Outlinker Update
I made a few big improvements to the OutLinker macro today.
- It now stores its configuration settings in a notes folder so it is easier to upgrade/configure without editing code. It will also prompt user for the archive store/folder if it doesn’t find them.
- For fun it counts the number of messages you have processed with the macro and displays it each time you finish working with a set of messages. This also lets you know when the macro is done getting the information into MindManager.
- I added three leading “keywords†(olio, olwf, olca) to let the macro automatically assign sender/addressee as a waiting-for, I-owe, or contact-about. I’m not sure what the right keywords should be – could just use io/wf/ca but some might want to reserve those for use in mindreader as resource verbs.
- I’ve also added short codes for “d†“a†“s†for deleting, archiving, and skipping messages you don’t want to process.
If you are using the macro, I’d recommend downloading an updated version. I’ve used it to grind through several hundred messages at a very rapid clip.
Documentation will lag, so post a comment or send an email if you run into trouble.
Entries 
Ron said,
December 30, 2007 @ 11:06 am
I love the ideas and would love to be able to try them out, however, I am getting the “You can only use this on mail folder” error when I tried testing it with the “a” function. I am using the same file and folder I used successfully with previous incarnations of Outlinker.
I am running on an Exchange Server but I am using a .pst file on my local hard drive (C:\Oulook\archive.pst) with a subfolder (!Processed Mail). Again, this worked perfectly until the latest update.
I did try commenting out the section of code that generates the error message above but then I received a “Type Mismatch” error in the next section of code that tries to move the mail item to the archive folder.
Any ideas?
Ron
ActivityOwner said,
December 30, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Whoops — Download latest version and try it again.
I had made a major overhaul of the code to improve speed and reliability and hadn’t made the final revision necessary to the “archive” command. It was trying to archive to the new “settings” folder.
Sorry about that.
Ron said,
December 30, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
That did it – thanks!
I’ll play with this a bit later.
Happy New Year!
Ron said,
December 30, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Okay – now, when I highlight a group of emails and begin processing them, the first works with no issues. However, the second email generates a VB Error – “Run-time error ’91’: Object variable or With block variable not set”. Processing emails one at a time seems to work fine.
Happy New Year!
Ron
ActivityOwner said,
December 31, 2007 @ 3:19 am
Sorry about that Ron — I didn’t think to test the multiple message functionality. One of the “improvements” I had made was to avoid searching for the archivefolder each time, but I forgot code was wiping out the pointer in a subroutine.
It is fixed now.
I’ve also revised the configuration step to iterate through choices with Y/N prompt rather than require text entry. That should reduce confusion and typos.
Thanks for the shake down work!
Ron said,
December 31, 2007 @ 2:31 pm
3:19 AM? Wow! That is dedication (or something else…)
Multiple message processing seems to be working based on one quick pass through my inbox with about 8 emails to process – I love an empty inbox!
I have noticed one thing that is not exactly a bug, but… If you attempt to process an email that is already in your archive folder everything seems to proceed well until the macro attempts to move the email. This of course fails because the email is already in the archive folder. The problem though is that the item created in MM has the proper description and icons based on the text I entered, and ends up on the proper map, but the note and the email link are from whatever email was last processed, not from the one in the archive folder I was attempting to process.
As for the shake down work, that is the least I can do. This is the Holy Grail I have been waiting and hoping for the last two years. I had hoped that Gyronix and/or MindJet would address the need, but this is probably a better solution as it is infinitely customizable. Thank you for your amazing generosity with your impressive coding skills and most of all your time and energy.
Ron
ActivityOwner said,
December 31, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
That was a bit late! I didn’t want to leave the broken version out there so put in some time while ensuring our kids’ holiday sleepover settled down!
I added the ability to process items in the archive folder in place (no move required) and uploaded to wiki:
http://wiki.activityowner.com/index.php?title=Outlinker.bas
This issue had been an annoyance during testing, but looks like it became a bug with some recent changes to error handling. Thanks for the catch.
I also simplified the configuration option by disabling the “usegyroq” feature for now. Direct transfer makes sense for now. Eventually I get the items to go straight to gyroq queue, which will speed things up a bit.
