I'm finishing up a Mailchimp template and Gmail is the biggest headache now.
In my head I have some styles (css) and media queries. If I put the media-queries at the bottom - it stops most of the styles from getting through. If I put the media queries at the top - all my styles work perfectly but the mail looks "broken down" (like it should under 600px width / Mobile) like the media queries already kicked in.
Firstly I didn't think Gmail should read anything inside of a media-query and secondly why are is my mail shown "responsive" when I have full browser width?
---- on a side note ---- I know I can go through everything and add inline styles but, I have three templates and I'd rather not if I can get away with it :)
I found out through extensive google-ing that I'm not the only one in the world that had this (weird) problem. I quote Lucas Mainardi below that posted an answer to a similar problem for Outlook.com.
Basically, putting an extra style tag with your media queries just before the closing body tag will fix things.
I've tested on my devices (gmail, iphone, thunderbird) and it doesn't seem to do any damage for clients that didn't have problems before. I'm also waiting for my Mailchimp inbox inspections to finish (where I test more clients like Outlook, Android etc). I'll edit my answer if it seems to do any harm, otherwise consider this a solution.
Hello James,
In the comments bellow I posted a possible solution to this issue in Outlook.com.
The problem seems to be the area in which the email is loaded. Apparently, the area starts out in a small size and is resized a few seconds later, but in that time the media queries fire up and display the mobile version. This is because the media queries are read first in the hierarchy of the code (they're at the head section) and the HTML email is read second.
The solution I found is to place the style section which contains the media queries after the HTML e-mail, specifically right above the closing body tag.
I tried this out in Litmus and all seemed to work just fine across the board (no other browsers/mobile devices/e-mail servers seem to be affected negatively, displaying the exact same version of the email with the styles in the head section).
Taken from http://emailwizardry.nightjar.com.au/2013/08/28/media-queries-in-html-email-cover-all-your-bases/
my emails in Thunderbird (V 17.0.2 on Win 8) are sorted by date, the newest mails are on the bottom of the inbox-list.
I want this behavior: As soon as new emails show up in my inbox, the inbox-list shall directly scroll to the newest emails on the bottom of the inbox list. Currently new incoming emails are added to the inbox-list in the correct date-order BUT the list does not auto-scroll to the last (newest) element in this list. I always have to manually scroll down to see the new incoming emails as they are just below my second-newest emails from my previous mail-fetch.
Alternative way to solve my problem and to clarify: After the email-fetch-task has finished, I would need a plugin that automatically presses the END-key on the keyboard (above the cursor keys).
Is it possible to enable this behavior maybe by a special config-flag in "about:config" (edit configuration)?
Thank you a lot!!!
Thomas
At this moment the behavior reported is a know bug xref bugzilla #539468 and there is not much to do
I have a template which i used for sending emails written purely in hand made with css, and then i tested in Firefox/InternetExplorer/Chrome browser. But when i send that email to My boss PC as he is always Microsoft outlook user.
He always gets the alignment broken, texts broken all problems start. My question is how do you really write then? None of the web browser showing my template wrong.
I searched a lot, but most answers are not deeply and correctly well answered about this. I would really appreciate some experts input on this.
Thanks
outlook uses an older version of Trident, the CSS rendering engine. Depending on what Outlook your boss is on, the worse it can get. Outlook 2010 actually reverted to an older version of Trident because of Microsoft losing the Anti-trust case with the EU, so whatever version was before 2010 actually renders better, however they are both quite subpar # best.
you're going to want to literally stop developing with modern html/css and fall back on old school table layouts. i know, its gross, but you're going to have to do it for email.
the best tests are native, but if you don't have access to both versions (not many do) you should check out EmailOnAcid.com, they provide a plethora of email clients you can test on.
constantcontact.com, mailchimp.com and campaignmonitor.com all offer more than testing services if you need anything else.
Outlook 2007 is the bad guy. Any newer or older is much better. In Outlook 2007 lots of CSS commands don't work.
See this page: http://www.email-standards.org/ for details.
However, try sending your emails to Gmail.com and see how it gets displayed in Gmail web interface - Gmail is quite restrictive and as a rule of thumb, if it displays nicely, it should look good in other web clients too.
Some advice regarding HTML emails:
Outlook
It is good to provide width for Outlook, otherwise the CSS may crash.
Outlook doesn't support padding for <div>s / <p>s, float and various other things.
Gmail
For Gmail, you should use inline CSS in preference to defining classes.
Gmail actually parses CSS provided by you and for instance, changes height to min-height so using height is useless. However min-height of <td> is not respected by the browsers, so internal <div>s inside <td>s can be used to assure that min-height was applied.
