Help Station

Help Station
For Outlook Express
& Windows Mail

The #1 Problem
Can't see the pictures, doesn't scroll,
or you can't save attachments?
Here are 3 possible reasons:

#1: Go to Control Panel, Internet Options,
A: click on the tab for Security, click on the icon for Restricted Sites,
click on the Custom Level button. Scroll most of the way down until you see Scripting. Under that you'll see Active Scripting.
Put the circle in Enable just below that. Click on OK
B: Click on the icon at the top for Internet sites and do the same thing.

#2: In OE, go to Tools, Options
A. Click on the Send tab. Ensure that the Mail Sending Format is set for HTML.
B. Click on the tab for Security
REMOVE the check in the box for 'Do not allow attachments to be saved.....'
Windows SP2 users:
C. Still on the Security tab, change the top setting to use the Internet Zone instead of the Restricted Zone
D. UNcheck the box for Block images and other...."
E. Click on the Read tab
UNcheck the box (if it's checked) for Read all message in plain text.

#3: Hotbar Users: Stationery can cease to work properly when sending messages. All I can recommend is to remove Hotbar if you want to use stationery.

If you use Outlook or any other program other than Outlook Express,
there is no support to ensure the stationery to work.

Other Help Items:
Unzipping files I send you
Unzipping files you download from a web site
Unzipping with XP and not WinZip
Unzipping with Vista
Using the stationery properly
Deleting stationery properly
Personalizing your stationery (a.k.a. Fine tuning the stationery)
Removing music from stationery
Getting the music to work

Other Help & Ideas(my site)

To use the stationery:

The BEST way to use the stationery is to just click the down arrow on the button for Create Message (or New Message, or compose Message) and choose from the list. As seen here

If you don't see the one you want, then click on Select Stationery from the list. This will open a dialog box of your Stationery directory.
To ensure that you are in your main Stationery folder, click on the black arrow as indicated in the image below

You should see exactly what you see here...Stationery is highlighted and there are 3 folders listed above that highlighted one.
If you are in the correct folder, click on that arrow again to make it go away, then just double click on any of the files there (all the files you see will be stationery files).

If you still don't see what you want, or you don't see see exactly what is shown above with Stationery highlighted and the 3 folders right above it, then click on the folder that has the black arrow and keep clicking on it until you see C:\ in the long white box. (see below)

Then double click on the following folders, one at a time:
Program Files
Common Files
Microsoft Shared
Stationery
You'll now see your stationery in your Stationery directory.

HOWEVER!!! If you have 2 folders of similar name (such as Program Files and ProgramFiles, or Stationery and Stationary), then you MUST make sure that you choose the exact working at stated above.

By using these instructions, it will ensure that all special effects will take place. This includes (but not limited to), music, scrolling extra images, and extra text.

The stationery will only be able to be viewed by those people who have Outlook Express or have the capability of viewing pictures in their e-mail rather than viewing pictures as attachments.

Getting a zip program is almost a necessity. Check out the freeware ZipGenius or a great program I use WinZip

How to unzip files received in email, the EASY and best way
1. Click on the e-mail message I sent to you that has the zip file attached.
2. Click on File, Save Attachments.
3. Click on Browse
4. Click on the + signs for C:\, then Program Files, then Common Files, then Microsoft Shared.
5. Click ON the folder called Stationery.
6. Click on OK
HOWEVER!!! If you have 2 folders of similar name (such as Program Files and ProgramFiles, or Stationery and Stationary), then you MUST make sure that you choose the exact working at stated above or your files will not go where they are suppose to.
It should now look like this:

7. Click on Save (take note of the name of the zip file)

Open a Windows Explorer (Start, Programs, Windows Explorer).
On the left side click on the + signs for:
C:\
Program Files,
Common Files,
Microsoft Shared,
Click ON the folder called Stationery
Find the file you just saved and high light it. It should now look like this:

RIGHT click on that zip file and choose WinZip (Or ZipGenius), then choose Extract Here
Your screen should look similiar to this:

WinZip Users: If you have to click on I Agree, then do so.

(If you don't have WinZip or ZipGenius, but have a different zipping program, then the options will be slightly different...just make sure that the files are NOT extracted to a sub-directory of Stationery, but into the Stationery directory itself)

You won't see anything happen, but you can then go to Outlook Express, click on the down-arrow on the New Message button, click on Select Stationery, then double-click on the stationery you acquired.

How to unzip the files you get from the stationery site (the EASY and best way)
After you download the zip file from my site take note as to what directory you're saving the zip file in on your computer, (Probably in the My Documents folder, but this will be used as the example instructions).
Now open a Windows Explorer (Start, Programs, Windows Explorer). Go to the folder where you saved the zip file from my site. On the left side click on that folder:
You should see this:

Then on the left side, click on the + signs for
C:\
Program Files,
Common Files,
Microsoft Shared,
Do NOT click the folder called Stationery, but just be able to SEE it.
HOWEVER!!! If you have 2 folders of similar name (such as Program Files and ProgramFiles, or Stationery and Stationary), then you MUST make sure that you choose the exact working at stated above or your files will not go where they are suppose to.
You should now see this (notice that nothing is highlighted...just SEE the Stationery folder on the left and still see the the zip file on the right side:

RIGHT click on that zip file and choose WinZip (Or ZipGenius), then choose Extract Here
Your screen should look similiar to this:

WinZip Users: If you have to click on I Agree, then do so.

