I'm trying to discover what factors determine when the New Mail Notification
Sound ("You've got mail" and others) is played. All I have learned so far is
that 1) the sound does NOT play on the receipt of EVERY new message -- which
makes sense, I guess; 2) the sound does NOT play when OE is not yet running
-- duh. Actually, I'm not 100% certain of that either. All I can say is that
I have not yet gotten the sound to play when I send a new message and OE is
not running. But does it play only after some fixed length of time since
that latest previous notification? Does it play only when OE is running and
the main window is NOT minimized? Or, when OE is running and the main window
IS minimized? Are there other factors?

TIA,

Phil

OE must be open, but it can be minimized. It will play once, regardless of
how many messages are received at one time as per your settings in Tools |
Options: Check for messages every xx minutes. It does not play a sound when
you send a message.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"pwrichcreek" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to discover what factors determine when the New Mail
Notification
Sound ("You've got mail" and others) is played. All I have learned so far
is
that 1) the sound does NOT play on the receipt of EVERY new message --
which
makes sense, I guess; 2) the sound does NOT play when OE is not yet
running
-- duh. Actually, I'm not 100% certain of that either. All I can say is
that
I have not yet gotten the sound to play when I send a new message and OE
is
not running. But does it play only after some fixed length of time since
that latest previous notification? Does it play only when OE is running
and
the main window is NOT minimized? Or, when OE is running and the main
window
IS minimized? Are there other factors?

TIA,

Phil

Thanks for the reply, Bruce:

It will play once, regardless of how many messages are received at one time as per your settings

That would make sense, if it played the notification EACH time it received
one or more messages. If it slurps in, say, six messages you don't want six
notifications. One is enough. But if 30 minutes later OE slurps in another
message (or six), another notification would be helpful (IMHO). However,
based on my testing since I sent my initial query, the new mail notification
does not happen EACH time OE slurps one or more new messages. OE is much more
discreet.

Apparently OE plays the notification once, and only once, when it slurps one
or more new messages after OE changes display state or after the user
views/reads a message. By "changes display state" I mean OE starts up, or OE
goes from hidden (minimized) to non-hidden, or OE goes from non-hidden to
hidden (minimized). By "views/reads" I mean the user clicks (views) or
double-clicks (reads) a message. To put this in less abstract terms, consider
the following scenario.

1. OE was just started and minimized. No messages are queued at the mail
server.
2. The "check for new messages" interval expires, and OE slurps in a single
new message. OE plays the new mail notification sound.
3. No OE activity happens for two hours.
4. OE slurps in a new message. OE DOES NOT PLAY the notificiation sound this
time.

By contrast, if somewhere between steps 2 and 3 the user minimizes OE and
leaves it that way, the notification sound will play when step-4 occurs.

I guess this is sortof a "SO WHAT?" issue. My wife's computer sits on the
kitchen countertop and she may not touch it for hours after first checking
her email in the morning. It would be helpful if she could depend on the new
mail notification without having to remember what she needs to do --
minimize, un-minimize, read an email -- to be sure she gets notified. I was
just hoping there was some secret setting I could tweak to make it work a bit
more to my liking.

What I really need is a monitor process that says, every nn minutes, "I've
been watching your inbox and during the last 15 minutes, you've received 2
new messages. Oh, and by the way, you have 5 messages that have been received
in the last 4 hours that you have not yet read. Have a nice day..." grin

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

OE must be open, but it can be minimized. It will play once, regardless of
how many messages are received at one time as per your settings in Tools |
Options: Check for messages every xx minutes. It does not play a sound when
you send a message.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"pwrichcreek" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to discover what factors determine when the New Mail
Notification
Sound ("You've got mail" and others) is played. All I have learned so far
is
that 1) the sound does NOT play on the receipt of EVERY new message --
which
makes sense, I guess; 2) the sound does NOT play when OE is not yet
running
-- duh. Actually, I'm not 100% certain of that either. All I can say is
that
I have not yet gotten the sound to play when I send a new message and OE
is
not running. But does it play only after some fixed length of time since
that latest previous notification? Does it play only when OE is running
and
the main window is NOT minimized? Or, when OE is running and the main
window
IS minimized? Are there other factors?

TIA,

Phil

pwrichcreek wrote:

4. OE slurps in a new message. OE DOES NOT PLAY the notificiation sound this
time.

Not my experience with 98/me/w2k and xp. Every time OE polls for
messages and there are some, it plays the notification sound, even if
they're filtered into the trash.

Alias
--
Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.
Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

Alias,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running a spam filter called Qurb. I wonder if it might somehow be
interfering with the notification process. I'll give it a go with Qurb out of
the picture.

Phil

"Alias" wrote:

pwrichcreek wrote:

4. OE slurps in a new message. OE DOES NOT PLAY the notificiation sound this
time.

Not my experience with 98/me/w2k and xp. Every time OE polls for
messages and there are some, it plays the notification sound, even if
they're filtered into the trash.

Alias
--
Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.
Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

"pwrichcreek" wrote in message

Alias,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running a spam filter called Qurb. I wonder if it might somehow be
interfering with the notification process. I'll give it a go with
Qurb out of the picture.

Phil

"Alias" wrote:

pwrichcreek wrote:

4. OE slurps in a new message. OE DOES NOT PLAY the notificiation
sound this time.

Not my experience with 98/me/w2k and xp. Every time OE polls for
messages and there are some, it plays the notification sound, even if
they're filtered into the trash.

Alias
--
Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email
me. Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

Could be. I also get the sound every time.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
"Anyone who prefers security over freedom deserves neither."