Attachment Executive 2003 Help |
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Attachment Rules are designed to process attachments automatically the way Microsoft’s Inbox rules process messages. Attachment Rules work in the background while you work in Outlook, processing attachments according to the rules that you create. To access Attachment Rules, select “Attachment Executive – Attachment Rules” from the “Tools” menu in Outlook.
The main window for Attachment Rules is divided into three sections. These sections are described in detail in the following sections: --- ‘Working with Attachment Rules rules’ explains the top section of the window where your rules are listed. --- ‘Attachment Rules options’ explains the middle section of the window where you can select different options for Attachment Rules. --- ‘Rule descriptions’ explains the bottom section of the window where you can view and modify an individual rule. Attachment Rules Attachment Rules rules operate like Outlook’s Rules Wizard. The only difference is that while Outlook’s Rules Wizard operates on messages, Attachment Executive’s Wizard operates on attachments. The Attachment Rules rules will operate in the background while your Outlook application is open. They will not interfere with regular use of Outlook. The top section of the Attachment Rules window display a list of the rules you have currently created, whether or not they are currently turned on, and the order in which the rules are applied. The check box that appears beside each rule indicates whether a rule is currently turned on. If a rule is not turned on, it will not process any attachments. To turn on or off a rule, click on the check box listed to the left of each rule name. To change the order in which rules are applied, select the rule you want to move and use the buttons labeled ‘Move Up’ and ‘ Move Down’. Creating a New Rule To create a new Attachment Rules rule, click on the button labeled ‘New’ on the Attachment Rules main window. You will be presented with the following Attachment Executive Rules Wizard window:
The top section of the wizard will list the types of attachment rules that you can create. The bottom section of the wizard will always display a description of the current rule. Rule Descriptions Values that are underlined in the description section of the rule are values that you will be able to change. If a value is underlined in red, it indicates that you have not selected a value and you must select one before continuing. If a value is underlined in blue, it indicates you have selected a value. To modify any underlined value, simply position the mouse cursor over the underlined value and click on it. You will know you are over an underlined value, as the mouse cursor will change into a pointing hand. Step 1 - Rule Types The first step in the wizard is where you will select the type of attachment rule you want to create. Currently there are three types of rules: “Move incoming attachment to ‘file folder’”. This rule will process attachments that enter your mailbox and move them from the message to a location on the file system. This location can be on your local machine or on the network. As with all Attachment Executive applications, the attachment will be replaced by a hyperlink to the file. The underlined value ‘file folder’ is where you will select the location for attachments processed by this rule. Click on the underlined text and you will be prompted to select a folder on your file system. “Delete incoming attachments”. This rule will process attachments that enter your mailbox and delete them from the message. The deleted attachments will be placed in the ‘Deleted Items’ folder of your mailbox. Of course most people will not want all of their attachments automatically deleted, so it is useful to use the other steps of the rules wizard to set how or what attachments should be deleted. “Delete attachments after sending”. This rule will process attachments that you have sent and delete them from the message. The deleted attachments will be placed in the ‘Deleted Items’ folder of your mailbox. Step 2 – ‘When’ and ‘Which’ messages should be processed The second step of the rules wizard will ask you to select when attachments should be processed and on which messages.
The two sections on this step include: “When should a message be processed?” This section will allow you to specify a delay in processing attachments. For example, you set up a rule to move incoming attachments but you want the attachments to remain in the message first for about 2 hours. The two options you can select from are: ‘Immediately’. Select this option to have the rule applied to attachments as soon as they are found. ‘After’. Select this option to specify a delay in applying this rule to attachments. The types of delays you can select include hours, days or months. “Which messages?” This section will allow specifying whether or not a rule should operate on all of the existing messages in your mailbox, or only operate on messages that are received from this point on. For example, you set up a rule to move incoming Microsoft Word Document attachments, but you only want the rule to move ones you receive from today onwards, not on ones that already exist in your mailbox. The two options you can select from are: ‘Only process messages received from this point on’. Select this option to have a rule ignore all messages that currently exist in your mailbox. Only attachments received from the time you create this rule onward will be affected. ‘Process all messages in the ‘Inbox’ folder’. Select this option to have a rule process all messages that currently exist in your mailbox. If you have selected the rule that deletes attachment you have sent, this option will say ‘Process all messages in the ‘Sent Items’ folder.’ Step 3 - Conditions The next step of the rules wizard will ask you which conditions must be met in order for a message or attachment to be processed. For example, if you create a rule to move incoming attachments, but you only want it to move attachments that are from a specific person, you would set a condition.
