Tips, tricks, tools, and techniques for Microsoft Office

We've reviewed ClearContext Information Management System (IMS) in the past, most recently version 3.0 (see that review at http://www.officeletter.com/blink/clearcontext3.html), and were impressed with the features it adds to Outlook (primarily in streamlining how it handles messages) that make slogging through your inbox easier. In version 4 you'll find many new features for combining information from Outlook in much the same way personal information managers (remember those?) used to combine data about a contact. Being able to consolidate information into a single screen makes working with Outlook more efficient and enjoyable.

At the core of ClearContext IMS (http://www.clearcontext.com, $89.95) is the ability to assign priorities. The message subject and the sender's name are highlighted in a corresponding color (red is a top priority, for example) and high-priority messages are sorted to the beginning of your inbox so you can truly work down your inbox starting at the top. During installation, the add-in examines your inbox and makes some intelligent guesses about who your most important contacts are and assigns priorities accordingly; you can assign a contact a different priority level any time you like.

In addition to assigning a priority, messages can be categorized by topic (essentially topics are user-defined groups) to quickly segregate messages. Topics appear as folders under your inbox, and once you assign a topic to a message, all messages in the same thread are automatically assigned to that topic. (In version 3, ClearContext asked you to assign a topic when you sent a message; in version 4, the program asks for a topic when you save a task or appointment as well, so all your information is connected by topic.)

You can also assign categories (marked with a flag in any of six colors -- the same flags you can assign using Outlook alone) to help subdivide messages into an even finer grouping.

The new Dashboard feature (see Figure 1) puts all messages, appointments, notices, and tasks on a single screen -- right at your fingertips. It's similar to the To-Do bar Microsoft introduced in Outlook 2007, except that it's more attractive, easier to read, and lets you display all items or just those you want to see using a topic and/or category filter. (If you're using Outlook 2003, ClearContext IMS 4 is one way to get the benefits of the To-Do bar without upgrading.)

Figure 1 - Click to enlarge

There are other improvements in version 4. For example, you can use the Task and Schedule buttons to create a task or appointment (respectively) and link it to the current e-mail message. (Such tasks and appointments will show up in your dashboard at the appropriate time.) Version 4 adds another shortcut: When you manually save an e-mail message into a topic folder, Clear Context automatically marks the message as read.

Many features carried over from version 3 make it easier to manage your inbox. The unsubscribe feature, for example, removes all current and future messages within a thread from your Inbox, a great way to remove clutter. It's the perfect alternative to asking everyone in a multi-recipient message to stop sending you replies -- because that approach to the problem rarely works. "Unsubscribed" messages are diverted to an Unsubscribed folder so they're there in case you ever need them.

As an alternative to version 4's Dashboard, you can use the IMS RelatedView feature. Open a message, choose RelatedView, and you'll see all messages in the current e-mail thread, plus all tasks and appointments that were created based on that thread.

If you want to get your work done without being annoyed with new messages, put them off to the side by clicking on the Defer button. ClearContext moves the message(s) out of your inbox for the time period you specify. For example, I can defer messages about a project I'm working on for an hour; that keeps the messages out of my inbox so I can attend to more important matters.

If a particular thread, mail sender, or topic is of particular importance, you can add an Alert to warn you if an unread message that meets your criterion hasn't been read within a particular time period. For example, I can set an alert to warn me if a message from my boss hasn't been read within 15 minutes of its arrival. If you'd rather not be bothered with all these messages, you can also use the new Do Not Disturb feature to suppress all alerts and messages.

The company's Web site claims you can save up to an hour a day by working more efficiently with ClearContext prioritizing your inbox messages and unifying your view of messages, tasks, and appointments. That's probably a safe bet, given the flexibility and organizational features that ClearContext adds to Outlook to help you make better use of your Inbox -- letting you manage your Inbox, not being swamped by it.

See for yourself. A 30-day free trial is available at the company's Web site. The program works with Outlook 2002 (Office XP) through 2007.

-- James E. Powell

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