You won't see anything happen, but you can then go to Outlook Express, click on the down-arrow on the New Message button, click on Select Stationery, then double-click on the stationery you acquired.

How to unzip the using Windows XP
Double click on the zip file you received and saved, or downloaded.
A new windows explorer will open showing the contents of the zip file.
On the left side, click on Extract All Files
Click on Next, then click on Browse
Click on the + for My Computer
Click on the + for C:
Click on the + for Program Files
Click on the + for Common Files
Click on the + for Microsoft Shared
Click ON the folder called Stationery
Click on OK
Click on Next
Remove the check in the box for Show Extract Files, then click on Finish
Close the window and use your new stationery from the list.

How to unzip the using Windows Vista

1. On my web site, click on the link for Download for the stationery you want
2. Click on Save, to save the file.
3. In the dialog box that shows up, on the left side click on Desktop
4. Then click on Save (so it's saved onto your computer)
5. On your desktop, double click on the file you just saved
6. At the top click on Extract All Files
7. Remove the check in the box for Show extracated files when completed
8. Click on the button for Browse
9. Click on the arrow for your name
10. Click on the arrow for AppData
11. Click on the arrow for Local (note: don't click on LocalLow)
12. Click on the arrow for Microsoft
13. Click on the arrow for Windows Mail (there are several Windows folder there...make sure you choose arrow for Window Mail folder)
14. Click ON the name of the folder for Stationery
15. Click on OK
16. Now click on the button for Extract

You can now use your stationery in Windows Mail to start a stationery message using your new stationery.

You can then either delete the .zip file you saved onto your desktop or move it to a safe location, because that icon isn't something you need to have cluttered on your desktop

Removing music from stationery:
1. Open the stationery that has the music that you want to remove (Using WordPad or Notepad is fine)
2. Locate and highlight the section that looks like this:

3. Take note of the name of the mid file in the second line. The example above shows antique-rose.mid
4. Open a Windows Explorer and navitgate your way to the stationery directory:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
5. Delete the name of the mid file.
6. Back in WordPad (or Notepad), delete the section you hightlighted.
7. Close WordPad (or Notepad) and click on Yes to save, then (if using WordPad), you'll have to click on Text Document to finish the save.

NOTE: Check for a section like this and delete it also :
<EMBED SRC="cheers.mid" AUTOSTART=TRUE WIDTH=145 HEIGHT=28 ALIGN="CENTER">
/EMBED>
BGSOUND SRC="cheers.mid">

You have just deleted the music file from your computer (since it will just take up valuable hard disk space) and you've made the stationery free from the coding of even trying to use music.

Getting the music to workN/font>
If you extracted the files properly, the the music should work. However, if you extracted the files and it DIDN'T work. Here are a few possibilities for it not to work and some solutions:
1: Maybe not all files were extracted.
Fix:Try unzipping again, make sure that the All Files circle is filled in on the WinZip dialog box.

2: Check the spelling...example (the first one is correct):
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationary
C:\ProgramFiles\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationary
If you find that you have folders that are almost the same name (such as in the examples above of Program Files and ProgramFiles), then you'll need contact me for further instructions on how to move your files to where they should be...otherwise your music will NOT work.

3: MAIN CULPRIT: You extracted into a directory other than:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
Some people like to have sub folders for different types of stationery, or a folder made just for Carney Creations statinery. Such as:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery\Carney
or
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery\unzipped
or even
C:\Unzipped Stationery\Carney Creations
These are all fine and can stay there if you really want them to...with one exception...the music WON'T work.
FIX 1: Leave all the files in that other folder, but you MUST either move or copy the music file (example: children.mid) into the main stationery folder of:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
FIX 2: Move all the files from that other folder over to the main directory of:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
After the files have been move, then delete the empty folder that they were in.

Personalizing your new stationery
* * * Editing Instructions. (click to read the directions) * * *
Your can save the instructions by right-clicking on this link and choose Save Target As, and save it in your stationery directory. The file is called editing.txt. Then open the file and follow the directions

Deleting other stationery you've acquired
You can delete stationery that you've acquired, but have now decided to get rid of. Don't just delete the name of the stationery from the stationery directory...you need to delete the associated files that go with it:
Open the program called Notepad (everybody has that program)
Click on File, Open. Click on the down arrow for the long box that says: Files Of Type (it will show Text Documents at the moment) Change it to All Files
Navigate your way to your Stationery directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
Open the stationery file you want to delete. It will be an html file ( Microsoft HTML Document)
Click on Search, Find, then type in:   .gif   ,, click on Find, then take note the name of the file that it found and highlighted...such as rose-back.gif. Write this filename down. Click on Find Next until you get them all.
Next do a Find for   .jpg   and write those names down.
Then do the same thing for    .mid   These are music files that you may also need to get rid of.
Now go to a Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the stationery directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery
Select and delete all those files you wrote down, including the stationery file itself.

For More help, instructions and ideas, check out the E-Mail Page