Tim In a Nutshell

Clear Context V4

Filed under: Software — Tim @ 12:09 pm

I started a new job on November 5th. On that day, I received a welcomed email in my inbox; Clear Context V4 had been released unto the masses! It was a joyous day for me. If you have read this blog before, you know I really like Clear Context for managing email. You can checkout my posts on Version 3 and Version 2. I was so impressed at Version 3 that I ended up using Outlook for my email. The Linux guy using Outlook, yikes!

It worked great for myÂ work account. I was downloading my email and sorting through it in no time. Compared to my personal accounts which have somewhere between 2-5k emails in the inbox, my work account rarely got above 50. Clear Context was to thank for that. Now if Outlook were not a complete idiot when it comes to IMAP mail, my personal accounts would enjoy the same fun I am sure. However, since Outlook hates IMAP, Clear Context is not able to effectively handle my IMAP accounts.

Now in my old job, I chose to use Outlook to be able to use Clear Context. Now with my new job, I have to use Outlook. Clear Context makes it so much easier to manage and the happy coincidence of the new version being released on my first day of work makes me a happy man. The newly released Version 4 of the software builds on it’s already solid foundations. In my Version 3 review, I spoke of the minor issues it had with it’s unsubscribe feature. Thankfully, those are all fixed. The one big and one small feature that I wildly enjoy in this release are the new IMS Dashboard and the new Do Not Disturb button.

The Dashboard is a wonderful piece of work. It brings in all of your emails, tasks, and appointments into one area for review. This makes it so much easier to see everything related to big projects you are working on. It also is great for those working on a GTD setup. You can see everything you need. It blows the Outlook’s Outlook Today feature out of the water. I’ve found it’s been a great feature that helps me get on track in the morning and plan out my day.

More Dashboard Details

The small feature that I love is the Do Not Disturb button. Normally if you want to disable the new mail popup in Outlook, it is buried in the badly disorganized Outlook options window. Now to disable it, just press the DND button and you are set to go. If only I had this button when I was a trainer, not as many trainees would have seen my email accidentally popup on the screen. A small, but useful, feature.

More Do Not Disturb Details

Now although I can not imagine working through all my email without Clear Context, there is one sticking point: The Price. When I first got Clear Context, it was a reasonable $30. For the price, it was a great deal. I felt that even at $40, possibly $50 it would still be a great deal. Now the price for a new version has jumped up to $90. If I had not tried Clear Context before, I would have passed on it at this price point. I feel it is a bit too high of a price. Outlook 2007 itself is $87, I don’t think an addon product should be more than the product it enhances. In general, most software over $50-$60 I feel is overpriced unless it is a key need for your work. With Outlook and Clear Context, they are useful, but not 100% essential. I think they both might be able to get more customers with a lower price point. I know a few people at my company that like Clear Context, but are balking at the price. It is useful, but the price point is the deal killer.

Clear Context does help out a bit on price though. With each new version, they offer a reduced cost or free upgrade path. So after the initial investment you could continue to use new versions of the product by getting the free upgrades. This is how I have been upgrading my Clear Context version since v2. This I believe is a novel approach they use and helps get the word out about their product. So there is a balance between the initial purchase and the reduced or no cost upgrade paths. However, if the initial price path continues to increase as it has, I think the balance will tip unfavorably.

Overall, I continue to be impressed with Clear Context. The product is solid, they offer excellent upgrade prices, and have wonderful service and support. However, they do need to keep a close eye on the price.

Clear Context Demo

Download Clear Context 4 TrialÂ

Comments (0)

Outlook 2007 & ClearContext 3

Filed under: Software — Tim @ 6:38 pm

Howdy All,

At work we just received a copy of Microsoft Office 2007. In fact, I felt really odd running over to DoIT to pick up a copy of it. I was actually excited to try out a Microsoft product. Yeppers, Tim the Linux guy was excited to try out Office 2007 and Windows Vista. Shocking isn’t it?

I did a full install of Office 2007 and for my first daring adventure into Office 2007 land, Outlook was my target. The testing also gave me the chance to test out the latest version of my absolute favorite Outlook add-on ever, Clear Context. It made working with Outlook empowering. Heck, it made email empowering. Nothing on Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux yet has matched the power it gives email.

