Useful free Add-ins for MS Outlook

I haven't been using MS Outlook until now. Do you know why? It's usually paid (unless you get it with your new Windows System) and I didn't think it has so much to offer. In fact, its default options are not terrific, but seeing how many cool free Outlook Add-ins is available in the Web, and having it installed on my office PC, I've changed my mind. There's a plenty of functions that you can add to your MS Outlook totally free, e.g.:

• export of data from Outlook to text files
• sharing Outlook categories with others
• sharing Outlook calendars
• synchronization of Outlook folders and data
• automatic set-up of email account in Outlook
• removing of duplicated PST files from Outlook
• attachments unblocking
• syncing Outlook contacts with Facebook, etc.

Yep, just have a look in the Internet yourself!

E-mail stationary - nice and sexy or hideous and unproffesional?

Maybe it's not so popular now as it used to be, but still there are some people who use an e-mail stationary to enhance a visual look of their messages what sometimes turns out to be a mistake. And it happens even in the business messages.

Hmm, let's see...Here's an example of a yellow theme. There's no way this background will be looking good, e.g., with a white logo added - it would disappear.

With this one it could be even worse...

The occasional themes are quite popular...

...but the penguins rule! ;)

Companies that want to be in line with the corporate guidelines know what to do to prevent adding e-mail stationary to their outgoing messages. They simply purchase an e-mail management program that automatically removes a random e-mail theme and help maintain a professional look of company correspondence.

See more:

Exchange active sync

Active directory software

Exchange 2010 signature manager

Spam blockers have to act quickly

Spam-filters are so advanced now that even the most clever spam creators have a hard row to hoe trying to sneak their adverts into our mailbox. Unluckily for us, there still are many traps in the Web awaiting for our moment of distraction. With one click we may agree for adding us to a spam list!
And then, one morning we find messages with bizarre titles, e.g., like this one: VIooAGooRA Glorious Morning, Dear Friend… or including a strange content...

Well, one thing is certain - we hate loosing control of over email flow...

... and don't want anyone to make fools of us!

So... what are your experiences with spam?

See more:
Exchange email filtering
Share Outlook address book

Colourful footers, banners and animations as a part of email marketing

With new possibilities of digital graphic and email management software, email marketing is now more powerful than ever. Just look at emails that we get every day, even the most evident spam! All the messages with promotional stuff not only 'shout at you' with the tempting headlines, but more and more often include something else to attract our attention...

It can be a jumping or shining animated gif...

 or a colourfool footer...

or a nicely designed side-banner...

and some companies add even comic strips as a part of their marketing campaign!

Since the first example is most likely to annoy a recipient rather that encourage a potential client to check out the offer, the rest of ideas can work pretty well. As most marketers know, a well-matched and eye-catching images are more than compelling words. While this is something you may understand and agree with in theory, it can be difficult to execute in practice if you don't have a proper tool to implement your concept. Sometimes a nice and professional look of your emails depends on a program that you use. Big organizations usually equip their administrator with a professional email management software that includes an advanced and user-friendly template editor. This editor allows one's to easily upload photos, logos and rotating banners, to test them and view in Plain Text, HTML and RTF. In large companies with hundreds of employees it's important to implement their unified signatures automatically.