🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello...

I am new to cyberspace and not seeking flames or arguments or sales pitches,
but simply seeking information, assistance and suggestions... if you respond
to this, and I hope you do, please try to remember when you first started
using your computer on line and try to explain what you mean in a way a
novice can understand...

thank you :)

I've been using Outlook Express for a month now and I find it lives up to
much of the praise it received in leading magazines... I didn't find much
written in the negative (please post problems as you find them)...

unfortunately, at this time I do not have access to any IE4 or OE
newsgroups, so I post here... if anyone cares to copy this and post it to
more appropriate newsgroups, I would really appreciate that... please
respond directly to my email address from IE4 and OE groups as I would not
be able to read posts... thank you...  witz@usa.net

previously I used Eudora Light and like many of the features... now I much
prefer the three window format of OE... additionally, the fun of rich text
and convenience of HTML files is especially appealing to me...

however, as with any software, there are elements missing I find a challenge
to overcome... please get this: I am not bashing MS or seeking general
responses that tell me how great or evil Bill Gates,  MS, IE4.0, or OE - or
any other company or software is... I am seeking constructive suggestions on
how to better use OE and also, information about other email programs that
might be comparable to OE and also offer these features...

some of these ideas may seem trivial or foolish to some, but I'd like to see
them because I could and would use them regularly... so, if anyone can offer
a suggestion as to an alternative way of getting the following things done
in OE, or in another mail program comparable to OE, I'd appreciate it... and
for anything that has no simple solution, consider it part of my Outlook
Express Wish List for the next version...

1. "status"... I sorely miss the status column in Eudora... I'm trying to
figure out how to best identify an email as "responded to"... so far I must
manually move each individual email from the designated "in" folder to a
designated "responded to" folder... this doubles the needed folders, as I do
it for every "in" folder (using filters to sort incoming mail into several
dozen "in" folders, doubling the number of folders is extensive... and that
makes referring to past email a clumsy operation)... I hope I am explaining
this well enough...

additionally, marking an email as forwarded, is another feature I miss a
lot.... in other words, the STATUS column offered a simple way of tracking
the disposition of each email... any suggestions on how you track email in
OE or any other program will be greatly appreciated...

2. "filtering outgoing messages"... for the same reason, filing and
tracking, I find the filtering features on Eudora Light much better than
Outlook Express... perhaps there are tricks and codes I don't know (I want
to learn :) , but  EL seemed to have a lot more detailed filtering choices
than OE...

3. "auto-filing of attachments"... it is just so convenient to have an
attachment filed in a designated folder in the background, for later
sorting, rather than having to manually save each attachment (especially
since windows only somtimes remembers which folder was last used in a Save
As box) for each email... for someone receiving few attachments, this might
not matter... but anyone who exchanges file attachments often may
understand...

4. "right click recipents list"... to be able to enter an email address from
the address book with two quick clicks (right then left) from a pop up menu
is a great time saver... I wish OE would include this (and other right click
menu features, like marking status in a status column), in future
versions...

5. "send again"... a definite time saver, to have one click access to an
email to send it again if an address fails due to an error... or to edit it
and send it to others, rather than have to forward or cut and paste
contents...

6. "multiple signatures"... I'd like to see a pull down menu that accesses a
signature folder and all files contained therein, allowing for one click
selection from as many signature files as places in that folder...

7. "rich text formatting in sigs"... I'd like to see signature files on that
pull down menu available in rich text with formatting - or even HMTL files,
for use in rich text email and HTML email...

8. "leaving files on server"... EL has a feature that allows the choice to
leave files over a designated size on a server for later retrieval... this
is especially convenient if received very large files via email... can
anyone can tell me how it might be done with OE?...

9. "email info in receiving box"... I'd like to see the sender of the email
in the activity box as the email is being received... much less necessary if
"wish" # 8, which is preferable, is fulfilled...

10. "additional levels of priority"... I'd like to see five or more levels
of priority, with right click selection, for better filing, sorting, and
tracking purposes...

11. "folders"... I don't always read all the mail in a single session... I'd
like to see some way to know which folders received new messages during a
single session (as opposed to those not opened the day or days before)...
and also, the sub-folders are highlighted in bold when they contain unread
mail, but the external folder is not... I'd like to see the top level folder
highlighted when it is closed, when it contains sub-folders than contain
unread mail...

12. "address book folders"... is there a way to organize the address book
with folders like OE and Explorer?...

13. "spellchecker"... I'd like a spellchecker (so the larger programs needed
now wouldn't be needed, especially good on a laptop)... perhaps there is a
dictionary file that OE can access placed wherever the "WORD" dictionary
file might neeed to be?...

14. "help instructions"... it seems the further software progresses, the
more the writers of help files assume we have a background of knowledge in
computing... often, the instructions leave out the simple directions (like
which menu or where do I actually go to do what it's telling me to do)...

15. "components"... it seems there are parts of OE everywhere... if I want
to copy OE to a back-up disk or drive, how many folders do I have to find to
get it all?... if I want to copy my mail, where is it?...

16. "convertibility"... OE is great at importing email and folders from
other programs... I wish it was just as good and easy to export...

I guess this is my biggest fear with MS - the way the make it so hard to
undo installing one of their products... but that's another post and
thread...

17. "newsreader"... a whole other (and longer) wish list :)  ... if MS
insists on integrating a newsreader in OE, I wish they'd make it competitive
with the best free readers out there... as it is, it's very basic and leaves
a lot to be desired even from a novice's perspective... a few simple
features (if I missed them, let me know): have the send and receive icon
showing when in a newsgroup... allow deletion of messages... Windows
Explorer accessible mail folders (for identification and backing up)...

well, that's it for now... thank you for reading and even more, thank you
for responding if you do... as I said before, if this is posted in one of
the newsgroups not listed in the address at the top, please email me
directly because I can not access IE4.0 or OE newsgroups at this time (yes,
I've asked my ISP to get them... but that doesn't help me now :)  ...

hope your day is smiling for you (and these wishes for OE come true :)

ric

witz@usa.net