By David Gewirtz
Reader Arthur Saltzman asks a simple question:
Is it possible to use Outlook to start another application at a specific time?
Hmmm... read on, and I'll explain why Outlook isn't the right tool for this job. But before I do, let's explore what you can do with Outlook.
First, Outlook can launch another application. The best way to do this is through rules. You can have a rule, that when triggered, will execute the "Launch an application" action. Just go into your rules interface.
Outlook also understands time, in that you can set an appointment to trigger at a certain time. But you can't set an appointment and have it do anything other that pop-up or play a sound. This has always been a disappointment to me -- I've long wanted Outlook to send me an email reminder message instead of popping up, but that's just not the case.
So, how do you start another application at a specific time? The answer is to step outside Outlook. Outlook, of course, runs on Windows. Windows has a scheduler program. Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks.
The task scheduler works (mostly) wonderfully. I use it on many different machines to trigger applications and batch files. Instead of launching an application from Outlook at a specific time, use Scheduled Tasks.
