STICKING NOTES TO A PIECE OF PAPER!

One click to add and link notes to emails
One click to view and edit notes linked to an email
Forward, Reply and Print your emails with or without notes
… and much more

If you’re not using Email Notes for Outlook yet… you owe it to yourself to try it out. There is a fully functional 30-day trial on our website

Learn More and Download Email Notes for Outlook

Also remember to check out the NEW YEARS RESOLUTION OUTLOOK PACK. We have bundled Email Notes for Outlook with 3 other Outlook Email Overwhelm boosters. You can save more than 50% for the next few days.

Categories : Email Notes for Outlook, Outlook as a Business Tool, Special Discount Offers

Comments (4)

How to send BETTER responses in LESS time (65% LESS TIME IN OUR CASE)

Posted by: standss | Comments (0)

Monday, January 9th, 2012

This one technique reduced the time spent by our customer support department on emails by 65%!

We use Insert Text for Outlook to template our responses to the most common questions that our support team receives. This allows us to respond to the majority of our customers’ questions at the click of a button, instead of having to write out the response each time.

Insert Text (which does much more than just text) works inside Outlook and has the following benefits for our company.

We spend less time writing emails.
We send out more accurate, more complete emails that better serve our customers (we spend more time creating a well-thought out response since it only has to be done once)
We send out LESS emails (because our responses have all the information they need).
Our customers are happier because they get their problems solved faster
Our team is happier because they are NOT getting bored writing the same things over and over again.

In summary… Less Time… Less Volume… Better Emails… Happier Customers… Happier Us!

Which brings us to… Insert Text for Outlook.

The biggest problem with InsertText is its name… InsertText does much more than just insert text into your emails.

It is a complete email template solution for Microsoft Outlook. You can use Insert Text to:

Create and use email templates in Microsoft Outlook
Templates can be used to Create new emails as well as Reply, Reply-to-All and Forward
Templates can have plain text, formatted text (HTML), To, CC, BCC fields and more (this is a addin specially designed for emails)
Easy to use interface lets you search, find and use templates easily.

If you’re not using InsertText yet… you owe it to yourself to try it out. There is a fully functional 30-day trial on our website.

Learn More and Download Insert Text for Outlook

Also remember to check out the NEW YEARS RESOLUTION OUTLOOK PACK. We have bundled InsertText with 3 other Outlook Email Overwhelm boosters. You can save more than 50% for the next few days.

Categories : InsertText for Outlook, Outlook as a Business Tool, Special Discount Offers

Comments (0)

How I make sure that I only need to send emails ONCE!

Posted by: standss | Comments (0)

Friday, January 6th, 2012

How much time do we waste every day having to resend emails… or makeup for emails that were sent incorrectly or to the wrong people to start with?

We originally designed Send Guard for Outlook at the request of several large companies (it has now been deployed to organizations ranging from 1 user to more than a 1000 users).

However I was surprised how often it was prompting me for missing information once I started using it myself.

SendGuard for Outlook has a collection of extremely useful tools that ensure your outgoing emails are COMPLETE (with no missing information) and are being sent to the CORRECT (and only the correct) people.

SendGuard works inside Outlook and takes no time to learn – you continue to write and send your emails the same way you always have. SendGuard will automatically warn you and let you take corrective action if it detects a mistake.

SendGuard even gives you a way of changing your mind about an email after you have clicked Send.

Have you ever:

Forgot to attach a document to an email message (which delays matters or could even result in missed deadlines)
Clicked Reply when you meant Reply-All (and thereby forgot to keep everyone in the loop)
Clicked Reply-All when you meant Reply (and accidentally disclosed confidential information to the wrong people
Forgot to write a subject or sent an email with an old subject line (the correct subject on an email generally gets a much better response)
Fired off an angry message that you later regretted.
Emailed someone using the wrong email address (for those of us with more than one email address).

If you are running a business, particularly a professional business, these seemingly small errors can make you look unprofessional and waste precious billable time.

SendGuard for Outlook protects you from all these mistakes by automatically warning you if it detects the possibility of any of the above mistakes (and more).

Learn more and download a fully functional 30 Day Trial of Send Guard for Outlook

Also remember to check out the NEW YEARS RESOLUTION OUTLOOK PACK. We have bundled SendGuard for Outlook with 3 other Outlook Email Overwhelm boosters. You can save more than 50% for the next few days.

