MS Outlook 2007 ‘Rules and Alerts’ issue.

Rob — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:14:14 +0000

Some time ago I recommended a friend to start using the ‘Rules and Alerts’ feature from MS-Outlook check incoming emails for certain words and subsequently assigning the email to categories.

This worked very well until he started using MS-Outlook 2007. The same rules suddenly no longer worked.

After some puzzling I found that outlook has a built in rule called -Clear categories on mail (recommended)-. When new rules are created by the user this built in -clear categories- rule moves down one step in the rules list. Custom made rules are therefore executed first and the -clear categories- rule gets executed last. Consequently, all categories that are assigned by the custom rules get removed by the built in -clear categories- rule.

An easy workaround is to either remove the -clear category- rule or, perhaps better, move the rule manually to the first place in the list.

Search network drives with Windows 7

Rob — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:13:29 +0000

Windows 7 does not support indexing network drives (incredible but true). However, there is a workaround: Download a patch called UNCFATPHInstaller.msi from:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&FamilyID=f7e981d9-5a3b-4872-a07e-220761e27283

Although the corresponding knowledge base article ‘Windows Desktop Search: Add-in for Files on Microsoft Networks’ states that the patch works only for Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows XP, it actually does work for Windows 7.

After installing and restarting your system you can add UNC paths:

Press Start button and type in ‘Search’ (don’t press enter) select ‘Change How Windows Searches’ press the ‘Advanced‘ button. You will see a ‘Add UNC Location’ tab where you can add the path to you network drive, e.g: \\Synology\public

Now the Auto Hotkey Macro should also work for files you move to your network drive

AutoHotKey for knowledge workers

Rob — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:12:34 +0000

I have been using AutoHotKey for a couple of years for a number of different tasks, and it helped me a lot in my job as a project manager in an international R&D environment. I am so enthusiastic about this tool that I have made a short YouTube clip describing how I use it in creating tracking numbers, and in retrieving documents tagged with these numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nYtSGwN-OQ

Scalability of a Pile-File

Rob — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:10:21 +0000

In a discussion on the forum of the David Allen company (http://www.davidco.com/forum/) a Polish reader wondered if the Pile-File system is scalable.I think scalability is one of the strong points of the Pile-File. The binder with the documents, as shown above, is only used for the recent documents. As soon as the binder is full the documents are taken out and a copy of the category sheet is placed on top. To keep the pile together you can use a tube clip fastener. (http://www.davidco.com/forum/) a Polish reader wondered if the Pile-File system is scalable.

You can find more on: http://www.robsprotips.com/ or look YouTube film: http://www.youtube.com/robsprotips

Pile-File

Rob — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:05:02 +0000

In this electronic age most people try to limit the number of prints they make. Nevertheless, sometimes you need to print documents to: study, make notes on, or to take with you to a meeting. But what to do with the printed copies? Put them on a pile, or put them in a file system? I have been experimenting with a simple ‘Pile-File’ system that incorporates the advantages of both the Filing and the Piling.

To fully understand this new concept it is probably easier to look at the YouTube film: www.youtube.com/robsprotips