Make Outlook prompt for saving an e-mail just after sending

Question

Is there a way to make Outlook prompt for saving an e-mail just after clicking on Send? I need to save not all but some of my sent emails. I set Outlook to save all sent emails and it's tiring to go to Sent Items periodically and seek & destroy the unwillingly saved ones. I know Lotus Notes could do it when we were using it, and it was a great feature. What about Outlook?

Answer 1

You can add a 'Do Not Save' checkbox in Outlook 2007. This works pretty well.

Note: The link is dead. I'm adding the copy of the solution below.

Send Email Without Saving It in Outlook 2007 & 2010

How many times have you sent an email and did not want to save it? I write dozens of emails a day that do not need to be saved. Examples include “thanks” emails or “got it” emails. Not keeping these less important emails helps keep your email account under its size quota, and makes mailbox management easier for you. Fortunately for everyone, in Outlook 2007 and 2010, you can add a check box to your Quick Access Toolbar providing the option of not saving an email after you send it.

1. Create a new mail message. In the mail message, click on the Options tab, then the Save Sent Item drop-down box to see the Do Not Save option.

2. In the menu, right-click on the Do Not Save option. In the new menu, click on Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

3. A Do Not Save check box option should be in the Quick Access Toolbar of your message.

Now, whenever you wish to send an email without saving it, just check the check box next to Do Not Save before you press the Send button. The email message will be sent without a copy being saved in your Sent Items folder.

Be careful with this option. By not keeping a copy in your Sent Items folder, the only record of you sending the email is whether the recipient received it. If you think there might be a dispute over whether the email is sent, you will want to avoid the Do Not Save option. Examples include asking your boss for vacation, approving overtime, or whether she signs off on a project. If in doubt, it is always best to keep a copy of a sent email, just in case you need to reference it later.

Answer 2

Have you considered setting up a Outlook message rule?

You can configure a rule that triggers when a message is sent. So set up a rule that picks up just those you want (or use the except bit of the rule to exclude certain emails instead), get it to copy those to your Sent Items folder and then you can disable automatic saving of sent items so only those handled by the rule are saved.

For a safer option, set the rule up to add a "DELETE ME" flag on those you wish to remove - then you can keep automatic sent-item-sending enabled (potentially safer, you won't accidentally not save something you need!) and can easily delete them all manually by just sorting the sent mail folder by flag.

Answer 3

There is no way to do that with "out of the box" Outlook configuration. However, there is a way of writing some VBA to achieve something similar to what Lotus Notes does: http://www.outlookcode.com/d/code/setsavefolder.htm You should definitely pay attention to the notes in the article that describe when this functionality still wouldn't apply.

Answer 4

The thread How can Outlook prompt to "send and save to folder" provides some additional solutions, listed below.

First one is the three VBA samples from E-Mail: Determine a folder for sent items:

Sample #1 shows how to store all sent mails in a subfolder of the Inbox, called 'Ablage' (filing) - except the ones which shall be deleted after they are sent.

Sample #2 is slightly different: For every outgoing e-mail it displays a dialog to choose the folder from.

Sample #3 checks the name of the sending account and stores the email according to that in different, pre-determined subfolders of the Inbox. This sample works only from Outlook 2007 on!

If you don't mind a commercial solution, there is Sent Items Organizer Add-In for Microsoft Outlook
($29.95, use BH93RF24 to maybe get a discount) :

• Puts a "Send And File" button into your compose email window for simple
  filing
• Organizes your email by keeping related emails together
• Saves the sent items based on which account you are sending from, or...
• ...who you're sending the email to, or...
• ...keywords in the email

Another option is MessageSave ($49.95) :

Prompt to save sent messages - If checked, MessageSave will prompt you whether you would like to file sent messages immediately upon sending them.

Answer 5

Option Explicit
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
If Not Item.Class = olMail Then Exit Sub
  If MsgBox("Keep a copy?", vbQuestion Or vbYesNo) = vbNo Then
    Item.DeleteAfterSubmit = True
  End If
End Sub