Great Productivity Add-ins for Microsoft Outlook

Like many PC users, you’re probably running Microsoft Outlook. Well, there are three great add-in applications from Microsoft that I think that you should know about. They could enhance your usability and productivity, and make it easier to recover your valuable data in a disaster situation. Here’s the quick run-down:

Microsoft Office Add-in: Save as PDF or XPS

So, you want the ability to save your Office documents as a PDF without having to purchase Adobe Acrobat or installing other PDF-writer software? Microsoft has a solution for you, and it’s free. Download the Save as PDF or XPS Add-in and install, and you’ll be able to create PDF’s natively out of your Office documents.

Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007

Almost all of my clients use Microsoft Outlook. Outlook is a staple in the business world because it helps us organize personal information, tasks, and calendars. However, there are some inherent limitations with Outlook and the way it wants to format printed calendars, and that can be frustrating. Yet hark! Microsoft has heard this call from its customers and has released the Outlook Calendar Printing Assistant for Outlook 2007. The Calendar Printing Assistant produces quality output on calendars that you can adjust based on multiple calendars, time frames, and several levels of customization. You can even create forecast views with the Assistant. Best of all, it’s free, and integrated into Outlook 2007’s printing dialog so it’s easy to get started with it. I’d highly recommend it.

Microsoft Office Personal Folder File Backup

One handy add-in that I’ve talked about before is the Outlook Personal Folders Backup add-in. What this does is automatically create copies of the database file that houses all of your contacts, calendars, and email within Outlook. These copies would be useful for restoring your critical data in the event of an emergency. It’s easy to use and install.

Now, those guys are from Microsoft. Here’s a couple of third party add-ins that maybe you’ve never heard of that could greatly impact your usability with Outlook:

1. Xobni. This is a 3rd party add-in that helps you sort and search your emails and attachments.

2. Taglocity. This is an add-in to Outlook that generates a view of all of the tags (summarized labels for contents) that you might have within your email. This is a request-for-invite add-in, so you probably have to surrender some personal information before you can give it a try.

3. Outsync. Hey, I bet you’ve always wanted to sync the photos of your contacts from Facebook to Outlook’s Contact List? Well, I haven’t, but maybe you have! If you’ve been dying for this feature, here’s the tool that’ll help you do it.

4. FBLook. Now, this isn’t half that bad – maybe you want to update your Facebook status from Outlook? This add-in places a quick updater within Outlook for you so all you have to do is reach up, type, and post, from within your email system. Not bad! And if you were looking for the same thing except for Twitter, you’d probably want to see OutTwit.

Let me know what you think of them!

R

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