A lot of questions have come up lately suggesting that Outlook's
blocked external content feature is broken because it appears
Outlook is ignoring the BEC settings. It's not and Outlook is
behaving as designed. Spammers started to include embedded images in
their messages so we can't block them. Outlook 2003's Junk email
filter and Exchange server's IMF have a problem identifying these
messages as spam and quite a few will get through. Fortunately,
these images are not web bugs and won't send information back to the
spammer that show you opened the message (unless you click on the
image), so security is not a concern.
You can verify that Outlook is not downloading images by viewing
the message source. Right click on the message body in the reading
pane or in an opened message and choose View Source and you'll see
something like the following:
<HTML><HEAD> </HEAD> <BODY><p> <FONT size=1>have been fine. If I had been a less
enthusiastic evangelist for</font><br> <A href="http://othfmpfn.beatrxbillz.net/a/bu209118pbe/sbtpx/"><FONT></FONT> <FONT></FONT><IMG SRC="cid:agctqql_lkmnizo_dtldzqc"
border="0" ALT=""></A></FONT></p>
The key line is the image source (IMG SRC) tag. When the image
source comes from an external location, the IMG SRC tag will contain
an Internet path.
Because it's external content, Outlook 2003 won't
retrieve this image unless you allow it.
When the image is embedded, the image source tag uses a CID (Content
ID) which matches one of the attached images. The source code sample
above contains the following line, which means the image was sent
with the message and as long as Outlook is allowed to render HTML,
it's going to display the image.
The message header contains an entry for each attachment, linking
the image name to the CID so that Outlook knows where to display
each attachment. The header will have a section similar to this for
each embedded image:
You can't prevent these images from displaying, other than by
reading your mail in plain text or turning off the reading pane
before you delete the messages. While you can create a rule in Rules
wizard to look for words in the message header, using the image name
as the word, because spammers change the image names often or use
common names legitimate senders also use, a rule is less than
useful.
QUICK FLAGS AND SENT ITEMS
While you can add a flag and a reminder to a message when you
compose it, it's the standard old-style red flag, not a Quick Flag,
and it won't show up in the For Follow up search folder. In order to
see it in the Search folder, you need to go to the Sent Items folder
and add a Quick Flag.
The reason why you can't add a Quick Flag to a message before
sending it is to prevent "flag spamming", where someone flags an
item before sending it, so it's shown in your For Follow up folder,
where they hope it gets faster action than it would just waiting in
your Inbox.
Outlook's "after sending" rules don't support adding Quick Flags to
a message (only the old flag style), so you can't apply quick flags
to messages you send based on categories or other criteria.
This short VBA code sample from Sue Mosher (OutlookCode.com)
uses categories to set a Quick Flag when you send a message and
assign a specific category to the message. The recipient will see
the message with a normal, old-style flag, since Outlook stamps the
X-Message-Flag: Follow up header on it.
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As
Boolean) If Item.Class = olMail And Item.Categories = "green" Then Item.FlagIcon = olGreenFlagIcon Item.FlagStatus = olFlagMarked Item.Categories = "" End If End Sub
To use this code sample, press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor, and
enter the code in ThisOutlookSession module. Set Outlook's macro
security level to Medium and run the macro. Create a new message and
type "green" in the category field on the options dialog. Outlook
flags the message with a green quick flag when you send it and
you'll see it in the For Follow up folder. The recipient receives a
message with the follow up header set, and if they use any version
of Outlook, they'll see a simple red flag.
You can use any criteria supported by VBA to determine if a message
should be flagged. To learn more about using VBA with Outlook, visit
http://www.outlookcode.com.
OUTLOOK TIP: PREVIEWING DRAFTS IN OUTLOOK 2003
One very annoying difference between Outlook 2003 and older versions
is that you can't use the Reading pane in the Drafts folder. Since
the Reading pane is supported in a Search folder, create a Search
folder that only searches your Drafts folder and add it to the
Favorite Folders list. Now you can read your drafts in the Reading
pane.
