Follow these steps to set your PC up to SMS you when important email arrives while you are away from your desk. (Note: The following instructions assume that you already have Outlook 2000/XP/2003/2007 installed).

1. Follow these instructions to set up Skype if you don’t already use it.

2. To have SMS messages sent to you from your PC, you will need to purchase some Skype Credit if you don’t already have some. You can buy Skype Credit here. If you’re doing this for the first time, just buy the minimum amount so you can give it a try without too much of an outlay.

3. If you don’t already have Skylook, download and install it from here.

4. Start Outlook. If you are running Skylook for the first time, you will see the Skylook licensing wizard and the Skylook Welcome wizard. Follow the prompts to ensure you have Skylook set up the way you want.

5. Click the “Alerts>Advanced Alerts…” button in the Skylook toolbar:

6. Choose “Email” from the list of options, then click “Next”:

7. Enter some search text. This can be some expected contents, or the name or email address of the sender. Use this search text to distinguish the important emails that you want to be alerted about, from the unimportant ones that can wait until you get back to your PC. Only emails that contain your search text in the subject, body or sender name or email address will be sent to you via SMS. (NOTE: If you have multiple sources from which you wish to receive SMS alerts - e.g. your boss and your wife, set up an alert for each source - i.e. follow these instructions from start to finish for your wife, and then again for your boss).

8. Fill out this wizard page as shown (using your mobile phone number instead of the one shown):

9. Fill out the next wizard page as shown. IMPORTANT: By default, Skylook abbreviates the email message to fit into a single SMS message, which can hold a maximum of 160 characters. This can be appropriate for some emails - e.g. simple notification emails where much of the information is in the subject line, but obviously is not appropriate for longer emails. If you expect longer emails, change the “Abbreviate” option to allow Skylook to send you multiple SMS messages, or check the “Only include lines containing” option and enter key phrases to identify the parts of the email you want included. If neither of these options is suitable, you can use the “Email to Phone Call Forwarding” feature instead of an Email SMS alert. (This will read the entire email to you in a single phone call).

10. Accept the default settings in the next page:

11. Enter a name for the alert, then click “Finish”:

12. To test the Email SMS alert, set your Skype status to “Away” by clicking the bottom left hand corner of the Skype application as shown below, so that Skylook thinks you are away from your PC:

13. Send yourself an email containing the search text you entered above, or wait for one to arrive that contains the search text.

14. Soon after the email is received, the phone number you entered should receive an SMS.

15. If you did not receive an SMS, check the Outlook inbox. If Skylook had problems calling your phone (e.g. if the number is invalid), the details of the problem are placed in a new inbox item for you to review.

16. Once you’ve finished trying this, don’t forget to set your Skype status back to “Online”. By default, Skype switches your status to “Away” automatically if your computer is left idle for more than five minutes. (Note: You may wonder what happens with emails that come in during the five minute gap - don’t worry, Skylook sends SMS alerts for these emails also, as soon as Skype switches your status to “Away”).

If you need additional help, just email us at skylook@skylook.biz for assistance.