Do you ever get that thing where for some unknown reason you can’t turn off your head and get to sleep? Well, I do. Sometimes when I am there, I sit down at my computer and take care of something on my next actions list. Helps me feel like I have accomplished something, gets it off my mind and allows me to sleep. Sometimes I end up being awake for longer.
I have been known to check my e-mail in the middle of the night (probably not a good idea, really). Sometimes I will respond to e-mails that are waiting, never mind the hour. This in itself is not so bad, except that sometimes people notice that I have been sending e-mails in the middle of the night (note the timestamp on this posting). I have been setting the “send e-mail later” option, so as to not appear like a work-aholic. But I’m human, sometimes I don’t remember.
Enter VBA Scripting for Outlook. Say what you like about Outlook, and there’s plenty to say, but the geek in me is enjoying the scripting functionality lately. I wrote my own Outlook script (very little code theft here – except from the help file, which I feel is legit), which checks the time at which I am sending a message and if it’s between midnight and 8:00 am, viola…I get this pop-up:
I bet you can figure out what happens when I push each button. Another effective “smart part of the brain” tricking the “dumb part of the brain” tool. Yayy.
(If you are also a geek and want to know how to do this, ask, and I will gladly share the code I wrote)
I have been known to check my e-mail in the middle of the night (probably not a good idea, really). Sometimes I will respond to e-mails that are waiting, never mind the hour. This in itself is not so bad, except that sometimes people notice that I have been sending e-mails in the middle of the night (note the timestamp on this posting). I have been setting the “send e-mail later” option, so as to not appear like a work-aholic. But I’m human, sometimes I don’t remember.
Enter VBA Scripting for Outlook. Say what you like about Outlook, and there’s plenty to say, but the geek in me is enjoying the scripting functionality lately. I wrote my own Outlook script (very little code theft here – except from the help file, which I feel is legit), which checks the time at which I am sending a message and if it’s between midnight and 8:00 am, viola…I get this pop-up:
I bet you can figure out what happens when I push each button. Another effective “smart part of the brain” tricking the “dumb part of the brain” tool. Yayy.(If you are also a geek and want to know how to do this, ask, and I will gladly share the code I wrote)
