Outclass: Mail Classification for Outlook with POPFile

Outclass's interface is integrated into your Outlook toolbar.

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Updated version 4/22/2004 -- Outclass RELOADED - Now with POPFile 0.21.x support! --  READ THE RELEASE NOTES!!
Click here to Download Outclass

Help feed me! Donations are by no means required, but definitely appreciated.

Introduction

POPFile is a mail classification utility for POP3-based email accounts created by John Graham-Cumming. If you want excellent Bayesian spam filtering or general content-based classification abilities, especially for non-Windows systems or other POP3 clients, check it out.

Outclass provides POPFile's functionality natively to Outlook. What does this mean? It means that you can use the power of POPFile to classify any email you receive using Microsoft Outlook. This includes IMAP-based email and Exchange-based email as well as any other types that may be supported via Office add-ins (theoretically, anyway).

Outclass has been tested with Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002 (XP), and Outlook 2003, using Exchange, POP3, and IMAP mail, on Windows 2000 and Windows XP and with POPFile v0.18.0 through v0.19.1. Outclass can manually handle Hotmail accounts in Outlook 2002, but does not automatically classify Hotmail email at this time. If you have tested on other platforms or with other types of mail systems, please let me know and I'll update this document. Post a message in the Vargonsoft Forums.

History

08/24/2003 1.2.4.1 - Bug Fixes and minor new features

• Bugfixes:
  • Inbox settings are no longer lost when adding a new bucket
  • ReportItem bodies are now exported correctly
  • Fixed a bug that would insert an extra carriage return when creating pseudo-headers for messages without Internet headers
  • Error checking on Bucket Names -- can no longer create an invalid bucket. Existing invalid bucket names are not changed.
• New Regular Expression Test Dialog: Allows you to test out your whitelist entries to make sure they will work correctly
• Edit Whitelist Entries: Allows you to edit existing whitelist entries.
• Import Whitelist Entries from other Contact Item Folders: Outclass no longer limits you to importing whitelist entries from just the default Contacts folder.
• More International Toolbar Support: Thanks to everyone that helped on this! See the troubleshooeting section below for more information on getting proper toolbar icon support for your language version!
  • German (Germany)
  • Italian (Italy)
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Dutch (Netherlands)
• Almost 100% German Support: Thanks to Marcus A. Schürstedt

07/21/2003 1.2.4.0 - Bug Fixes and MAJOR changes

• New attribute added to Outlook messages to show the classification of messages. New Outclass column automatically added with Outlook 2002 or higher. Must be manually enabled for Outlook 2000. (Thanks to Jason Dunn for testing)
• Support for ReportItems in addition to MailItems
• TRAINING MODE SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED - No more training mode dialog. Read the Release Notes for more information.
• Whitelist/Magnet functionality is now supported -- import contacts from Outlook or add them manually
• New look for Outclass Options
• New look for icons
• Support for proper icons in the German version -- some German language support (thanks to Marcus S.)
• Reclassification of misclassified items will now always move to (and remain in) the proper folder.
• Startup classification no longer aborts if an unclassifiable item is encountered (thanks to Thomas D. for testing)
• New SafeView option allows you to view messages without triggering web bugs.
• New version system. Since every release is a "beta", I'm moving to a stable vs. latest release strategy.
• Many things are now alphabetically sorted.
• GPL license replaced with a more friendly license. Outclass is still free and always will be. Source distributions will no longer be provided since they are difficult to maintain and interest was low.

06/23/2003 1.2 Beta 3 - Bug Fix

• This release fixes a major problem with bucket creation in 1.2 Beta 2. The problem would only have affected new users and users attempting to create new buckets through Outclass. All users of 1.2 Beta 2 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to this version. 1.2 Beta 2 has been pulled.

