README for MarkRead beta 1
November 19, 1997


MarkRead is an Exchange client 'custom action'. This type of Exchange
add-on provides additional functionality to the rules engine (either
the Inbox Assistant or Rules Wizard) for Microsoft Exchange. It has
been tested against the 4.0 and 5.0 Exchange clients as well as
Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 beta.

THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE. Use at your own risk. Testing has not shown
Markread to cause any data damage if it fails to operate properly;
however this is not a promise that no such damage will occur.

To install, simply run setup.bat. This will copy the .DLL to C:\EXCHANGE
and make the necessary registry changes. You will need to exit and
restart your mail client to make those changes take effect. The setup
batch file will fail if you do not have a C:\EXCHANGE directory. This
will be fixed in the final version (which will include a 'real' setup
program).

To use MarkRead, create a rule (or modify an existing one) and choose
'custom action' as one of the actions to perform. Select 'Mark Read'
from the list and click 'OK'. Whenever that particular rule fires, it 
will mark the qualifying message as read.

NOTE: MarkRead's presence in a rule will set that rule as 'client only'.
This means that when you start Exchange/Outlook, there will be a brief
delay as your client only rules process. It is normal to see the
messages being manipulated by this rule to remain untouched in the
Inbox for several seconds before this processing completes.

That's all you need to make it work!

-Steve Luzynski
sluzynsk@sound.net


Additional information

Markread works by inserting itself as a possible 'custom action'. From
a programmer's perspective, MarkRead registers a callback function with
the client that is called with the message ID of a particular message.
The MarkRead DLL simply opens that message and sets the 'Read' flag on
it.

Source code will be available upon request once I feel that this release
is pretty stable.