Hi there, I wonder how many of us actually us

[Bernard]

Hi there,

I wonder how many of us actually use the "Email launch button"?
It is the recessed one between the power and the Q button.
Apparently all it does is lauching "outlook express" and nothing more.
You cannot change its setting: it is "outlook express" or bust! :-(

Since I do not use "outlook express" , this button is worthless to me...

Any idea from the experts how to overcome that ? How to launch any chosen software?
Amazing that microsoft imposed its own software on a hardware button!
Granted, they do that on keyboards but I do not think it is the same thing.
And while they were at it why didn't they add one for "journal" as well? (I think "pen office" is superior bye the way) :D
Ideas and comments are welcome!

[SCBoneDoc]

Bernard, I hate to answer a question with a question, but my problem is more basic, I push my email button and nothing happens at all!
What's up with that? :(
I have not been able to find any way to check/fix the problem.
So, not only would it be nice to be able to remap the button, but I would like for it to launch Outlook, which I use.

[Kupe]

As I remember it, the button launches your default email program. In my case it launches Outlook. I wish I could programm it to do whatever I want it to do since I never launch Outlook with it.

Kupe

[Andre]

I configured the button to lauch my preferred mail software Pegasus Mail.
As mentioned above the buttons launches the default E-Mail program. Of course it would be great if it could be freely programmable as all other buttons. But the button is not completely useless without using Outlook!

[Bernard]

Hi,

I just stumbled on a very old post that says that "it picks the email program setup under Tools/Internet Options/Programs through IE or the Control Panel".

I did just that and now I have outlook instead of outlook express.
However I was not able to do much more. [xx(]

[mojo17]

Bernad is correct with the configuration. I configured mine to launch Lotus Notes.

[SCBoneDoc]

quote:Originally posted by Bernard

Hi,

I just stumbled on a very old post that says that "it picks the email program setup under Tools/Internet Options/Programs through IE or the Control Panel".

I did just that and now I have outlook instead of outlook express.
However I was not able to do much more. [xx(]


Bernard, you were right, the above gave me option for mail program and I assigned Outlook to my mail button. The drop down window was blank.
Thanks :D

[sivni]

I just found the registry that you can modify as needed to use any application with that email button.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Outlook Express\shell\open\command

I modified the default setting to "c:\program files\Opera\Opera.exe". I use Opera as my default webbrowser and email client.

[mgh730]

Changing the registry is too dangerous. This could have unintended consequences such as changing where windows think outlook express is (for those who want to still use outlook express AND change the button).

I have found that the button on the tablet for mail is exactly the same as the button on those fancy keyboards that have mail buttons. So, all you have to do is change what the "keyboard" mail button does (it's like an extended keyboard on the side of you computer). The easiest and probably one of the safest ways to do this is to download the powertoy from Microsoft's Windows XP website: "Tweak UI for Windows XP". Once you install the program, run it and expand "Explorer" on the left. Then select "Command Keys". On the right, scroll down and find the word "Mail". Click on it: you can now change it to launch any program AND keep your email program's registry safe!

Martin

[sivni]

Even better! Thanks!

[InActive]

This is slightly OT, but the only button I really use is the "Q" [and the toggle just for screen brightness.]

The other ones seem useless to me...

[Gareth Sargeant]

The toggle is great for scrolling in slate mode and pressing for carriage returns in "write anywhere".

I was reading (and tried it) that the e-mail button has the added property of being able to get you out of standby. I'm not too sure why this would be important since the power button right above it will do the same thing but maybe is the power button is configured to hibernate and standby is set to begin in 3 minutes or so and resume from standby is without a password one could make this into a useful feature.

It is strange that this functionality is there without being that useful and without being clearly documented. I wonder is it is part of the Tablet PC spec and Compaq had to make it like that.

[typhoon]

hiya
>>>The easiest and probably one of the safest ways to do this is to download the powertoy from Microsoft's Windows XP website: "Tweak UI for Windows XP". Once you install the program, run it and expand "Explorer" on the left. Then select "Command Keys". On the right, scroll down and find the word "Mail". Click on it: you can now change it to launch any program AND keep your email program's registry safe!