Gmail strips background images, and generally in all email clients images are displayed upon user request for security reasons. Therefore, wrap images with <div> and set background color and color of this outer div, and provide alt (alternative text) for image (note also that images with empty src do not preserve width and height while rendered by the browser).
I've seen several posts about DropDownLists getting cleared, or events not getting fired, but they don't seem to match this situation.
I've got (well I've reduced the problem to) a very simple asp.net website, a master page with a content page. The content page has a single DropDownList with AutoPostback set to True. The code behind updates a Label with the list's selected value. Not using UpdatePanel or AJAX (though I tried using them and I get exactly the same results). It's an intranet site using Windows authentication.
It works fine on IE and Chrome, but every time I try it on my iPad it just sits and spins. The postback appears to be happening, but either nothing's coming back (or being accepted) from the server, or the client just doesn't know how to finish things up, or I don't know what.
Sorry if this seems vague but I've spent two hours on Google and haven't come up with anything other than the fact that a simple page like this should work fine on an iPad, so I'm a little punchy.
Anybody got any pointers or ideas?
EDIT: Running this page through the remote web access portal my company uses, it works fine. So this may be an authentication problem between the iPad and IIS.
Not sure I have an answer but do you have the issue if you remove the DropDownList? If you need to build the list based on data maybe you could use a asp:repeater and build a html select list.
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Every software development professional (and especially project managers) has to deal with a never ending stream of e-mails. What is the best way of organising them in MS Outlook?
Obviously some fancy issue tracking tools give more flexibility but I am interested in plain vanilla approach that can be deployed within most organisations.
P.S. Finding e-mails is generally the least of the problems that needs to be addressed. Search nowdays is pretty good.
Within my main inbox I have 3 sub folers: Do, Done, Defer and 3 macros to move the selected folder into the relevent folder. (alt-1 moves the selected mail to done and then selects the next mail). Each day I quickly filter my inbox into the three folders. I can process several hundred mails in 20 mins or so.
Do, something I expect to process today.
Done, something I don't care about/have read and understood, I dont expect to refer back to these today.
Defer, something I will do something about but not today.
At the end of processing I expect my inbox to be empty.
At the end of the day all mail items in Do move to Defer (I dont want to keep things in
Done overnight).
At the start of the day all items in Defer are filtered using the rules above, I dont want to leave things in Defer for more then a day or 2. If stuff hangs around for too long I will add it to my diary to process later.
At the end of the day all mail in Done is copied into an archive folder based on the month/year. Done is just a parking place for things to be archived.
I use a tool to index my archive, I actually use X1 but google desktop is an excellent alternative.
I filter out any important facts i would like to refer back to in outlook notes.
I filter out any tasks I would like to recal into omni focus (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/) the best GTD I have found.
I DO NOT EVER use my inbox as a todo list or a mechanism for recording subtle facts I want to recall later. I know a lot of people do but IMHO its just a bad way to be.
(cross posted to LJ).
EDIT.
Oh per a post above I also filter any mail not posted to me directly, by the mailing list the mail was sent to. I give different amounts of attention to each mailing list. I do follow the mechanism above for each mailing list but some I glance at and some I process in detail.
ReEDIT
In comments I was asked to provide the source for the macros I mentioned above. I DONT suggest this is seen as an example of good VBA, I am pretty sure it was sourced from the interweb and adapted for my purposes. It has worked reliably for many years.
Sub MoveToDone()
On Error Resume Next
Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder
Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem
Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Done")
'Assume this is a mail folder
If objFolder Is Nothing Then
MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"
End If
If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then
'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected
MsgBox "No msgs selected", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "NO_MSG_SELECTED"
Exit Sub
End If
For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then
If objItem.Class = olMail Then
objItem.Move objFolder
End If
End If
Next
Set objItem = Nothing
Set objFolder = Nothing
Set objInbox = Nothing
Set objNS = Nothing
End Sub
Depending on the amt of mail you receive I have 2 strategies that can be used together:
1) As most people suggest above, use your inbox as your todo list, and keep it clean. have 1 folder for Archived mails, and use all the search tools for searching!
2) If you get HUGE amts of mail, then use a filter to move mails that you are only CC'ed on to another folder. Then only check that folder N times a day ( I used N=3, morning, lunch & home time )
You will be amazed how much time it saves you, esp if you find that you feel drawn to reading mails that are in your Inbox trying to keep you Inbox clean.
This stop non-urgent mails from disrupting your flow, and is just quicker because you can now read the entire thread of the conversion by the people who were in the TO list.
HTH
any email that is auto-generated gets auto-filtered to its own folder. Separate folders for each project, and more for HR and general company junk. Basically the inbox should only contain things that need responses, once responded to messages move into a folder.
I keep anything that needs my attention in my Inbox and move everything completed to my Saved Folder.
I have just started using Categories as of Monday and I think they are something that more people need to be aware of.
