DROE Tool Now Supports Outlook
I just posted an update to my Daily Record of Events (DROE) Tool, please check out the Downloads page. Version 0.3 adds some additional shortcuts for fast Outlook task and message creation, as well as easy creation of PigPog tasks. (Note that the Outlook shortcuts have only been tested on Outlook 2003). Version 0.3 also fixes an ugly bug that blocked the time/date stamp from working in Windows Vista.
Here are the details from the latest README file:
This is a configurable tool built using AutoHotkey. It gives you a handy shortcut to quickly open OneNote, jump to the top of your Daily Record of Events (DROE) page, insert a time stamp, and begin capturing thoughts before they slip out of your head. The tool replaces the standard Sidenote shortcut (Win-N) with the new function. You can still open OneNote in full/normal mode using Win-Shift-N. Note that the tool is a compiled executable, so you do not need AutoHotkey installed to use it.
In addition to the OneNote shortcuts, the DROE Tool also provides some handy Outlook shortcuts. You can now use CTRL-SHIFT-M and CTRL-SHIFT-K from anywhere to create a new Outlook Email Message or Task. These shortcuts already exist in Outlook, but this script will save you the trouble of having to switch applications and find Outlook before using the shortcut. You also have the option of having new tasks be created as “PigPog” tasks, as well as displaying the Outlook Categories dialog box every time so that you don’t forget to set a category. Note that these have only been tested in Outlook 2003, so all bets are off for Outlook 2007.
But wait, there’s more! With the DROE Tool you’ll also get:
- The ability to paste without formatting (clipboard formatting stripper),
- the ability to use the Mac-like shortcut (Alt-W) to close a window,
- additional shortcuts for bullets and manual time stamps,
- this set of Ginsu knives! (ok, not really)
Each of the features can be individually enabled or disabled through the INI file.
I hope you find it useful! I have many more updates & features planned, so stay tuned.
-Carl
The Triple Hat Trick
February 7, 2010 - 5:18 pm
Tags: Management, Productivity, Templates
Posted in Misc | 6 comments
Here is something I am trying for 2010… I hesitate to call it a new year’s resolution, so let’s just call it an “experiment”. Sometimes it is tough to get focus with my big fancy fiddly collection of GTD lists. There are just too many items on the lists, and even when [...]
Configuring Google Voice as a Jott / reQall Replacement
July 23, 2009 - 11:17 pm
Tags: Google_Voice, Jott, Tips, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 16 comments
I’m a big fan of reQall, Jott, and the various other voice-to-text services out there. I currently have a reQall Pro account and use it on a daily basis. Naturally, the first thing that came to mind when I heard that Google Voice was going to have voice transcription capabilities was using it to augment [...]
Strip Outlook Attachments and Replace with Links
February 22, 2009 - 8:55 pm
Tags: Outlook, Productivity, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 70 comments
UPDATE OCT 2009: Reader jumpjack has created a Google Code project for this macro. You can download the latest source code on the project page.
_________________________________________
There are many good reasons to strip attachments from your email messages. The main reason for me is that I often embed email messages into my Outlook tasks for [...]
Backup All Outlook Contacts to VCard in 3 Easy Steps
January 18, 2009 - 4:20 pm
Tags: Outlook, Tips
Posted in Productivity | 5 comments
For some reason, the Microsoft Outlook developers never really embraced the vCard format, and did not provide adequate ways to import/export to this format. The ” File > Import and Export…” menu only has ways to import vCards, and no options to export them. (That’s at least true in Outlook 2003, I can’t speak for [...]
Handy Outlook Attachment Reminder Macro
September 17, 2008 - 10:44 pm
Tags: Outlook, Tips, VBA
Posted in Productivity | 32 comments
Have you ever had one of those “oh shit” moments where two seconds after sending an email you realized something was missing? And you know, by using the Outlook “Recall Message” feature, you’re just going to draw even more attention to your mistake. It’s like a highway accident… people will open recalled messages before anything [...]
ClearContext and My Quest for an Empty Inbox
July 20, 2008 - 9:02 pm
Tags: ClearContext, GTD, Outlook, Productivity, Taglocity, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 9 comments
In a previous post I talked about my quest for an empty inbox and all the tools I tried along the way. Well, I’m at it again. My previous tool of choice, Taglocity, has taken a turn toward online social/collaborative email in their 2.0 release. I’m afraid that 99% of the email I [...]