“From people or distribution list” This condition means that a message has to come from a specific person or list in order it to be processed by the rule. Click on the underlined value to select a person or list from your address book. “Sent to people or distribution list” This condition means that a message has to have been sent to a specific person or list in order for it to be processed by the rule. Please note that the message does not have to have been sent by you for this condition to apply. Click on the underlined value to select a person or list from your address book. “With specific words in the recipient’s address”. This condition means that certain text must appear in one of the recipient’s addresses for the message in order for it to be processed by the rule. For example, if you want this rule to operate on messages from anyone at “FakeCompany”, you could specify this condition using a value such as “FakeCompany.com”. When you click on the underlined value to select the text this condition will use, the following window will appear: The section labeled “This string must appear in the recipients address:” is where you will enter the text for your condition. The other two options available on this window are: “Exact Match”. Select this option if the text must appear exactly as you entered and only the text you entered. For example, if the text you enter is “Apple” and you select exact match, then “Green Apple” will not match, but just the text “Apple” will. “Match Case”. Select this option if the text must appear with the same upper and lower case text you entered. For example, if the text you enter is “Apple”, the text “apple” will not pass the condition. “With specific words in the senders address”. This condition works similar to the previous condition, except it applies to the person who originally sent the message. The value for this condition is modified the same way as the previous condition. “With specific words in the subject”. This condition means that certain text must appear in the subject of a message in order for it to be processed. The value for this condition is modified in the same way as the “with specific words in the recipients address” condition. “With specific words in the body”. This condition means that certain text must appear in the actual text of the message. The value for this condition is modified the same way as the “with specific words in the recipients address” condition. “With specific words in the subject or body”. This condition means that certain text must appear in the subject of a message or within the actual text of the message. The value for this condition is modified the same way as the “with specific words in the recipients address” condition. “With specific words in the attachment name”. This condition means that certain text must appear in the name of an attached file. The value for this condition is modified the same way as the “with specific words in the recipients address” condition. “Marked as importance”. This condition means that a message must have a specific importance in order to be processed. The possible values for importance are low, normal and high. Click on the underlined value to select an importance. The following window will appear to allow you to select the importance:
“Marked as sensitivity”. This condition means that a message must have a specific sensitivity in order to be processed. The possible values for sensitivity are normal, private, personal and confidential. Click on the underlined value to select sensitivity. The following window will appear to allow you to select the sensitivity:
“Assigned to a category”. This condition means that a message must be assigned to a specific category in order for it to be processed. You can enter as many different categories for this condition as you require. Click on the underlined value to add or remove categories. The following window will appear.
To add a category to the list, click on the button labeled “Add”. You will be presented with another window that will allow you to type in the category. To remove a category from the list, select the category and click on the button labeled “Remove”. “With a message size in a specific range”. This condition means that a message must be within a specific size range in order for it to be processed. The size that is compared is the total size of the message including all of its attachments. Click on the underlined value to select the minimum and maximum size values. The following window will appear:
The section labeled “Limits” is where you will set the maximum and minimum values for the size limit. The section labeled “Units” allows you to select between kilobytes and megabytes. “With the specified file extension(s)”. This condition means that an attachment must be a specific type of file in order for it to be processed. For example, if you want to process picture files you receive such as “House.jpg” or “Sky.gif”, you would select the extensions “jpg” and “gif”. If you do not use this condition, all types of attachments will be processed regardless of their extension. Other examples of common file extensions received in e-mail are: - “exe” and “bat” for executable files. Click on the underlined value to select the file extensions. The following window will appear:
Initially the list of file extensions will be empty. To add a file extension, click on the button labeled “Add…” A small window will appear prompting you to enter the file extension. To remove a file extension, select the file extension in the list so that it is highlighted in blue. Click on the “Remove” button to remove the extension from the list. Step 4 - Actions The next step of the rules wizard will ask what you want to do with the message after any attachments have been processed. For example, you may want to have the message moved to a different folder or deleted. These actions will only be applied to messages that have attachments that meet all of the conditions. If for any reason Attachment Executive could not process attachments, the message actions will not be applied.
