The Outlook & Sync blog

ReplyButler 1.32 is finally out now.

As announced, the new version includes some great new features: You can assign hotkeys to text modules, text module folders and to all important system functions (like the context dialog).

And you now have a search dialog. Don’t remember where you put the text? Simply run the search dialog from the context menu, type one or more words and you’ll find your boilerplate.

Click here to go to the ReplyButler Homepage.

ReplyButler is on “Bits du jour” today, so you can get the Business Edition for an amazing $19,99! Check their website for the details.

Yet another Preview for ReplyButler? Yes, the next release is going to include some big changes.

ReplyButler already includes an automatic search feature in the “Context” menu, that automatically choose text modules that might match the current e-mail. The new release will contain an explicit search menu. Call it from here:

And it looks like this:

Pretty straightforward. Enter one or more search terms and you’ll get a list of text modules that matches them in conditions, headline or text.

It’s not published yet, but you can try the current version (with the context-menu) here: Homepage ReplyButler.

Next release of our text module software will include a nifty new feature, requested by several customers. Hotkeys will be added to the next release of ReplyButler. They’ll not only allow you to call specialized dialogs like the options, the context or the addressing menu. (As it can be seen in the screenshot.)

But they’ll also be available as shortcut to any boilerplate or boilerplate folder that you have in your text collection and that you often use to answer your support e-mails. If you don’t insert a text in the text module dialog, you can still use the shortcut to change the subject line to a predefined subject or add attachments to the e-mail.

If you already want to give the current version a try have a look at the replybutler page.

Text modules can be assigned icons in ReplyButler. This helps you organize (and recognize) your canned texts. And here’s a glimpse on how that will look like in the next release:

Quite a lot eh? We’ve added quite a few and reorganized the old icons into some new groups. So, if you want to send a customer a compressed document and have a text module explaining how to handle such a file, simply assign the matching icon (in the topright corner) to that text and it will be easier for you to find it again.

Click here to have a look at the current version of our text module software ReplyButler.

In the past weeks we’ve been collecting boilerplates (text modules) that are useful for doing Software Support and answering customer e-mails.

Now, we’ve published them and you can download our collection of 55 text modules that can be used directly in Outlook, conveniently organized in 18 folders.

So, even if ReplyButler isn’t Freeware, these text modules are. And you can even use them in ReplyButler after the ReplyButler’s 30-day trial period has expired.

Dowload the text modules for Outlook.

A new release for our Outlook helpdesk software is available: ReplyButler. 1.30.

The new release has a lot of new features and improvements:

• Text modules can now contain e-mail attachments
• The addressing phrases can be quickly reconfigured
• There more icons available
• It’s faster

You can get the latest release on the Download page.

Our software ReplyButler is able to store (very complex) text modules in form of text module library. Each library equals a file on your harddisk.

If you’re using ReplyButler in a team environment you may know that you can store the library files on a network drive. ReplyButler can handle this and share access between the instances running.

But what if you’re using a laptop that’s not always connected to the network? No problem you can use your Outlook text modules there, too. Simply use Easy2Sync for Files to synchronize the .ClipTextLib files between the computers. If you all of your text module libraries are stored in the same folder on your harddisk (would be a good idea anyway), then even the Freeware Edition of Easy2Sync for Files can do this.

So far, our canned text software for Outlook, ReplyButler, was represented by a demo video and some images in the blog. Time for an improvent, so we added a nice screenshot gallery.

Now there are 20 screenshots showing the options, the menu, the text module dialog and the canned text library.

Here’s a sample:

To see more, please visit the Screenshot pages.

Outlook is a great e-mail client, but shorthand text modules are not its strong suit. Some people suggest to use text expansion macros, but remembering them isn’t easy either, especially if you have a lot of text modules. (Most people who work in software support do.)

ReplyButler, can not only answer your e-mails with the right name, it also stores text modules. For this, it includes a new dialog bar, where you can see your text modules in a menu structure. Simply Ctrl+Click any of these items to add a new text module. (Or just click it to access the menu structure of your boilerplate texts.)

ReplyButler also allows language-specific text modules, variables, etc. But, then, that will be blogged on a different day.

Please click here to try ReplyButler’s text moules in Outlook.

Yes, version 1.29 is out and brings some improvements and bug fixes. It’s amazing how many detatils there are to consider and what variaty of things people write into the field where their name should go (making the work for ReplyButler difficult).

So, the name and language recognition where improved in this release once again to give you the perfect help desk experience. If YOU encounter one of these problem e-mails when doing your e-mail support with ReplyButler, please drop us a line and include the problem e-mail and we’ll get YOUR special case fixed, too.

(This artcle was previously published in the ASPects regarding ReplyButler, but now I’ll make it available to everyone.)