DROE Tool now supports EverNote, and much more!
July 15, 2008 - 9:04 pm
Tags: DROE_Tool, EverNote, OneNote, Outlook, Productivity, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 66 comments
I just released a new version of the Daily Record of Events (DROE) note taking tool. This release adds support for EverNote and text-based DROE files, as well as enhancements for the OneNote DROE.
From the README file, here is a summary of what changed in v0.4 (Beta). For complete details, download the README [...]
Handwriting Recognition in OneNote 2007? Well, kinda…
March 29, 2008 - 10:36 pm
Tags: OneNote, Tips, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 5 comments
In my post on EverNote vs. OneNote, I mentioned handwriting recognition as one of the shortcomings in OneNote. I also mentioned that the implementation in EverNote is a bit disappointing as well because it uses a “shotgun” word approach. By that I mean that EverNote sets up an XML database of sorts where [...]
Attach Notes to Outlook Messages
March 29, 2008 - 9:23 pm
Tags: Outlook, Productivity, Tips, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 17 comments
Here’s the scenario… You are quickly clearing your email inbox before going home. You open a rather lengthy message and start to read through it. A vague idea forms in your head about what your response will be, but you’ve been reading it for 5 minutes now and haven’t gotten through the [...]
Setting up OneNote 2007 for GTD
March 20, 2008 - 12:16 am
Tags: GTD, OneNote, Productivity, Tips, Tools
Posted in Productivity | 7 comments
As I promised earlier in my post on “Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System“, here are the setup details for OneNote 2007 along with some screen shots. For each of the screen shots, you can click on the image to open it full-size.
The options panel is accessed from the “Tools” menu [...]
January 21, 2008 - 9:57 am
I’m using Avast anti-virus – when I went to download DROE it blocked it and told it contained a trojan
Win32:Autohk [Trj]
Since I don’t really think there’s a Trojan in DROE, any idea why this is an issue?
January 21, 2008 - 1:29 pm
JF – “Win32:Autohk” refers to the fact that it is an AutoHotkey executable, so it’s warning you that there is executable content in the file. In the past, some bad people may have used AutoHotkey applications for key logging, phishing, etc., so that might be why Avast is flagging it. There are also many good uses for AutoHotkey : ) I can assure you that there is nothing malicious in the DROE tool, and no information is collected or transmitted. Hope that helps.
-Carl
January 22, 2008 - 8:05 am
Everything works except the pasting, time stamp and bullet points
January 23, 2008 - 12:55 am
Vegard – Can you provide some more details? Which OS are you using? Do you get a time stamp in OneNote from WIN N? and is it just the manual time stamp (WIN RightArrow) that’s not working?
January 23, 2008 - 6:56 am
Both the manual and automatical time stamp, aswell as the bulletpointlist and pasting doesn’t work. I am using Outlook 2007 running on Microsoft Vista.
Win N works great at opening the Window. And I can turn the notify icon on and off.
January 24, 2008 - 12:46 am
Vegard – Please send an email and attach a copy of your INI and a screen shot of your OneNote DROE page. I can look at those to see if anything there could be the problem. The email address is carl (at) m a n a g e – this [dot] com.
Thanks,
Carl
January 24, 2008 - 9:39 am
Just downloaded the new version. Works better, but trying to insert bullet points locks down my computer?
January 25, 2008 - 8:40 am
Vegard – Glad to hear it’s working better. I guess my first question should have been, “Are you using the latest version?”.
For the bullets, if you use setting “2″ it throws some formatting commands that are specific to OneNote/Office. If you use them elsewhere the results may be unpredictable. I should probably clarify that in the README file. If you switch the INI setting to text-only bullets, does that help?
-Carl
February 29, 2008 - 7:31 am
BV commented: “I recently downloaded the updated version of the tool. Is there any reason why the cursor moves 4 spaces below the date and time stamp? and any subsequent additions, the cursor moves to the same line as the date and time stamp. pervious versions worked fine.”
BV – I made some changes to accommodate Windows Vista. It should not have changed the behavior. It sounds like a minor bug. I’ll take a look, thanks for point this out.
-Carl
March 13, 2008 - 6:17 pm
In your post “Bending OneNote” you mentioned a script that you created to strip out the attachment from an email when you send it to OneNote. Can you either elaborate on that a bit more or make the scipt available? BTW – love your approach to managing OneNote!!!
