Author Topic: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer (Read 53844 times)

Darwin · « **Reply #25 on:** February 28, 2008, 08:51 PM »

[off-topic]I'll post about it in the other thread... I'm loving it with Outlook 2007 but haven't tried it with My Documents, so will set it up and let you know![/Off-topic]

Armando · « **Reply #26 on:** February 28, 2008, 08:58 PM »

thanks!

DBC · « **Reply #27 on:** March 06, 2008, 09:18 PM »

have not had problems with Outlook 2003 not exiting but with Xobni neither task (Outlook or Xobni Service) exit when I close Outlook - ever!
-Carol Haynes (February 24, 2008, 03:24 PM)

Sorry to come in so late on this thread but have you tried using Knockout, Carol? http://sunflowerhead...m/software/knockout/
It will close down Word and Outlook if necessary. To quote the developer (Jensen Harris) "From a notification area icon, KnockOut can show you if Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word are running on your computer (even if no windows are showing on your taskbar). If one of these applications is in a hung state, you can terminate them right from the KnockOut menu. This will help clear up rare mystery situations, in which you think Outlook is not running because you see no windows on your taskbar, but when you launch Outlook again nothing happens because it is actually running in the background."

I originally started using it when Outlook 2003 began failing to close properly when hooked up with the outliner, PocketThinker. Recently I have had problems getting Outlook to close down gracefully when used alongside Zoot32. Knockout seems to do the trick, although I'm not clear (I just don't know) if it does it any more safely than would be achieved by using "end task" from the Task Manager.

Derek

Darwin · « **Reply #28 on:** March 06, 2008, 09:31 PM »

Thanks for the link, Derek. I've been using Shutdown Add-in with Outlook and it worked brilliantly with 2000 and 2003 but doesn't seem to work as well with 2007. I'll give Knockout a look

Darwin · « **Reply #29 on:** March 06, 2008, 09:32 PM »

PS My only concern with Knockout is that one is STILL terminating Outlook's process, rather than letting it exit gracefully (which is what Shutdown Add-in does).

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #30 on:** March 07, 2008, 02:21 AM »

Does Shutdown Add-In actually do it gracefully? If so how? I tried it but I wasn't sure what it was actually doing to acheive the result.

I don't want to get into using a utility that just kills processes. It wouldn't matter too much with Word because so long as you save your documents you are fine, and Word has built in protection for terminating unexpectedly. However Outlook has no such protection and closing it by force often causes Outlloks data files to become error prone.

If Shutdown Add-In actually acheives this in a sensible, rather than brutal, way then I will probably install it permanently but I think the actual long term solution is to find out why Outlook isn't closing properly and get it fixed.

The other part of the solution is reularly backing up your Outlook data (and that includes all aspects of Outlook not just the PST file!).

Darwin · « **Reply #31 on:** March 07, 2008, 08:07 AM »

Shutdown Add-in claims to do both... sort of. Its author states that it hooks

into events triggered by Outlook and invoking a series of commands to help Outlook exit. After a certain timeout period, if Outlook still doesn't exit, then the process is forcefully exited

Carol, you've forced me to look at something I hadn't given much thought to before. My reading of the above is that this is simply automating what Knockout does and what I do with TaskManager - looks for Outlook's process running and kills it if Outlook has been closed. I'm not sure how the events are hooked into and what commands are invoked to "help" Outlook close, but that is the functionality that I've always associated with Shutdown Add-in. I bought it years ago because I grew tired of finding six or more Outlook processes hogging my processor and RAM (with 128MB at the time) and killing them with TM... Realistically, if all Shutdown Add-in is doing is forcing Outlook to close, this might actually be causing PST corruption as I've no idea how often it's simply terminated Outlook over the years.

Bother.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #32 on:** March 08, 2008, 07:26 PM »

Hmmm - I think I have found the culprit on my system.

I have iTunes installed and for some reason it installs a COM addin in Outlook. With that disabled Outlook exits correctly.

