Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Kirk Munro — Thu, 06 May 2004 20:14:00 GMT

By the by, this is a great feature. Personally I use it to display notifications for meeting requests/changes since I tend to ignore email for long periods of time. Since I work in development I use the following setup to organize the information that comes in while keeping the interruptions to a minimum:

1. Rules, rules, rules: If I get email based on a subscription, I move it to the appropriate folder and stop processing so that I don't get any notification of those emails. Those rules sit at the top of my list. Beyond that, if I get sent to a DL that I care about, I move it to the appropriate folder and continue processing. Then at the bottom of my rules list if the message was about a meeting that is requested or was modified, I display the new item alert (sometimes the requests/modifications come in last minute) and finally all messages that make it to the bottom of my rules list get a desktop alert.

2. MSN/Windows Messenger. If it's important, I stay signed-in so that co-workers can contact me.

That's it. The only thing lacking from my setup is something I would request as a feature. Generally we send a lot of messages internally to project team DLs. Sometimes we exclude certain people from team messages such as when the content is very technical and developers want to have a discussion about something. I would like these to also go to a specific team folder however I can't since they aren't sent to a DL. I can assign a category however that isn't good enough since (a) it is not very visible on the standard mail form and (b) it requires custom categories that might not be on the server. We could prefix the subject but that allows for human error. I think the solution to this is to create custom forms for messages that are to be sent using certain categories, but I thought it could be done more easily (not quite sure how at this time). I'm basically looking for some flag that I can set that I can catch in a rules filter while keeping the possibility of user error to a minimum. Suggestions?

Thanks for taking the time to blog. I've only been tracking blogs for a little over a month (and haven't yet caught up to the 34 that I subscribe to) however I always stay current with yours since the subject matter is very relevant to my work right now and since you are one of the more interesting bloggers I have found.

Sincerely,

Kirk Munro

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

KC Lemson — Thu, 06 May 2004 20:15:00 GMT

Thank you for the kind words. I have forwarded your suggestion on to outwish @ microsoft.com which is currently the best way to send in your comments to the Outlook team.

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Mike Walsh Helsinki — Fri, 07 May 2004 05:53:00 GMT

Great tip, KC!

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Adam — Fri, 07 May 2004 12:57:00 GMT

I used to work with a guy who had a rule set that whenever a mail came in from a certain girl in the office, it would pop up a dialog saying 'You have received a message from the woman of your dreams'.

We told him that he should get out more ;)

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Andrew — Fri, 07 May 2004 16:41:00 GMT

This is good stuff, thanks for passing it on!

Andrew.

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Bill Mann — Sat, 08 May 2004 11:46:00 GMT

Any tips on getting an alert on my mobile when email arrives from specific people? For example, I would like to get a short alert when my boss sends me email.

Was able to do this with a stand-alone app when I used a BlackBerry, but my Verizon Wireless mobile phone doesn't hace the same kind of app.

Any suggestions? I don't want the entire message forwarded to my phone, just an alert saying that he sent me a message.

Thanks.

Bill

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Kenji Yamamoto [MVP] — Sat, 08 May 2004 12:14:00 GMT

Hey, the second pic shows that the message resource or the Syslocale is not correct... It shows meaningless characters if it was meant to show the Japanese.

Just for your note.

P.S. If there is a chance let's talk, in the coming MVP Summits!

-- Kenji Yamamoto (Security MVP)

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

KC Lemson — Sun, 09 May 2004 23:27:00 GMT

Bill - I think I heard about some apps that allow this, try searching www.slipstick.com.

Kenji - that's because it was just me typing in the characters =) I just wanted to show that they do display properly. What do you mean about the upcoming MVP Summit? The summit was last month...

re: Display a custom alert when you receive new mail

Ash S — Sat, 15 May 2004 01:42:00 GMT

I really like the feature in Outlook to show an envelope in the task bar when new mail arrives. I also have rules that move my Inbox mails to specific folders. However, I don't want an envelope icon for every new mail that I receive. I want it to show an envelope only when a mail gets moved to specific folders. How do I do that in Outlook?

/A

re: Minimize Outlook 2003 to the system tray (er, taskbar notification area)

KC on Exchange and Outlook — Wed, 19 May 2004 18:37:00 GMT