Analytics, Website Marketing, and Development

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Outlook Attachment Reminder Macro

How many times have you written an email about "the attached file" only to forget to attach the file before hitting send? If you follow the instructions in this post, that'll never happen again!

We're going to add a VBA macro to Microsoft Outlook that searches your email for the text "attach" when you click "send". If it finds that string of text (ie. attached, attachment...) it will check to see if you actually attached a file. If there's no file attached, you'll be prompted with a message box. Then, you can either continue without attaching anything, or you can stop the email from sending so you can include your file. Yes, it's that simple.

*Note: This will not work in Outlook Express as it doesn't support macros.

How to set it up:


1. Open Outlook.
2. Press Alt+F11 : This will open the Visual Basic editor.
3. Expand the project until you find "ThisOutlookSession" and select it.
4. Copy the code below into the Visual Basic code window.
5. Save.

Now to test:
6. Close & Reopen Outlook for good measure.
7. Write an email containing the word attach.
8. Click send. *This is when you should get the pop-up.

*Note: If you have an image in your email signature, that would count as an attachment. Just change "intStandardAttachCount" from 0 to 1.


Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
' Pops up a reminder if the word "attach" is found but there is no attachment on your email.
Dim m As Variant
Dim strBody As String
Dim intIn As Long
Dim intAttachCount As Integer, intStandardAttachCount As Integer

On Error GoTo handleError

'Edit the following line if you have a signature on your email that includes images or other files. Make intStandardAttachCount equal the number of files in your signature.
intStandardAttachCount = 0

strBody = LCase(Item.Body)

intIn = InStr(1, strBody, "original message")

If intIn = 0 Then intIn = Len(strBody)

intIn = InStr(1, Left(strBody, intIn), "attach")

intAttachCount = Item.Attachments.Count

If intIn > 0 And intAttachCount <= intStandardAttachCount Then

m = MsgBox("It appears that you mean to send an attachment," & vbCrLf & "but there is no attachment to this message." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Do you still want to send?", vbQuestion + vbYesNo + vbMsgBoxSetForeground)

If m = vbNo Then Cancel = True

End If

handleError:

If Err.Number <> 0 Then
MsgBox "Outlook Attachment Reminder Error: " & Err.Description, vbExclamation, "Outlook Attachment Reminder Error"
End If

End Sub



Also, LifeHacker has a script for GreaseMonkey that does the same thing for GMail.


Credit for this Outlook macro goes to Mark Bird. I've seen this macro a few times on the internets, but I believe he's the original creator. You may also find some answers to any questions on his site. Thanks Mark!

There you go! Now anytime you mention an attachment in your email, you'll be sure to have it attached.

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Sunday, August 3, 2008

Cuil - Another Post About Them Not Measuring Up

Well, it's pretty obvious that they hype over the new search engine, Cuil, was far greater than what the site could actually deliver.

I won't repeat all of the reasons they won't be the next Google killer. If you're reading this, you've surely read about them all several times already. Instead, I did a semi-scientific test of their search results. Since they claim to be the largest search engine in existence, they should have the highest number of results for any given search term. Right???

I chose several words at random as they popped into my head. I searched for these terms on Google.com, Yahoo.com, MSN.com, and Cuil.com and recorded the number of search results. For Cuil, the findings are probably not what they were hoping for. Without any more chit chat, let's get to the charts and graphs!

Search Test Report




From the chart above, you can clearly see that Yahoo! dominates as far as search results go. We're not talking about relevancy, we're only interested in number of search results returned. Google could be considered second, beating MSN and Cuil most of the time. Surprisingly, MSN had the lowest number of total results throughout the entire test. (Even lower than Cuil) Something odd were the search terms where Cuil beat out all other search engines, even Yahoo!.


  • "asp.net books" - Cuil: 602,186,415 / Yahoo!: 26,200,000

  • "google knol" - Cuil: 38,607,628 / Yahoo!: 15,400,000

  • "make liquid soap" - Cuil: 127,604,750 / Yahoo!: 12,500,000



This may not be the most scientific test, or be the definitive demise of Cuil, but if they're the largest search engine in the universe, why don't they give me the most search results??? Please let me know what you think in the comments.

