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
Monday, January 21st, 2008 : AutoHotkey, DROE Tool, OneNote, Outlook, Productivity : 19 Comments
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
19 Responses to “DROE Tool Now Supports Outlook”
January 21st, 2008 at 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 21st, 2008 at 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 22nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Everything works except the pasting, time stamp and bullet points
January 23rd, 2008 at 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 23rd, 2008 at 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 24th, 2008 at 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 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Just downloaded the new version. Works better, but trying to insert bullet points locks down my computer?
January 25th, 2008 at 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 29th, 2008 at 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 13th, 2008 at 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 19th, 2008 at 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
March 29th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
[…] an interesting idea. Even though I capture a good percentage of my notes electronically using the DROE Tool, I still find it impossible to move away from handwritten notes entirely. There are too many […]
April 24th, 2008 at 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 26th, 2008 at 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 1st, 2008 at 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 11th, 2008 at 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 19th, 2008 at 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 19th, 2008 at 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 20th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Carl, that was it….Thank you very much