Start Outlook Minimized

[krystian]

Hello,

I'm posting about a problem that many people have come across and has been somewhat solved, but perhaps could be better solved with AutoIt: How to start Outlook minimized (see below for URL references)

The current way to start outlook minimized requires the following (I've verified this is the case with Outlook on Win XP):

• You must create a shortcut, and set it to open minimized.
• You must assure that "Outlook Today" does not appear on startup.
• When you close outlook, You must make sure that Outlook is not maximized, and then Close

  it.

I know how to take care of #1 and #2 through autoit (see code below if you're curious to try out this problem), but can I use AutoIt to do something about #3?

For reference (autoit script code):

$ol_path = RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\OUTLOOK.EXE\", "PATH");
$ol_path = $ol_path & "outlook.exe"; Append the outlook executable
$ol_path = $ol_path & " " & "outlook:inbox";Takes care of #2

; Run outlook
Run($ol_path, "", @SW_MINIMIZE); Takes care of #1

References:

Where MS discusses the problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=251340 (it seems this applies to Outlook 2003 too)

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/...ok.installation

Where the problem has been discussed on newsgroups:

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=o...start+minimized

Edited March 12, 2006 by krystian

[SmOke_N]

You can set Outlook to minimize upon startup from within the application itself... (at least 2003 you can).

Sorry I think I understand:

Opt('WinTitleMatchMode', 2)
Sleep(5000)
$OutLookState = WinGetState('- Microsoft Outlook', '')

If BitAND($OutLookState, 16) Then 
    MsgBox(0, '', 'Outlook is minimized')
Else
    MsgBox(0, '', 'Outlook is not minimized')
EndIf

Edited March 12, 2006 by SmOke_N

[krystian]

You can set Outlook to minimize upon startup from within the application itself... (at least 2003 you can).

I didn't see that option within the application (the only places where I know I can set that are by creating a new shortcut to start outlook minimized or by sending the SW_MINIMIZED arguement to Run(..)

Where can I set that? I took another look through some of the settings and couldn't locate that option.

Edited March 12, 2006 by krystian

[SmOke_N]

I didn't see that option within the application (the only places where I know I can set that are by creating a new shortcut to start outlook minimized or by sending the SW_MINIMIZED arguement to Run(..)

Where can I set that? I took another look through some of the settings and couldn't locate that option.

That was my mistake...

I can't find where to start it minimized, I guess what I was looking at was it hiding to the system tray on minimization. But the above example I gave would work if you were 'running a script'. Other than that I don't know 'yet'.

[MHz]

I've used HideOE, but not HideOutlook, which is created by the same people. Perhaps that may do it ok as you start that program and it should minimize the resilient Outlook to the systemtray.