Personalizing Outlook Today
Do you find Outlook Today too boring? I do! Let's have a look at how we can transform it into something more visually appealing, something like this: (click the image for a full view)
But just how do you achieve this? Start by creating a fresh HTML page and add the following just below your title tag:
[html]
[/html]
Afterwards, unleash your graphical talents in Photoshop or any other editor and design something beautiful, designate some zones you would like to have, and convert it to HTML.
At the location you'd like to have your Calendar events, add the following snippet:
[html]
The code to see your Tasks is as follows:
[html]
Displaying the message count consists out of two actions, first we have to add it to our layout as follows:
[html]
| :: |
Afterwards, have a look at the following registry entries:
[code] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Today\Folders] "0"="\\Cumps David\Inbox" "1"="\\CumpsD\Inbox" [/code]
As you can see, I have two entries in my Messages section, displaying my Exchange and POP3 Inbox. Entries are simply numbered with their value being the location of the item you want to count. You can also leave this as it is by default if you wish to.
Displaying the Date is a small piece of Javascript:
[html]
[/html]
I also added some New links next to Messages, Calendar and Tasks. The code for this is as follows:
[html] New Mail New Appointment New Task [/html]
Additionally you can add external links as well. In my example I am calling two PHP scripts, running on my local webserver, which output some Javascript, my system's uptime and an RSS feed. The following code is an example of an external link and an included PHP script:
[html] David Cumps
[/html]
You might wonder what my picture is doing there. Well, it's a direct link to my own Contact item, since I can't remember my own phone number, I usually copy paste it from my contact details. This way I simply get to those details faster :)
Once you have completed your layout, place it somewhere on your hard disk or personal webspace and add the following registry key:
[code] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Today] "Url"="file://path_to_your_htm" [/code]
In my case this results in:
[code] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Today] "Url"="file://C:\OutlookToday\cumpsd.htm" [/code]
The next time you open Outlook, it will load your webpage, ready to be used.
I uploaded a zip file containing the files used in my Outlook Today. Included are two PHP scripts, one to parse an rss feed, and one for the Windows uptime. In the cumpsd.htm file you can also view all available css styles which Outlook supports. Have a look at it and feel free to modify it to get a quick start. If you create something, leave a comment showing off your creation please, I'm always interested in seeing what others accomplish.
Enjoy modifying your Outlook Today! Personalize your computer!