Categories : Outlook as a Business Tool, SendGuard for Outlook, Special Discount Offers

Comments (0)

The People YOU helped us help in 2011

Posted by: standss | Comments (2)

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

As another year comes to an end, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas… and we thank you for your support. We’d also like to share with you the contributions to the less privileged in our country that you have made possible.

Many of you already know that we are based in the tropical islands of Fiji. Our country is very beautiful, the people are wonderful and the weather is great throughout the year.

However, like all developing countries, we too have people who have not been as fortunate… people who need a helping hand.

This year, with your help, we have contributed to the following organizations.

Save the Children Fiji: As in previous years, we have continued to work with SCF to assist with their work for the children of Fiji. We made several donations to SCF this year and finished the year with a donation to their Education Assistance Program.

What is the Education Assistance Program? The Fiji Government has over the last few years tried to make education accessible to all children by removing school fees and providing text books to all. It has even started a free bus fare and feeding program.

Despite this many children in Fiji find it difficult to attend school because their parents are unable to provide other basic school supplies such as stationery.

SCF’s Education Assistance aims to supply these essentials so that the education of children will not be affected due to (hopefully) temporary economic hardships faced by families.

Without this assistance, there are many children who may not be able to attend school in 2012… and the unfortunate reality is that once a child leaves the school system, he or she may never go back.

Fiji Crippled Children’s Society: I know… they could do with a name change to something that is a little more sensitive to the feelings of the children they serve. That being said… this organization does serve a very important and often neglected group of children in our community… and they have been doing it very well for many years.

Fiji Children’s Treatment Fund: Their aim is to provide financial support to parents of children with serious (sometimes terminal) illnesses who are unable to pay for the necessary treatment. I have little children of my own (two boys… 8 and 6). It is difficult to even imagine the feelings a parent will go through knowing their child is going through pain that could easily be reduced if they only had the money.

Home of Compassion: The Home of Compassion is a home for the elderly and is run by Catholic Sisters. They do a fantastic job of making the people they serve feel like part of a family.

I was introduced to this organization because my wife’s aunt is one of the Sisters at the Home of Compassion. As a result I have had the privilege of visiting the home on several occasions to witness that this is not a ”home” in name only. The people living there get to be part of a truly loving family.

Father Law Home: The Father Law Home is a small home that is setup outside Suva to look after the elderly. This is not an establishment with a lot of money and it looks after many people who have no other place to go.

Fiji Cancer Society: Even in a small place like Fiji, Cancer is becoming much more visible. There are very few people who do not know at least one person who had not been affected by this.

Fiji Society for the Blind: This is a society that we are happy to donate to on an annual basis.

It has been our privilege to be able to give something back to our country by helping others in need. We know that this has only been possible thanks to you… if you had not purchased our products, we would have had less to share with others.

So once again… thank you all very much. We wish you a very happy and safe festive season and look forward to serving you even better in 2012.

Best Regards,
Sanjay Singh and Your Outlook Team at Standss
www.Standss.com| www.Addins4Outlook.com | www.Outlook4Lawyers.com

Categories : General

Comments (2)

Important Update for all our Outlook Addins

Posted by: standss | Comments (0)

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

This post only applies to you if you received the following error:

“This file contains Macros with an expired or revoked signature. Since you are running under High Security Level, these
Macros will be disabled.”

If you did not receive the above error then YOU NEED TO DO NOTHING!

As part of our efforts to ensure that users can safely use our software, we sign all our software using a Digital Certificate. When the Digital Signature expires some users may get the above error message (depending on their security settings).

Our current Digital Certificate is expiring on the 9th of December 2011.

We have renewed our Digital Certificate so you can continue to use the software safely. In fact, this time around, we have renewed our Digital Certificate for the next 3 years to avoid having our customers to download the updates every year.

If you get the above error, all you need to do is go to www.Standss.com and download and install the new version of the software.

WARNING: Please ensure that you are downloading a version of the software that you are licensed for e.g. if you are registered for Version 1.x then your unlock code will only work in Version 1.x… it will not work on Version 2.x of the same software etc.

If you have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact us at support@standss.com.

Regards,
Standss team
www.Standss.com | www.Addins4Outlook.com | www.Outlook4Lawyers.com

Categories : General

Comments (0)

Archive for Outlook addins

Recent Posts

Categories

Tags