While I am currently relying on Asana and OneNote to handle my projects' tasks and information, I am still trying to see if I can find a more effective task/information management arrangement. And as I have been trying to do my work, I realized that my (Outlook) mail messages with their attachments are a key source of information for me. Unfortunately, our network operates with a mandatory deletion policy in conjunction with its own proprietary archiving system which is not at all conducive to actively searching and using information stored in mail messages. I have sent key project messages to OneNote, and while the program retains the attachments with the messages, my preference is for a program to handle messages (and their attachments) in some expandable/collapsing manner (without pop up windows like Todoist uses). My limited research into a few programs so far has not been very fruitful. some programs strip out the attachments, and others require Outlook to open a message. Are their note taking programs that can easily receive/convert an Outlook message into an item that retains the message contents and attachments and that does not rely on Outlook to read the message?

--Ken

Hm, the only thing I can think of off the cuff is MailStore, the Home version of which is free (for individuals). And which has an awesome search function.

More details at: http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home-email-archiving.aspx

It has a lot of archiving functions - I believe it's capable of archiving directly from Outlook, as well as from your e-mail accounts. It's lightweight enough to use on a standard desktop; even the server version doesn't take up much in the way of resources. In fact, it can even be run as a "portable" solution (from e.g. a USB memory stick). Which may assuage the wrath of your IT techies... (or not, of course!)

Cheers,
Bill

You might also want to take a look at Oasys Mail Manager; Oasys is a spin-off from one of the giant engineering companies, and their software is really quite powerful; we used to use Mail Manager when it first came out (we now use MailStore Server).

Its main advantage is that it saves mail out to standard system folders, allowing you to keep mail together with the relevant project documents. But Mail Manager also keeps tabs on it and can search for mail very quickly, by multiple criteria.

There's a 30-day trial version, so definitely worth a look. But do try MailStore Home first - it's free! And I can thoroughly recommend it.

Sorry, forgot the link: http://www.oasys-software.com/products/email-and-document-management/mailmanager.html

Distant memories prompt me to suggest you also take a look at Mailbird (https://www.getmailbird.com It doesn't run on Mac, unfortunately, otherwise I'd take a look myself.

Distant memories prompt me to suggest you also take a look at Mailbird (https://www.getmailbird.com It doesn't run on Mac, unfortunately, otherwise I'd take a look myself.

Hi Bill,

Yes, I believe that it was on your recommendation (or somebody else here) to use The Mail Store to archive my messages from an online account that I closed. Archiving is not an issue, for as cumbersome as our current system is, it does actually archive messages. It is just does not offer an effective way of working with messages as you can only search or browse. My messages will be placed into the archive, but I want to be able to work with copies of them in a task/information program that will allow me to store/categorize/tag/label them as I wish so I can quickly pull data from them as needed.

Asana kind of handles these messages as tasks and displays the task in the middle window and the body of text and any attachments in the right window, but I was hoping for a better arrangement/layout. Todoist uses a pop up window, and that is just not my cup of tea as you can only look at one message at a time (and the same applies to Asana as well). I may reconsider Toodledo, but was hoping for other options. I did not have much luck with my quick tests of Notecase and Rightnote. I had hoped that Leadertask would have been an option, but that installation did not turn out well.

--Ken

Ah, right. I take your point. MailStore only offers a single type of interactivity, namely searching (although you can save named searches, which arguably equates to tagging).

Hm. The only other mail client I can think of that might fit the bill is... ah damn, can't remember the name. It's an odd fish that's been mentioned here before. It saves e-mails directly into the file system, and has viewers and a search function that allows you to view e-mail, documents of various kinds (including MS Office) and so on as part of the same whole. Now I shall be racking my brains all night trying to remember the name. Arrrrrrgh!

I'll get back to you... ;-)

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I am not actually looking for an alternate mail client as much as I am trying to find a task/information program that can handle the content and attachments of an Outlook message in some reasonable fashion. OneNote allows messages to be sent from Outlook, but you cannot collapse the message. Alternately, you can drag and drop, but that still requires Outlook to open the message. Asana and Todoist, for example, can accept these forwarded messages, but I do not like how they are handled once they are received and converted into tasks.

--Ken

Ken.

There is a software called AutoFiler for Outlook that automatically saves incoming emails as individual TXT, MSG, HTML or PDF files in your file system. Then you could use either a search tool such as Copernic or a PIM of your choice to import or organize the messages.
I only know the German version, I do not know whether there is an English version (a quick search did not bring up one). But I know the software company does cooperate with foreign software publishers, maybe the tool is sold under a different name in English. You might want to ask them.