“Move the message to a mail folder”. This action will move the message to another mail folder after any attachments have been removed. Click on the underlined value to select a mail folder. “Delete the message”. This action will delete the message after any attachments have been removed. The message will appear in your “Deleted Items” folder after it has been deleted. “Mark the message as read”. This action will change the message from ‘unread’ to ‘read’. If the message has already been read it will remain unchanged. “Assign message to category”. This action will assign the message to a specific category after any attachments have been removed. Click on the underlined value to enter the name of the category. “Mark message as importance”. This action will set the importance of the message after any attachments have been removed. The importance values you can select from include low, normal and high. Click on the underlined value to select the importance. “Mark message as sensitivity”. This action will set the sensitivity of the message after any attachments have been removed. The sensitivity values you can select from include normal, private, personal and confidential. Click on the underlined value to select the sensitivity. “Run command line when attachment is moved” This action will run a command line after an attachment is moved by this rule. If you would like the command line to interact with the specific file that has been saved, use the symbol “%” to identify the filename. For example, if you create a rule to move text files (.txt), you can have the files automatically displayed in the Notepad utility when using the command line “Notepad.exe %” moves them. The “%” symbol can be left out of the command line if you would like to run your own application whenever an attachment is moved by this rule. Important Note: This option is meant for advanced users as running attachment can be potentially dangerous if they have not been scanned for viruses. This option will not allow you to run attachments when they are moved. We strongly recommend that you take all appropriate precautions when using this action that the command line you specify cannot execute any potentially damaging attachments.
Step 5 - Exceptions The next step of the rules wizard will ask you, which exceptions will cause a message or attachment to not be processed. For example, if you create a rule to move incoming attachments, but you do not want it to move attachments that are from a specific person, you would set an exception. All of the same condition values you could select also appear in the list of possible exceptions. Please see the section on “Step 3 – Conditions” above to learn more about the different values and how to modify them. Step 6 – Filename Processing* * Only appears if you select the rule type “Move incoming attachments to a file folder”. This step will prompt you on how you would like to handle attachment filenames when they are saved to the file system.
The options available for filenames are the same as the options available in Attachment Clerk. Please see the section on Attachment Clerk for more information. Any invalid filename characters encountered by an Attachment Rules rule will automatically be replaced by a space character. Invalid characters include: \ / : * ? " > < For example, if you receive an attachment named “My:Picture.jpg”, it will be changed into “My Picture.jpg” before it is saved. Step 7 – Folders This step allows you to select the mail folders that you want the rule to run under. By default, the first two types of rules (“Move incoming attachments to a file folder” and “Delete incoming attachments”) will operate on your ‘Inbox’ folder. By default, the last type of rule (“Delete attachments after sending”) will operate on your ‘Sent Items’ folder.
If you would like a rule to run in folders other than the default folder, select the option labeled “Process attachments found in these folders”. A checkmark listed beside a folder indicates that the rule will process messages in that folder. To select or deselect a mail folder, click on the checkbox located beside the folder name. To select the subfolders of a mail folder, click on the folder’s name so that the folder is selected with a blue line. Next, click on the button labeled “Select Subfolders”. All subfolders to the selected folder will have a checkmark placed beside them. To remove the selections from all mail folders, click on the button labeled “Clear All Selections”. Step 8 – Rule Name This is the last step of the rules wizard. It allows you to set a descriptive name for the rule and specify whether or not you want to turn the rule on.
