I know little or nothing about creating custom context menus, other
than by using a utility, but here is what I would like to do.
Scenario - a user creates a new file and saves into a network share.
They wish to have the file reviewed by the boss. The local Exchange
police have been complaining about the burgeoning information store
and want users to be aware that when sending file attachments back and
forth across the LAN, storage requirements multiply exponentially
within the Inbox and Sent Items folders for each user.
My proposed solution would be to create a custom context menu item
within Windows Explorer similar to "Send To" functionality. However,
rather than sending the file as an attachment, the user sends a live
UNC link. So the context menu item would read "Send Link" or "Send
UNC Link". In any case, the user would simply right click on a file
or folder for which he or she would like to send a reference and
left-click "Send Link".
At that point, a new Outlook 2003 message opens with something like
this in the message body - NOTE: we can assume all users default to
Rich Text email.
<\\server\Companyshare\Clients\Bulworth Brewing\Keg Party Invite.doc>
When the recipient opens the message, he or she simply clicks the link
and file opens from the network share, thus avoiding needless
redundancy within the information store. Personally, I think this
should be standard equipment in a LAN/Exchange Environment.
I imagine that something like this exists as freeware already, and I
actually found something similar here http://www.image.dk/~ninotech
called Ninotech Path Copy, but the email functionality was not
implemented.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks! |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
02 Aug 2005 16:01 PDT
russianblue...
It may be that such a function already exists in Outlook
2003, or something close enough to it.
This page from Office.Microsoft.com suggests that you can
accomplish close to what you want from Outlook 2003:
"Send a public folder shortcut in a message"
"On the Go menu, click Folder List (Folder List: Displays
the folders available in your mailbox. To view subfolders,
click the plus sign (+) next to the folder. If the Folder
List is not visible, on the Go menu, click Folder List.),
right-click the public folder you want to send a link to
in a message, and then click Send Link to This Folder on
the shortcut menu." See the bottom of this page:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP052421861033.aspx?mode=print
If you were to select a file rather than a folder, and
Outlook 2003 is anything like my old Office 97 version of
Outlook, this would end up creating an attachment to the
email, which is what you're trying to avoid.
By simply naming the file in the email along with providing
the link to the folder, this would seem to accomplish what
you're wishing to do.
The rest of that page deals with how to send a shortcut
to a private folder, noting that, "This feature requires
you to be using a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account",
and, "The message recipient must use Microsoft Outlook to
use the private folder shortcut".
Let me know what you think...
sublime1-ga
|
