Microsoft Outlook + Arthur Online Integrations

In the current business world, it is almost impossible to imagine a functioning office without computers. We use computers for everyday tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, database management and many other functions. In addition, we use computers to communicate with each other through electronic mail and through transfer of files through a network of computers.

Microsoft Outlook is an example of a very popular computer program that organizes electronic mail, appointments and tasks in a single application. It also synchronizes data between a user's computers and his or her cell phone. Another program called Arthur Online is developed by Arthur Software. This program is used to enhance the efficiency of Microsoft Outlook by automating some tasks that are performed on a daily basis. For example, this program can be used to automatically add appointments from email messages into a user's calendar. In this paper I will discuss the benefits of integration of Microsoft Outlook and Arthur Online.

Integration of Microsoft Outlook and Arthur Online

One of the most popular programs that is used to organize electronic mail, appointments and tasks in Microsoft Outlook is called "Calendar" (Figure 1. This is the place where you can schedule your meetings and appointments.

Figure 1. The Calendar in Microsoft Outlook

Another useful feature in Microsoft Outlook is its ability to automatically create task lists based on e-mail messages. This feature is called "Task Wizard" (Figure 2.

Figure 2. Task Wizard in Microsoft Outlook

The problem with these features is that they are not very efficient because the user has to manually modify the information about appointments or tasks that he or she has received via email messages. For example, if you want to take part in a meeting that you have received via email message, you must open your e-mail package, find the email message, click on the link to the meeting and then click on "Respond". The response will be inserted into your calendar or task list. If you forget to respond to the meeting notice, it will be deleted from your calendar or task list after a certain period of time. This method requires a lot of time and effort to process information sent via e-mail messages. This method also does not allow you to conveniently create an agenda for an upcoming meeting by using data from several e-mails at once. Using standard methods you have to select all appointments that are to be added to your calendar or task list, copy them into another document and then process them manually one by one.

A better way to deal with e-mail messages regarding appointments is to integrate them with the calendar or task list directly without having to open another application or copy data from an e-mail message to another application. As stated above, this functionality is available in the commercial program called "Arthur Online". However, there are many free ways to integrate Microsoft Outlook with e-mail programs such as Thunderbird or Evpution. One example is Thunderbird Contacts Sidebar Add-on that allows us to work with our calendar directly from Thunderbird (Figure 3.

Figure 3. Sidebar Calendar in Thunderbird

Another way to integrate Microsoft Outlook with Thunderbird is to use an extension called "Linkback". This extension adds two buttons to Thunderbird - "Send Link" and "Open Linked Message". Using these buttons to send or open e-mail messages will insert or update data about appointments or tasks into the calendar or task list directly from Thunderbird (Figure 4.

Figure 4. Send Link and Open Linked Message Buttons in Thunderbird

Benefits of Integration of Microsoft Outlook and Arthur Online

Integration of Microsoft Outlook and Arthur Online provides several benefits which were not available previously. They include:

• Integration between online calendars and task lists and e-mail applications such as Thunderbird or Evpution allows us to manage data more efficiently than before. For example, we can create items in our agenda for upcoming meetings by viewing and processing appointments and tasks from multiple e-mail messages at once. This saves us time and eliminates errors because we do not have to process information from individual emails separately. In addition, it allows us to update our agenda more quickly than before because we do not need to open separate programs such as Microsoft Outlook to perform certain operations with data such as updating an appointment time with data from an email message. This means we can also avoid making mistakes that might occur when we update information manually in multiple places. 2. It allows us to connect different types of calendars and task lists together and thus conspidates data from different sources into a single location (i.e., the integrated calendar/task list. For example, if we have information about appointments from multiple e-mail accounts, we can view them all in one place instead of opening individual accounts in different programs such as Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird/Evpution. In addition, it is useful for merging data about appointments from different calendar applications such as Google Calendar with our existing calendar or task list. 3. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to automatically import appointments from e-mail messages into our integrated calendar/task list without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 4. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to automatically create new meetings by replying to invitations from different e-mail accounts without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 5. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to easily update information about meetings that we have added into our integrated calendar/task list by replying to invitations from different e-mail accounts without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 6. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to easily add new items into our agenda by forwarding attachments from different e-mail accounts without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 7. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to easily process forwarded emails by extracting emails from attachments without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 8. Integration between e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution and Microsoft Outlook allows us to easily process forwarded emails by extracting an attachment from an email without having to open a separate program such as Microsoft Outlook or copy data from email messages into a separate application such as Excel. 9. Integration between online calendars/task lists and Microsoft Outlook allows us to schedule meetings more easily by adding events directly into our calendar/task list instead of opening an appointment window in Microsoft Outlook first and then adding an event there manually (Figure 5.

Figure 5. Schedule Meeting Options in Microsoft Outlook 2010 10. Integration between online calendars/task lists and Microsoft Outlook allows us to schedule meetings more easily by adding events directly into our integrated calendar/task list instead of opening an appointment window in Microsoft Outlook first and then adding an event there manually (Figure 6.

Figure 6. Schedule Meeting Options in the Integrated Calendar/Task List 11. Integration between online calendars/task lists and Microsoft Outlook allows us to schedule meetings more easily by creating events directly in our integrated calendar/task list instead of opening an appointment window in Microsoft Outlook first and then adding an event there manually (Figure 7.

Figure 7. Schedule Meeting Options in the Integrated Calendar/Task List 12. Integration between online calendars/task lists and Microsoft Outlook allows us to schedule meetings more easily by creating events directly in our integrated calendar/task list instead of opening an appointment window in Microsoft Outlook first and then adding an event there manually (Figure 8.

Figure 8. Schedule Meeting Options in the Integrated Calendar/Task List 13. Integration between online calendars/task lists and Microsoft Outlook allows us to schedule meetings more easily by creating events directly in our integrated calendar/task list instead of opening an appointment window in Microsoft Outlook first and then adding an event there manually (Figure 9.

Figure 9. Schedule Meeting Options in the Integrated Calendar/Task List 14. Integration between online calendars/task lists and e-mail applications such as Thunderbird/Evpution allows us to see our calendars on mobile devices more easily because different calendars are synchronized automatically using synchronization services provided by online calendars/task lists instead of using synchronization software that requires manual intervention during synchronization procedures on mobile devices (Figure 10.

The process to integrate Microsoft Outlook and Arthur Online may seem complicated and intimidating. This is why Appy Pie Connect has come up with a simple, affordable, and quick spution to help you automate your workflows. Click on the button below to begin.