OutlookStatView – useful plugin for MS Outlook

The freeware portable utility, presented in this post, will be useful for users of the most popular on the market email client Microsoft Outlook. This plugin will help you to get better visibility on the email communication trends.

OutlookStatView scans your Outlook mailbox, and display a general statistics about the users that you communicate via emails. For each user/email, the following information is displayed: The number of outgoing messages that you sent to the user (separated by to/cc/bcc), the number of incoming message that the user sent to you, the total size of messages sent by the user, the email client software used by this user, and the time range that you send/received emails with the specified user.

The utility is developed by Nir Sofer, well-known software developer.  

Using OutlookStatView

OutlookStatView doesn't require any installation process or additional dll files. In order to start using it, simply run the executable file - OutlookStatView.

If you have only one profile in your Outlook, and this profile doesn't require any password, you can run OutlookStatView even without starting Outlook, and it'll automatically scan the mailbox of your current Outlook profile. Otherwise, it's recommended to open Outlook in the right profile before starting OutlookStatView.

After running OutlookStatView, the 'MailBox Scan Options' window will be displayed. This window allows to choose to scan your mailbox only in specific dates range. For example, if you want to get the statistics only for January 2010, you should choose the dates range from 01/01/2010 and up to 02/01/2010 (the last day won't be included).

When you restrict the scan to short dates range, the scan process will be much faster than scanning the entire mailbox.

After choosing 'Ok' in the options window, OutlookStatView will start to scan your mailbox and then display the statistics about your email activity. Be aware that the scanning process may take from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the size of your mailbox and your hardware.

Columns Description

• Display Name: The display name of the user.
• Email: The email address.
• Total Incoming: Total number of emails that sent by this user to your mailbox.
• Total Outgoing (To): Total number of emails that you sent to this user as 'To'.
• Total Outgoing (CC): Total number of emails that you sent to this user as 'CC'.
• Total Outgoing (BCC): Total number of emails that you sent to this user as 'BCC'.
• Total Outgoing (All): Total number of emails that you sent to this user.
• Total Incoming Messages Size: Total size of messages received from the specified user.
• Total Outgoing Messages Size: Total size of messages sent to the specified user.
• First Message On: The date/time of the first time that you sent or received a message to this user.
• Last Message On: The date/time of the last time that you sent or received a message to this user.
• First Software Name: The software name (Outlook, Thunderbird, and so on) that this user used in his first message sent to you. Be aware that for some kind of emails (For example: GMail accounts), this field will remain empty.
• Last Software Name: The software name (Outlook, Thunderbird, and so on) that this user used in his last message sent to you. Be aware that for some kind of emails (For example: GMail accounts), this field will remain empty.
• First/Last Computer Address: The computer address that this user used in his first/last message sent to you. Depending on mail server configuration, this column might contain the name/IP address of the computer that sent the email or the name/address of the mail server itself. The IP address displayed in this column might be the internal IP address (for example: 192.168.5.6) or an external IP address that was used to send the email.

System Requirements

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista/2003/2008/7.
• Any version of Microsoft Outlook.

Website: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/outlook_statistics.html

Download (32-bit): http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/outlookstatview.zip

How to read and open blocked attachments in MS Outlook?

CodeTwo Attach Unblocker allows fast and convenient configuration of Microsoft Outlook to unblock attachments blocked by Outlook by default (for example, .exe, .url, .reg files). The program is setup directly in Microsoft Outlook, which ensures quick and convenient editing.

From Microsoft Office 2000 with Service Pack 2 version (E-mail Security Update) onwards, Outlook has not allowed opening some attachment types due to safety reasons. These attachments are considered to be potentially dangerous as they may contain viruses or can damage the system. A dangerous attachment can neither be opened, nor saved on the hard disk.

It will also be deleted while attempting to forward the message. Therefore, it is not possible to read such an attachment in Outlook.

CodeTwo Attach Unblocker will enable you to read all previously blocked attachments. In order to define the attachment types that should not be blocked, choose Tools, Options in the top menu of Outlook 2010 and earlier or go to the Backstage view by clicking File in Outlook 2010 menu and go to the CodeTwo Attach Unblocker tab. In the textfield, enter the file extension (the attachment type) you wish to unblock and click Add.

The file extension will be added to the Unblocked attachments list and after restarting Outlook attachments of that type will no longer be blocked and you will be able to save them on your hard drive.

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More than one type of attachment can be entered in one edit field by separating the types with a semicolon. The types are not case sensitive.

CodeTwo Attach Unblocker is completely free software. You can free download and use it as long as you like.

System Requirements

Microsoft Outlook 2010 / 2007 / 2003 / 2002 / 2000 / 98
Microsoft Windows 7 / Vista / 2003 / XP / 2000

Website: http://www.codetwo.com/freeware/attach-unblocker/

Note that there are two downloading link on the page: one for 32-bit version, another – for 64-bit version. Download the correct one, based on your Operating System. 

Free Twitter Add-In for Microsoft Outlook Users

In spite of the known limitations, Microsoft Outlook is the most popular email client for the Windows users. With lightweight free add-in TwInBox, you can easily link your Twitter account to Outlook, bringing Twitter online functionality with no need to open its web interface.

When you install TwInBox, it adds a small toolbar below the normal toolbar of Outlook. This Twitter toolbar has option to compose a new message, send a direct message, and even send a reply. To send a new tweet, just select the relevant option, type your tweet in the pop-up window, and send it. That’s it! You just sent a Tweet right from your Outlook.

Sending Tweets from Outlook with TwInBox

TwInBox provides some very interesting features for sending tweets. You can use integrated tinyurl functionality to shorten URLs. It also provides an interesting feature to add pictures as tweets. Just pick the attachment option of Outlook, and choose the attachment. TwInBox will upload it to some picture sharing site, and add the URL for that in your tweet from Outlook.

Receive Tweets in Outlook with TwInBox

For receiving Tweets, all the tweets come as emails. So, it is recommended that you set up a separate folder in your Outlook to get all those tweets (otherwise, your Inbox would be filled with tweets from your friends). You can also use the features of Outlook to see tweets only from particular Twitter users into your Inbox, and rest in some archive folder.

Apart from the above, TwInBox has following interesting features:

• Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
• Receive your friend updates in Outlook.
• Archive, manage, group and search your tweets the same way you manage your email.
• Search, track keywords. TwInbox will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
• Group tweets by sender, topic, etc using the Search feature.
• Upload and post picture files and Outlook email attachments.
• See new tweets at a glance.
• Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
• Use Outlook's "Reply" and "ReplyAll" commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
• Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
• Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
• See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.
• Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.

System Requirement:

• Microsoft® Windows® 2000, XP, Windows Vista® or Windows 7 with the latest Service Pack. 
• Outlook 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2. 
• TwInbox does NOT work with Outlook Express.

Website: http://www.techhit.com/TwInbox/twitter_plugin_outlook.html