The ClearContext IMS (Information Management System) v4 Outlook Add-in has been released.  This new release adds some great features and functionality.  Included below are the ones that I have tested and use.  I have also done a prior review on overall features and functions that I use that you can find here.   With IMS I have found the best way to find out about it is to use it.  You can get a 30 day trial here…

So let’s jump in…

My FAVORITE feature of IMS4 – The Dashboard.   Similar to what you might see in your Outlook Today the Dashboard can be reached by clicking on the Dashboard button on the toolbar or by clicking on the ClearContext IMS folder.   The dashboard will display for you a quick Status of pending flagged Messages, Appointments and Tasks/Actions.  There is also a detail area on the dashboard for each.   Messages will show you all “flagged” messages in your Inbox, or you can filter the entire dashboard for specific topics or categories that you may have assigned.   For example I could look for all items with a topic of “ProjectManagement” and a Category of “Issues” and each of the areas of the dashboard would have the filter applied.   I predominately use this in unfiltered format (the default) and focus my attention on the Tasks area as well as the Appointments.   It is a great place to go for a quick overview and planning of your day.

Probably my next favorite feature is DO NOT DISTURB.  This button will stop the Pavlovian trigger of “You’ve got mail” or whatever other popups or sounds you may have attached to the new mail notification.  I find that I when I get that notification the first thing I want to do is leave whatever I am working on and jump to my inbox to see what is there.   With this feature I can maintain my productivity by setting the amount of time that I do not want to receive notifications… Don’t worry you can still go to your inbox and send and receive or you can click it again and turn off Do Not Disturb.

ALERT is another feature that allows you to create unread message alerts.  If your Inbox is anything like mine and perhaps you are using Do Not Disturb to help keep you on task you may need some way to quickly wade through what is in your Inbox. Creating an unread message alert is the perfect tool for this.   For example, if my boss sends me an email I usually need to give it higher priority and nearly immediate attention.  ClearContext has functionality to prioritize my mail and put his messages at the top of my Inbox but now I can also have a POPUP window display that shows me I have a message in my Inbox from my boss that is at least 4 hours old (or whatever other timeframe).  You can not only do this with contacts but you can also do it with messags threads.   If someone responds to your message thread you can have an alert window display notifying you that the timeframe for action has passed and you really should be doing something about this thread.

With each release of this product I find that I am becoming more and more of a fan and my Outlook life is now so entrenched in it’s use that I couldn’t even imagine what Outlook would be like without it.  If you are at all a subscriber to Getting Things Done (GTD) or Total Workday Control (TWC) and you use Outlook to manage email, you owe it to yourself to check out ClearContext IMS in the demo below or download your free trial…