Inspiration: The inspiration for Hermes came from the need to improve the clarity and readability of email messages, especially in a business context where time is of the essence. I wanted to create an AI-powered tool that could help users quickly and easily sanitize, summarize, and rephrase text, making it easier to understand and respond to.
What it does: Hermes (the ancient Greek god who served as a messenger and guide to the other gods) is a proof-of-concept add-in for Outlook that uses Google Gemini to sanitize, summarize, reduce, expand, and rephrase text. It allows users to select a block of text and apply various text-related functions to it, such as removing sensitive information, summarizing long passages, and expanding abbreviations.
Say goodbye to spelling and grammar errors in your written content. Not only does it automatically sanitize the selected text, but it also can translate the text into a different language and measure the time saved compared to manual grammar checks. What's more, it even calculates the estimated CO2 emissions saved, making it a smart choice for both efficiency and sustainability.
How I built it: I built Hermes using Microsoft's Outlook add-in framework and Google's Gemini API. I used Python along with Flask to create an API endpoint for accessing the Google Gemini API. For the user interface, I use the Outlook add-in framework HTML, and JavaScript template.
Challenges I ran into: I had to ensure that the add-in was compliant with Microsoft's security and privacy policies. Additionally, I had to optimize the performance of the add-in to ensure that it could handle large volumes of text without slowing down.
Accomplishments that we're proud of: I'm proud of the fact that I was able to create a functional proof-of-concept add-in that integrates with Outlook and provides real value to users. Also proud of the user interface design, which is intuitive and easy to use.
What we learned: I learned a lot about the Outlook add-in framework and the Gemini API, as well as how to integrate the two. Also gained valuable experience in designing and building user interfaces, as well as optimizing performance for large volumes of text.
What's next for Hermes Outlook Plugin: I plan to continue refining and improving Hermes, with a focus on expanding its functionality and improving its performance. Also, plan to conduct user testing to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. In the long term, I hope to release Hermes code to the public so everyone can take advantage of this tool both, personal and business to help them improve their email communication and productivity.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.