Introducing CyberSecretary
SITUATION
WANTED – Virtual office assistant, experienced with handling Microsoft
Outlook calendars, contacts, journals and tasks; managing files and electronic
mail; using the Internet. Quick learner. Friendly, personable, efficient,
and punctual. Willing to work weekends or overtime for no extra pay; does
not require vacations. |
Hello. Let me introduce
myself. I’m your new CyberSecretary –
your first virtual office
assistant. If you use Microsoft Outlook,
you’ll find me to be very
efficient and useful at managing your
electronic mail, calendar,
contacts, tasks and journal.
And if you have an Internet
connection, there’s even more
that I can do! I’m looking
forward to working for you.
CyberSecretary is the first electronic virtual office assistant.
We’re all using personal computers more, but many of us find that even
with personal computers, we find it hard to stay organized, and often need
the benefit of a human assistant to keep us straightened out. We also often
find that personal computers depersonalize tasks, taking away the human
touch.
CyberSecretary aims to solve both of these problems, providing an organized
assistant who will always be available to perform whatever tasks you need,
and can perform tasks automatically as well. Unlike other automation programs,
CyberSecretary does this with a decidedly human touch, putting the face
in User Interface! Your CyberSecretary doesn't need vacations or breaks
and will work whatever hours you work.
Your CyberSecretary is trained on Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word,
and is adept at managing your calendar, your contacts, your electronic
mail and your documents. Your CyberSecretary is also trained and experienced
in getting information from the Internet, from news to stock prices to
search engines to Dilbert!
What's
more, it's easy to teach your CyberSecretary new tasks. Simply right-click
on any program, document or Internet shortcut and send it to your CyberSecretary's
inbox . . . she'll come right away to learn what you'd like her to do,
and when and how you'd like her to do it.While it's easy to use your CyberSecretary,
her capabilities are almost unlimited.
CyberSecretary comes with a complete built-in scripting language which
an advanced user can use to customize, fine-tune and extend her capabilities.
You don't need to know the scripting language to use CyberSecretary, but
the complete documentation is right here, and will help you get the most
out of your CyberSecretary.
Overview
CyberSecretary's capabilities are defined by scripts which define
the task(s) to be performed, buttons to be displayed, lists to be presented,
messages to be shown, etc. Scripts can be created automatically as
easily as right-clicking on any document, program, folder or shortcut and
sending it to your CyberSecretary's desk tray. (If you have Internet
Explorer 4 or Windows 98 installed, you can even right-click on items on
your Start Menu or Favorites Menu!) Your CyberSecretary will come
right away to learn how and when to perform the task. Yet scripts
can be very powerful, featuring conditional branching and other advanced
features. Scripts are easily edited, and you can edit the current
script simply by right-clicking on your CyberSecretary's dialog box.
Scripts can run one or more commands including:
-
Displaying web pages.
-
Opening documents.
-
Launching programs.
-
Sending web pages or files to any Outlook folder or any mail recipient.
-
Getting stock prices or street maps from the Internet.
-
Creating documents from templates and merging Outlook contact data.
-
Performing dozens of other useful tasks in Outlook, including displaying
Outlook folders, creating Journal entries, saving mail messages as files,
printing message attachments, etc.
CyberSecretary scripts can be triggered in numerous ways:
-
Scripts can be triggered by more than two dozen different Outlook events
(e.g. receiving a new message; sending a message; opening a contact; opening
an appointment; closing a mail message; etc.).
-
Scripts can be triggered by left-clicking or right-clicking on your CyberSecretary's
tray icon. By default, left-clicking runs a script that will
respond in different ways depending on the type of Outlook item currently
open. For example, your CyberSecretary can offer you appropriate
choices or take appropriate actions depending on whether you are looking
at an incoming mail message, a contact, an appointment, etc. Right-clicking
brings up a menu of choices that include searching your favorite Internet
search engine without opening your browser; announcing the time; launching
your calculator; and any other tasks-on-demand that you have assigned.
-
Scripts can be scheduled to run at certain times of the day, either
daily or on certain days of the week. For example, you can automatically
download a particular web page at a particular time of day or on a particular
day of the week, and either post it to your Inbox for offline viewing,
or send it to any other mail recipient.
-
Scripts can even be set up to run randomly, at user-controllable
frequencies ranging from several times per hour to less than once a week.
-
Scripts can be run when your CyberSecretary is opened, or when Outlook
is closed. For example, you can have your CyberSecretary launch Outlook
at the start of the day and announce your appointments for the day, or
remind you of tomorrow's appointments before you leave.
-
A special script can be run when appointment reminders fall due in Outlook.
You can have your CyberSecretary remind you of appointments at the appropriate
time.
You can modify or fine tune any script simply by right-clicking on your
CyberSecretary's dialog box at any time while the script is running.
This will bring up a menu of options that include editing the script, terminating
the script, permanently deleting the script, or "snoozing" the script to
run at a later time!
Here's a sample of tasks that can be performed by your CyberSecretary:
Electronic
Mail
-
Announce when new messages arrive, preview the contents of the message,
and offer to read the message.
-
File sent messages as text, RTF or Word files. Offer to print the
message. Create a journal entry for the message, with a link to the
exported file.