March 19, 2008 - 7:22 am
Hi Melissa, thanks for the comments! The script is an Outlook VBA macro that stores the attached files in a folder structure on your hard drive and replaces them in the email with hyperlinks. I’ll try to get it posted in the next week or so.
-Carl
April 24, 2008 - 3:10 pm
Hi Carl, I think your entire blog and GTD setup in OneNote is brilliant–exactly the kind of implementation I’ve been looking for. I’m having a couple of problems, though, using the DROE tool v.0.3 in Vista. First, when I do a WIN N, I get a Microsoft Office OneNote Security Notice stating “Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern. This location may be unsafe [then comes the DROE_link from the .ini file]. Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data… Do you want to continue?” If I continue through, it works, but I always get the warning. Does anybody know of a way to get it to stop [other than reverting to XP, which I would gladly do if I could]. Secondly, in Vista at least, it always inserts three blank lines after the time stamp. Is that normal? Thanks again for all your work and for your system. I really appreciate it.
April 26, 2008 - 9:19 pm
Hi Greg –
Thank you for your comments! I have not heard of the security warning issue in Vista. Unfortunately I don’t have a Vista machine to test this on, so I’ll ask a few other Vista users if they have seen this. I’m not sure exactly what it’s trying to warn you about… Is it the fact that you used a hyperlink to open the DROE page or the fact that there are hyperlinks on your DROE page?
About the spaces… That’s not specific to Vista. I plan to make that configurable in the next version since some people like more or less whitespace between entries. It is aggravated by the fact that version 0.3 leaves the cursor at the end of the whitespace and not directly under the time stamp. I plan to fix that as well.
-Carl
July 1, 2008 - 4:49 pm
Hi Carl –
I installed the DROE tool last week. It has been a huge help! I really appreciate your blog. Today, however, when I push Win+right arrow to time stamp the DROE page, I get logged out of vista. When I log back in, it has opened up Microsoft PowerPoint, and two pages of IE. Vista also asks me to login to another network location (asks for a login password for another computer on the network). The only time stamp that appears is similar to the following: Tue 01-Ju-
————————————————. I’ve reinstalled the DROE tool (redid the instructions – tweeking the .ini file, etc.). Do you have any thoughts? I assume this is an issue much bigger than the DROE tool, but I’ve seen no other issues with other software.
July 11, 2008 - 9:34 pm
Brian -
I’ve never heard of that happening before. WIN + Right Arrow is a very basic shortcut… All it does is send the date stamp as a stream of characters to whatever application/window is active. I’m guessing that somehow you got some special control/hidden characters in the date string definition in your INI file. For example, WIN+L on any Windows machine quickly locks the screen (or might appear to log you out, as you mentioned). If you look at where your date stamp stops, it is interrupted just before the “L” in July. Maybe there is an extra character there?
If you are using a full featured editor to edit your INI file, you could end up with extra formatting characters. I would start by simplifying that string (maybe go back to the default) and use a basic editor like Notepad or Wordpad. Be sure to save the file as plain text.
-Carl
July 19, 2008 - 1:16 pm
It seems to be working (shortcuts, note screen). I can even see the notes posted when I open the DROE.txt file. I just don’t see this in my DROE page in OneNote.
July 19, 2008 - 9:50 pm
Joey -
In the latest version of the tool (described here), you can run it in one of three modes: (1) OneNote, (2) Text-Only, and (3) EverNote. It sounds like you are running in text-only mode. If you want to use it with OneNote, change the DROE_Enable setting in the INI file to a value of 1. Be sure to set up the other fields/variables in the INI file, especially those under the [OneNote_DROE_Settings] heading. Also, be sure to check out the README file for tips on setting up your DROE page in OneNote.
Hope that helps.
-Carl
July 20, 2008 - 11:59 am
Carl, that was it….Thank you very much
December 6, 2008 - 6:56 am
Installed tool and it works if the active page in ONENOTE is left as DROE. Any other page or section the tools reports Unable to open http://. Cannot connect to the Internet Server when using the Win+N key stroke and then it times out. Checked ini file and reinstalled – any suggestions?
December 8, 2008 - 8:36 am
Chrimal – I have not seen this behavior before. It seems like it is trying to open the link in your default web browser instead of OneNote. Does the link in your INI file begin with http:// or onenote:// ? What version of the tool are you using? Which OS are you using?