If you just want to see the first couple of lines of a draft
message, you can enable Autopreview instead. Look for it on the View
menu.
EXCHANGE TIP: FILTERING EMAIL ADDRESSES
If you want to reject mail from certain addresses create Sender
filters on the server.
Open the Exchange System Manager and browse to Global Settings, and
right click on Message Delivery, choosing Properties. Enter the
sender's email address on the Sender filtering tab. Exchange has a
limit of about 800 addresses and supports wildcards to increase the
efficiency and limit the number of addresses you need on the list.
Use @*keyword* or *keyword*@ format for the wildcards.
New Utilities
EXTENDED REMINDERS
http://www.slovaktech.com/extendedreminders.htm
Now supports Terminal server use. Extended Reminders enables you
to get reminders on items in any email, contacts, tasks or
calendar folder in your default mail store except the Outbox and
Deleted Items folders. It works with Outlook 2000 (corporate or
workgroup mode only), Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003, and with
Exchange mailboxes or PST files. Version 1.2.5
OUTLOOK ADVANCED QUOTING ADD-IN
http://www.sos-crew.com/products.shtml#OAQ
Basic Outlook functionality supports quoting levels mark out
using quoting symbols such as "<", "|", ":" but they don't help
when you are trying to follow messages through several quoting
levels. Outlook Advanced Quoting Add-In helps users identify
replies in their messages.
OAQ also addresses another problem: the MS Outlook message
headers automatically added to the message text overload
messages with redundant information and complicate message
reading.
Outlook Advanced Quoting Add-In solves all mentioned above
problems and makes easy reading large messages with quoting
levels.
QSEARCHFOLDERS
http://www.olfolders.de/Lang/English/QSearchFolders/searchfolders.htm
Create Search folders in any version of Outlook, searching all
folders or specific folders in the background and search folders
are updated automatically if the folders change. QSearchfolders
supports all folder types, including contacts. Because search
folders is a feature of MAPI store providers, all search folders
will remain working even after de-installation of QSerachFolders.
All versions of Outlook are supported.
WINZIP COMPANION FOR OUTLOOK
http://www.winzip.com/prodpagewzcou.htm
Use WinZip Companion for Outlook to zip and encrypt attachments
when sending messages. This saves transmission time, conserves
space in Outlook mailboxes, and saves disk space for both the
sender and recipient of the e-mail. The Companion can be
configured to automatically zip your attachments, ask whether or
not you want them zipped, or let you zip and attach files
manually with just a few mouse clicks. Toolbar and menu items
allow you to control the Companion's functionality on a
message-by-message basis. In addition, sensitive attachments can
be easily protected with the same built-in advanced AES
encryption found in WinZip 9.0.
WinZip Companion for Outlook works with Outlook 2000, Outlook
2002, and Outlook 2003 only.
Updated Utilities
REMINDER MANAGER
http://www.slovaktech.com/remindermanager.htm
Now supports Terminal Server compatibility. Reminder Manager makes
it possible for Outlook to fire reminders from any calendar,
contacts, mail, or tasks folder visible in the Folder List, whether
in a Personal Folders .pst file or an Exchange mailbox or Public
Folders. (IMAP folders not supported) Includes option to send
reminders to any email, pager, or text messaging address. Improved
display of reminder time and flag/appointment time and adds a new
view for Today's and Last 3 Days for reminders. For Outlook 2000 or
later. Version 1.5.0
Other Resources
CALENDAR UPDATES: NASCAR SCHEDULES http://www.calendar-updates.com/
Download the complete 2005 NASCAR schedule, including Nextel Cup, Busch Series
and Craftsman truck series for Outlook. Free
CLEARCONTEXT 2005 EMAIL USAGE
SURVEY
http://www.clearcontext.com/survey.html
Take the ClearContext survey and share your email usage patterns to earn a $5
discount on their ClearContext Inbox Manager program. Some lucky entries will
win a fully licensed copy of Inbox Manager.