06/11/2003 1.2 Beta 2 - Beta release - Lots of Bug Fixes

• Startup classification now works CORRECTLY . Many many thanks to Joe P. for his tremendous help in testing this feature.
• Second pass of new email notification option - Now each message is monitored as it is added to the inbox and if a state change is detected from Unread->Read, the icon removes itself. This means it should behave more like the Outlook icon in terms of when the tray icon goes away. However, I've noticed some instances where the change notification doesn't occur, so there may still be problems. If anyone is able to reproduce the problem in any way other than randomly, please let me know. = ) Also, the new email sound now plays only once. That should make quite a few people pleased. ;) 
• This version of Outclass begins the introduction of statistics collection. Though there is no way to view them yet, the data will be collected from this point on.
• POPFile v0.19.0 is supported and is required by the default install. If you do not wish to upgrade to v0.19.0, there are instructions on the download page for replacing the outclassify.pl file with the v0.18 version which will allow Outclass 1.2b2 to work with that version of POPFile.
• The Training Mode dialog is now modeless again. Apparently the modal dialog would disrupt classification of more than just the first message when multiple messages arrived at once.
• All of the dialogs should now conform to the MS dialog guidelines with the Cancel button as the rightmost/bottommost button (thanks to W.B.D. for pointing this out).
• Other random and minor bugfixes.
• There are a lot more changes that I wanted to get into this release,  but I wanted to get something out so people that wanted to move to POPFile 0.19.0 wouldn't be prohibited from doing so. Therefore I haven't released any source with this release but don't worry, I'll post it in the next more complete beta or release (whichever it ends up being).
• And one more note... I'm looking for a doc writer. If you're good at writing documentation (preferably with step by step instructions, screen shots, etc.) and can do so in a format suitable for the web, please contact me. It takes a lot of work to write docs and I'd rather dedicate that time toward working on Outclass. So if you've got what it takes and you actually WANT to write the stuff, please let me know. Thanks! (And if you want to redesign all of these pages while you're at it, well, I wouldn't be opposed...) ;)

04/07/2003 1.2 Beta 1 - Beta release - Lots of New Features

• To prevent Outclass from loading for a single session, hold down SHIFT while starting Outlook or changing profiles. Outclass will ask you if you wish to disable it for the session - Suggested by John H.
• First pass of notification of new email option -- tired of being notified of new email only to find out it's spam that Outclass has already handled? Now you can turn off Outlook's built-in notification icon (Outlook 2002 or higher only) and turn on Outclass' notification and only be notified when messages are classified into a certain bucket (with a tray icon and/or sound). (Note: Outlook 2000 has no ability to turn off the default Microsoft tray notification -- but Outclass includes an experimental routine to eliminate the built-in envelope icon in Outlook 2000 when this option is enabled) - Suggested by Damian M.
• Fixed a bug that would not allow non-administrators to run Outclass successfully. Use of Outclass by non-administrators still requires some modifications to POPFile's installation. See the documentation for this release for more information. - Reported by and recommended doc updates by Keith B.
• Outclass will now properly classify Exchange-only messages (i.e., messages without Internet Headers) - Reported by and tested by Mark P.
• Outclass no longer causes a runtime error when launched via a mailto link when Outlook is not running or when Outlook is loaded without an interface - First reported by Michael B.
• Added some more code to try to deal with the messages not being classified at Outlook startup issue. New startup-classification dialog defaults to a 10-second delay before attempting message classification. Delay configurable via registry modification only.
• New reclassification dropdown menu lists all buckets and bucket buttons on the main toolbar are now optional -- good for people with a lot of buckets.
• You can now delete the default Inbox.
• All interactive dialogs, including the Training Mode dialog, are now modal to the Outlook window -- they won't pop up in the background anymore. Dialogs are also centered to the Outlook window now rather than the desktop.
• Selection of default inbox moved from OnConnection to just before startup classification (if any) -- should eliminate the "unable to select inbox" error that can occur for non-Personal Folders inboxes.
• Changed to use wperl.exe instead of perl.exe to eliminate Windows shutdown problems.

• Rerouted stderr to its own pipe so stderr output no longer affects classification
• Fixed Training Mode to actually update the corpus. Reported by a few people.
• Updated the installer to attempt to register its DLLs twice. (for upgrades from SpamFree)

• Fixed a potential crash condition if the Outclass install location is missing in the registry. If the value is missing, it still won't work, but it won't crash Outlook.
• ** Added the ability to "never show this message again" on all confirmation and training dialogs.
• ** Replaced classify.pl with a new script, outclassify.pl. Outclassify.pl provides an interactive CLI interface to POPFile that Outclass now uses to avoid reloading the corpus for each message. As a result, classifications and reclassifications are now much faster.
• Fixed a small typo and keyboard problems with the inbox dialog - thanks to Jason K. for reporting them.
• The OK button on the training dialog no longer has the focus by default - thanks to Chris M.
• Completely renamed all internal components to Outclass from Spamfree.
• Updated to NSIS Modern installer. Added conversion routines for SpamFree registry keys -> Outclass registry keys. Auto-removes SpamFree entries.
• Due to the above, if custom images are set up for the toolbar, they may not migrate properly. Added code to handle this by using the default bucket.bmp image if an image of the same name cannot be found in the Outclass install location.

• Multiple Inboxes
• Multiple Buckets
• Check unread messages on startup (for when Outlook fails to inform Outclass of new messages)
• Automatic handling of reclassified messages
• Customizable buttons and icons
• Perlembed functionality didn't make it into this release. Outclass still makes an external call to wperl.exe to perform the classification. All of my attempts gave me random thread and process termination (exit code 14) -- any help here is appreciated.