December 8, 2008 - 11:31 am
Hi Carl,
Running XP and 0.4.1 of the tool.
DROE works if ONENOTE is active and the cursor is placed in placed in the section.
If OneNote is minimized and the active section is not DROE you will get the following in the active window?
Mon 08-Dec-08 5:27PM —————————————
Ini file is correctly linked with onenote://.
Any thoughts?
December 8, 2008 - 11:25 pm
Chrimal -
When posting a DROE entry to OneNote, the tool first checks to see if the page is already open in a window somewhere. If so, it simply activates that window and starts the note. If not, it starts OneNote in “sidenote” mode and passes the hyperlink to the DROE page.
So, the reason the tool works for you sometimes is that it uses two different methods to start the note, depending on whether the page is already open. The other thing to double check is your ON_Path variable in the INI. You should be able to launch OneNote by pasting this value into the Start–>Run… dialog box.
I can’t think of anything else to check at this time. There are some additional checks in Section 3 of the “ReadMe” file. If all else fails, send a copy of your INI file to carl /at/ manage-this /dot/ com, and I’ll take a look.
-Carl
December 10, 2008 - 6:15 am
Hi Karl,
Removed tool and reconfigured with a new download file and all is working fine now! Nice job, thank you.
February 18, 2009 - 10:37 am
Hi Carl,
Any chance you would consider sharing the actual AutoHotKey source that was used in the DROE tool? I’m trying to create some AutoHotKey shortcuts for Outlook and OneNote that don’t exactly map on to what you’ve done (which looks very cool), but I’d love to have the examples to work off of. For instance, I want the capability to be able to create an Outlook task even if Outlook is in the foreground (which DROE does), but I’d also like to be able to jump to a specific folder in Outlook with a shortcut key, ideally whether Outlook is frontmost or not. I haven’t had much luck finding examples of how to do this – so far yours is by far the best I’ve found, but as it is compiled I can’t see how you did it.
Cheers and thanks in advance,
Barry
February 22, 2009 - 2:50 pm
Hi Barry – The DROE tool will always be free, and I’ll continue to incorporate suggestions and new features. I don’t have any plans to post the code or make it open source.
-Carl
July 11, 2009 - 3:06 pm
Greetings Carl,
Compliments on your Droe Scpt – works great within Vista ultimate serv Pk 2 and auto date stamp is superbly usefull.
Recently WIn+R (date time stamp) locks the windows session. after logging in again three other unrelated progammes also autostart, consequence of Win+R.
Would most appreciaite any expertise to get back to default function again.
PS have just learned this shortcut is alos microsoft keyboard default shortcut to “lock user session” not new -nothing noticable has changed about the PC.
Thanks for any ideas and effort best regards Ron
July 17, 2009 - 12:56 pm
Ron -
When you say Win+R, do you mean Win+RightArrow? Or do you actually mean Win+R? Win+R is a Windows shortcut that should open your Windows “Run” Dialog box for launching programs. It is not part of the DROE Tool. Also, the typical shortcut used to lock a Windows session is Win+L.
Please clarify which shortcut key combination is causing problems for you.
-Carl
July 25, 2009 - 3:10 am
Hi Carl
Thank you for your message & pardon my ommisssion. Win+R , is meant to refer to Win+RightArrow?. In the past few days to regain the time stamp function I resorted to disabling DROE’s time date option and set up a keyboard shortcut using hotkey Version 1.0.48.03 from http://www.autohotkey.com.
I have a suspicion OS Vista Ultimate @ SP2, and wireless micrsoft natural Keyboard – though operationally stable has built-in conflicts in that Win+RightArrow, Win+period (alpha keyboard) and Win+comma (alpha keyboard) all lock a current users session.
When disabling droe’s Win + right arrow date time setting the mentioned three shortcuts simply resot to locking a current users session without also starting three other applications at relogon — in my case: Vista Internet Explorer, Photo shop and start a new network session.
As the situation is non critical – I simply provide you some feedback in appreciation of your time and conclude momentarily that we have a few OS conflicts rather than any anomolous functions of the Droe script.
Very Best Ron
July 29, 2009 - 8:56 pm
Ron – Got it, thanks for the clarifications. I don’t experience the issue on Windows XP, but it sounds like that key combo might be reserved in Vista. I can look at making the key combo configurable in a future version.
-Carl