Raw Search Data











































microsoftcuilgoogleyahoo
yahoo29900000054603279029300000007020000000
money638000000172724615913100000004620000000
google18900000051638638827500000004510000000
web development532000000133747321900000004060000000
real estate2910000006408039107070000003160000000
cars2250000008145112558550000002540000000
microsoft2370000005205782889070000002070000000
facebook20800158322134060000001590000000
american business6460000001917726985000001520000000
myspace30800001324508518610000001510000000
internet access764000000327637651760000001020000000
batman2570000040819411102000000469000000
ferrari6820000067216311162000000335000000
porsche7700000075242044141000000321000000
linkedin703000005704636147000000310000000
britney spears83000000136397691105000000214000000
foreclosure167000007199796148100000198000000
lamborghini137000001765089862700000193000000
visual studio1230000002518100743500000165000000
php books2180000008159023200000150000000
spiderman225000001852969950500000149000000
hacking14200000014807168753000000144000000
superman211000003422402061800000104000000
jason green1930000049203360000099000000
riaa34900006881174821000030600000
asp.net books5080000602186415792000026200000
led flashlight41800001071520251000025200000
bike commuting9770006105967100016600000
google knol63500003860762890400015400000
excel macro32000008887264900013400000
make liquid soap462000012760475075100012500000
volcano eruption256000013610124400008390000
johannes brahms5510000211969041100007290000
cuil7150012473715400005910000
monty python holy grail101000018983414120004780000
dns cache attacks23600007032802200004400000
fryderyk chopin5200000110129414400001270000
grocery shrink ray16400043446659000777000
Total:476937330063860835621222573600036643717000

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Microsoft Gatineau - Google Analytics Killer?

Is Microsoft Gatineau ready to strip Google Analytics of the web analytics throne?

I've been using both Microsoft Gatineau and Google Analytics on one of my sites for about 3 months. I think that's plenty of time for me to give a fair analysis of both packages.

*Note that I am much more experienced with Google Analytics, so that might have some effect on my opinion. However, I'm trying to be as neutral as possible in this review.



1. User Interface / Usability:
Winner: Google Analytics
Why?: Google is king when it comes to user interfaces. (Not starting off so neutral, are we?) When I log into my Google Analytics account, I'm presented with a very useful dashboard. If the information I need isn't there by default, I can easily add it. On the other hand, Microsoft's Gatineau gives me a 3-layer calendar that allows me to select a date range by day, week, or month, with a single click. This might be useful if jumping from one date range to another was a frequent activity, but so far, it's not. This date-range picker takes up 4 inches above the fold on EVERY report! The two inches below that is a description of the report you're viewing, and below that is the graph for the report you chose. Unfortunately, half of it is below the fold!



Navigation through reports is done through a folder structure.



This isn't awful, but getting to the next level always requires 2 clicks. One to select the item and display the menu, and another to choose between demographics or diving a level deeper.


2. Useful Information
Winner:Google Analytics
Why?: This would be a tie because they both have all standard web analytics information, except Microsoft makes it so much harder to view the useful information. Sorry to go back to usability, but with the GA dashboard, I can view my most useful information on one screen. With Gatineau, it takes 12 to 20 clicks and 6-10 page loads just to get the same information.

3. Demographics
Winner: Microsoft Gatineau
Why?: Because Google doesn't have it. However, with this being Gatineau's claim to fame, I'm unimpressed. Over the past 3 months, I only have demographics information on about 20% of my visitors. Sure this information is useful for some things, but with 80% being unknown, I really don't know much more than I did before.



Overall Winner: Google Analytics!


Who didn't see that coming?

I was really hoping to write some good things about Microsoft Gatineau, but until they improve the user interface, I won't be leaving Google Analytics any time soon. Also note that Gatineau hasn't been officially released yet. There are some features which haven't even been activated, such as the emailing or exporting of reports. However, the framework of what's to come is there, and I have to say, it's no Google-killer.

I'd love to hear from other Gatineau users. Is there anyone out there that would choose Gatineau over Google Analytics?

Even though GA won this battle, I'd still encourage you try out Microsoft Gatineau and Google Analytics to decide for yourself.

I look forward to your comments.

- Jason Green

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