Clear Context for those not yet familiar with it, allows you to act quickly one each email that comes into your mailbox. You can quickly sort them into folders called Topics, you can move the email to your calendar as an appointment, you can delegate it to someone else, and a lot more. If you know about the Getting Things Done mentality of organization, it will be a great tool for you to use.

Excited to see what Office 2007 and Clear Context 3 had in store, I installed them on my Windows machine and went to town. I’ll highlight two of the new features that I found. The core of Clear Context is still there and still is as ever easy to use. (See my earlier post on Clear Context 2)

Related View

The first thing I see when opening an email is the first new feature, Related View. Upon opening an email, it shows you the emails associated with it. I think it uses the subject lines as a clue when listing the related emails, but it can also list related tasks and appointments. Very handy information to have on hand when working on a long email chain in a project.

Related View In Action

Unsubscribe

The other new option that sticks out is the Unsubscribe button. If you don’t want anything to do with an email chain, no problem. Click on the unsubscribe button, and you’ll see no more of that chain. It’s a hand feature to have.

Unsubscribe, oh how I love the…

So far using Clear Context has been smooth, with only some minor glitches so far. The Unsubscribe feature by default moves all the unwanted messages to a general unsubscribed folder instead of the Topic folder if the email has a Topic assigned to it. You can change that in the settings, but it feels like it would be better on by default.

Another unsubscribe oddity takes place when you try to resubscribe to an email chain. When you go into the Unsubscribed folder and select one to resubscribe in, it’s not clear how to resubscribe to it. The trick is to click the Unsubscribe button again to resubscribe to it. Feels like a weird double negative.

Also when you resubscribe to it, you are presented with this message box.

Where are the yes/no buttons?

When asking a Yes/No question it’s nice to have Yes/No buttons. If you hit OK or the close button it automatically resubscribes you to the conversation, so there really is no way to say no here. It also does not move the messages out of the Unsubscribed folder. That has to be done manually. I do hope that gets fixed soon. It’s weird having subscribed chains in the Unsubscribed folder.

The last quirk with the Unsubscribe is the message box when you initially unsubscribe from a thread. It says that is moves the message to the Unsubscribed folder and not the Topic folder if that option is set. It is a bit confusing.

Misleading text…

Conclusion

I just started using Clear Context 3 on my computer, but I am already extraordinarily happy with it. Overall, I give it an A-. The Unsubscribe feature has some polishing to do, but it is the first release of version 3. I am sure that will be fixed in later versions and then it will be a full on A+.

Heck, it’s enough to make me have Windows be my fulltime desktop over Linux. Yes, it’s that powerful of a piece of software. If there was a Linux version of this for Evolution, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Until then… Yes, the Linux guy will have a Windows desktop so he can use Clear Context.

Comments (2)

Note for Fenrir Use

Filed under: Internet Finds, Software — Tim @ 8:53 pm

Just a note to point me back to a potential program to use on Fenrir. It"s a neat RSS aggregator that I might try to install.

t3h Blox0r !!1!

The best online aggregator ever!
Keep your blogroll on the web
Enjoy your favorite blogs everywhere
And much more things to come
Best of all, it is FREE!
t3h blox0r

Comments (0)

Email Under Control!

Filed under: Internet Finds, Software — Tim @ 10:52 pm

ClearContect Rocks!

I found this software through a Download Squad story. The system has utilities and features to help prioritize, sort, and hammer through the massive amount of emails I can get. I can get to the important items fast, and sort them really quick.

Organize your Outlook with the ClearContextâ„¢ Microsoft OutlookÂ® add-in - the quick and easy way to regain control of your inbox.
ClearContext Inbox Manager

Go check it out! They have a new beta that was recently released for version 2. I have not tried the beta yet. If the current release is a indicator of the next version, version 2 should be even better!

Comments (0)

7-Jan-2008

Clear Context V4

12-Dec-2006

Outlook 2007 & ClearContext 3

18-Jan-2006

Note for Fenrir Use

16-Jan-2006

Email Under Control!

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