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRODUCT

Did I catch you? Great, here are a few things you should consider when choosing the right boilerplate software for you.

1. Subfolders (Multiple levels)
These are absolutely essential if you want to stay organized.

2. General or integrated
If you plan to use boilerplate only in your e-mails you might want to look for a product that can be integrated into your mail client, making the texts easier to access. If you want to use it in other places, too (software development perhaps?), you should use a program than can cooperate with all applications on your PC.

3. Multi-Language
If you speak more than one language and answer support mails in the other language(s) you’ll find it useful to have your boilerplate text in multiple languages.

4. Multi-User
If your company is not a one-man-show, you’ll probably want to share your canned text with other persons. You could probably just copy the configuration files around, but it would be easier if the program supports a multi-user environment from the start.

5. Icons
You’ll probably look down on this point. But I’ve found it very useful because it’s easier to memorize an image than a text.

Good luck with your boilerplate!

Thomas Holz is the owner of www.itsth.com, a company offering the “Easy2Sync” file- and Outlook synchronization tools as well as the boilerplate software for Outlook “ReplyButler“.

(This artcle was previously published in the ASPects regarding ReplyButler, but now I’ll make it available to everyone.)

ADVANCED BOILERPLATE ISSUES

If the boilerplates really become useful for you and your collection grows, you’ll face a different problem. Finding a text you’ve written months ago. That’s why you have to organize and maintain your texts. Giving the texts short headlines is essential and folders are very handy, too.

If you do support in multiple languages, you’ll probably want to use the same text in these languages, too. This can be difficult with most boilerplate products, as they don’t support it. As a workaround you can use folders or prefixes (or postfixes) with the language name in the headline (like “EN – Install problem”). But it’s important to use the same headline for the same issue, no matter what language the response is in. Otherwise you’ll constantly look for the wrong text. (Another mistake that I already made.)

The English language isn t very picky when it comes to addressing a person, but other languages offer more choices than simply “you”. Depending on your language and communication policies you may even want to store the same text in different styles: formal and informal. Otherwise you might easily end up with addressing somebody with his last name in the greeting phrase and using an informal addressing (“tu” in Spanish, for example) in the boilerplate. Sometimes texts are basically the same for several products or vary in other minor issues. So it makes sense to use one single boilerplate here and just fill in the gap when you re inserting the text.

Some boilerplate programs can ask for the gap text. If yours doesn t, simply use a placeholder like ######. The hash marks are great because you can very easily see them and it s less likely that you send out a mail where you didn t fill in the gap.

(This artcle was previously published in the ASPects regarding ReplyButler, but now I’ll make it available to everyone.)

They have many names. The dictionary calls them boilerplate text, but you ll also find them as stationery, AutoText, templates, canned text or text macros. The idea is always the same: Type a text once-use it many times. This article is about why they are useful for software support and how to get the most out of them.

Customers are asking questions. And chances are that they’ll ask you the same questions over and over again (probably ignoring any FAQ). And you’re typing the same answers again and again. You don’t? Sure? Test it! For the next twenty answered mails, pause for a second and think if you didn’t write that answer (complete or in parts) before. You’ll see that it happens more often than you thought. Still, you probably refrain from storing these texts in some form, because of the extra work this causes. Organizing the texts, choosing a wording that can easily be reused later for another customer, etc. But this work quickly pays off; you just have to start it. And the more boilerplate replies you have ready, the more time you can save, you’ll see.

As a side-effect, you ll probably also deliver the answers to customers quicker than you used to. Since canned text makes answering e-mail easier, you re less likely to procrastinate the answers.

Boilerplate has another advantage. Customers sometimes are unfriendly or simply write stupid things. It’s tempting to let your feeling go wild and write a hefty response. That may be satisfying for the moment, but it will definitely backfire. Trust me, I already made that mistake. If you have a boilerplate response to handle the customer’s issue (written in a friendly tone) it’s much easier to give the customer a professional reply.

Furthermore, a boilerplate library makes it easier for other persons to do your support work. Either while you’re on holiday or if you permanently give the support job to somebody else. This way they have to know less about your products and your company policies because they can just use pre-written texts.

Creating and using your boilerplate forces you to organize and categorize your support cases. This will also make it easier for you to see what the typical questions are that the people keep asking. That s very valuable knowledge. Perhaps you can change your product or website to make these issues clearer even before the customer has to write you an e-mail?

Organizing your canned texts for more efficient e-mail handling is great, but when you have lots of text, finding the right one can be a problem. (Even if you use the ReplyButler feature of organizing them in folders.)

For this problem ReplyButler has a great feature: The “Context” menu!

That is a new menu item that you will see your answer window in Outlook. Click on it and ReplyButler will display a lists of canned texts that could be useful to answer the current mail:

Automatically.

It’s great, have a try.