Outlook-Bob

An LLM-based assistant for answering emails. Uses local LLMs using ollama for optimal privacy.

Usage

After a moment, an email response window with an AI-generated response will open.

Outlook-bob is a research project aiming to make transparent how AI-assistants can be incorporated into email-communication in a privacy-preserving way. Under the hood it uses artificial intelligence / large language models to generate text. Users are responsible to verify the generated text before submitting the email. Outlook-Bob uses locally installed language models to ensure optimal privacy. Under the hood, no data is submitted to the internet or any LLM-service provider.

Setup

To make outlook-bob work in your Outlook, download this repository to a local folder, e.g. using git:

git clone https://github.com/haesleinhuepf/outlook-bob

Download ollama + model

Also download and install ollama. After installation, run this terminal command to download the gemma3:4b model, which is used under the hood per default:

ollama pull gemma3:4b

Setup Python

Create a new conda environment named bob-env and install requirements:

conda create --name bob-env python=3.11 

pip install -r requirements.txt

Setup VBA MAcro in Outlook

• Open Outlook.

• Press ALT + F11 to open the VBA Editor.

• Insert a new module: Right-click Project1 → Insert → Module.

• Paste the code of outlook_response.vba. Modify the path in that file so that it points at email_assistant.py.

• In Outlook, go to File → Options → Customize Ribbon.

• Under the right-side list, pick a tab (e.g., Home) and click "New Group."

• With the new group selected, click "Choose commands from: Macros."

• Find Project1.GenerateReplyWithPython and click "Add."

• Rename and assign an icon if you want.

Configure Security/Trust Center Settings

• Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings

• Ensure "Notifications for all macros" is selected.

If you click the Ribbon button configured above, a notification will open, asking you to activate Macros. After this, the AI-Assistant should work.

Customization

Consider modifying system_prompt.txt. E.g. enter your name and email footer.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and by Sächsische Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Kultur und Tourismus in the programme Center of Excellence for AI-research „Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Dresden/Leipzig", project identification number: ScaDS.AI