Outlook should offer optional Exit confirmation dialog

[Guest]

Under Tools > Options > Other > General, (maybe under Advanced Options), add
the option to present an Exit confirmation dialog box when closing Outlook.

Many times, when reading and closing various emails, I get to the basic
Outlook window, and I inadvertantly click on the [X] Exit button instead of
the [_] Minimize button. If I could opt for an Exit confirmation dialog, I
could avoid the frustration of restarting Outlook every time I make that same
mistake.

----------------
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...9967&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.installation

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

"There are seldom technological solutions for behavioral problems." - Internet Guru

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, D Major Guy asked:

| Under Tools > Options > Other > General, (maybe under Advanced
| Options), add the option to present an Exit confirmation dialog box
| when closing Outlook.
|
| Many times, when reading and closing various emails, I get to the
| basic Outlook window, and I inadvertantly click on the [X] Exit
| button instead of the [_] Minimize button. If I could opt for an Exit
| confirmation dialog, I could avoid the frustration of restarting
| Outlook every time I make that same mistake.
|
| ----------------
| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
| the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
| button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|
| http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...9967&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.installation

 

[Guest]

This is NOT a behavioral "problem", and there's no reason to cop a snob
attitude about this. It's a natural consequence of having multiple
individual email messages maximized just like the main Outlook window itself.
The program is meant to be used in this way, since Outlook doesn't open
messages in an MDI fashion.

I do the same thing the OP does - accidentally close the main Outlook
window. Did it twice today. This is in fact my main Outlook UI complaint.
Many, many other programs have an exit confirmation, for good reason.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

I will say this once and once only.

Closing a program rather than a window IS a behavioral problem in that the
person does not verify what they are closing and then blames the program
when it did exactly what the person told it to do.

Sorry, blaming software for inadvertance or just plain ineptitude is silly.
Asking someone to program in a Nanny option dumbs down the program and
insults users. Sorry - if that ever happens, I will either immediately turn
off the option or uninstall the program.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, JG Miller wrote:

| This is NOT a behavioral "problem", and there's no reason to cop a
| snob attitude about this. It's a natural consequence of having
| multiple individual email messages maximized just like the main
| Outlook window itself. The program is meant to be used in this way,
| since Outlook doesn't open messages in an MDI fashion.
|
| I do the same thing the OP does - accidentally close the main Outlook
| window. Did it twice today. This is in fact my main Outlook UI
| complaint. Many, many other programs have an exit confirmation, for
| good reason.
|
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| "There are seldom technological solutions for behavioral problems."
|| - Internet Guru
||
|| --Â
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, D Major Guy asked:
||
||| Under Tools > Options > Other > General, (maybe under Advanced
||| Options), add the option to present an Exit confirmation dialog box
||| when closing Outlook.
|||
||| Many times, when reading and closing various emails, I get to the
||| basic Outlook window, and I inadvertantly click on the [X] Exit
||| button instead of the [_] Minimize button. If I could opt for an
||| Exit confirmation dialog, I could avoid the frustration of
||| restarting Outlook every time I make that same mistake.
|||
||| ----------------
||| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to
||| the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion,
||| click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see
||| the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
||| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|||
|||
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...9967&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.installation

 

[Guest]

I will say this once and once only.

Closing a program rather than a window IS a behavioral problem in that the
person does not verify what they are closing and then blames the program
when it did exactly what the person told it to do.

Sorry, blaming software for inadvertance or just plain ineptitude is silly.
Asking someone to program in a Nanny option dumbs down the program and
insults users. Sorry - if that ever happens, I will either immediately turn
off the option or uninstall the program.

Sounds like you're completely against program confirmations then?

If so, aren't important or potentially destructive actions worth confirming,
like "Do you really want to erase your entire drive?" And does your attitude
extend to your interactions in the world at large? How about warning signs -
are those "nanny"ish also?

I and other people close windows or do other things inadvertently not
usually because we're inept, but because we all establish rhythms and
patterns, and software can be written to take those patterns into account
(especially the patterns the software itself helps create!).

Good UI programming includes confirmations for reasonably infrequent and
damaging user actions, and the ability to turn those confirmations off if the
user desires. There's no reason that a user should feel that a competently
designed UI is "dumbed down" just because it includes confirmations,
especially if the user can make the confirmations disappear.