Toolbars

The features provided by Bells & Whistles are made available though controls or toolbars added in Outlook main window, email windows or inline email editor (introduced in Outlook 2013). Also, there are new entries added to the context menu in Outlook main window.

Outlook main window

After installing Bells & Whistles the main toolbar (or ribbon) in Outlook will have a new tab labeled Bells & Whistles:

• Options: open the settings window for Bells & Whistles.
• Backup/Restore: export or import Bells & Whistles settings including the text templates.
• Reset To Defaults: reset all Bells & Whistles settings to their default values.
• My Metrics: opens a sub-menu with options to create a new metrics report or open a metrics report saved previously.
• Notes: add a note to the selected email.
• Search Notes: find emails with notes containing a given text.
• Send Again: send a copy of the selected email (available only when browsing emails in Sent Items folder).
• Edit and Send Again: open a copy of the selected email in editor from where it can be sent again after making changes (available only when browsing emails in Sent Items folders).
• Email Templates: manage the email templates.
• Add-ins utility: disable or enable add-ins in Outlook.
• Print selection: prints the currently selected content in an email.
• Activate License: opens the window for license activation.
• Buy License: opens the webpage where you can purchase a license for Bells & Whistles.
• Check For Updates: disable or change when Bells & Whistles will check for new versions.
• Help: opens Bells & Whistles documentation in the default web browser.
• Contact Support Service: creates a new email with information about your operating system, Outlook version and add-ins installed to be sent to our support email address.
• Service Support Forum: opens support forum webpage.
• About Us: shows information about Bells & Whistles including the installed version.

After activating a license Activate License and Buy License buttons are replaced with License Details button which opens a window with information about the license (name, email, free upgrades period).

Email windows

Outlook email windows can work in two modes: read-only and edit. In windows showing emails read-only Bells & Whistles adds only a group of controls in standard Message toolbar:

• Notes: add a note to the email.
• Print selection: prints the currently selected content in the email.

In edit email windows a new toolbar will be added:

• Category: switch the active email templates category. Selecting a new category will update the templates available in Templates selector.
• Template: select a template in the current category.
• New: create a new template in the selected category (the category can be changed in the template editor).
  • New template from selection: create a new template from the content currently selected in the email editor (click the bottom half of New button to access this command).
• Edit: opens the currently selected template in editor.
  • Update template with selection: replaces the content of the currently selected template with the content from the selection in the email editor (click the bottom half of the Edit button to access this command).
• Insert: inserts the content from the currently selected template at the cursor position in editor.
• Insert HTML: insert content from an HTML file at the cursor position in editor.

The last selected category and template will be automatically selected next time an email editor window is opened. For easier access the contents of this toolbar can be moved into a group of controls in Message toolbar by enabling Message tab option in email templates manager.

Inline email editor

When editing a reply or forward directly in Outlook main window Bells & Whistles adds a new toolbar with the same controls as the one for email windows (edit mode). As in the case of email windows (edit mode) if the option Message tab was enabled in email templates manager then the controls will be added in Message toolbar.

Simplified toolbars

Starting with Outlook 2016 the toolbars or ribbon can be switched between classic and simplified mode which can hide some of the controls depending on the window width. When in simplified mode the rest of the controls in a toolbar can be accessed through the three dots button on the right side (highlighted in red):

To switch between simplified and classic modes use the toggle button on the far right (highlighted in blue).

Context menu

The context menu (the menu displayed after right-clicking on an email) in Outlook main window is extended with these options:

• Move/Block Emails from Sender: opens the window with settings for creating an Outlook rule to move or delete emails received from an email address or domain.
• Bells & Whistles Notes: add a note to the selected email.
• Email to Task: create a new task with the content of the selected email.