Email Reactor for Outlook

Email Reactor is an add-in for the Microsoft Outlook mail application to help you quickly respond to emails. You can install it from the Microsoft Store.

How does Email Reactor help me manage emails in Outlook?

Do you find yourself copying and pasting message contents over and over as you deal with your e-mail inbox? You have some standard replies, but you're not a marketing robot, You need to look at each one and respond individually, but you could do with a little help...

That's where Email Reactor comes in. We provide you with some standard replies, and we scan the message to make our best guess at the right one. Now it's over to you: pick a different template if needed and then hit the Respond button which will open the New Message dialog with the template loaded. Now you can hit send or modify the message as required to give it that personal touch.

How do I use Email Reactor?

Open an email in Outlook as normal. Along the top of the reading pane you should see an app-bar containing any apps you have installed, including Email Reactor. Click on Email Reactor in the app bar to bring up the Email Reactor panel.

Email Reactor will try to pick an email template depending on the content of the message. If the message is the default, or is unsuitable, use the drop-down list to select from the templates provided.

When you have selected a suitable template click on the "Edit and Send" button. Outlook will now open the email reply pane with the template you selected. You can now make edits to the template response and send the email response in the normal way.

Even if you make substantial changes to the message, the template is still a real time saver because it gives you the framework of the response so that you don't have to think everything through from the beginning.

How do I customize the email templates

Click on the "Settings" tab in the top menu to make changes. Here you can modify the strings that are substituted into the templates. We have already filled in your name based on your Outlook profile. Some of the strings have default values.

The first thing you need to do is provide a company name and job title so that the signature looks right. If you already have an email signature set up in Outlook you probably don't want any signature at all. In that case select the signature string and delete the contents. Don't forget to save your changes when you are done.

The salutation at the beginning of the templates is set to "Hi". If you want something different, for example "Hello", you can change the 'salutation' string.

Once you have these strings set up you can modify the templates if the default wording doesn't fit your requirements. Use the "Save" button to save your changes to your mailbox.

Remember that this is just a template. When you respond to an email message you will have an opportunity to edit each individual message as required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where can I use Email Reactor?

A: Email Reactor should work in Outlook whether you are using the Office 2019 (or later) Outlook Client on a PC or tablet. It will also work in the Outlook Web App version of Outlook as part of Microsoft 365, and in Outlook.com.

If you have an earlier version of the desktop version of Office it may work depending on the underlying Webview component, as described in a later question.

Q: How do I install Email Reactor?

A: Here are the simple steps you need to take:

Open your Outlook presentation
On the Home menu (or Install on older versions of Outlook) choose Add-ins.
Go to the option to search for Add-ins (More Add-ins -> Store).
Search for Email Reactor, and then click on "Add".
Accept the licence terms (if offered).
Email Reactor is added to the current slide.
Configure as needed.

Subsequently, you should see Email Reactor under My Add-ins, and you won't need to search for it in the store. Just click on Add-ins on the Home menu, and click on the Email Reactor icon.

Q: Does Email Reactor require a log-in or registration in order to work?

A: No, Email Reactor does not require you to log-in, provide credentials, register, or make payments.

Q: What authentication mechanisms does Email Reactor use?

A: Email Reactor does not require a user's identity or authenticate users. It runs entirely within the context of Outlook, and does not handle the user's identity.

Q: Does Email Reactor store user credentials or other user data?

A: No, we don't require you to provide a user identity or use your credentials. There is no log-in required to use the add-in, so there are no credentials to store. We don't collect or store any user data.

Q: Does Email Reactor have protection against threats such as XSS (Cross-site Scripting)?

A: We perform STRIDE threat modelling as part of our design process, and perform code reviews for common attack vectors including the OWASP Top Ten.

Q: Are there any known vulnerabilities or security incidents with Email Reactor?

A: No.

Q: Is Email Reactor compliant with industry-specific security standards such as ISO 27000, HIPAA, COBIT, etc.?

A: No, because it does not process any user data or identities.

Q: How frequently is Email Reactor updated to address bugs and security issues?

A: So far, this has not been necessary. The add-in has so far had a number of updates only to add additional functionality, or to comply with the latest security best-practices.

Q: Why does Email Reactor need to have permissions "read and make changes to your document" and "send data over the Internet"?

A: These are the minimum permissions for a functional add-in.

Q: Does Email Reactor "phone home" or transmit details of my presentation?

A: No. The add-in only uses our servers to load its assets (HTML, code, CSS, images, audio files, etc.). Like any web server, these requests are logged by IP address. It does not communicate back to our servers once loaded, and runs entirely within the Office add-in sandbox in Outlook.

Q: Does Email Reactor require an Internet connection to work?

A: Once Email Reactor is installed it will usually be cached by Outlook, and will continue to run without an Internet connection.

Q: Does Email Reactor work with the web versions of Outlook?

A: Yes, Email Reactor will work in the browser version of Outlook. You will need an up-to-date version of Microsoft Edge browser (Chromium-based).

Q: I just see a message "We're really sorry, but this add-in will not run in your version of Microsoft Office". How do I get it working?

A: It may be that you are running an older version of Outlook, or you don't have the modern Edge browser engine available (WebView2 - Email Reactor requires this component). This can happen if you are using Office 2019 or earlier. If you have Office 2016 or Office 2019 Retail versions (i.e. not a volume licence), or you're using the Microsoft 365 subscription version of Office, you may well be able to get the Email Reactor to run by installing the latest version of the Microsoft Edge browser (i.e. the Chromium-based version). The full details of how to get Office with the WebView2 component are on the Microsoft website.

Q: Does Email Reactor use TLS (Transport Layer Security)?

A: Yes, the connection to our servers (to download assets) uses HTTPS.

Q: Does Email Reactor use any third-party libraries?

A: The add-in uses the ReactJS framework. It also uses the Office.js libraries, as do all Microsoft Office web add-ins.

Q: How can I run the Outlook Web App without Pop-up Blockers?

A: If you use the Outlook Web App in Office 365 and your browser has a pop-up blocker, you may see a message "Internet Explorer blocked a pop-up from outlook.office365.com" or similar when you click on the "Respond" button. This will interfere with the editing of your message but you will still see it as a draft message that can be edited.

You can prevent these messages by disabling the pop-up blocker for outlook.office365.com or by adding it to your trusted sites. In Internet Explorer you can do this by going to Tools->Internet Options->Security tab, then select Trusted Sites, click on the Sites button and click the "Add" button to add outlook.office365.com to the list of trusted websites.

Q: How can I manually sideload Email Reactor when using the web version of Outlook?

A: Sideloading means distributing the add-in using a locally hosted manifest file instead of using the Microsoft Store or an add-in catalogue, for testing purposes. The manifest file for Email Reactor can be found at https://www.flosim.com/emailreactor/manifest.xml.

For more detailed information about sideloading with Office for the web, see the Microsoft documentation.

Terms of Use

The software is supplied 'as is' and all use is at your own risk. Flow Simulation Ltd. provides no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties as to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability or non-infringement of proprietary rights. Under no circumstances will Flow Simulation Ltd. be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or other damages arising from the use of this software.

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