God alone know why Apple have to put a plugin into Outlook and the problem is that every time iTunes gets updated I will have to remember to disable the plugin as updates re-enable it.

Note from past experience it is not worth removing the plugin (or any of the service Apple insist on installing) as the next time you run iTunes it detects that the installation has changed and puts them back again. Disabling the Outlook plugin, however, seems to work fine.

Darwin · « **Reply #33 on:** March 08, 2008, 07:37 PM »

Note - scour your harddrive for and Apple installers folder (I'm pretty sure it's under Documents and User Settings somewhere) and delete whatever you find... That should solve iTunes re-installing add-ins? I've been iTunes free for the last six months or so and love it, so I can't be sure that this will work anymore, but it's worth a shot. I really wish there were some other way to play iTunes files (ie without using iTunes).

Darwin · « **Reply #34 on:** March 08, 2008, 07:44 PM »

PS Thanks for the pointer, though, Carol. I took a look at the add-ins loading themselves into Outlook and was able to disable (

) four that I never use. Hopefully, this will have a positive effect on things...

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #35 on:** March 08, 2008, 07:55 PM »

I really wish there were some other way to play iTunes files (ie without using iTunes).

There is - either use SoundTaxi or similar to convert them to MP3 or burn them to CD and then import them to a proper music player.

Trouble is I keep meaning to do this but I have a large number of files to convert and there isn't a quick way to do it.

Thinking about it the Outlook plugin is probably related to syncing contacts and calendars etc. with iPods and iPhones.

I really can't see why Apple can't include simple tick boxes during installation of iTunes to allow you to choose whether to install iPod support etc. Why should every PC user that installs iTunes have loads of iPod crap permanently running in the background when they haven't got a stupid f************ !

Darwin · « **Reply #36 on:** March 09, 2008, 12:40 AM »

There is - either use SoundTaxi or similar to convert them to MP3 or burn them to CD and then import them to a proper music player.
-Carol Haynes (March 08, 2008, 07:55 PM)

Oh yes, I've done this for most, if not all of them (I use Noteburner). However, I'd like to be able to play iTunes format files (mp4? or whatever it is) without the bother of conversion! Not a big deal, I suppose...

I absolutely agree about the lack of options on install on both QuickTime and iTunes. It's ridiculous and is partially what drove me to banish them both in their entirety from my computer (another factor was the number of services and add-ins that they kept installing and not giving me any option to disable. Example: the iPod service. I don't own an iPod and after three years with iTunes I never will!).

Darwin · « **Reply #37 on:** September 05, 2008, 01:07 PM »

OK - it's been six months... anyone out there still using Xobni? I've been thinking about alternative ways of organizing Outlook and have been looking at Xobni and NEO and thought I'd ask for post Sp-3/dust settling opinions of Xobni. I'm particularly interested in Carol's thoughts as I know she's a fan of NEO and wonder is she's still using either or both applications? They do similar things differently...

FWIW, my organization at the moment is centred aroud X1 Desktop Search and a lot of rules and folders!

Grorgy · « **Reply #38 on:** September 05, 2008, 03:35 PM »

I really liked it, but I use my laptop for mail and its only got a 1.5 celeron and the performance hit on outlook was just too great.

Darwin · « **Reply #39 on:** September 05, 2008, 03:58 PM »

I really liked it, but I use my laptop for mail and its only got a 1.5 celeron and the performance hit on outlook was just too great.
-Grorgy (September 05, 2008, 03:35 PM)

Fudge and banana peels... How recently have you used it? Just curious as I know the performance hit was problemetic in March of this year, but was hoping to hear that things have improved!

Anyway, thank you for replying

Grorgy · « **Reply #40 on:** September 05, 2008, 04:11 PM »

It was sometime around then, i'm on the mailing list so I should (hopefully) hear if there is a new one out, but nothing so far.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #41 on:** September 05, 2008, 04:31 PM »

I looked at Xobni about a month ago and the website still said they hadn't resolved SP3 issues. Not sure now.

