Share a Collection of RSS Subscriptions (Outlook 2007)
Sharing information about a single RSS subscription is easy enough in Outlook 2007. But what if you want to share a collection or RSS subscriptions with someone? Say you want to share all the subscriptions to RSS feeds on Outlook 2007 that you've come up with while researching a book or something like that. Sending each one as a separate invitation could get to be a pain. Outlook has you covered though. By importing and exporting something called an
OPML file
you can share an entire list of RSS subscriptions at once. Without much work at all, you can generate a file containing information for any of the RSS feeds you subscribe to, and e-mail it to anyone you want. The person (or persons) who receives the OPML file can choose to subscribe to any or all of the RSS feeds you've included in the file. While it requires a little more technical know-how than sending invitations to one RSS feed at a time, this is definitely the way to go if you have a big list of subscriptions you want to share.
Create and Export an OPML File
Creating and exporting an OPML file with Outlook 2007 isn't hard at all. As long as you are subscribed to the RSS feeds you want to share you're all set. Just follow these steps: - In any Outlook view, click File, then Import and Export. This launches the Inport and Export Wizard.
Use this wizard to export a collection of RSS subscriptions.
- Select the Export RSS Subscriptions to an OPML file option and click Next. A screen listing all your RSS Feeds appears.
- Specify the RSS feeds you want to export by selecting their check boxes and clearing those of the ones you don't want to export. Click Next.
- Enter a name and location for the OPML file in the screen that appears.
You'll need to be able to find this file again to send it to people, so choose a location and name you will remember. Click Next. Outlook saves the file and closes the wizard.
You've created and exported the OPML file. The next step is to send it to someone.
Sending an OPML File to Someone
OPML files are tiny files that you can easily e-mail to people. All you need to do is attach them to an e-mail message and send them on their way. Here are the specific steps you need to follow:- Open a new mail message (or work with a message you already have open; it doesn't matter which).
- In the Include group of the Message tab of the Ribbon, click Attach File (or use the ALT, H, A, F, F keyboard shortcut) to open an Insert File dialog box.
- Navigate to the location where you stored the OPML file you want to send, and select it, then click Insert to attach it to the e-mail message. The file will appear as an attachment in the message.
- Fill out the rest of the message and send it to whoever you want to share the RSS subscriptions with.
That's all it takes to share your collection of subscriptions. Now it is up to the recipient to import the OPML file and choose the subscriptions they want.
Receive and Import an OPML File
So your buddy tells you about all these great RSS feeds she is subscribed to, and how you've gotta try them. So she says she'll send you an OPML file with a collection of subscriptions. What exactly is this going to look like? Well, I'm not her, but I can show you what her message will look like, at least as far as how the OPML file arrives and how you use it (whatever ELSE she might say to you is none of my business). Here's what an OPML file looks like when attached to a message:
An OPML file attached to a message.
As you can see, the OPML file comes across as an attachment. But now things get interesting. Follow these steps to see what I mean:- Double-click the OPML file attachment in the message. Outlook displays an Opening Mail Attachment warning dialog box.
- Click Save, to save the OPML file to your hard drive. Save it to a location that you can remember so you can tell Outlook where to find the file later in this process.
- From the Outlook Mail view, click File, then Import and Export to open the Import and Export wizard.
- In the Choose an action to perform list, select Import RSS Subscriptions from an OPML file, then click Next.
- Navigate to the location containing the OPML file you saved earlier and select it, then click Next. The Import an OPML file screen appears.
Get ready to import subscriptions.
Tell Outlook which RSS feeds you want to subscribe to by selecting their check boxes and clearing those of the ones you don't want to import. Click Next.
- Outlook attempts to subscribe to the RSS feeds you selected, then displays a screen showing a list of the feeds that were successfully added.
Click Finish.
That's all it takes. Like I said before, this approach takes a little bit of work, but is a great way to share an entire collection of feeds quickly and efficiently.
From here you can:
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