RobiNZ CAD Blog

Duplicated contact in Outlook? Let it merge the changes.

I use the Grab feature from LinkedIn to gather contact details from emails and also manually sync some contacts between work & home. Sometimes Outlook will create a new contact rather than updating the existing one which is a hassle. Tonight I stumbled on an easier fix. Just make sure the name is the same, delete the newer contact, then Undo immediately. Instead of restoring the duplicate the new details are merged to update the old contact.

I have two contacts with Fred A’s old & new details. You could move this to another folder then back to prompt a merge changes but delete, undo does the same.

Select the new one, Delete, then immediately Undo

The changes are merged by default

Outlook 2007 Update breaks MindManager link

A recent Outlook 2007 update has broken the MindManager/Outlook linking facility for some, including me! Mindjet have published a temporary workaround, to their Knowledge Base, while they research a permanent solution.

Outlook 2007 crashes when loading MindManager Outlook add-in - Mindjet Knowledge Base

After downloading a recent Microsoft Office 2007 update, some users are no longer able to open up Outlook 2007 with the Export to Mindjet MindManager add-in enabled.

The behaviour is that Outlook 2007 will hang upon loading the add-in and requires shutting it down manually with the task manager. When launching again, an error message will display… cont.

Using Outlook Categories to manage my email

Late last year I also stumbled on the email sorting technique mentioned in the OfficeRocker’s post. I started using Categories on emails related to my Autodesk University trip and changed my Inbox to show grouped by category. I then wondered why I don't do the same for all emails!

I've adopted it at home as use Office 2007 which has enhanced category tools. The odd thing is it took so long! I already make extensive use of Categories for my Tasks (MindManager assigns them then linked to Outlook) and Contacts.

The huge advantage over folders is one item can belong to several categories. It’s one reason I’d like to see “tag” based storage rather than folders at the operating system level. Sadly I’m stuck on Office 2003 at work so still tend to use date sorting in that Inbox.

The post on OfficeRocker! has details and tips on setting up & using the system. 

OfficeRocker! : I found a better way to manage my email

Goodness knows its about time. I get between 50 and 200 emails a day depending on what's going on. It's dropped a lot since instant messaging really took off. I thought I had tried every possible way of working with email and had arrived at the best system for me but then I kind of stumbled on a new approach and it's really working…

UPDATE 06-01-2008: I got an email related to this post from a reader in the U.K. regarding some Kiwi made software that assists with using, organising and sharing Outlook Categories. I’d not heard of it before and will be trying it!

Saw your blog about outlook categories…… you may know about this already…. but in case you don’t…. I use great add-on for categories (as well as the labels one) from your fellow countryman - http://www.software-solutions.co.nz/aladdins_co/alcoabout.asp  I’m very impressed by the quality of his programming and the thought he has put into his products – gets used on a daily+ basis here J

 

Hope it helps.

Cheers, Cameron

Tags: OfficeRocker

Previewing Attachments in Outlook 2007

I use Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 at home* and love this feature. The first time I stumbled upon it I wondered why I hadn’t found it before, only to find it was new in 2007!

Previewing Attachments in Outlook - Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog
Next time someone sends you an attachment, instead of double-clicking, try single-clicking on it. Outlook 2007 has a great new feature that previews an attachment…

* Sadly it’s still Office 2003 at work.

Taming the To-Do Bar in Outlook 2007

The To-Do bar is one of my favourite new features of Outlook 2007. It provides a constant reference to tasks and appointments but can be minimised or restored with a click. If you have lots of tasks, mine come from MindManager maps, it can be a bit cluttered. This tip from “the How-To Geek” filters the To-Do tasks, only showing what you need today.

Introducing the To-Do Bar... - Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog
The To-Do Bar is brand-new to Outlook 2007, and enables you to track your time and tasks…

Make To-Do Bar in Outlook 2007 Show Only Today's Tasks :: the How-To Geek
One of the best new features in Outlook 2007 is the To-Do bar, where you have quick access to your calendar as well as your task list. Unfortunately, the default setting of showing all of your tasks regardless of date can be overwhelming…

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Message Editor, it's Word but it's not...

In earlier versions of Outlook there was an option to “Use Microsoft Word as your Message editor”. This meant other applications, like MindManager & SnagIt, which had Word integration also worked with e-mails. I often used MindManager “Send Topic to Word” and SnagIt “Send Capture to Word” while composing email messages, just like any other Word document.

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 uses the HTML parsing and rendering engine from Microsoft Office Word 2007 to display HTML message bodies. There has been some flack about this as Word 2007 isn’t as good at rendering HTML as the old I.E. based rendering engine. That aside, the Message Editor does have “Word’like” features, even uses Word 2007 components if installed (see table in extended post), but crucially it’s NOT Word.

It’s also the only editor as there is no longer a “Use Word…” option. This means applications that integrate with Word will not find the Outlook 2007 Message Editor and integrate with email anymore.

Both Mindjet & TechSmith are aware of this and I expect they’ll integrate the new editor with their applications in future updates. You can still copy/paste to the Message editor but it’s not as elegant. Something to consider if you are planning to upgrade to Outlook 2007.

What time is it? Outlook Time!

Have you noticed when working with .pst files Outlook seems to enter another dimension. Why bother with a “x time remaining” when it has no connection to the time the operation will take, or any clock I’ve seen. A progress bar without time is better than the wrong time!

This 60 seconds lasted about 15 minutes. All the data is on a local drive so it wasn’t waiting for servers!

MindManaging your Day Year ~ Part 3 - Appraisal time with MindManager & Outlook...

This really is Part 3!  Even regular readers are forgiven for not remembering Parts 1 & 2 which were posted in, um, August 2004! The last line of Part 2 read: More to follow... I must admit I didn’t think it would be several years later!

First a Review: What were Parts 1 & 2 about?

Those posts covered how I track projects and activities with a combination of MindManager and Outlook. They showed how MindManager links to Outlook with the map topics creating and managing Outlook Tasks:

• Mind Managing your day - RobiNZ CAD Blog
• Mind Managing your day ~ Part 2 - RobiNZ CAD Blog

I use the same techniques today but my “work map” has evolved over the past couple of years! The structure is similar but there is a little more content and a lot more colour! What I didn’t show in 2004 is how I then use the tasks generated to fill in my Outlook Calendar to record activity and time.