As for Neo - I sort of liked it but I have stopped using it. It strikes me that managing Neo is pretty time consuming to configure the way you want it and until you do it just adds another layer of things to do to Outlook (and another reason for Outlook to get its knickers in a not). Having reinstalled my system after a crash a while ago I couldn't face installing it and reconfiguring it. Also Neo give the impression that it is still an ongoing project but there have been almost no updates since I bought it over 2 years ago. As far as I can tell there was one minor update to make it work with Outlook 2007 but there isn't much (if any) new functionality.

Nowadays I filter all my email through a GMAIL account. The spam filter is very effective (infinitely better than the Junk Mail system in Outlook 2007 which only seems to give false positives and ignores most spam - anyone know how to turn it off?) and about as good as my experiences with Spambayes and POPfile. I then use filters to sort incoming mail in Outlook into folders and delete anything of a temporary nature after reading it before archiving to MailStore Home Plus.

Outlook is now effectively a store for recent emails only (last 60 days) so it keeps the PST file small and I use the contacts, calendar and tasks etc. for keeping track of my life (for what it is worth).

Curt · « **Reply #42 on:** September 05, 2008, 05:42 PM »

Xobni was updated in June, quite a major update, including integration with LinkedIn. In July they decided to include integration with Facebook; but only testers can try it at the moment. During the summer they also hired new staff. I don't think the company is at sleep; I believe Xobni to be heading fast forward! I am on their mailing list because they are planning to include various e-mail clients other than Outlook, including my Thunderbird. :-)

But I don't know if they've solved the issue causing Outlook not to exit properly.

http://www.xobni.com...orumdisplay.php?f=10

Darwin · « **Reply #43 on:** September 05, 2008, 05:53 PM »

Hmm... thanks people! I'm going to do... nothing for now. Carol, your experience with NEO sounds more or less like my impression of it when I tried it a couple of years ago.

Grorgy · « **Reply #44 on:** September 05, 2008, 05:56 PM »

nothing sounds good!

Armando · « **Reply #45 on:** September 06, 2008, 01:07 PM »

FWIW, my organization at the moment is centred aroud X1 Desktop Search and a lot of rules and folders!
-Darwin (September 05, 2008, 01:07 PM)

I'm sure that this is working well. If only X1 could be snappier... Oh well. At least, I got (and still use) the free version.

Darwin · « **Reply #46 on:** September 06, 2008, 01:48 PM »

Here's the thing (and I don't want to jinx it): X1 6.x is a DREAM on my computer. Snappy, doesn't hog resources, and its previewing feature is second to none (courtesy of the Stellent technology that it ships with)... Having said that, I know that in the past I've had SERIOUS resource hogging issues with it as well as it being DOG slow, and that many others have problems even with the current version. Just. Not. Me. Yet. Knock.On.Wood!

Armando · « **Reply #47 on:** September 06, 2008, 01:58 PM »

hummmm... I've got version 6 too, and I still find it a bit sluggish... Oh well.

sttrebo · « **Reply #48 on:** September 26, 2008, 09:46 AM »

Can anyone tell me the difference between Xobni and ClearContext? I've been running Xobni for a little while and I'm fairly impressed. I received a free copy of ClearContext Pro last week. According to the forums, you can run both apps. at the same time, but I'm not sure why.

thanks in advance.

Darwin · « **Reply #49 on:** September 26, 2008, 01:00 PM »

ClearContext... I've just taken a look. Interesting. I does look similar to Xobni, though I can't tell if it has the same indexing features. One thing that strikes me about the Pro version is that the developer is touting things like the ability to turn e-mails into tasks and calendar appointments at the click of a button. DOn't know why I'd want to pay $90 for a feature that is already in Outlook 2007! (Perhaps it's not in 2003?).

Further, Xobni tracks and displays relationships between contacts - I'm not sure if ClearContext does this, either...