Boring Desk

An Outlook sidekick for the questions everyone asks on a Monday.

What it does

• Am I out this week? Answered as it opens, with the meetings still booked inside your leave.
• Who on the team is out? Read from the team's leave spreadsheet, with who is in the office today and tomorrow.
• Where did my week go? Meeting load by week, by day, by who booked it, and which recurring meetings cost the most.
• What's waiting on me? A daily briefing of meetings and unanswered emails, and a chaser for emails nobody answered.
• Tidy up: find a whole class of email, check the list, then move or delete it.

How it's built

• It's a Windows HTML Application: one file that Windows runs with the built-in mshta.exe. That gives it direct access to Outlook and Excel on the same PC, with nothing to install and no admin rights.
• Nothing it reads leaves the laptop. Replies and nudges open as Outlook drafts; it never sends anything itself.
• Its settings live in a small file in your own Windows profile.