The German version is available here: http://www.add-in-world.com/katalog/ol-autofiler5pack/

Best wishes, Franz

Maybe you are referring to Everdesk? It treats mail messages as ordinary files and provides an interesting interface to manage both messages and OS files

Jorge Watanabe wrote:

Maybe you are referring to Everdesk? It treats mail messages as ordinary
files and provides an interesting interface to manage both messages and
OS files

That may be the program that Bill was trying to recall, but I will let him respond.

There are interesting programs, but I am limited to portable or web-based software programs. I guess what I am searching for is a task/information manager that handles mail like a task, but that displays it in a way that I can have several items/messages and their content visible at once. Most use a three pane layout, and this only allows you to see the contents of one item/message at a time. I do want a left pane for folders and tagging, but I want items/messages to expand or collapse like Workflowy so you can see more than one at a time. I suspect that Toodledo might offer this type of layout, but I would need a subscription upgrade to see. I know that I am being somewhat picky here, but I do believe that this layout possibly exists.

--Ken

Ken wrote:

I guess what I am searching for is a
task/information manager that handles mail like a task, but that
displays it in a way that I can have several items/messages and their
content visible at once. Most use a three pane layout, and this only
allows you to see the contents of one item/message at a time. I do want
a left pane for folders and tagging, but I want items/messages to expand
or collapse like Workflowy so you can see more than one at a time. I
suspect that Toodledo might offer this type of layout, but I would need
a subscription upgrade to see. I know that I am being somewhat picky
here, but I do believe that this layout possibly exists.

My impression is that Zoot should be able to handle your needs, but I don't know about portability. And of course the learning curve is quite steep.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

My impression is that Zoot should be able to handle your needs, but I
don't know about portability. And of course the learning curve is quite
steep.

Why does Zoot having a steep learning curve not surprise me?;)

I was thinking more about all of the various programs that I have used since Ecco, a program that also took some learning as well. Many of them offer far more access and features, but I somehow always feel like I need more muscle than finesse to get them to do what I want. I like to think that I just have not found the right program, but some days I wonder if I am searching for a needle in a haystack. I know that my needs are now more complex than when I was using Ecco, but it was a program that I could use without having to give it much thought. I wish I could find another program that was as responsive to my needs today.

--Ken

Quite right, Jorge, it was Everdesk. Thank you!
Everdesk does have a highly unusual and effective interface, even if you're not using it as an e-mail client.

I take your point, Ken. It's surprising how basic the handling of things like e-mail messages as part of complete project overviews still is. The ability to put e-mail messages in a column alongside documents alongside your own notes/schedule is still very difficult/impossible to find. In fact, this would be an ideal application for something like Gingko, if the latter only supported documents/attachments (I don't think it does, but maybe I'm wrong?).

Maybe that would be a good place to start?

Or you could try something like TreeSheets?

Or alternatively, you could think sideways and use a multicolumn file manager to interrelate notes, documents and e-mails? Based on the simple premise that you can drag and drop e-mails (complete with attachments) out of Outlook directly into your file system. Using a powerful file manager with a good Preview function (a PowerDesk clone, although preferably more stable!), you could set up workspaces for yourself that focus on specific documents/folders in each column. It might also be worth investigating PaperPort from this perspective - a much underrated program, IMHO, with the ability to create shortcuts and multiple workspaces.

Cheers,
Bill

Franz Grieser wrote:

Ken.

I only know the German version, I do not know whether there is an
English version (a quick search did not bring up one).

Should be available: http://www.add-in-world.com/katalog/ol-autofiler/
"Sprachumschaltung für internationale Anwender: Auf vielfachen Wunsch kann der SmartTools AutoFiler 3.0 auf eine englische Benutzeroberfläche umgeschaltet werden, so dass auch der internationale Einsatz möglich ist." (Which means you can switch to an English GUI)

Btw, interesting software, thanks for the tip

Peter

What you really want, Ken, is Planz.

The last version of which can be downloaded from: https://code.google.com/p/xooml/

More info at http://kftf.ischool.washington.edu/planner_index.htm

I remember being rather impressed by it while I was still running on Windows...

Planz is a name for the past! I did not know that it still existed. I did consider Gingko, but it did not seem to show support for messages so I have not explored further. right now, I am still feeling the sting of IQTell shutting down on me less than 12 hours after I decided to join and devote some time to learning their program. It is a bit disappointing as I saw some potential in the program last night after I signed up. Time to regroup and move on.

--Ken

I somehow missed this program up to now, and I do like the way that it works, as a light-weight thin interface with the Window's file system.

However, it hasn't been updated since 2010 and I've found two major features that won't work on Windows 10 (and, I guess, it won't be updated to correct these).

Does anybody know of comparable programs on Windows which are still being developed?

Cheers,

Graham

MadaboutDana wrote:

What you really want, Ken, is Planz.

The last version of which can be downloaded from:
https://code.google.com/p/xooml/

More info at http://kftf.ischool.washington.edu/planner_index.htm

I remember being rather impressed by it while I was still running on
Windows...