02/08/2003 1.0 - Official Release

• Updated to work with POPFile v0.18.0. Note: Outclass 1.0 will not work with previous versions of POPFile. If you need to use v0.17.9 of POPFile, please download SpamFree 1.0 Beta 2. (Or you can install 1.0 Beta 2, backup the classify.pl from the POPFile directory, install 1.0, then overwrite the classify.pl with your backup)
• SpamFree for POPFile has a new name! Thanks to Jason K. for the suggestion of Outclass!

01/27/2003 1.0 Beta 2 - Additional features and a few bug fixes

• Updated "Handle Message" dialog to display From name and Subject
• Replaced "Handle Message" dialog with "Confirm Classification" dialog and allow user to reclassify direct from Training Mode. As a consquence, training mode makes more sense now.
• Fixed a bug where blank spaces were present on classifications causing a misread of the classification
• Added option to mark messages as Read when they're moved to the Junk folder
• Minor installer updates to ensure smooth upgrade and provide more info for users who attempt to install SpamFree before POPFile
• Removed reporting of error on Invalid Pointer when an Outlook Rule moves a message before SpamFree gets to look at it

01/25/2003 1.0 Beta 1 - Intial beta release

Requirements

In order to use Outclass, you must install the Windows version of POPFile first. Please refer to the Notes on the Outclass Download page to determine which version of POPFile you need.

Installation

A simple Nullsoft Installer package is provided. You must install the Windows version of POPFile -- with the optional Perl components -- prior to installing Outclass. The installer will check for POPFile and will warn you if POPFile is not found.

You do not need to make POPFile start up automatically. In fact, you do not need to run POPFile (popfile.pl) at all. If you do run POPFile simultaneously with Outclass, you may notice that word counts aren't updated as you classify messages. This is because Outclass invokes another instance of POPFile to perform its processing. For this reason, unless you know what you're doing, you really should avoid running the POPFile web server at the same time as Outclass.

Upgrading

Simply run the installation package and overwrite the previous installation with the new one.

Documentation

• Outclass 1.2.4.1 Documentation
• Outclass 1.2.4.0 Documentation
• Outclass 1.2b1 - 1.2b3 Documentation
• Outclass 1.1 Documentation

• Chris M. wrote up this nice guide for Outclass 1.1 users

Frequently Asked Questions (Please see the Documentation for more information not duplicated below)

Does Outclass work with Outlook Express?

No. Outlook Express does not provide any sort of object model for supporting third-party addins. Therefore, until there is such support, there will not be a version of Outclass for Outlook Express. However, if you are using a POP3 account with Outlook Express, POPFile will work for you. Find out more at http://popfile.sourceforge.net/

Does Outclass work with Outlook 98 or earlier?

No. Outlook 98 does not support the same object model as Outlook 2000 and later. To provide support for these older versions would require an entirely different codebase. No support for these platforms is planned at this time.

Do I need to configure POPFile? Do I need to change my email account settings?

No. You should not configure POPFile in any way whatsoever. And you should not change any of your account settings. I cannot emphasize this enough. Outclass merely needs POPFile to be present on your computer. Changing any mail settings or following the POPFile startup guide will only get you into trouble. So do not -- I repeat -- DO NOT do anything other than install POPFile. DO NOT set it to start up automatically and DO NOT change your mail account settings. If you are already running POPFile, simply turn off the option to have it automatically start up. Create buckets in Outclass with the same name as your existing POPFile buckets and you'll benefit from any training you've already done. It's that simple.

What happened to my Outclass toolbar?

Outlook 2002 has probably disabled Outclass. Just do the following to get it back: Start Outlook, go to Help, About Microsoft Outlook. Click the Disabled Items button. Select Outclass. Click Enable. Restart Outlook 2002. See the Troubleshooting section of the documentation for more information.

What versions of POPFile does Outclass work with?

See the download page for more information on which versions of Outclass work with which versions of POPFile.

How much does Outclass cost?

It's free and it always will be. My philosophy is you already pay for the privilege of receiving spam (bandwidth, diskspace, etc), so why should you have to pay to get rid of it easily?

What language is Outclass written in?

Outclass is a COM AddIn for Outlook written in ATL/WTL and C++ using the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 compiler. A small piece is written in Perl (outclassify.pl).

Feedback

Please post to the Vargon Software Forums

Outclass is provided as-is. Use Outclass at your own risk. I am not responsible for anything, including, but not limited to, the spontaneous combustion of your computer.

Outclass was created by A. Gandhi (vargon@vargon.com)

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