J
John Swire
I'm typing a report in Word, with Outlook running in the background. For some
reason Outlook cannot pick up one of my mail servers. It might be that it is
overloaded, a locking issue or whatever, but Outlook grabs system focus with
the 'Enter Network Password' dialogue. With my connection as it is, this
happens about once a day, usually while I am in the middle of a sentence.
The first problem with this is I don't want to be interrupted from the
background by Outlook asking me for my password when it is just a temprorary
problem with the mail server - this always jars, and usually makes me lose my
train of thought. If Outlook is in the background and a mail collection
fails, couldn't we have a non-modal notifier which does not steal focus, like
the little pop-up you get with a message summary in the bottom right of the
screen?
Secondly, if you're typing when Outlook steals focus, you often end up
typing some characters into the password box, and because it is asterisks, it
can then be very difficult to work out what you have added by accident, and
whether or not I click 'remember this password' it seems to retain the wrong
password if I don't manage to correct it. Correcting it further distracts me,
and if I don't get it right, it keeps popping up until I do.
Really Outlook should only inform me when I have new mail, and the
mailserver failing to play ball should not automatically be interpreted as a
wrong password.
If Outlook were able to diagnose a genuine
reason Outlook cannot pick up one of my mail servers. It might be that it is
overloaded, a locking issue or whatever, but Outlook grabs system focus with
the 'Enter Network Password' dialogue. With my connection as it is, this
happens about once a day, usually while I am in the middle of a sentence.
The first problem with this is I don't want to be interrupted from the
background by Outlook asking me for my password when it is just a temprorary
problem with the mail server - this always jars, and usually makes me lose my
train of thought. If Outlook is in the background and a mail collection
fails, couldn't we have a non-modal notifier which does not steal focus, like
the little pop-up you get with a message summary in the bottom right of the
screen?
Secondly, if you're typing when Outlook steals focus, you often end up
typing some characters into the password box, and because it is asterisks, it
can then be very difficult to work out what you have added by accident, and
whether or not I click 'remember this password' it seems to retain the wrong
password if I don't manage to correct it. Correcting it further distracts me,
and if I don't get it right, it keeps popping up until I do.
Really Outlook should only inform me when I have new mail, and the
mailserver failing to play ball should not automatically be interpreted as a
wrong password.
If Outlook were able to diagnose a genuine