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postBox

Business Time-Savers for Outlook

Currently only Outlook 2007-2013 are supported, however it is likely to be at least partially compatible with older/newer versions.

Installation

Unfortunately Microsoft prevents Outlook Macros from easily being shared between systems, you'll therefore need to follow this fairly convoluted route to get it working:

Installing the postBox code:

Outlook requires you to manually import the postBox code, as a module, into the Outlook application.

  • With Outlook as the active window, press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic editor.
  • In the Visual Basic for Applications editor menu click 'File' > 'Import File'.
  • In the Import File dialog, browse to the 'postBox.bas' file included in the postBox download.
  • Select the 'postBox.bas' file and press 'Open'.
  • In the Project Properties browser (typically top-left) a new folder called 'Modules' will appear containing the 'postBox' module.
  • Press Ctrl+S to save postBox to your Outlook.

Getting Outlook to trust postBox:

Outlook will not run unsigned code, even if you imported it yourself.

  • Open the Windows Run dialog by pressing Windows+R.
  • Type the path to the SelfCert.exe correct for your version:
    • Office 2013: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\SELFCERT.EXE"
    • Office 2010: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office14\SELFCERT.EXE"
    • Office 2007: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office13\SELFCERT.EXE"
    • Search Google if you can't find it; sometimes it feels like Microsoft are just making things difficult...
  • Press 'OK' to launch the Create Digital Certificate dialog.
  • Enter the certificate name as 'postBox' and press 'OK', then press 'OK' again on the successful creation message box.
  • Return to the Outlook Visual Basic editor menu and click 'Tools' > 'Digital Signature'.
  • On the Digital Signature dialog press the 'Choose...' button, select 'postBox' and press 'OK'.
  • The top of the Digital Signature dialog will now state that the VBA project has been signed, press 'OK' to close.
  • Press Ctrl+S to save the signed postBox to your Outlook.
  • Press Alt+F4 to close the Visual Basic editor.

Making postBox secure:

Outlook needs to be told to trust code, even though you've just signed it yourself.

  • Back on the main Outlook window open the Outlook Options dialog 'File'/'Office Button' > 'Options'.
  • In the side-bar menu of the Outlook Options dialog select Trust Centre, and press the 'Trust Centre Settings...' button.
  • In the side-bar menu of the Trust Centre dialog select 'Macro Settings' and ensure "Notifications for digitally signed macros, all other macros disabled" is selected.
  • Press 'OK'
  • Close Outlook.
  • If prompted, opt to save changes to the VBA project by pressing 'Yes' on the dialog.
  • Re-open Outlook.
  • The first time you run a postBox macro (see below) you will be promped by a security notice.
  • To ensure that you are not forever nagged, opt to 'Trust all documents from this publisher'.

Adding the postBox menu:

Outlook doesn't provide a reliable way to automatically create ribbon links, so you'll need to add these yourself.

  • From the main Outlook Explorer window click 'New E-mail'
  • From the New Message Window right click on the ribbon, select 'Customize the Ribbon' (In 2007 you can only customise the Quick-Access toolbar.)
  • On the customisation dialog, use the left-hand (Choose commands from:) drop-down to select 'Macros'.
  • You can then add 'Project1.QuickLink' and 'Project1.ScanAttach' (see below for descriptions) using the 'Add >>' button.
  • If prompted you'll need to make a new group for these buttons. I recommend keeping the 'New Mail Message' menu selected on the right-hand plane and pressing 'New Group', pressing 'Rename', and calling it 'postBox'.
  • Use the 'Rename' button after the 'Add >>' button to choose better names and icons for the postBox commands; the decision of which, I'll leave to your good selves...

Usage

Quick Link

Quick link automatically creates a link from the highlighted text- useful for providing links to files on shared networks, which Outlook does not do automatically. Just highlight the file-path (e.g. S:\shared_file.jpg) and press the 'Quick Link' button.

Scan Attach

Scan Attach moves and renames a file from a scanner to a new e-mail- useful for professional scanning attachments. To use it you must have selected the e-mail from the scanner (with the pdf attachment) in the Outlook Explorer (main) window. In the New Message composer clicking scan attach will prompt you for a file-name. The file will then be copied from the scanner e-mail, renamed as instructed, and attached to the new message you're composing.

Author and Licence

postBox is primarily written by Thomas Michael Wallace (www.thomasmichaelwallace.co.uk), and released under the GPL v3 licence.