If you live and breath in Outlook (I used to spend 1/3 of my day in Outlook), Attensa may very well be the RSS reader for you.
Attensa integrates itself into Outlook so well that you’re not even aware it’s there most of the time. You can switch back and forth between reading email and RSS feeds so easily you’ll wonder why you used to use a browser or separate app for RSS. And best of all, it’s free.
About Attensa for Outlook
Installing Attensa for Outlook
Using Attensa for Outlook
Attensa for Outlook Options/Settings
From the Attensa overview page, “If Outlook is the first app you open in the morning and the last app you close at night you need Attensa for Outlook, the RSS reader designed for business users looking for an easy to use, secure RSS reader for Outlook that helps track and monitor critical business information “automatically.”
Minimum System Requirements
And last but not least, download Attensa for Outlook here.
As expected, you have to close Outlook before starting the Attensa installation. Once completed, relaunch Outlook and you’ll be presented with a brief Welcome screen.
From here you’ll set up a few of the initial features. Each of these can be changed later, so don’t worry too much. To get an idea of how Attensa works, leave the “recommended subscriptions” checked - again, you can always remove them later. Decide if you want to make Attensa your default RSS reader (maybe not yet), and decide if you want to create a new file to store your subscriptions (a good idea). When you’re ready, click OK.
Welcome screen (click to enlarge)
The main Attensa window will now be in the foreground. Click OK to close it, we’ll come back to this in a bit.
Attensa for Outlook Home (click to enlarge)
Notice that Outlook now has a new Toolbar.
And you should now have an Attensa for Outlook mail folder
Select one of the default feeds, and just like your email view, Attensa presents RSS.
Attensa for Outlook (click to enlarge)
Right-click on one of the default groups that you’re not likely to keep. Notice that the pop-up menu is exactly the same as if you’d selected a regular email folder. Use the Delete feature to clean up the feeds you don’t want to keep.
Choose Unsubscribe to completely remove the feed or group.
If you select the Attensa for Outlook folder itself, you’ll be presented with the River of News view. The first time you view your feeds this way, a brief Help/Overview window will appear (see below).
River of News view (click to enlarge)
Use the River of News toolbar to increase or decrease the preview length of each article
To add a feed, click the Attensa button in the Attensa Toolbar.
Now click the Add button
Enter the Subscription URL (full address of the feed), assign the feed a Category (otherwise the feed will appear in the Attensa for Outlook folder) and then click Get info on this feed. The title, article count and description will auto-populate. Click Add Feed to continue.
Your newly added feed will now appear in the main Attensa settings window. Repeat the above steps to add additional feeds. When you’re done, click OK
In addition to your email, Outlook will (by default) block images in your RSS articles. And just like with your email, you can right-click any of the images and create a “rule” (Add the Domain to Safe Senders list, Add Sender to Safe Senders List etc).
To change your Attensa settings, click the Attensa button in the Attensa Toolbar
And click the Options button
Carefully review each of the Options categories - there’s a lot you can change!
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Ross
Thanks for all your hard work. This is incredibly useful. Let me know if you need anything else.
Scott
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