Outgoing Messages in the Reading Pane Cannot Be Flagged in Outlook 2013

[tmiq]

In case there are others who would like to see Microsoft fix the new feature that allows you to reply/forward to e-mail directly from the Reading Pane in Outlook 2013, please read on.

I posted the following in a TechNet Outlook forum a year ago (1/9/13) in the "Microsoft Office forums > Outlook IT Pro Discussions" under the same title as this thread. The issue was actually acknowledged by Microsoft, but was never corrected and still was not addressed in the 2013 final release of Outlook. If others find this a problem like I do, maybe more people will speak up and Microsoft will listen. The feature I am advocating is a fix that will no doubt appeal to the GTD and the MYN crowds along with others who Flag and categorize outgoing e-mail. Here's the post:

"For discussion sake, this issue of Flagging outgoing messages can be summarized by reviewing these two scenarios:

• When sending an e-mail from outside of the Preview Pane, the Ribbon displays the Tags of Importance and Flags (and the small Message Options link).
  
• When sending e-mail from within the Preview Pane, the Ribbon shows the only Tags of "Importance," but the Flags are missing (but the Message Options link is there).
  

It appears that when the designing of this originate-a-message-within-the-Preview-Pane feature was developed, the ability to Flag outgoing messages was not made available unless you "Pop Out" the message from the Preview Pane. Even if you attempt to customize the Ribbon's Message tab (Compose Tools) by adding the Follow Up Flag command, the Flagging of the outgoing e-mail fails because the original e-mail responded to, or forwarded from is what gets Flagged. There clearly is a flaw in the way this new feature functions."





Okay, well that is the summary. An issue that was clearly and fully documented. If you are a MYN, a GTD'r or simply someone who appreciates being able to Categorize and Flag outgoing messages from the Reading Pane, say something anywhere here or on Microsoft forums.

Thanks!

PS - Full post is at: http://social.technet.microsoft.com...k-2013-technet-preview-versions?forum=outlook

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I'll check with the product team, but part of the problem is that reading pane compose is not fully supported by the object model. SP1 added some programmability to the reading pane, but there is still a lot that is not supported.

 

[tmiq]

I'll check with the product team, but part of the problem is that reading pane compose is not fully supported by the object model. SP1 added some programmability to the reading pane, but there is still a lot that is not supported.

Thanks Diane. I'm confident that those who heavily tag (categorize & flag) outgoing messages would appreciate this being addressed. It seems they simply did not strive to develop the "Compose Tools" Message tab. Once a person becomes aware of this, the more questions it creates. For the life of me, I cannot understand how they overlooked and let this go. That Compose Tools bar was not fully thought through. Most everything on that bar works, but not the "Tags" "Message Options". An easy fix would be to simply add the Flags and Categories to the Tags portion of the tool bar, but that is really an incomplete fix. The Message Options should be linked properly.

I've probably gone into too much detail. Plus, the typical user discovering this problem won't report it. Typically, they just accept it. I am pushing it simply because I really like Outlook and hope Microsoft engineers realize that users really appreciate it when Microsoft pays attention to little details such as what is outlined above. Why? Because we live in the program hour upon hour getting our daily work done. Little well thought out features are appreciated.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If you add the flag command to the qat or to the compose bar, it doesn't work, so there is more to it than just leaving the flag button off the bar.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If you add the flag command to the qat or to the compose bar, it doesn't work, so there is more to it than just leaving the flag button off the bar.

 

[Barry Graham]

I am glad and not glad that I found this. Glad because I have the same issue. Not glad because it seems that it's not going to be fixed!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

You can add the follow-up flag button to the compose ribbon - but it doesn't do much good - when you are composing in the reading pane and set a flag, it flags the message in the message list, not the reply. THat little problem is why it's not available in the Tags group.