Drowing in Sent Items

[Rick Altman]

I am a victim of my own inability to keep house: My Sent Items folder grows
to incomprehensible and unmanageable proportion. I am not disciplined
enought to clean it out ever X days and I can't go with opting out of having
outgoing mail stored there. I have tried the trick of remembering to CC
myself on critical outgoing mail instead of storing all of it: I forget to
do it.

What a pathetic case I am!

One solution that I envision would be a button that lives on the New Message
dialog: "Save in Sent Items". If I could rig up a way whereby one click on a
button like that would store the mail in Sent Items, otherwise not...now
that is something I could do.

Is this scriptable or add-inable? I suspect that the script wouldn't be too
difficult to write (by somebody who knows how...not me), but attaching it to
the Message dialog might be more challenging.

Perhaps this already exists...perhaps there is an option I have
overlooked...I need a lifeline so I don't drown under the weight of my Sent
Items folder!




Rick A.
Pleasanton CA

 

[Gordon]

I am a victim of my own inability to keep house: My Sent Items folder grows
to incomprehensible and unmanageable proportion.

Use the in-built archive function....

 

[Rick Altman]

No, then the Archive folders grows to incomprehensible proportion and
sifting through it becomes a nightmare. I trade one beached whale for
another. I seek the ability to be able to decide, and click one button,
about saving to Sent Items an outgoing email as I am composing it.

 

[K. Orland]

In each email while you are composing you can click the Options button and
choose where to store the email. For example, the default is Sent Items but
you can choose any folder, including Deleted Items.

 

[Rick Altman]

Kathleen, many thanks -- that's a great start. Now the questions are:

1. Can I create a VBA script that automatically issues the command through
Options?

2. Can I attach that script to a button on the dialog?



Rick A.

 

[F. H. Muffman]

No, then the Archive folders grows to incomprehensible proportion and
sifting through it becomes a nightmare. I trade one beached whale for
another. I seek the ability to be able to decide, and click one button,
about saving to Sent Items an outgoing email as I am composing it.

PMFJI, but, AutoArchive does give you the ability to delete instead of
moving the data to the archive pst, ergo, no beached whale.

And as for a code solution to put a toggle on the toolbar, I don't see why
that wouldn't be possible, but, by your own admission "I have tried the
trick of remembering to CC myself on critical outgoing mail instead of
storing all of it: I forget to do it." Why exactly would you remember to
toggle the switch if you admit you forget to cc yourself? I mean, one thing
is just as easy as the other to remember.

It sounds like you should really look back at the Auto Archive functionality
and have it delete anything older than 2 months. Or a month.

 

[Rick Altman]

I can't arbitrarily have Auto Archive delete anything older than two months.
I rouinely need to refer back to email sent two, three, four, six, eight
months ago. And while tabbing up to CC and entering my email address is more
than I would have the patience for, clicking one button is not. If I could
have a single click that performs that service, I would make myself use it.
I would reform myself. I would be saved. Julie Andrews would sing, a Ken
Burns landscape would display on my monitor, and world peace might break
out.

Or something like that...

 

[Dave Horne]

Rick, I'm guessing in the time you wrote here about your problem you could
have deleted a lot of Sent messages.

My wife does the same thing, I just ask her repeatedly to 'clean house' as
it were.

Just how many messages are we talking about here.

 

[F. H. Muffman]

I can't arbitrarily have Auto Archive delete anything older than two
months. I rouinely need to refer back to email sent two, three, four, six,
eight months ago. And while tabbing up to CC and entering my email address
is more than I would have the patience for, clicking one button is not. If
I could have a single click that performs that service, I would make myself
use it. I would reform myself. I would be saved. Julie Andrews would sing,
a Ken Burns landscape would display on my monitor, and world peace might
break out.

Or something like that...

So it isn't that you don't remember to cc yourself, it's that it is too
hard? If there was an easier solution, you'd do it?

The easier solution is to save all sent items and, when you need to find
something, either use search, filters or sort to find the message.

There is rarely a technical solution to a behavioural problem.

That said:

http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=87 That code actually prompts
you if you want to save your sent item when you hit send.

BTW, a suggestion: When working in newsgroups, don't delete the
conversation that has gone on wholesale. Keep salient points, trim the
rest, but try to leave the conversation.

 

[K. Orland]

You know your Ed Crowley!

 

[F. H. Muffman]

You know your Ed Crowley!

I just found it funny that this is actually one of those rare times where,
for this particular problem, there actually is a technical solution. Not a
solution I'd want to live with, I'd hate to be asked every. single. time. if
I wanted to save the item to my sent items, but...