One of the most sought features of an e-mail program is
the ability to automatically route, print and otherwise
process incoming messages -- and outgoing messages as
well.
In Microsoft Outlook, this function is provided by the Rules
Wizard. Under Outlook 97 and Outlook 98, Exchange
Server users can elect to use
Inbox Assistant instead. Rules Wizard is installed by
default in Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000, but must be added
to Outlook 97.
In the Microsoft Exchange client, connected to Exchange
Server, Inbox Assistant handles processing of incoming
messages. Exchange/Windows Messaging without an Exchange
Server connection includes no automatic processing
function. You can, however, use the tools listed under Other
General Tools.
Outlook 2000 provides application-level events,
allowing you to write VBA routines
to respond to new messages in a folder and to perform
operations on outgoing items.
Beginning with Exchange Server 5.5, the Exchange
Server Event Service can run scripts on a schedule or
when messages arrive, change or are deleted.
Rules Wizard
processes both incoming and outgoing messages. Outlook 98
and Outlook 2000 come with the Rules Wizard. There's
nothing extra to download. For Outlook 97, you can download
the Rules Wizard from Microsoft.
See also:
Custom Actions -- Add-ins
to provide new capabilities to Rules Wizard or Inbox
Assistant
Inbox
Assistant processes only incoming messages. In Outlook 97
or 98, you can revert from Rules Wizard to Inbox Assistant
by removing the reference to Rules Wizard in the Add-in
Manager (Tools | Options | Other | Advanced Options |
Add-in Manager in Outlook 98). Only Inbox Assistant
can send responses as a server-based rule or forward
messages with headers intact.
The Rules Wizard in Outlook 2000, on the other hand,
provides parity with all Inbox Assistant rules and
conditions. Therefore, Inbox Assistant is no longer needed
and is not available in Outlook 2000.
E-mail Follow-up reminds you to send a follow-up e-mail message if the reply has not been received in specified time. E-mail Follow-Up will watch for the messages and show you alert when the reply has not been received. Moreover, E-mail Follow-Up allows you to send follow up message using a predefined template to remind the recipient that the reply hasn't been received. Version 1.
Anti-spam, disclaimers (with variables), archiving Internet mail, Internet mail usage reports. Includes a POP downloader and personalized server-based autoreplies that can include attachments and tracking numbers. Can archive to an ODBC database. Version 14 includes Overall improved anti-spam technology, an additional anti-spam engine called SpamRazer along with improved performance and a real-time dashboard.
This add-in for Outlook organizes the email in your inbox by automatically moving it to folders you designate. Similar to our Sent Items Organizer, you can have the add-in automatically move the email to folders that you create based on who it's from, keywords in the subject or body, or you can have it prompt you for the folder each time it doesn’t know how to handle the email. It also comes with a facility to back propagate through all your old emails and file them accordingly. This add-in is a great way to reduce the number of Outlook rules you use. Enter code WD9BHK53 during checkout.
Nemx Power Tools Version 5.1 now includes the ability to selectively archive messages by user, group, domain, recipients, or content to a MSSQL or ODBC compliant database to ensure government, industry or corporate compliance. The release also includes enhancements to its Friendly Domains auto white listing capabilities.
ITIL guided and automated help desk system seamlessly integrated within Outlook. Use Microsoft Exchange (for Team Edition) or local PST (for Personal Edition) for storing support cases. Provides support team with tools to log, collaborate, analyse and assist in the resolution of issues. Auto-process incoming supports requests and send automated emails or SMS alerts. Leverage the web with ASP.NET websites for both remote technicians and callers. Integrated knowledge base, asset tracking, SLA and statistics. Use Skype to make calls, send SMS. Fully Supports Outlook 2002 to 2010. Available in Personal and Team Editions.
Attachment management addin for Microsoft Outlook enables you to detach attachments and embedded images as files in a local or network drive and link them up within the emails, for easy reference and retrieval. This reduces your Inbox size and makes Outlook run much faster and also removes the requirement for constantly archiving emails. Remove links and re-attach files back when required, or when replying or forwarding the emails. You can also set Attachment Manager to monitor any number of mail-enabled folders and mailboxes to automatically detach incoming emails, with no manual intervention. Optionally, you can also set the addin to skip detachment of certain attachments with specific extensions.
An add-in for Outlook that allows you use define rules to move mail from your Inbox (or other folders) based on several criteria, including the age of the message. Auto-Mate fills this gap an enables you to apply rules to messages that have been in your Inbox for a given number of hours, days or weeks. Available in Standard or Pro Version 5.0.
