Outlook should have "no subject" prompt for people who forget to .

[Guest]

I keep forgetting to include my subject with Outlook. I'm sure that the older
version used to prompt me for this as I was sending my message. Is there an
update or something that I can install that will prompt me for this?
Apparently it is a feature of Outlook Express, but I'm used to Outlook.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

this can be coded into Outlook.

 

[Vanguardx]

I keep forgetting to include my subject with Outlook. I'm sure that
the older version used to prompt me for this as I was sending my
message. Is there an update or something that I can install that will
prompt me for this? Apparently it is a feature of Outlook Express,
but I'm used to Outlook.

The requirement that there even be a Subject header would violate RFC
2822, Internet Message Format, section 3.6, Field Definitions
(http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc2822.html#sec-3.6). The
To, Cc, Subject, Reply-To, Bcc, and some other fields are optional.
They may appear zero (0) or one (1), or more, times. They are part of
the *data* of the sender's message and are not used in the commands the
e-mail client sends to the SMTP server (except as part of the text sent
during the DATA command). To enforce a non-blank Subject field would
violate Internet standards an impose an arbitrary program-specific
behavior (i.e., like OE catching unintentional usage).

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill,
How do I code it into Outlook?

this can be coded into Outlook.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

I had the code here but can't locate it. Try the Outlook programming group.

 

[Vanguardx]

I had the code here but can't locate it. Try the Outlook programming
group.

Maybe something is over at Sue Mosher's (MVP) site. Not her old one at
http://www.slipstik.com that Diane Poremsky now owns but the one about
Outlook coding. Hold on ...

.... looks like that would be http://www.outlookcode.com/.

 

[Guest]

For reference, in Outlook 2003, you can put VBA code like this in to warn you
before sending a message with no subject. Place this code in the
"ThisOutlookSession" module:

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
If Item.Subject = "" Then
Cancel = True
If MsgBox("Are you sure you want to send a missive with no
subject?", vbYesNo, "No subject") = vbYes Then
Cancel = False
End If
End If
End Sub

This works for me, but it sometimes hides the messagebox behind the email
you're trying to send, so it may look like Outlook is hung up (you'll find
the message box if you select the main Outlook window on the task bar).

Of course, it sucks that I even have to write this code. I just wrote it
now because I realized that I sent an email to a customer with no subject,
and this customer is considering buying about $25,000 worth of stuff from us,
so I'd like to look better than that. So far as I know, Outlook is the only
major mail program that doesn't warn about blank subjects. My eight line
snippet above shows how simple it is, so why wasn't this done years ago?