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Everyone uses email. It doesn't matter what language you speak,
how old you are, or whether you are at home or at work. Most people
can't go more than a few hours without checking their email. The
problem with email is that it is always so bland. If you spend
some time at it, you can make an email that is full of colour,
shapes, and images, but it isn't as easy as it should be. Emeris
Technologies has tried to do something about this by releasing
Annotis
Mail.
Annotis email is an add-in to Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft
Outlook Express. The toolbar is available in the same way that
the Formatting and Standard Toolbars are available. It looks like
this:
- Highlighter
- With the highlighter active, when you click on a word
or many words, they will be highlighted in the chosen colour.
This allows you to emphasize important ideas or comments.
- You can also highlight individual letters in a word. You
have total flexibility in what you highlight.
- Note
- These sticky notes can be placed anywhere in the email.
- It shows the name of the person who created the note,
as well as the date the note was created. Then the note
itself can contain as much text as you need.
- A note can be resized to your specifications.
- Power Note
- The Power Note combines the Highlighter and the Note.
- With the Power Note, you highlight something in the email,
and a note will be created in the same colour as the highlighted
section.
- Pen
- The Pen is just what it you'd think... a pen.
- You can "write" with it any comments that you'd
like, even your own signature.
- Stamps
- These are my favourite. You choose a phrase from the stamp
menu, and then stamp it on your email.
- The program comes with several generic ones.
- You can download extra stamps from the Annotis.com
web site
- You can also create your own stamps on the Annotis.com
web site
The screenshot below shows a sample message.
- I used the Highlighter to highlight "very interesting
program".
- I created a Note.
- I included the "For Review" stamp.
If you have an HTML capable email client, then you will be able
to read Annotis
Mail annotated emails fine. There are some problems while
viewing the messages from a web-based client like Yahoo! and HotMail.
Emeris has
developed an addin for Internet Explorer that allows it to work
in both Yahoo! and HotMail. It works well. As the page loads,
the attachments are displayed below the message as if the viewer
isn't installed, but as soon as it finishes loaded, it changes
to the proper view.
Conclusion
When I first obtained the program, I received version 1. I expected
it to have some bugs, or to be a little flakey, and it was. The
program is in its infancy, and it has already been improved with
the release of version 1.1. Everything works as advertised, and
if you can create an email message without Annotis
Mail, then you will certainly be able to use Annotis
Mail.
The only problem I had with the program is that the messages
always seemed to be too wide. When you send the message, the program
converts the annotations into layers the width of the screen that
you originally composed the message in. I either use a resolution
of 1280x1024 or 1600x1280, and when I compose a message in full-screen,
the recipient receives a message that is that wide. They have
to scroll to the right to see the entire message. This is a minor
inconvenience when viewing the message on the screen, but is a
major inconvenience when printing as it cuts off everything that
won't fit on the page. I expect that this will be resolved in
future releases.
The price is very reasonable at only $24.95
US. If you don't print a lot of messages (or at least the
messages that will have Annotis
Mail annotations), then I would highly recommend the product.
I almost never print email messages, and since I use a high resolution,
I don't have a problem reading messages. There is a free 30-day
trial, so using it during this period should indicate whether
this problem will stop you from buying the program.
Overall, Annotis
Mail is a great program. It adds "life" to your
emails, and everyone who I have sent annotated messages to wants
to know how I did it!
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