Quinoa Outlook add-in / News: Recent posts

Still improving quality, the project is migrating from access to SQL server CE and from Visual Basic to C#. A tag has been stored in SVN for those who want to play with a working copy of the add-in. the head revision is not complete yet.

In order to improve the project quality, various open-source tools are now being used in the project. These are NUnit, to improve the code quality, WIX to build MSI files for the installer, and NAnt to include unit testing in the build. This means taking time to ramp up on these tools. Nevertheless, don't hesitate sending me your feedbacks!
Cedric.

You can download it right now here: https://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=196454
Quinoa Is Now an Outlook Add-in. An MS Outlook add-in that helps sorting mails in folders. The add-in shows a toolbar that guesses the best suitable folder for a selected (set of) mail(s), to move on request. For more information, the documentation web page contains a walkthrough (http://quinoa.sourceforge.net/doc.html)
With this release, some new buttons appear for more functionnalities (move and go, go), plus icons instead of text buttons. Finally, a release for outlook 2007.

Hi all!
A little word to say that, thanks to the help of the community on MSDN forums, I could understand and solve the issue. I am now working again on the add-in.
Nevertheless, I am facing another unexpected event on the project (otherwise, it wouldn't be funny). A recent feature request was to add some new buttons to the toolbar (with some new behavior, obviously). In order to keep it small, I decided to change all the buttons to icon buttons. And it appears the outlook toolbat components are not natively able to manage icons. Therefore, I'm most likely to write a library that will do the job, unless I find somebody who already did it. In any case, this will delay the next release, although the new feature is implemented.
Stay tuned!

Hi everybody
Bad news: I'm currently facing a major issue in development, which makes my add-in unusable in its current state. I can't even test the smallest improvement. I requested help in some VB forums, but the low level of answers clearly shows that nobody can help at the moment.
I wish I can get through this shortly.

Cedric.

Finally, here is the latest version of Quinoa ! You can download it right now here: https://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=196454
QUinoa Is Now an Outlook Add-in. An MS Outlook add-in that helps sorting mails in folders. The add-in shows a toolbar that guesses the best suitable folder for a selected mail, and moves it on request. For more information, the documentation web page contains a walkthrough (http://quinoa.sourceforge.net/doc.html)
With this release, the user experience is close to the definitive objective : the database is updated in real-time, and there isn't any need now to ask for a scan. Instead, the scan button shows the list of pending folders to be scanned.
Have fun!

Quinoa is a QUick & INtelligent sorting Outlook Add-in. MS Outlook add-in that helps sorting mails in folders. After a scan, the add-in shows a toolbar that guesses the best suitable folder for a selected mail, and moves it on request.
As of now, the project is still in alpha version, meaning some basic features are still missing, and you are most likely to find bugs too.
After some times of inactivity, the project is in progress again. Some little changes are planned such as database update on the fly, quicker start-up (avoiding Outlook latency), removal of the scan button (everything done automatically), some folders excluded from scan (inbox, sent items, ...)
Stay tuned!

Hello all,
In case you want to receive by mail the latest news about Quinoa, you can subscribe to the quinoa users mailing list at https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/quinoa-users The mailing frequency should be quite the same as the news, i.e. around once a month or once every two months.
Have fun!

Quinoa is a QUick & INtelligent sorting Outlook Add-in. MS Outlook add-in that helps sorting mails in folders. After a scan, the add-in shows a toolbar that guesses the best suitable folder for a selected mail, and moves it on request.
As of now, the project is still in alpha version, meaning some basic features are still missing, and you are most likely to find bugs too. For instance, the database isn't yet updated on the fly when you use outlook, so you'll have to scan on a regular basis until next release. Stay tuned!

Hello all,
As you may have noticed, the project didn't show much activity recently. This is because we have faced some issues again when building the setup program.
Currently, Quinoa is built using Microsoft VSTO runtime on a free dev environment (Visual Studio Express). Though this is sufficient for developping personal tools, the environment doesn't allow building setup project itself.
Given the complexity of building a setup project for VSTO projects (already a pain with VS Professional edition), added to the limitation of having Office Pro to get the add-in working, it has been decided to delay again the release of Quinoa, turn the project into an old-school COM add_in and get rid of VSTO.
Sorry again for th einconvenience. Hope to get back to you soon!
Cédric.

Hello all!!!

Quinoa is an outlook add-in that helps users sorting their hundreds mails in their hundreds folders. The concept is proved, and we are close to a first release.

Detailed news :
Quinoa is now working on my PC with an Access database. The idea of using XML database was dropped when I realized I could not use SQL anymore. Instead I went back to the beginnings of the project when Quinoa was an Outlook macro (a long long time ago, in the galaxy far away...;). Anyway, now, it work, and it works fine.... read more

Hello all,

I chose NSIS to make the install, and today the script is done and the install works properly on a computer having all the required components.
Nevertheless, having all these components is quite a heavy process for an end user. Furthermore, I realized that the database could be accessed by several users, one's scan erasing another user's data.

Therefore, I decided to delay the release, the time required to replace the current SQL Server database with a simple XML database.... read more

Hello all!
Just a little word to say that I had a fully working version this morning. A lot of basic features are still missing but the tool does the job.
Next step : build the install so you all can download and use it. I can't hide I long for this to be done too!
Cheers!

Hello all,
A little word to say that I had to stop the development for a while due to lack of time. Plus, I faced several severe issues regarding the development itself. Got stuck on various points impacting productivity.
Although I'm still having a few troubles with data access, the project development goes on again.

An additional information is I have rebuilt the add-in from scratch. Iy first VB .Net try was based on the code of the macro version. This time, the plug-in is brand new and it makes it more efficient.... read more

Hello all!!

The macro version of Quinoa, as a proof of concept, was a great achievement.
It allowed to:
- refide the idea I had about the tool
- find an accurate way to guess target folders
- have a lot of ideas for improvements
Still, it works fine and I use it now every day to sort my mails. I really enjoy it!!!

I have decided not to create any install package for this macro version, as this would either require a lot of development, or a lot of actions on the user side to have it working. Furthermore, this version this version would require having access installed, and some knowledge about VBA projects, which I cant expect each and every user to have.... read more

Hello all!
Here you are! a first version of the Quinoa macro is in CVS.
It creates an access database, scans the Outlook folders, provides 5 proposals for a target folder for the selected mail, based on sender e-mail and subject words, and then moves the mail to the chosen proposal.
Still, there isn't any "live learning" yet while you use outlook, and the install is not the best as you have to copy-paste the code in your VBA. NOt secure also as you have to lower your outlook security level for the macros to run.
That's what I call a first try.... read more

Hello all!
First news for the project!
Things start moving : a few tasks were added in order to keep track of what needs to be done, and some code lines were already written for the macro version. Still, I can't publish them as my proxy at work won't apparently allow connexions to CVS :( Thus things may get hard if I have to check in/out from home and synch with work... In the meantime, don't hesitate mailing me if you want to have it by mail or if you have any proposal for the existing tasks
Cheers!