Guess What? Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 and the Microsoft Outlook Calendar
Oct-10-2006Disclaimer
The following message includes information regarding Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1. Please note that Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 HAS NOT been released at this time. We are, however, providing you with some small glimpses into the features that Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 will contain. We are currently not answering any questions regarding the functionality of the beta. The only things we're going to talk about will be what we have included in our new Guess What series, which will continue daily up to the beta release date, October 16, 2006. We will answer all questions at that time. Please be patient; you will be rewarded.
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Enjoy!
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Welcome to GW Micro's "Guess What?" series, an introductory look at the upcoming release of Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1.
We’ll be covering a new feature in Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 every day until its release, so stop by our web site (www.gwmicro.com/beta) every day this week to make sure you don't miss any of the exciting news.
Window-Eyes 6.0 is jam-packed with new features that are going to make many people’s computing lives even easier. Beginning users, advanced users, and everyone in between will be able to find something in Window-Eyes 6.0 to get excited about.
In this second edition of the Window-Eyes 6.0 Guess What series, we’re going to delve into one of the most requested features for Window-Eyes: support for the Microsoft Outlook Calendar.
The Microsoft Outlook Calendar is probably the most commonly used calendar application available. Most businesses, organizations, and government agencies rely on Outlook for scheduling meetings and appointments. Many notetakers, such as the Braille Sense, can sync personal appointments with a PC running the Outlook calendar. The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar feature provides you complete access to all your scheduling needs with a single keystroke.
Let’s get started!
Rather than attempting to retrofit the existing, inaccessible Outlook Calendar interface, Window-Eyes provides all appointments and dates in a concise and simple to use Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog.
The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar supports both local and remote calendars (such as those used with Exchange servers), and can be accessed from anywhere (assuming that Outlook is running), regardless of what application is active when the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar hot key is pressed. The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar will stay open until you close it. This way, you can ALT-TAB between the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog and other open applications.
The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar supports Microsoft Outlook 2000 and greater, although we recommend Outlook 2003 for the best in Outlook Calendar accessibility.
I have Outlook 2003 running in the background, and my active application is Mozilla Firefox. You can tell that I’m on the GW Micro web page as I arrow down through the content.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Because the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar is available anytime that Outlook is running in any application, I can press INS-C even while in Browse Mode in Firefox to bring up the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog.
You may recall INS-C as being the AutoDetect Cursor hot key in previous versions of Window-Eyes. The AutoDetect Cursor hot key has been redefined as CTRL-INS-C in Window-Eyes 6.0 to free up INS-C as a more intuitive hot key for the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar.
I’m going to go ahead and press INS-C to bring up the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar lists all appointments for a selected timespan. I have the Day timespan selected, so my appointments list contains all of the appointments I have scheduled for the selected day, in this case today.
Let’s take a quick look at the layout of the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The details read-only edit box displays information pertaining to the currently selected appointment. If you’ve entered information about the appointment, such as contact information for the person you’re meeting, you don’t have to open the entire appointment just to read your notes.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The Timespan group box allows me to choose whether I want to view appointments and free time by day, work week, week, month, year, or a custom date range. You can specify exactly what days a week and work week contain in Outlook, and the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar will reflect those settings.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
I can choose to show or hide appointments. Window-Eyes gives you the power and flexibility to show only the items you’re interested in without having to navigate through an entire 24-hour time period just to find an appointment.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
I can choose to show or hide available/free time. Window-Eyes not only lets you hear what free time is available, but also automatically re-calculates free time when you add a new appointment.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The previous button allows me to move to the previous timespan. Since I have the Day timespan selected, pressing the previous button would take me to the previous day. If I had the Week timespan selected, the previous button would take me to the previous week.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
If I had used the previous button to navigate several days prior to today, and I wanted to jump quickly back to today’s appointments, I could select the current button.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The next button allows me to move to the next timespan. Since I have the Day timespan selected, pressing the next button would take me to the next day. If I had the Week timespan selected, the next button would take me to the next week.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The New button will cause Outlook to open the Create New Appointment dialog for the day and time selected in the appointments list. No longer do you have to open a new appointment, and then set all of the dates and times. Just select an area of free time in the appointments list, select the new button, and Window-Eyes will fill in the appropriate date and time fields for you.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
If I select the Open button, Outlook will open the properties for the selected appointment in the appointments list.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The Delete button allows me to quickly remove the selected appointment in the appointments lists. I could also use the delete key in the appointments list.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog will stay open until I choose to close it, which I could do using the close button, by pressing ESCAPE, or ALT-F4.
There are a few other controls in the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog such as the Custom Start and End Dates, as well as a check box for compact mode. The Custom date edit boxes are only enabled when the custom timespan is selected. The Compact check box is only enabled for timespans other than Day.
The compact feature is a very handy way to get a quick glance at the number of appointments scheduled for a selected timespan. For example, with the Week timespan selected, pressing the Compact check box will cause all of the appointments for the week to be collapsed into single days. Un-checking the compact check box causes all of the Appointments to be expanded into individual entries in the Appointments list view.
Let’s take a look at the Available Times feature. With Available Times unchecked, only the appointments I have scheduled will show up in the Appointments list. For example, I have one appointment scheduled for today.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Window-Eyes tells me the appointment information, and says, “1 of 1.”
If I check the Available Times check box (using the shortcut ALT-T), both my appointment, and available time will show up in the Appointments list view.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Now if I access my list of appointments, I’ll hear:
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Window-Eyes now tells me, “2 of 3” meaning there are two other entries in my appointments list. The first entry is the available time before my meeting with Dan and Doug.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The third entry is the available time after my meeting.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The feature of showing or hiding available time means you have the power to be more productive and more efficient. If you just want to view the appointments scheduled, you can do so. If you want to be able to view free time, you can do so. If you want to view both, guess what? Window-Eyes gives you the power to display exactly what you want.
We’ve just scratched the surface in terms of the power that the Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar dialog provides. Even more features like support for reoccurring events, support for multiple calendars, and the compact feature (mentioned previously) will all be available for you to play with once Window-Eyes 6.0 beta 1 is released next Monday, October 16th, 2006.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the new Window-Eyes Outlook Calendar feature. Window-Eyes 6.0 raises the bar, once again, providing you the most robust and accurate Outlook calendar support.
Tune in tomorrow for another edition of GW Micro’s “Guess What?”series.
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