Print to Outlook as Attachment?

[office politics]

is there software to allow a user to print a document that creates a attachment in Outlook?

currently, users can print to pdf printer and attach the pdf. I'm wondering if there's anything that can do this in less steps.

 

[KSoD]

Nope. The attachment has to be some sort of file. So they would have to print it to PDF or save it as a .doc or .txt file and attach that. They are doing it the only way physically possible.

 

[office politics]

ideally, i'd want some software to automate the process.

i found this

Print to Email Document Conversion - Print2Email

quoted:
How Print2Email works:
Open the document that you want to send. Print to the Print2Email printer driver as you would to any other printer. By default your Outlook or Exchange Address book will be launched and you can select the recipient. Once the recipient has been selected, the e-mail form will open and the document will be automatically converted to the selected file type and added as an attachment. Click on Send and the email is on the way.

Print2Email utilizes Black Ice Software's latest printer driver technology, which now uses User Mode drivers for increased reliability and security. We've also added direct SMTP support, which allows Print2Email to send via your SMTP server without the need for an email client to be installed on the PC.

Print2Email is fully configurable with many options. It can be set to send every document to the same e-mail address or a new recipient can be chosen each time. The file format can be specified from PDF, JPEG, TIFF monochrome, 8 bit or 24 bit color etc., and you can also set the image resolution.

 

[KSoD]

Sorry but it isnt that big a deal to take 30 seconds to do it the other way instead of having it be "automated". It takes no more time to do it than to have the software do it for them. The amount of time you are saving to do it this way will be negated.

Think about it. Instead of printing to a PDF or other file, then attaching that to an email, they are now doing the same process, only this time they are not actually opening Outlook or their email program but opening this program instead to type in the Send To. So what is the difference? You are not saving any time and still having to add in an extra step. You are still making the process exactly the same length except now, the sender doesnt have a local copy.

 

[office politics]

i think the print2email does shorten the process. it eliminates the manual steps where they have to save a new copy of the file, open a new email, and attach the new file. In both procedures, the user will still need to pick a recipient.

Instead, they choose the print2email printer instead of the pdf printer. once the print job completes, they pick a recipient, and the email opens automatically with the attachment.

The sender retains the original file and also the converted copy is retained in outlook.


users at our company have expressed an interest in this technology so im looking for a way to provide it. i think technology will reduce confusion among other less tech savy users too. I'd expect some to be frustrated with having to save the converted file and manually attach it.