Autoemail

October 20, 2005 8:25 PM

Automation filter: I need a piece of software that will scan a folder of office documents and email them.

I've searched for a batch remailing program, but I've yet to find one that can handle this.

Specifically, I need a program that will match(scan, parse) a folder. Then based on file name and email those microsoft word documents (potentially hundreds) to one or more (different) people as attachments. Part of the file name will change based on the date.

I should be able to change the subject of the email based on the file name as well.

Bonus points for a software that can fax as well.

posted by bigmusic to computers & internet (11 comments total)

I can't email them as they are created because I don't have an internet connection in my car.
posted by bigmusic at 8:47 PM on October 20, 2005

Sounds like something you could script pretty easily with Perl, but I don't know of any GUI software which would do it.

If there are potentially hundreds of documents, you might fall foul of code which reacts to bulk emailings, there's something else to think about.

What kind of a computer would it need to run on?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:52 PM on October 20, 2005

These are documents that people have paid for, so they aren't blocking my emails =)

I've thought about perl, but I really dont' know enough about program to even think about how to get started doing it.

I would transfer the documents from my laptop to a desktop and email them from a fairly upto date computer.
posted by bigmusic at 9:04 PM on October 20, 2005

I think Ambrose meant that your outgoing mail server might think you are spam, based on the number of recipients.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:00 PM on October 20, 2005

These are documents that people have paid for, so they aren't blocking my emails =)

I didn't mean them specifically, more their ISPs and so on. There are all kinds of warning signals and systems that come into play and you don't know about them till it's too late.

Again, what kind of computer? You're on something which can run Perl scripts? How about sendmail?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:01 PM on October 20, 2005

This is an easy scripting thing. I'd recommend finding someone who knows perl or python or the like and setting up a cron job (or win equiv) for it. The email thing is something to keep in mind though, especially if the attachments are large.
posted by devilsbrigade at 10:14 PM on October 20, 2005

I hate to be the person detracting from lovely Un*x solutions but surely Office has some VBA functionality to help with this? It may be worth a look.
posted by rc55 at 2:58 AM on October 21, 2005

For the mailing part I recommend Blat. Get someone to write you a simple Perl script.
posted by Sharcho at 3:27 AM on October 21, 2005

Do you feel comfortable with the basics of programming? If so, let me recommend auto it, a pretty sweet windows scripting tool. Some else recommended it on askme before and I've been using it ever since...
posted by ph00dz at 7:01 AM on October 21, 2005

We have a custom auto-email application written in Visual Basic that pulls its addresses and subject lines from an Excel spreadsheet, attaches files in a given directory, and e-mails the messages.

We've never really considered selling it, but if you'd like to discuss purchasing a copy of it, feel free to e-mail me.
posted by odinsdream at 10:36 AM on October 21, 2005

Looks like I finally found a piece of fairly cheap software that does what I am interested in... not that anyone is reading this at this point ---
gammadyne mailer looks like it has all the features I need.
posted by bigmusic at 8:47 PM on December 8, 2005