Home Office: Nifty Tools for Outlook Users
Outlook utilities you'll use and love (no matter how you feel about Outlook itself).Steve Bass
In a recent PC World magazine column I said that I don't like Microsoft Outlook, rarely uses it, and think it stinks. You'd think Microsoft would have the decency to threaten or sue me. It turns out the reaction was, well, zilch. Nada. Not even a call from a steamed PR flak.
OTOH, plenty of you wrote and told me about the Outlook tools and utilities you use and love. This week I mention them along with a few choice articles you might get a kick out of.
Start with the column where I committed the sacrilege: "Tools and Tips to Brighten Your Outlook." The product to pay close attention to is the $40 Nelson Email Organizer.
If the Nelson Email Organizer intrigues you, you also might want to download a trial version of Creo's Six Degrees (of separation--get it?). Tom Spring provides details on how Six Degrees helps sort, search, and organize Outlook's e-mail and attachments in "New Tools Can Tame Your In-Box."
Dig This: You know there's been lots of duct tape in the news, and maybe you've even got a few rolls around your house. One woman had what she thought was a brilliant use for the stuff. Oddly enough, I didn't think it was amusing.
Lookout, Outlook
I think it's pretty easy to end up with duplicate entries in Outlook Contacts. I know, it never happens to you... but I'm sure some of your slower buddies could use the Teamscope's free Outlook Contacts Scrubber. The utility does just one thing: It finds and helps you eliminate duplicate Outlook Contacts.
Outlook Linker is another nifty free tool from Teamscope--this one designed for those of you sharing items in an Exchange public folder system. (You know who you are; if you don't, don't make me explain. Just skip to the next blurb, okay?) Linker resides in the System Tray and if you want to share, say, an Outlook message or folder, one click pops it into the clipboard.
Reader Don Glenn ranted and raved about Aladdin's $30 Envelopes and Labels. It's a slick Outlook utility, he said, for printing envelopes and labels directly from Outlook's contact list, where he keeps his addresses. Makes sense, no?
Okay, Let's Share
Sharing and collaboration are computing buzzwords that many of you know and love. So it'll probably be good news that I found a couple of products that will let you do even more sharing: Groove Workspace and Microsoft SharePoint. An article cleverly titled "Microsoft Outlook Gets in the Groove" tells how Groove Workspace is getting a little tighter with Outlook. Another part of the story talks about Groove's ability to work with Microsoft SharePoint.
Quick Outlook Bug Alert: Outlook 2002 has a surprise for you. Unsavory users can use an Outlook weakness that could crash your e-mail application. There's a patch, and you can read about it in Stuart Johnson's Bugs and Fixes column.
Quick Outlook Express Bug Alert: In the same Bugs and Fixes column, Stuart mentioned a workaround for an Outlook Express glitch that made it difficult for you to use different e-mail in-boxes if you had multiple accounts. Microsoft recently released an OE 6.0 patch that takes care of the problem.
Dig This: You need to kill some time, I know you do. Try doing it with a Lego game that'll torture you--and cost you at least an hour. Watch the intro and you'll get the idea.
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