Can you tell me where to find this 'tweak UI for windows XP' programme? I tried looking for it under powertoys, but couldn't find it. Appreciate your help.
Thanks.

[thetadoc]

It's at XP powertoys (not TabletPC powertoys).

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

[thetadoc]

This is terrific. Thanks guys for figuring out a way to use that "Useless" button.


quote:This is slightly OT, but the only button I really use is the "Q" [and the toggle just for screen brightness.]

The other ones seem useless to me...
I use mine to operate a voice recorder... Works great.

http://tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2020&SearchTerms=voice,recorder

[jamescj]

Thanks for the info, I didn't realise that tweakui could do that - I have written a small write-up about this and posted it on my website under "TC1000 tweaks". Thanks everyone! [thumbsup]

[crp]

Sounds like a great use of the Tweak. What would the command be if I want to remap the Mail button to "Standby"? That way, I could have both Hibernate, mapped to the Power switch, and, hopefully, Standby mapped to the Email key.

Thanks,
crp

[jamescj]

quote:Originally posted by crp

Sounds like a great use of the Tweak. What would the command be if I want to remap the Mail button to "Standby"? That way, I could have both Hibernate, mapped to the Power switch, and, hopefully, Standby mapped to the Email key.

Thanks,
crp


Easy, create a script (call it "Standby.vbs", say):

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "^{ESC}"
WScript.Sleep 10
WshShell.SendKeys "us"

Then link the button to this file! [thumbsup]

Note: I know the script works but I haven't tried linking the script to the button, let us know if it works!

[jamescj]

Well I tried linking the script to the button and it worked! However, although the script works everytime on my Thinkpad laptop it seems to be erratic on the TC1000 - sometimes opening the start menu and stopping there - can anyone confirm this?

[campari]

quote:Originally posted by jamescj
can anyone confirm this?



right-click 'open': start menu opens, "run" is activated, then nothing happens

right-click 'open with command line': command line opens, closes, start menu is opened, stop.

system: German Windows XP tablet

[James Sonne]

Modify the script like this and it should work:

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "^{ESC}"
WScript.Sleep 10
WshShell.SendKeys "u"
WScript.Sleep 10
WshShell.SendKeys "s"

It's probably not working properly because the TC1000 is slightly slower and thus the menus don't open in time for the script to active them.

[jamescj]

quote:Originally posted by James Sonne

Modify the script like this and it should work:

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "^{ESC}"
WScript.Sleep 10
WshShell.SendKeys "u"
WScript.Sleep 10
WshShell.SendKeys "s"

It's probably not working properly because the TC1000 is slightly slower and thus the menus don't open in time for the script to active them.

yes that's probably it - although it works 95% of the time without the extra "sleep".

thanks

[malynj]

I found a set of utilities to help with going to suspend and hibernate mode quickly. The visual basic script wasn't working out for me, so I had to search out something different.

http://www.fixup.net/tips/suspend/suspend.htm

I renamed the 'suspend(neverforce).exe' to suspend.exe , and linked the email button to the suspend.exe . Now I can use the email button to suspend, then due to the oddity with the email button I can use it to wake up the laptop.

I then have the power button set for hibernate, which of course doubles to wake up from hibernate.

It would seem the email button is partly setup to resume the system from suspend, then I would assume a program is supposed to know that the email button was used to wake up the system, then start the email program if it isn't running. I would suspect that something in ACPI could be polled for this data just after resuming from suspend. This could be something that didn't work out as planned, or is reserved for a future app or OS version.

I suspect the red flashing power button when the system is off or in hibernate is just to let the user know the system is not in suspend mode, and thus cannot quickly resume. Since you can configure the system to go from suspend to hibernate automatically, this would help the user know that the system has been suspended too long to quickly wake up. One of the odd noises is the harddrive spinning up then powering off before fully spinning up.

I think there is still something missing with the powered-off use of the email button though, possibly some future app that ties into the button, and enables the bios to resume from a powered off state, and then launch that specialized app.

-Jm

[jamescj]

Thanks, I'll post a link to this on my website.