Sending links to Web pages

This week's tip is for everyone using Windows XP, not just Outlook users.

As Outlook users on Windows XP have discovered, it's difficult to use Internet Explorer's File->Send->Link by Email to send links to Web pages. Microsoft updated Windows XP's sendmail.dll and removed the text link added to the message body, leaving just the URL attachment. Because Outlook's attachment security blocks the attached shortcuts, you needed to copy and paste the Web address into the message.

Microsoft has finally listened to the complaints and released a patch to restore text links to messages sent using Internet Explorer's Send Link by Email. It's still considered a hotfix, and you need to call Microsoft to get the patch. For more information on the patch, see <A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327010">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327010</A>. Look for it in Windows XP SP2.

While the call to product support will be refunded, if you don't want to call Microsoft, Siegfried Weber, the script god of CDOLive.com, wrote a script called Mailto_URL which adds a Send to Email to the right click context menu in Internet Explorer. This script allows you to send the page title and text URL to an email message. Mailto_URL is a very simple JavaScript, which is saved in an HTML file, in the C:&#92Windows&#92Web folder, and a registry entry that adds it to the context menu. The idea for this script originated from a script by Bill James, which copies the page title and URL to the clipboard. If you often send links from work to your personal email account, you can customize the script to add a menu to add the address to the message.

If you'd like to try Mailto_URL, you'll find it at http://www.poremsky.com/send_link.htm. In addition, Bill James has several nifty utilities and scripts on his Odds &amp; Ends and VBScript pages at http://www.billsway.com.

Diane Poremsky is the president of CDOLive LLC and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. She's coauthor of Word 2002: The Complete Reference (Osborne, 2001) and Beginning Visual Basic 6 Application Development (for Wrox Press). For questions or suggestions for future columns, write her at outlook@cdolive.com.