Available in two versions, a free personal edition and a more powerful professional version, ClearContext IMS is an add-in for Outlook that automatically prioritizes, organizes, and color-codes the e-mail in your inbox, placing the most important e-mails from the most important senders at the top of the inbox, ready to be dealt with immediately. Less important e-mails, such as newsletters and correspondence from low priority senders, are placed further down in the inbox and junk/spam e-mails are moved to the bottom. ClearContext IMS automates the e-mail filing process to help you keep your entire mailbox organized. Version 3.0
Email Responder plugin for Microsoft Outlook is an out of office assistant. Auto reply with email away message templates. Change your status and out of office reply templates remotely. Change your free-busy status manually (Away, Out of Office, Vacation, Tentative, Custom) or use your MS Outlook Calendar or Windows Live Messenger availability status. Auto response to selected Contacts or Distribution lists only. Enable MS Outlook auto forward. Version 2.10. Works with Outlook 2010 Beta and Windows 7.
Exchange/Outlook add-on to create custom replies, forwards, signatures -- inserting any type of boilerplate text into your message. Templates are stored in Outlook or Exchange folders and can contain scripting elements (in VBScript or ET's own script language) to build replies that use information from the incoming message. Various extensions can handle such tasks as mailing list subscriptions. For a rotating quote, download the Rotating Text template. Has some issues with Outlook 2002 -- make sure you get the latest update, disable RTF templates, and don't try to use ET as a custom action in Rules Wizard.
Alternative to Outlook Rules Wizard to eliminate junk mail, sort messages by categories, and alert you to priority messages. Also forwards messages from certain category folders automatically to another address or a mobile device.
Extracts information from incoming messages into databases, sends automatic replies, manages newsletter subscriptions, sends and collates questionnaires. Supports XML and scheduled tasks.
A server-based resource management extension allowing IT departments to better manage corporate conference rooms and resources in an Exchange environment. It is compatible with Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003.
Exclaimer Auto Responder is a multi-functional tool which allows you to automate replies to emails, redirect messages, add and remove senders and recipients from emails, as well as prevent messages from being delivered. Create personalised auto responses by including the sender’s original message, add company branding, and attach files such as brochures and leaflets. Redirect messages to new domains or group mailboxes instead of sending to individuals. Change the senders and recipients of emails by switching from individual mailboxes to team mailboxes as well as being able to Cc and Bcc extra contacts. Exclaimer Auto Responder works with Exchange Server 2007 and 2010.
Automatic mail processing tool available in an Exchange 5.x edition and an Outlook Rules Wizard client edition. Software development kit available to create custom restrictions and actions. From the developer of ExLife.
Processes Inbox messages based on a schedule and sends replies, forwards messages or deletes them. Combine with an automatic retrieval utility to have messages processed when you're not there, without loading Exchange or Outlook.
Integrates with Outlook to apply rules for inbound and outbound e-mail. Rules can be scheduled and can update data, route mail, run applications, and perform other functions. Can also schedule report deliveries.
OLAP Statistics tool for Microsoft Outlook helps you to gain insight into your folder items and make new discoveries. It overcomes the limitation associated with the generalization of information using the Outlook views with only few fields at a time. It analyzes your Outlook data in multi-dimensional view in grids, charts and graphs and supports pivoting, drill down/slice and dice and filtering. You can run analysis tool on individual Outlook or public folder, with its own unique set of desired built-in and user-defined fields. You can specify any field as the measure using functions such as sum, count, distinct count, maximum, minimum etc, and use this against other fields to generate statistics. Now it’s easier than ever to spot new trends and discover unknown problems in your data flow. Save and share reports as PDF, JPEG, HTML or PNG formats.
Rules-based messaging processing tool that also supports voice recognition with Microsoft Agent. Latest version improves international support and adds the ability to base a rule on an existing message.
Mail organiser for Outlook to replace the built-in Rules Wizard. Offers unlimited rule capacity (only limited by your computer hardware), quick folder find, attachment renaming, and Bayesian antispam mail filtering.
An automated ticketing system for one-person helpdesk and issue tracking in Microsoft Outlook. Log, analyze, track and escalate support requests in an organized and structured process in Outlook. Auto-process incoming support requests and send automated notification emails or SMS alerts. Supports enforcement of SLA in line with ITIL guidelines. Integrated knowledge base, asset tracking and statistical tools. Support for Skype and Phone calls. Includes a self-service website where end-users can submit new support requests, check status, search through the knowledge base. Improves your efficiency to enable faster response time.
Message filtering tool for Exchange Server to block spam, proprietary information leaks and unacceptable language. Also can create automatic replies and perform rule-based archiving.
SilentMail for Outlook monitors outgoing emails and sends a blind carbon copy (BCC) of every email to a specified address. SilentMail for Outlook does this by copying the message from the Outbox mail folder, making the monitoring process invisible for the user. Supports all versions of Outlook. Does not require Exchange server.
Part of the BackOffice
Resource Kit from Microsoft, archives and
filters incoming messages. With help from Ben
Goetter, I've worked out some installation and usage
instructions. Works with both Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft
Outlook, but not Outlook 2002.
Special Function Tools
These
tools provide automatic messaging functions for specific
situations:
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