I love my empty imboxes also. I feel funny needing to go look for message to test the program on. I’m sure the new year will bring plenty of incoming messages to keep refining this on.
Happy new year everyone,
AO
Ron said,
December 31, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
Thank you again. Happy New Year!
Ron said,
January 14, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
I have the latest version of Outlinker loaded (Jan 12) and again it won’t recognize my Archive Store – “Outlook Store not found. You will be prompted for name.” Even cutting and pasting the correct name into the dialog box from the list that pops up in notepad does not work. I have not changed my folders so something else has gone awry – any ideas?
Ron said,
January 14, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
I reverted back to the Jan 7 code and it works fine.
One other very minor thing – the “Today” counter does not increment – mine is always “0”.
ActivityOwner said,
January 14, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
Hi Ron — The dialog box shouldn’t be popping up anymore for text entry The code is supposed to cycle through the options with Y/N choices. I can’t replicate the problem. Can you try deleting your “Outlinker Settings” Notes folder so that the program reinitializes itself? Maybe that will help.
I made a few small edits (14Jan) but I don’t think it explains what you are seeing.
The “today” counter has been a bit challenging to implement. I found it was reseting mid-day for no reason. I now have it prompt when it things it needs to be changes. It seems to be working better.
Ron said,
January 14, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
After deleting my “Outlinker Settings” Notes folder the Jan 14 code cycled me through a series or “Do you want to use ___?” questions for both the Archive Store and Archive Folder settings which I answered with the appropriate choices. It then gave me the same error message as above. In both cases the appropriate choices were presented so it does see my files and folders. I hit cancel when it asked me enter a name and the process continued on and completed successfully including moving the email I was working on to the archive it just told me it could not find…
Again, the Jan 7 code does not behave this way. Something in the Jan 12/14 code is not happy. If there is something I can do to assist in debugging this please let me know. I probably won’t get to it until tomorrow though.
Ron said,
January 14, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
Oh yes – the counter did work this time.
ActivityOwner said,
January 15, 2008 @ 7:28 am
Hi Ron — Give the latest 1/14 – 2 version a try. The only change I could find that might be responsible is some code that sets the gmail “trash” folder location. I think when that isn’t found it might prompt you similarly to above and create some confusion.. I’ve made “use gdelete” an option now (answer no). I’m not sure why it hasn’t given me problems on my non-gmail work system.
Let me know how it goes.
Ron said,
January 15, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
That seems to have done the trick. Thanks again for Outlinker and MindReader. Together they are making a huge difference for me.
ActivityOwner said,
January 15, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
Glad to hear it. As it turns out, I hadn’t rotated the “gmail trash” folder adjusted code to my work machine yet — which explains why I hadn’t seen the bug yet! Thanks for the catch.
Adam Sheppard said,
January 21, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
I’m getting the same error that Ron mentioned above.
Run-time error ’91’: Object variable or With block variable not set.
This is using the updated code http://wiki.activityowner.com/index.php?title=Outlinker.bas
Is there another version I should be using ?
Here are my settings:
lastupgrade:20080114
mmversion:7
ArchiveStore:Personal Folders
ArchiveFolder:!Outlinker
usegdelete:0
gmailstore:imap.gmail.com
oneprompt:1
underinbox:1
usemindreader:0
lastuse:1/21/2008
ActivityOwner said,
January 21, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
Hi Adam — I’m stumped on this one. Just to confirm, is the header of the macro code you are using “19-Jan-2008 -3”? I’ve been using this version for a couple of days on two computers without issues. Does it give the error on the first message or later ones? Do you have the latest version of MindReaderNLP.mmbas as well?
ActivityOwner said,
January 21, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
On second thought, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to your options and realize you are a non-mindreader user and found the problem by mistake when I was toggled mindreader off by mistake instead of underinbox.
As you might imagine, that non-mindreader branch of the code doesn’t get much testing from me. I just found and fixed the problem and uploaded.
Sorry about that. I had changed all the code to hold off on MindManager stuff until it is absolutely needed. This improves performance for those occasions where you are just deleting and archiving. Unfortunately I neglected to open the capture map.
In general this is the faster version of the code yet.