I have a few rules which detect Project Names from the Subject and auto assign to the correct Category with my Inbox set to Group by Category.
Finally I use Google Desktop for Searching - much quicker and easier although does not like me moving my messages to my Saved Folder.
Install LookOut, leave everything in the Inbox and just search for stuff.
Ok, maybe do some organisation, but LookOut is pretty good, and the better the search, the less manual organisation you have to do, and that is a Good Thing, IMO.
i use folders!!! we usually get tasks which have unique number!! so folders are named after task numbers!!
Finished task's folders move to archive!! simple and yet powerful! I found it useful and following it for the past 3+years
I simply have two folders: my inbox, and a subfolder called "archive". My inbox is my todo-list. If any message needs further attention, or has some action that needs to be completed, or I'm waiting for an answer for something, it stays in the inbox. If it's handled, I move it to the archive.
Therefore, if it's in the inbox, it reminds me of the stuff that I still need to do everytime I check my e-mail.
Search indexing in Outlook with Vista makes searching through e-mails just as much fun as it is with Google Mail, so you can apply the same strategy as they did. Why delete an e-mail?
Also, I turn off auto-archiving and keep all e-mails local with me.
I use the same principles as this GTD article - link text
Essentially, I keep my Inbox clear, and move everything to the folders as mentioned in the article. Search is good enough these days that you don't need endless sub-folders.
Everybody seems to suggest folders; I suggest Categories.
I have 1 active pst and 1 pst per archived year, every mail is assigned one or more categories. Adjust folder view to group by category.
The main advantage is that you can assign several categories to a single mail.
Everything that still needs attention is in the inbox without categories.
Oh yes, and Rules! As already mentioned, rules for automated emails, as well as a rule for known senders, which files incoming mail into a special inbox folder.
Folders! Nice and simple.
I have found these to be invaluable over the years to help organise a separate emails on a customer or project basis. Even when there's multiple parties involved i only have to look in 2 folders at most to find what i'm after.
Edit: Similar to what tloach said, i use the inbox essentailly as a todo list of things i still need to look at.
1 folder per project.
1 folder for personal mails.
1 folder for support.
Inbox for most other things.
I usually set up rules to auto-direct mail into the right folders.
Files and folders, auto-filtering and a small inbox (i.e. Inbox Zero) are all good practices, but ultimately it's all about being able to find emails when you need them and for that there's only one answer for Outlook at the moment.
Install Xobni.
I use Windows Desktop Search.
I have a huge offline PST where I move everything, and I can easily find anything by searching.
Use folders - one for each subject ex. project X, Marketing, Personal, TODO etc.
I use Xobni as well to quickly find emails from specific sender.
Two "Special" folders: "Inbox" for emails sent to me and "Inbox-CC" for emails I'm CC'd. New emails arrive to one of those folders and then I decide where to store them.
Merlin Mann has spent a load of time exploring this as Inbox Zero. There's a great video presentation at Google which is well worthwhile watching.
I'm an extreme sorter and have had an interesting time reorganizing my boss's email patterns - she gets 500 emails per day. After spam. And requires that all of her email remain in Outlook (meaning transferring, say, emails form 2001 into an archive file is out). It's still an organic process, but the most effective, and most easily adopted by her, have been to:
1) Use folders to separate functional areas. For example: A Company or Work folder containing Contracts (with a subfolder for each active contract), Business Development (proposals/leads), and Personal Development (education and conference materials, receipts, etc). Outside of the Company folder is a Personal folder for non-work related emails.
My only rule of thumb is embrace the use of folders, but don't go crazy with the subfolders. It's one thing to separate your M&Ms from your Snickers and Dairy Milks, another to separate the colors of your M&Ms.
2) Categories suck. They are not labels or tags. They are deficient. That said, there's little else that can help you highlight/color emails except maybe flags in Outlook 2003. I have a rule set up to categories any email that is sent from other employees within the company, so they don't get overlooked.
Once that's done: Rules, Rules, Rules. I haven't found a limit. I've got all manner of highly refined Spam filters first, followed by News filters that move all the lists and newsletters and RFP announcements to a news folder and mark them as read (unread messages denote priority and require attention; news is optional - it's procrastination, not work). Then there is a rule for each contract filtering any email from the customer domain to the appropriate contract folder.
And of course I would say read Inbox Zero (specifically this one) and Email Zen and take what nuggets of goodness mean the most to you before proceeding.
I just keep it all in my Inbox and let it auto-archive. That way I can sort and search the Inbox to find anything. Google Desktop Search helps too.
I know some people who fastidiously reassign their emails into a huge hierarchy of folders. They can never find anything more than 2 days old! "Maybe I put it under Project X; no, maybe under Oracle Issues; no, ..."