Topic: To: Bill Gates [mailto:william.gates@microsoft.com]{Please address this issue} (Read 4377 times)

BizB · « **on:** June 20, 2007, 08:48:01 AM »

In Microsoft Outlook - regardless of the version (as far as I know) - when sending a meeting request, it is possible to change the purpose of your invite to an individual. For example, if I invite you to a meeting, I can click on the arrow next to your name in the "Scheduling" view and change your attendance from "Required" to "Optional". Or, I can even mark you as a resource rather than a person.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could do something similar in an email message?
I get dozens of emails every day that were sent to me just as an FYI in case I ever need to get really involved in that project even though I only consulted on the project when it was in the pre-sales phase. It would be really nice if there were either more fields than To:, CC:, and BCC:. Or, even better, if I could click on a person's name and mark their purpose on this email as "FYI", "You are the primary person I'm addressing on this message", "Your response is required", "You need to read only the blue text in this email", "Please address this issue", etc. Ideally, you'd be able to select from a preset number of standard "purpose flags" or type in a custom purpose flag. These flags would be visible only to the person to whom it applied (unless some 1337 h4x0r wanted to go in and look at the message header.)

Then, I could set up rules that are based on those "purpose flags"!

I wonder how many man-hours are wasted every day because people read an entire email that was sent to them just as an FYI, or a just-in-case-you-needed-to-know.

ivan · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2007, 12:04:54 PM »

I bet this can be accomplished using VBA in regular Outlook.

BizB · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2007, 01:15:22 PM »

It probably could. However, the macro would have to be installed on each machine and then I would be the one who would have to maintain it.

Further, there's no way to set up a rule associated with a VBA-macro; instead, you have to write the 'macro' as a compiled add-in. Only then can you use a rules-wizard rule on the incoming email.

ivan · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2007, 02:50:39 PM »

Ya, that would be lame and a hassle. I guess it's up to Bill.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #4 on:** June 20, 2007, 02:53:21 PM »

Well actually Balmer. I don't think Bill really does much with M$ anymore.

Agent_Tachyon · « **Reply #5 on:** June 20, 2007, 03:32:42 PM »

I daresay Balmer's a bit busy burying Google again to worry about such matters nowadays.

ivan · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2007, 04:04:43 PM »

Melissa. Get Melissa to do it.

I mean, she did such a great job with Bob.

Nosferatu · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2007, 11:11:30 PM »

Ballmer's still about? I thought they released him back into the wild ages ago?

Agent_Tachyon · « **Reply #8 on:** June 20, 2007, 11:43:50 PM »

Released? More like he threw a chair through the wall and ESCAPED.

TheJudge · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2007, 07:33:53 AM »

In my mind, when I add someone on CC it's to be treated as an FYI and it implies that I am not expecting you to do anything unless you deem you need to be involved.

If I actually need someone to do something, I'll send them a task request.

So let's say I'm going to have a meeting with three people, and one of them is required to prepare a draft document about subject X, I will send the meeting request to all and mark them as "required", I will add the actuall board room as the ressource (this will formally book that room for our meeting). I will then send a seperate task request to the one individual to ask them to prepare a draft document about subject X.

I use the task and assign task function a lot. People should use it more often. It helps you manage your priorities and deliver the goods on time. I also like that I can open a task that I've assigned and look at the progress notes and the completion rate in %. (That assumes that people I am assigning task update them. It requires a litttle training/culture change, but once they are converted they love it).

Quote from: BizB on June 20, 2007, 08:48:01 AM

I wonder how many man-hours are wasted every day because people read an entire email that was sent to them just as an FYI, or a just-in-case-you-needed-to-know.

Way too much time... I cleaned up my inbox three months ago. I now have over 5000 emails in it. I get a lot of FYI shit that I'm not even interested in or care about. I know I should delete crap as it comes in, I just didn't develop that habbit yet.

BizB · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2007, 07:56:40 AM »

I wrote a script that will clean out your inbox, or any other email folder for that matter.
It looks at each email and compares it to all the other emails in that folder.
If the current email message is contained entirely within another email, and the current email doesn't have any attachments, then it moves the current email to the deleted items folder and marks it as "SCRUBBED:" in the subject line.

The end result is that you have a folder that only contains the last email in each email thread.

Code: [Select]

Sub scrubbmail()
Dim int_deleted As Integer
Set mynamespace = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set myInbox = mynamespace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
Set myDelitems = mynamespace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderDeletedItems)
Set myfolders = myInbox.Folders

Set activfolder = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").PickFolder


Set myitems = activfolder.Items
Set myitems2 = activfolder.Items
int_deleted = 0
    For i = 0 To myitems.Count
        i = i + 1
        On Error Resume Next
        str_Text = myitems(i).Body
        If myitems(i).Attachments.Count = 0 Then
            For j = 1 To myitems2.Count
                If j <> i Then
                    Set subjItem = myitems2(j)
                    If subjItem.Attachments.Count = 0 Then
                          str_Text2 = subjItem.Body
                          If InStr(1, str_Text, str_Text2, vbBinaryCompare) Then
                              If str_Text <> "" Then
                                  If str_Text2 <> " " Then
                                      subjItem.Subject = "SCRUBBED: " & subjItem.Subject
                                      subjItem.Move myDelitems
                                      int_deleted = int_deleted + 1
                                  End If
                              End If
                          End If
                    End If
                End If
                If j + int_deleted >= myitems.Count Then
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
        End If
        If i >= myitems.Count Then
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
    dummy = MsgBox(int_deleted & " items were scrubbed", vbOKOnly, "Deleted itmes")
End Sub

Enjoy.

It will take a while to run through 5000 emails (perhaps it would be best if you ran it over the weekend) but after you've done it once, you can run it each night before you go home, or every Friday when you leave. Then, things will be nice and tidy when you return.

TheJudge · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:15:39 AM »

That sounds interesting. I'll give that a try. I execute via the visual basic editor?

BizB · « **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2007, 10:26:57 AM »

Yup. Just paste the above into the editor and hit F5.

I added a button to my toolbar so that it's just a click away. If you want instructions on how to add a button, let me know.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #13 on:** June 21, 2007, 05:41:44 PM »

I'm not running that. You guys write mean programs sometimes, you know.

TheJudge · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2007, 06:34:51 AM »

Oh beleive me, I took the time to review the script! I'll be modifying it a little for some of my needs (such as deleting anything that has "absence" from the subject line). People in my department seem to think that I care about their have medical appointments.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:04:36 PM »

Thanks. I'll actually be able to use this.

BizB · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2007, 03:01:57 PM »

You're welcome.

I hate posting code that I wrote because inevitably someone will look at it and see an easier/cleaner/faster way of doing it. But, I do enjoy making others' lives easier.

No Tailies... Just Others. Well, maybe Sawyer and Kate, but not Jack. Smug fucker.

</LOST>

LuciferSam · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2007, 01:32:14 AM »

I have nothing to contribute her, but I really wanted to use the name Ballmer in a sentence - and I just did.

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Author Topic: To: Bill Gates [mailto:william.gates@microsoft.com]{Please address this issue} (Read 4377 times)