By default, the name of the rule will be the type of rule. It is recommended that you change the name of the rule to one that is more descriptive about the particular rule. This will avoid any confusion when you need to identify a particular rule in the future. The check box labeled “Turn on this rule” indicates whether or not the rule will be turned on by default after you have finished using the rules wizard. Attachment Rules OptionsThere are three options that you can apply to all of your Attachment Rules rules. These options can be found in the center of the main Attachment Rules window. These options include: ‘Suspend processing of all rules’. If this option is turned on, none of your rules will run, regardless of whether or not they are turned on in the top section of the window. ‘E-mail me about messages/attachments that could be processed’. If this option is turned on, you will receive an e-mail message whenever a problem is encountered applying one of your rules to a message or attachment. The e-mail message will come from you and will list the name of the attachment, message and problem encountered. You will only be e-mailed once about a problem. ‘Keep paperclip icon on messages with moved attachments’. This option is a global setting that applies to all three Attachment Executive utilities (Attachment Rules, Attachment Clerk and Attachment Manager). If this option is turned on, the paperclip icon that appears besides messages will remain even if Attachment Executive has moved the attachments from the message. This is accomplished by adding a small shortcut file to the message that replaces the original attachment. You can then use either the hyperlink placed in the message by Attachment Executive or the shortcut file to access the moved attachment. Copying An Existing RuleTo make a copy of an existing rule, first select the rule by clicking on its name so that the rule is highlighted with a blue line. Next, click on the button labeled “Copy”. You will be prompted to enter a name for the new rule. The rule copy will appear at the bottom of your list of rules. By default, it will not be turned on. Modifying an Existing Rule To modify an existing rule, first select the rule by clicking on its name so that the rule is highlighted with a blue line. Next, click on the button labeled “Modify’. You will be presented with the same rules wizard that is described in the section “Creating a New Rule”. The only difference is that the wizard windows will already be filled with the settings from the rule you are modifying. Renaming an Existing Rule To change the display name of an existing rule, first select the rule by clicking on its name so that the rule is highlighted with a blue line. Next, click on the button labeled “Rename”. You will be prompted to enter a new name for the rule. Deleting an Existing Rule To remove an existing rule, first select the rule by clicking on its name so that the rule is highlighted with a blue line. Next, click on the button labeled “Delete”. You will be prompted to make sure you really want to delete the rule. Running Rules on Mail Folders Immediately If you want to run rules on any mail folders immediately, click on the button labeled “Run Now” located at the bottom of the Attachment Rules window. When the following window appears, select the rule you want to run and the mail folders you would like it to run in..
The left half of the window is where you select the rules that you would like to run. A check mark beside a rule indicates that the rule will run on the mail folders you select. The description box located below the list of rules allows you to view the settings of any particular rule. The right half of the window is where you select specific options before the selected rules are run. These options are: “Run in Folder”. This option indicates the mail folder where the selected rules will run. By default, no mail folder is selected. To select or change the mail folder, click on the button labeled “Browse…” “Include Subfolders”. This option indicates whether or not you want the rule to run in all of the subfolders of the selected mail folder. If this option is not turned on, the selected rules will only run in the mail folder you select. “Apply Rules to”. This option will allow you to choose if you want the selected rules to run on all messages, unread messages, or read messages. “Only apply to messages received between these dates”. This option will allow you to select a starting date and ending date. Only messages that were received between those dates will be processed. Please note that the “From Date” includes messages received since 12AM on the selected day, and the “To Date” includes messages received up to 12AM on the selected day. Once you have finished selecting the options rules you want to run, click on the button labeled “Run Now”. A progress window will appear to notify you of the current progress. If any errors are encountered while processing a rule, you will be notified on-screen. After the rules have finished running in the selected folders, you will be shown a total of: Total number of attachments found in messages that pass the rules you selected. Total number of attachments that were moved from those messages. Total number of attachments that were deleted from those messages. |