alfred-outlookSuite

A suite of tools to interact with Microsoft Outlook via Alfred

• Note: Many of the functions of this package will not work with the new, electron-based, 'New Outlook' interface, as AppleScript is not supported. Uncheck New Outlook in the File menu in Outlook to switch to the legacy version.

• Motivation
• Setting up
• Basic Usage
• Known Issues
• Acknowledgments
• Changelog
• Feedback

Motivation ✅

• Quickly list, search, and filter your Microsoft Outlook emails
• Perform basic tasks like: email snoozing, quick email drafting, email saving.

Setting up ⚙️

Needed

• Alfred 5 with Powerpack license
• Note: Many of the functions of this package will not work with the 'New Outlook' interface, as AppleScript is not supported.
• Note: Your institution might have an automatic archival policy. In that case older mail messages that have been archived will not be returned in alfred-outlookSuite queries
• Python3 (howto here)
• Download alfred-outlookSuite latest release

Default settings

• In Alfred, open the 'Configure Workflow' menu in alfred-outlookSuite preferences
• Optional:
  • set the keyword (or hotkey) to launch alfred-outlookSuite (default: olk)
  • set the keyword (or hotkey) to force-refresh the folder list (default: outlook::refresh)
  • set the keyword (or hotkey) to force-the unsnoozing script (default: olu)
  • set your name, so that it can be used in from:me, to:me, and cc:me searches
  • Text to hide in subject Enter here comma-separated text strings that you don't want to see in the 'Subject' result (e.g. [External], etc.), therefore saving important real estate in Alfred's output.
  • Folders to exclude List here, comma-separated, the folders you would like to exclude from the search. Default: Deleted Items.
  • Folders list refresh rate - The folder list is generated periodically (default: 30 days) to improve performance, as folders change less often. Enter your preferred number of days here.
  • Snooze file location - Leave empty if you use this Workflow on one computer (it will be saved in the Workflow's data folder). Enter a shared folder location here in case you want to share the file snoozing information across computers using the same Outlook account.
  • Beeminder info if you use Beeminder to track your inbox, enter your account information here and Alfred will post the number of messages in inbox every time an unsnooze script is run
  • Contact autocomplete Choose between None (no autocomplete, default), AddressBook: autocomplete list generated from the Address Book, or Database: autocomplete list generated from the senders in the database.
  • Saved Queries enter here queries that can be inboked using the sq: trigger. Enter multiple queries in this format: RecentUnread = to:me is:unread since:20, separated by semicolon (;)

Basic Usage 📖

Search your email 🔍

• standard search: one or more search strings will search both the subject of an email, and its preview (first 250 characters).
• gmail-like search strings, listed below, supported (remember to set the MYSELF variable in the Workflow Configuration).
  • from: (including from:me). Replace space with underscore if you want to specify the whole name (e.g. from:john_appleseed)
  • to: (including to:me)
  • cc: (including cc:me)
  • subject:, has:attach, is:unread, is:read, is:important, is:unimportant
  • folder: (note: replace spaces with underscores if the folder name contains spaces, e.g. folder:sent_items)
  • -text to exclude text
  • account: to filter by Exchange account
  • --a to sort by increasing date (oldest first)
  • since:n will return email received in the last n days. w and m are supported for months and weeks, respectively (e.g. since:2w).
  • sq: will open a list of saved queries
• Once an email of interest has been identified, the following actions are possible:
  • ↩️Enter will open the email in Outlook
  • ^-↩️ (control-enter) will show all the messages in the thread
  • ⇧-↩️ (shift-enter) will show in large font (and copy to clipboard) the fields: From, To, Subject, and Preview from the selected email.

Draft a new email ⭐

• use a keyword (default: em) or a hotkey to launch, followed by text. Alfred will create a draft email with subject = entered text, and save it in the Drafts folder.

Email Saving 💾

• use a keyword (default: ols) or a hotkey to launch, while Outloook is the frontmost application and an email is selected.
• Choose the destination folder using Alfred's file filter
• Save your email there. File will be renamed to include date and exclude special characters. A Markdown link to that email is copied to the clipboard.

Email Snoozing 💤

• Make sure you have, or create, a Snoozed folder in your main Outlook account.
• use a keyword (default: olz) or a hotkey to launch, while Outloook is the frontmost application and an email is selected.
• enter the number of days you want to snooze your email. Alfred will show the corresponding date, and the number of emails already snoozed for that date.
• Selecting the result will 1) Snooze the email until the desired date and 2) move that email to the Snoozed folder.
• the checkSnoozed keyword will show in large font (and copy to clipboard) an overview of all the snoozed email (one line per day)
• Unsnoozing will happen once a day, as soon as alfred-outlookSuite is launched. You can force the unsnooze script using a keyword (default: olu) or a hotkey.

Folder database refresh 🔄

• will occur according to the rate in days set in alfred-outlookSuite preferences
• outlook::refresh to force folder database refresh

Limitations & known issues ⚠️

• None for now, but I have not done extensive testing, let me know if you see anything!
• Again, a lot of this will not work with the electron interface (New Outlook). Uncheck New Outlook in the File menu in Outlook to switch to the previous version.

Acknowledgments 😀

• Thanks to the Alfred forum community!
• Thanks to @xeric for the first version and the inspiration to build upon it.
• Abacus icon: https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/abacus_1046277
• Snooze icon: https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/snooze_3602333
• https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/chapter_6348276
• https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/diskette_907027
• https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/save_4371273

Changelog 🧰

• 2023-09-08 version 0.9.4: bug fix
• 2023-06-10 version 0.9.3: contact autocomplete, saved queries
• 2023-06-07 version 0.9.1: support for multiple Exchange accounts
• 2023-06-03 version 0.9: complete rewrite, renamed OutlookSuite
• 2022-12-05 version 0.3 (Alfred 5)
• 2022-06-27 version 0.2 (Python 3)

Feedback 🧐

Feedback welcome! If you notice a bug, or have ideas for new features, please feel free to get in touch either here, or on the Alfred forum.