Outlook How To and Add-on Reviews

Each Microsoft Outlook user has the problem of opening blocked attachments. The attachments can’t be saved to disk. And the attachments will be removed when the email is forwarded. There is no way to access these attachments blocked by Outlook, even you are sure that they are safe and not infected by any virus. The reason that Outlook blocks attachments is to protect your computer, when some types of files are sent by attachmetns, including exe file, MS Word and Excel files. I have 3 ways to open the blocked attachment. 

1. MAPILab’s Attachments Processor for Outlook

This is a attachment management 3-in-1 solution pack. With its powerful features, the solution pack can save attachments from emails, pack and unpack attachments, manage blocked attachments. The Blocked Attachments Manager in this solution pack is the tool you need. With this tool, you can change the file type that Outlook is blocking. When you need to open a blocked attachment, disable the file type that Outlook is blocking, close and re-open Outlook. You can open and save that attachment files.

This Outlook add-in is my top recommendation for opening blocked attachments. Because it is a powerful enough add-in for Outlook attachments management. It can solve almost all problems about Outlook attachments and improve our productivity. I do not need any other attachments management add-in after using it. Please click here for a more detailed review about MAPILab’s Attachments Processor for Outlook.

2. Outlook Permissions Add-in

Outlook Permissions Add-in is a free Outlook add-in created by MRH Technology Group. It lets you control exactly which file attachments are accessible within Microsoft Outlook. It is suitable for users who have only a few attachments to manage.

To use the add-in, simply download and run the setup. Start Outlook and select Options from the Tools menu. You will see a new tab labeled File Restrictions. Use this interface to add or remove file types from the Level 2 group.
This free add-in allows you to move file types from a level 1 setting to a level 2 setting so that you can interact with blocked files within Microsoft Outlook.

3. Registry Hack

This is a geeky way and it’s cool. But you must be careful about what you are doing. Actually I don’t want to recommend it.

A. From "Start" of Windows, click "Run…", enter Regedit. An Regedit application appear and help you to edit the registry.

B. Find the following registry key
For Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security
For Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
For Outlook 2002
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security
For Outlook 2000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security

C. Under that key, add a new string value named Level1Remove. For the value for Level1Remove, enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions. For example, ".exe;.zip" means all .exe files and .zip files can not be opened directly in the mail, but they can be saved to disk.

 Related Links

• MAPILab’s Attachments Processor for Outlook
• Outlook Permissions Add-in
• Outlook Add-in Review

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular software in the world. However, Outlook should be one of the most seriously being complained software. The No.1 problem that people always complain is its speed. It usually takes half a minute to launch and we can do NOTHING in that period of time.

The huge .pst file that Outlook uses to store data is the main reason for its slow speed. I believe most people regularly send and receive attachments, Word and Excel files, Photo files and so on. Your Outlook .pst file can quickly increase to 200MB. After months, a single .pst file beyond 1GB is very common. So we should slim the .pst file. The most effective method is to save and remove attachments from emails.

First, find out the largest emails. Outlook 2007 has a very useful feature, "Larger Than 100KB". You can find it under Search Folders in your list of Outlook folders. All emails larger than 100KB will be listed in that folder. By default, the larger email will be listed first. Second, Check the emails and its attachments, save or remove the attachments. If you need the attachment but not the email message, save the attachment and delete the email. If you need the email message but not the attachment, open the email and right-click the attachment and choose Remove. The email will remain its message text only.

What a trouble and time-consuming procedure! There are tools to make it easy. Many third party solutions are created in the form of Outlook add-ins. They check all your emails, save attachments to disk, replace the attachments with shortcuts to stored attachment files. With the shortcuts, you can open the attachments as you do normally. The difference is that Outlook open the file from disk, rather than from its .pst file. The advantage is your .pst file increases in a very slow speed. This change dramatically speed up your Outlook.

A powerful Outlook attachment management add-in should have more features than the basic functions mentioned above. Attachment fils can be saved in either local disks or network disks. Email messages can be fully restored with attachments when it is forwarded to other recipients. Attachment fils can be renamed based on sender’s name, sender’s address, email subject and so on. Saving and removing attachment should have more flexibilities. For example, folders can be specified for add-ins to manage attachment. Attachment file types and size, sender and recipient, can be filterd by combinations of criteria.

Though free add-ins for Outlook attachment management are available. Commercial add-ins are recommended for the reasons of reliability and compatibility. Technical support is another factor for choosing add-in vendors.

MAPILab’s Attachments Processor for Outlook is my choice and recommendation. MAPILab is a professional Microsoft Office related add-ins vendor. With its Outlook add-ins, Outlook becomes more powerful and easier to use.

Don’t forget to visit www.outlook-how-to.com and comment on this post!

In the Inbox, select an email from someone important, such as your partner, boss or co-worker. On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Organize’ to display the Organize pane.

In the left portion of the ‘Organize’ pane, click ‘Using Colors’.

In the first bulleted item, you should see the word ‘from’ and the name of the person who sent you the email.

Then you should see the word ‘in’ and a drop-down list box. Click the arrow to select a colour. Click ‘Apply Color’.

All of the emails in your Inbox from this person should now be colour coded with the colour you selected.

In Outlook 2000, after you receive new mail, the Folder List opens to show any folders in the hierarchy that have new, unread items. Other than that, Outlook does not provide much help in locating unread items.

One method would be to use Advanced Find to search all your folders. HINT: The More Choices tab has an option for finding unread messages. If you use Advanced Find in this manner often, you might want to use File | Save Search to store your search criteria for easy reuse.

Otherwise, a few third-party tools provide some assistance in locating unread items.

Outlook does not provide enough help in finding unread mails. In Outlook 2000, after you receive new mails, the Folder List opens to show folders which have new or unread mails. And that is all Outlook can help you. When using other email client softwares, usually it is a one-click action to do so.

Here is some add-on tools which provide assistance in finding unread mails.

Neo Pro Email Organizer (http://www.caelo.com/index.php)
Implement time-management compliant workflow principles.Automatically organized email – by correspondent, date, attachment and status. See ALL your messages organized together no matter what message store (data file) they are in. Categories view, Filter toolbar, Search for Conversation, undockable tabs and more.