outlook display icon in notification area for messages not in inbox

Question

I have rules set to move some email messages into different folders. I would like this to still show the envelope in the notification area but there is no option in the rules wizard to do this. It looks like I would either have to have the rule "run a script" or "perform a custom action" allowing either vba or c/c++ respectively.

Anyone else have a better solution?

Answer 1

Check out MailAlert, an Outlook plug-in that does exactly that. It still works in Outlook 2007 (although I've had some instabilities since I installed it again recently, which may or may not be related).

Answer 2

The answer is incorrect. MailAlert just shows the popup notification which you can already do using rules (might have to check 'lauch as admin' in outlook.exe properties). The question was asking about the new mail tray icon which only shows up for new mail in the inbox.

Answer 3

The new version of Mail Alert, which was just released, will allow you to control the notification icon as well as the popup alert and sound alerts. Here are some of the new features in 2.0:

• Audible alerts - plays a sound for incoming e-mails
• Notification area alerts - displays a notification area (system tray) icon
• Program alerts - runs a program and can pass information from the incoming e-mail to that program
• Mute feature - to quickly suppress all alerts
• Microsoft Outlook 2007 support
• Multi-monitor support
• Unicode Exchange server support
• And more desktop alert features:
  • Aero Glass style alert windows (on Windows Vista)
  • Ability to easily dismiss the alert window
  • Ability to quickly open, reply [to all] or forward a message directly from the alert window's buttons
  • Ability to convert a message into a task, flag a message for follow up or move a message to another folder; all directly from the alert window's context menu
  • Ability to set the default position of alerts to be where ever you want them
  • Privacy option to require a click before showing the preview of the message body

Answer 4

In relation to the original question, this comes very late but because I got here looking for the answer, maybe someone else will too.

You can also achieve it by NOT using a rule BUT doing the rule-like action in code, FOR EXAMPLE:

Private Sub Application_NewMailEx(ByVal EntryIDCollection As String)

Dim mai As Object Dim strEntryId

For Each strEntryId In Split(EntryIDCollection, ",")
    Set mai = Application.Session.GetItemFromID(strEntryId)
    If mai.Parent = "Inbox" Then
        If mai.SenderEmailAddress = "the-email-address-the-rule-applies-to" Then
            mai.Move Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetFolderFromID("the-entry-ID-of-the-folder-you-want-to-move-the-message-to")
        End If
    End If
    Set mai = Nothing
Next

End Sub

How to get the FOLDER ID (i.e. entryID of the folder):

this is just a manual way, you could make a recursive procedure but for simple purposes this is fine:

for instance I had a structure like:

Mailbox - My_Name_Here

 Inbox

      The Subfolder I'm Looking For

 Sent Items

 ...

so in the Immediate window I typed: ? Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders(1) 'increased the number until I got "Mailbox - My_Name_Here"

then ? Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders(the_number_of_my_mailbox).Folders(1) 'increased until I got "Inbox"

then ? Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders(the_number_of_my_mailbox).Folders(the_number_of_my_Inbox).Folders(1) 'increased until I got "The Subfolder I'm Looking For"

then ? Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").Folders(the_number_of_my_mailbox).Folders(the_number_of_my_Inbox).Folders(the_number_of_the_subfolder_i_was_looking_for).EntryID

so there I had it, the entryID of the folder I wanted to move the message to. You get the point, I'm sure :)

Answer 5

there is an option "display a Desktop Alert" on the Step 1 of the Rules Wizard. it does the trick. this wizard can be run when editing the concrete rule.