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KnockOut 1.3 Help and Documentation
Copyright (C) 2002 Jensen Harris

This document provides some basic explanation of the features available in KnockOut and how to use them.

If something in this document is missing, unclear, or could be explained better, please let me know.

KnockOut is a pretty simple program to use.  To start KnockOut, just double-click the KnockOut icon.  You will see the KnockOut icon (which looks like a little puzzle piece) appear in the notification area of your taskbar.

You might want to start KnockOut automatically whenever you start Windows.  To do that, simply drag the KnockOut icon into your Startup group on the Start Menu.

If you are using Windows 95, you might get an error message on startup saying that you do not have the needed functionality in your operating system.  If you get this mention, you need to install Internet Explorer 5.0 or later and the Windows Desktop Update.  You can find a discussion of one way to install the Windows Desktop Update on this discussion thread at Google.  If you have, or wish to install, Internet Explorer 6 instead, you can follow the same instructions, but substitute ie6setup for ie5setup in the instructions.

The KnockOut menu provides access to the main functions of Outlook.  To pop up the KnockOut menu, click on the KnockOut icon on the taskbar (the icon looks like a little puzzle piece).

You will see a menu that looks something like this:

Here are descriptions of each of the KnockOut menu items and what they do:

• New <Type of Item>: You will see many types of Outlook items you can create at the top of the menu.  Simply click any of these menu items and a new item of the type you have selected will appear, whether or not Outlook is running.  For instance, if you click New Appointment, an empty Outlook calendar form will appear, ready for you to fill it out.  You can customize the list of items that appear on this menu.  Simply click Settings, and then Customize Menu on the Settings dialog.
   
• Settings: Launches the KnockOut Settings dialog, which allows you to tweak the functionality of KnockOut, including customizing the KnockOut menu.
   
• Terminate Outlook: This menu item allows you to forcibly terminate Microsoft Outlook if it is running.  You should only use this option when the normal means of closing Outlook have failed, because you will lose any unsaved work in Outlook.  You can turn off the confirmation dialog for this action in Settings.
   
• Terminate Word: This menu item allows you to forcibly terminate Microsoft Word if it is running.  You should only use this option when the normal means of closing Word have failed, because you will lose any unsaved work in Word.  You can turn off the confirmation dialog for this action in Settings.
   
• Terminate Outlook and Word: This menu item allows you to forcibly terminate Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word if they are both running.  You should only use this option when the normal means of closing Outlook and Word have failed, because you will lose any unsaved work in both of these applications.  You can turn off the confirmation dialog for each application in the Settings dialog.
   
• Exit KnockOut: This menu item will end KnockOut.  You can turn off the confirmation dialog for this action in the Settings dialog.

To access the KnockOut Settings dialog, click Settings on the KnockOut menu.  A dialog will be brought up that contains a number of options that control how KnockOut works.  Some menu items will be grayed out if that functionality is not available in your operating system or installed version of Microsoft Outlook.

• Show notifications with balloons (Requires Windows Me or later): This option turns on popup balloons that notify you when Outlook and Word start and exit.  If you turn them on, any time the KnockOut icon state changes, you will be notified with a balloon.
   
• Show version information in balloons (Requires Windows 2000 or later): If this option is selected, KnockOut will show version information in the popup balloons, including the version and build number of Outlook and Word that have been started.  This option only takes effect if "Show notifications with balloons" is also on.
   
• Ask for confirmation before terminating Outlook: Shows or hides the confirmation dialog that appears when you terminate Outlook from the KnockOut menu.
   
• Ask for confirmation before terminating Word: Shows or hides the confirmation dialog that appears when you terminate Word from the KnockOut menu.
   
• Ask for confirmation before exiting KnockOut: Shows or hides the confirmation dialog that appears before you exit KnockOut.
   
• Remove the Outlook "new mail" notification area icon: When Outlook receives new mail, it puts an envelope icon in the notification area of the taskbar to show that new mail has been received.  If you turn this option on, KnockOut will keep this icon from showing up while KnockOut is running.
   
• Remove the main Outlook notification area icon (Requires Outlook 11 or later): Microsoft Outlook 11 includes a notification area icon that allows access to several important Outlook features and shows replication and connection status.  It is recommended that you leave this icon showing.  If you would like to remove it, however, this option will keep this icon from showing up while KnockOut is running.
   
• Automatically check for new versions (Requires Windows 2000 or later): If this option is selected, KnockOut will check periodically to see if a new version is available and, if it is, it will pop up a balloon to notify you that the new version has been released.  No information is sent to the Internet, and less than 1 KB is downloaded to the local machine.  Still, if you have no connectivity at all, you might want to turn this option off.
   
• Customize Menu (Requires Windows 98 or later): This command will allow you to add or remove the different types of Outlook items (appointment, mail, task, contact, etc.) at the top of the KnockOut menu.  See later in this document for detailed help on this process. 
   
• Check for new version: Takes you to the KnockOut Home Page, where you can see if a new version has been released.
   
• Help: This button will take you to this web page.
   
• Product version: Shows the version of Outlook you have on your machine.  Useful for troubleshooting reasons.

To customize the KnockOut menu, click Settings on the KnockOut menu, and then click "Customize Menu" in the Settings dialog.  A dialog that looks like this will appear:

This dialog lets you choose which types of new items you want to be able to create from the KnockOut menu.  You might want to add items that are not available by default (such as Journal Entry or Distribution List), or perhaps you want to remove items from the list to make the menu smaller.  Either way, you can add every item type or none (or anything in-between) as easy as pie.

To include an item on the menu, click the checkbox next to that item.  To remove an item from the menu, uncheck the checkbox next to that item.  When you're done, click OK.  The change will occur immediately.

Customizing your KnockOut menu requires Windows 98 or later as your operating system.

KnockOut is made available in the hope that you find it useful.  It is free, and thus it is by-and-large unsupported.

If you find a bug or are having problems with KnockOut, you are welcome to contact the author by e-mail.  Please include the word 'KnockOut' in the subject of the e-mail, and include information about the operating system and version of Microsoft Outlook you are using.  I will try to answer e-mails when I have time, but no timely response can be guaranteed.

If you have feedback or a suggestions about KnockOut, I would love to hear that as well.

Contact the author via e-mail at jensen@sunflowerhead.com.

Last updated: Monday, 16 December 2002 11:30 PM