Arrow-Tip #41 Outlook Plug-Ins Take Three
In Arrow-Tip #23 I talked about Outlook plug-ins that may help increase your efficiency. That post was so popular that I decided to expand on it in another post called More on Outlook plug-ins back in April of last year. Well a lot can and did happen in 8 months so I thought you might like to hear about some new plug-ins in addition to some more insight into the oldies. And, lets face it, what really made those two posts so good was all the great feedback I got from you guys so please don’t be shy this time either!
YouSendIt
One of my favorite new tools for getting large files or even small files that the Outlook filter doesn’t like to clients is You Send It. You can use You Send It for free to send files up to 100 MB in size and for a small fee (9.99 / month) you can extend the file size up to 2 GB. The way it works is that you upload your file to YouSendIt’s site and then an email is forwarded to your designated recipients with a link to the YouSendIt site where the file can be downloaded. Another great benefit here is that you do not have a copy of the large document sitting in your Outlook Sent items folder taking up space.
You can pretty much do what you need to do directly from the You Send It web site, but they also have a great Outlook add-in that allows you to send files directly from Outlook. Benefits here are that you have all the normal Outlook email capability (not having to look up email addresses, etc.), but you also have the extended YouSendIt capability to send a large file. If you send a lot of large files – this option is a must!
GoToMeeting
Do you have clients or team members in remote locations? Ever find that a conference call just isn’t enough to communicate effectively? Ever wish you could just remote control someone’s computer on the spot when you are trying to explain to them how to do something? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then GoToMeeting may be the answer to your prayers.
Last year I had an engagement with a client located across Houston where I was required to meet once a week with their sales team. The sales team is spread out all over the country so even if I did make the trek across town for our meeting, some of the participants would still have to call in. At first I would send the team members files to review during the call and we would all connect via a conference line. What we quickly discovered was that not everyone knew what I was referring to in a given document and we’d waste a lot of time trying to get on the same page. Enter GoToMeeting. GoToMeeting provides both a conference line and a medium for allowing users to click on an internet link, login and see your computer on their screen. The administrator also has the ability to allow a participant to show his screen and that participant can allow the administrator to assume control of their screen as well. I can’t begin to explain the increase in efficiency we saw after we started using GoToMeeting.
Even better, GoToMeeting has an Outlook plug-in that allows the administrator to schedule meetings using the Outlook calendar and manage those meetings directly from Outlook without ever going to their website. WIth the GoToMeeting plug-in you can schedule meetings in advance and send invitations to multiple users directly from Outlook. Or you can conduct a meeting on the fly as you are talking with someone on the phone. Nuff said – this thing rocks!
And now for a quick recap of the other plug-ins I mentioned previously and how I’m using them now:
- HuntressPro – Yes, I still use my own product and, yes, I’d still have a hard time remembering who to call and what I said that last time we spoke without it to say nothing of forecasting with my top clients! (For more see HuntressPro web site)
- SimplyFile – Would still be lost without it and am continually growing dependent on new features as I discover them! (For more see Arrow-Tip #23, Arrow-Tip #34 Managing Inbox Overload Part II, & Arrow-Tip #35 Managing Inbox Overload Part III)
- EZDetach – Have definitely been using this one quite a bit given that I have clients who regularly send me not only large files, but files that I need to regularly access out in my file system. (For more see Arrow-Tip #24 Reducing Attachment Size to Speed Up Outlook)
- OutTwit – I have backed off of this one a little bit since I started using TweetDeck, but I still think it has a lot of value if you are using Twitter to communicate with your clients. (For more see Arrow-Tip #23.)
- Xobni – I finally had to remove this one from my Inbox because of performance issues. I admit that there are more recent versions that I have not tried so would love additional input from others who have found new versions to be a big improvement. (For more see Arrow-Tip #23 and More on Outlook Plug-ins)
- LinkedIn – I gave up on the problematic LinkedIn tool bar which I was really only using for its contact data population tool and went for the original Anagram software. Anagram works great and I’m not really missing the LinkedIn toolbar that much although I still love the site! (For more on Anagram see How to Create a New Outlook Item from an Email)
For all your file transfer needs beyond the 10mb per file limit offered by your email applications, check out 2Large2Email. It’s an easier and much better way to send your large documents online.
Zin, how would you say 2Large2Email compares to YouSendIt and does it have an Outlook plugin? Misty
There’s also 2Large2Email for all your large file transfer needs.
Think somone else mentioned that one to me – how does it compare to YouSendIt? Misty
Thanks for the tips. Will these go for any operating system? Also – Have you tried Outlook Track-It? This one is my personal favorite. has a toolbar that helps you with followup emails.
haven’t tried that one – would love to hear more from you about it! Misty
those are all great comments i like them alot but you guys hear about Planplus Online this software is the best on helping you do things that kind of get in your way you know but if your still wanting to know more then go to this website, and check out the great news..http://tinyurl.com/planplusv7
Lynell, thank you for your comment. I took a quick look at your website – I’m a huge fan of Franklin Covey, but I find I’ve been able to recreate the parts I liked the best in Outlook without an add-in (see: Arrow-Tip #28 Using Outlook to Help Acheive Your Personal & Business Goals Part III). I also prefer that Outlook add-ins work within the native Outlook enivronment and have a similar look and feel to Outlook – the Planplus screen shots look pretty different. Still, I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has had experience with Planplus what you think about it and why you do or do not like it. For someone who is hard core into the Franklin methodology and willing to invest the time in maintaing detailed Franklin data, this could potentially be a good product. Misty