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Tip: Marking incoming mail

Andreas Arning, WebSphere Process Choreographer Development, IBM Corporation

Andreas Arning works on WebSphere Process Choreographer Development.

Summary: This tip describes a mail agent that indicates if an email was sent to you, if you were copied, if you were blind copied, or if it was sent to a distribution list.

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Date: 01 Mar 2004
Level: Introductory

Activity: 4559 views
Comments:

Do you prioritize your mail according to whether you were included in the To field, the CC field, or the BCC field? If so, then this tip will help you quickly identify the messages that were sent to you directly, that you were copied on, and that you were blind copied on--right from your Inbox. Using a simple agent to mark your incoming messages, you can identify your messages with icons like the following (see the Subject column for the explanations of the icons):

Figure 1. Inbox message with icons

Note: This agent does not affect your subject field.

Creating the Mark Incoming Mail agent in Notes 5

Use a server replica or copy of a mail database and not a local replica or copy for this agent.

In Notes or Domino Designer 5.0.x, open a replica or copy of a mail database. Make sure that you have opened a server replica or copy of the database and not a local copy or replica.
Open the Inbox view, and choose Create - Agent.
In the Agent Properties box, enter Mark incoming mail as the agent name.
Select the Shared Agent option.
In the When should this agent run field, select Before new mail arrives.
Click the Add Action button.
In the Action field, select @Function Formula.
Accept the default option "Update existing document when run."

In the Formula window, copy and paste the following code:

REM "============Assign the icon numbers";
TO1:=3;
TO2:=4;
CC1:=22;
CC2:=21;
BCC:=163;
DISTR:=70;
userName:=@ProperCase(@DbTitle);
REM "============Do not change anything beyond this line";

FIELD _ViewIcon:=_ViewIcon;

tmpvar:=@If(
_ViewIcon!="" &_ViewIcon!=0;0;
@IsDocTruncated; 0;
@ProperCase(@Name([CN];SendTo)) = userName; @If(@Elements(SendTo)=1; TO1; TO2);
@ProperCase(@Name([CN];CopyTo)) = userName; @If(@Elements(CopyTo)=1; CC1; CC2);
BlindCopyTo != ""; BCC;
SendTo+CopyTo != "";  DISTR;
0);
@If(tmpvar = 0; ""; @SetField("_ViewIcon";tmpvar));

Click OK when done.
Save and close the agent and accept the warning that Lotus Notes is unable to determine the execution access privileges for the agent.

Creating the Mark incoming mail agent in Notes 6 and later

Use a server replica or copy of a mail database for this agent and not a local replica or copy of a mail database.

In Notes or Domino Designer 6.x, open a replica or copy of a mail database. Make sure that you have opened a server replica or copy of the database and not a local copy or replica.
Open the Inbox view, and choose Create - Design - Agent or Create - Agent, depending on your menu options.
In the Agent Properties box, enter Mark incoming mail as the agent name.
Figure 2. Agent Properties box
Accept the default Shared option.
In the Runtime field, select Before new mail arrives and close the Properties box.
Keep the default Simple Actions selected and click the Add Action button.
In the Add Action dialog box, select the @Function Formula in the Action field.
Accept the default "Update existing document when run" option.
Copy and paste the code above into the Formula window.
Click OK when done.
Save and close the agent and accept the warning that Lotus Notes is unable to determine the execution access privileges for the agent.

Caveats

Here are a few caveats to note with this tip:

If the name of your database does not match your Notes user ID, then by default, the globe symbol indicating that the message was sent to a distribution list appears in your Inbox.
If you have more than one version of a user ID, such as an Internet and a Notes version, then one version may be misinterpreted, and messages containing that version may be marked as with a distribution list icon when, in fact, there isn't a distribution list.
Your mail server may not allow you to create a server agent.
Your mail server may disable agents for performance reasons.
If you have already defined another agent that runs before new mail arrives, then you cannot run this agent.

Resources

For more information about the Mark incoming mail agent or for alternative implementations to the agent, see the article, "Creating an Inbox assistant."

About the author

Andreas Arning works on WebSphere Process Choreographer Development.

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