Bugs fixed:

• Breaking of the email server name when setting options from the main dialog box

Updates:

• Updated installer – banner in installer screens now uses the Email icon
• Updated icon in Programs and Features to use the email icon
• Updated Help link in Programs and Features to point to sendasemailwlw.wordpress.com
• Updated version to 1.1.1
• Added version number in main dialog box in the status bar

The download link below will take you to my SkyDrive shared space, which will contain the latest MSI. Windows Live Gallery usually lags a day, as the submitted MSI has to go through an approval process…

Found a small bug in v1.1… If you go to change mail server/twitter options right from the main Send As Email dialog box, the email server will change from [server name] to ‘[Sending using server name], which will not allow you to send your email. I’m fixing this issue right now, and will upload v1.1.1 both to Windows Live Gallery and to SkyDrive.

To fix this problem, cancel out of the main window, open SaE options via Tools > Options in Windows Live Writer, and set the options for the plug-in that way.

Oh, the joys of self-testing… :S

One of my users sent me a “thank you” email the other day, and in the email requested that i add the ability to include a ‘personal message’ to attach with the blog post, and also provide the option of including only a link to the blog post, without the actual body of the post.

Great feature suggestions, and i’m happy to comply!

This new release contains the following enhancements:

1. Ability to specify a short (up to 255 characters) personal message to be included before the body of the blog post
2. Ability to include only the link to the post, without the text of the post
3. Updated subject, including “New Blog Post:” prefix
4. Twitter integration – now you can send a tweet containing the subject of your email message and a bit.ly-shortened URL of the blog post. Twitter integration is disabled if you don’t specify username/password in plug-in Options.

For Twitter integration I used the Twitterizer Framework C# library.

Here are updated screenshots of the Options and Send As Email main form:

As you can see, the Options dialog now shows two sections – Email options, and Twitter options.

If you leave Twitter fields blank, the checkbox that enables tweeting from the main form is disabled.

The main form now has the options to include a personal message, and also to omit the text of the blog in the email (only a link is included).

The Personal message field is HTML encoded, so no special formatting is allowed. I didn’t want to provide a window for some yet-unknown HTML/script exploit to be delivered via email…

Download the update, give it a go, and tell me what you think!

Got an email this morning from an upset person who downloaded the plug-in and couldn’t figure out how to use it. Mea culpa. I assumed all options in the plug-in were so user-friendly and easy to use i didn’t need to provide detailed instructions. i was wrong, and i’m sorry. The person was clearly frustrated, and i’m thrilled i spent the extra minute to add “Send Feedback” into the two screens the plug-in actually has, so he could tell me how he felt.

This plug-in is totally and completely unclear to operate.  I cannot find directions and specifically, where to put a list of e-mail addresses for it to send the blog posts to.  Without this, it is a totally useless plug-in.

Amen.

So, after sending an email in reply and including the instructions, i put them here as well:

[name withheld],

thanks for the feedback! I’m sorry you had a difficult time understanding how to use the plug-in, and I do appreciate you taking the time to send back your remarks. I understand it can be frustrating to use applications without instructions.

Here’s how you use the plug in:

1. Install it

2. The first time you use it, it’ll ask you for mail server information

a.

b. SMTP server is where you  put in the server name (smtp.comcast.net, for example, if your provider is Comcast)

c. The rest of the options (encryption, username, password, port) should be provided to you by your email provider

3. When you publish your post, it’ll prompt you for email addresses where to send your post

a.

b. In the To field, enter email addresses, separated by commas – if there’s more than one destination

c. In the Your email (From) field, enter your email address

d. The Subject field will be pre-populated with the title of your post

e. The Body field shows a link to your post.

f. Click on Send to send the email with the contents of your post. Note that images will not show in the email, and the email will contain a link to the post online in addition to the text contents.

Please let me know if there are any other specific areas where you need some help!

Thanks again – bad feedback is good feedback!

Yep, after the 2nd attempt (i think i got something wrong in the upload submission the first time), upload.com accepted my submission, and now you can get the plug-in that emails your blog posts when you publish from Windows Live Writer from gallery.live.com and also from download.com.

When sending your blog post to multiple email addresses, be sure to separate the email addresses by commas – otherwise you’ll get an error message.

I’ve received a question whether it’s possible to support name resolution similar to what’s in Outlook (type in a name from your address book/Global Address List and have it auto-resolve to an email address). The answer is that since the plug-in it its own email client and has no internal address book or connection to any other address book, there’s no way for me to look up email addresses based on a name, which means that i can’t support Outlook-like email resolution.

I will, however, keep that on the list of things to consider, and if i find a way (know of any? let me know!) to incorporate address books without breaking portability of the plug-in, i’ll add it to the feature implementation list!