Background Sounds
Rather than having to use Visual Basic or Java script to trick OE into embedding sounds with the IMG tag, you can now add sounds from the OE user interface in Compose Message window using Format | Background | Sound.
Contacts Window
The Folder List pane now has the ability to show the contacts listed in your Windows Address book. Added too this new Contacts pane is the ability to highlight a contact and click on a New Message button, which pops up a new Compose Message window already addressed to the contact or multiple contacts that you have selected.
Deleted Folders
Now, when you inadvertently delete a folder, rather than it disappearing forever, it is deposited in the Deleted Items folder so that you can drag it back to it's proper location.
Drag and Drop Addition of Senders to WAB
As part of the new Contacts window, you can drag and drop messages from the Message Header pane to the Contacts window and the contact will automatically be added to your WAB. You can also selectively add one of multiple recipients or senders to your WAB by draggin and dropping using the right mouse button.
DUN Interface Changed
Rather than calling up a dialing window that is different from IE and different from DUN, OE now calls up the IE dialer. Moreover, when you go to Tools | Accounts | Mail or News | <your account name> | Properties | Connection, the option to "Use Internet Explorer's or a third party dialer" has been changed to "I establish my Internet connection manually."
Key Word Search in News
News now employs the same search tool as that employed in Mail (this is the same tool that OE Mail used in Version 4). What this means is that key phrase searches across downloaded messages in a newsgroup now are possible.
Message Flagging
Version 5 includes message flagging capabilities. OE includes a manual flag that you can add on your own or through application of Message Rules.
Message Priority
Rather than having to wade through a bunch of menu selections to change the priority on a message, this feature has thankfully made it back onto the Compose Message window toolbar.
Message Status Indicator
OE will now change the icon in the Message Header pane to provide you with a visual reminder that you have read, replied to or forwarded a message.
Message Rules
In Mail, what used to be called Inbox Rules now are Message Rules. The user interface is intuitive -- you can actually name your Message Rules and changing them has become very easy because the conditions are hyperlinked in the UI. Also, additional rules capabilities have been added. For example, you now can use a rule to flag a message and to highlight it so that it will be easier to notice.
Move OE Folders
Thankfully, rather than having to engage in a registry modification, you now can move your OE folders from inside the OE user interface under Tools | Options | Advanced.
Multiple Signature Support
OE now supports multiple signatures. As a result, you now can access any number of different signatures from the signature pull down button in the Compose Message window.
Newsgroup CatchUp
At long last, OE News contains a catch-up feature that allows you to catch up to a newsgroup that you haven't visited in a long time. This will keep you from having to manualloy download headers and mark them all as read.
New Toolbar Buttons
A couple of new toolbar buttons have been added to OE. In Mail, it looks like the only notable addition is a Preview Pane button that allow you to toggle and configure the Preview Pane settings from the toolbar. News includes the Preview Pane button as well as a Work Offline button.
Offline News Reading
In addition to the Work Offline button that you can add to the News toolbar, the appearance in the Folders List view of the news server and subscribed newsgroups when you are offline now is grayed out to give you a visual indication that you are not connected to your news server.
Options Consolidated
Varying OE configuration options that were scattered throughout the UI in Version 4 have been consolidated. For instance, in addition to the Tools | Options tabs included in Version 4 of General, Send, Read, Dial-Up, Spelling, Security, Advanced, two new tabs have been added for "Signatures" and "Layout".
Page Source Editing
Under View | Source Editing, you now can edit the HTML formatting of a message from inside the OE interface -- no more need to use an HTML editor to change things if you know the tag that you'd like to add and no more need to use CTRL + F2 to see the source code.
Remember Expanded Folders
OE now remembers from session to session which folders you had expanded when you last closed OE.
Saving Attachments
Version 5 once again allows you to call up a Save Attachments dialogue box by right clicking on the paper clip icon in the Preview Pane header. This capability was present in Internet Mail and News, the predecessor to OE and also in the early Platform Previews of Version 4, but disappeared before the end of the beta cycle. It's nice to see this back in the feature set. In addition to the paper clip functionality, the Save Attachments dialogue box has changed to allow for saving all or any number of attachments at the same time.
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