-
Set a diary reminder for following up on sent messages.
-
Display your diary reminders at a certain time of the day, or on a certain
day of the week.
-
Create and schedule a task for an incoming message, attaching the original
message to the task.
Calendar
-
Announce today's appointments at the start of the day.
-
Remind of tomorrow's appointments at the end of the day.
-
Remind of appointments at the scheduled time.
-
Offer to print documents attached to an appointment.
-
Send your calendar by electronic mail to your human assistant each day.
Contacts
-
Create phone log entries for contacts.
-
Take down phone messages.
-
Display your Contacts folder at preset times, to remind you to check messages
and return phone calls.
-
Create letters and other documents, merging contact information.
-
Use the Internet to obtain a street map showing the contact's location.
Expenses
-
Create special Journal items to track expenses.
-
Prepare expense reports, itemizing and totaling expenses.
Tasks
-
Display a list of your most pressing tasks.
-
Create and schedule tasks from incoming mail messages.
The Internet
-
Fetch Web pages daily or weekly, posting them to your Inbox for offline
viewing, or sending them to other mail recipients.
-
Announce stock prices.
-
Search the Internet using any Internet search site.
Miscellaneous
-
Display reminders at certain times of the day: e.g. reminders to water
your office plants (sorry, your CyberSecretary is only virtual and can't
actually water your plants!), reminders to change your voice mail greeting,
reminders to take a break, etc.
-
Open particular documents, folders, programs (e.g. a calculator) on demand.
System
Requirements
CyberSecretary requires a PC running Windows 95/98, the Visual
Basic 5 runtime library, and Microsoft Outlook 97/98 (part of Microsoft
Office 97). Creating documents requires Microsoft Word. Some features require
an Internet connection.
Note: Outlook 97/98 is not to be confused with Microsoft's Internet
mail client, Outlook Express. CyberSecretary is designed to work
with the calendar, contact, task, journal as well as electronic mail features
of Outlook 97 and Outlook 98. Outlook Express is only an e-mail client
and is not supported.
About
this version
This is version 1.1.0 of CyberSecretary. This release is fully
featured and has no expiration date. However, unless it is registered,
it will eventually display bad temperament. Send your comments, suggestions
and bug reports to Walter E. Heindl, walter.heindl@usa.net.
(You don’t need to remember this . . . just ask your CyberSecretary to
send a letter to her agency!)
Press here for a description of new features
in this release, and a complete revision history.
REGISTRATION
CyberSecretary is shareware. To register, follow these steps:
-
Press here to have your CyberSecretary
prepare your order form; or use the order form below.
-
E-mail your order form prepared by your CyberSecretary to us.
-
Print your order form and mail it with your check for $24.95 to:
Walter E. Heindl
271 Misty Patch Road
Coatesville, PA 19320 USA
Please note: At this time, payment may only be made by U.S. dollar checks
drawn on or payable through U.S. banks.
NAME _________________________________________________________________________
COMPANY _____________________________________________________________________
WINDOWS 95/98 REGISTERED OWNER
NAME
(from Explorer's Help | About
box) ____________________________________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS _______________________________________________________________
|
Installation
Installation of CyberSecretary is simple. Just unzip the installation
archive to a folder on your hard drive. Then run SETUP.EXE. You will be
asked to choose a name for your new CyberSecretary, and then your CyberSecretary
will help with the rest of the setup process.
When you install CyberSecretary, you will be taken through a "virtual
job interview," where you get to choose how you'd like to be addressed
by your CyberSecretary, and get to specify some basic tasks you'd like
your CyberSecretary to perform. These tasks illustrate many of the capabilities
of your CyberSecretary, including working with new mail, sent mail, appointments,
contacts and the Microsoft Outlook journal; displaying Outlook folders
at certain times of the day; getting news and stock prices from the Internet;
and more.
During the interview, your CyberSecretary also performs other necessary
installation chores such as adding her Inbox to your "Send To" menu (so
you can teach her new tasks), and adding a template for scripts to the
"New" menu.
Language
Support
This version of CyberSecretary’s messages are in English, though any
language can be supported in user scripts. If you are interested in translating
resource files (text files with the built-in language support) into other
languages in exchange for registration, please contact me, Walter Heindl,
at walter.heindl@usa.net.
Attention
Developers!
CyberSecretary includes the CyberSecretary Object Library, which
can be used to create other applications that use the CyberSecretary user
interface. This can consist of applets to perform particular functions,
or full-fledged applications that perform similar functions with other
personal information managers. Let us help you put the face in user
interface!
The CyberSecretary Object Library includes the following features:
-
The CyberSecretary dialog, which can be placed anywhere on the screen,
and can be controlled to include a variable-sized user input box or drop
down list box.
-
Automatic support for the user’s personalized CyberSecretary installation.
You do not need to worry about naming the CyberSecretary or finding the
existing program folder.
-
Support for user registration codes, either to support software
registration or as a form of password security.
-
Ability to respond to commands contained in scripts.
-
Numerous built-in functions that would otherwise require API programming,
including the ability to retrieve documents from the Internet; the ability
to open, display or print documents; and more.
For more information, send e-mail to walter.heindl@usa.net.