Entries tagged with add-ins - Channel 10

Taglocity Brings New Features To Outlook

sarahintampa — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Do you live in Outlook but wish it had a few of the features that your webmail program has? Features like conversation threading and automatic tagging, for example? Well now the Outlook email plugin, Taglocity, delivers those features and more. With the latest version, Taglocity 2.0, Outlook users can take advantage of enhanced search functionality, conversation threading, tagging, and automation. Instead of moving messages to folders, email can be tagged with any number of labels and, based on those labels, certain tasks and actions can then be automated. For example, Taglocity can automatically turn email into calendar appointments or move messages into different folders.

Although some of the functions in Taglocity can already be done with crafty use of Outlook’s rules and views - not to mention Outlook 2007’s labels -the plugin aims to make that process easier. This is especially true for the conversation threading feature which displays emails in chronological order with all the related conversations grouped together. Some Outlook 2007 users won’t see the need for this addition, but for users of Outlook 2003, this plugin delivers some great additional features. You can check it out for yourself here.

My Movies Plugin, Now For Home Server

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:57:00 GMT

The upcoming My Movies plugin for Windows Home Server has a lot of people excited. Already available for Windows Media Center users, the plugin will soon allow Home Server users to organize their extensive movie collections and use their Home Server as more of a media server. According to a new post on the We Got Served blog, the plugin will function as a standard server for My Movies clients, will include an automated “Disc Copier,” will automatically monitor movie folders added to or located on a WHS share, and will function as a metadata provider without the need for a My Movies client for Microsoft DVD library, Niveus Movie Library, Open Media Library, Media Portal, and hopefully soon XBMC. The plugin isn’t available in its final form just yet, but if you just can’t wait to try it out, a pre-release version is now available for download from here.

Add-In Cleanup For Windows Home Server

sarahintampa — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:17:00 GMT

If you have a Windows Home Server then you’ve probably been having fun trying out the numerous add-ins that have been made available for WHS users. These add-ins let you do all kinds of things from running Outlook to syncing your TV shows from Media Center to listening to the radio and so much more. But what if you’ve been having a little too much fun and have overloaded your server with add-ins? Or, even worse, what if you installed an add-in that wasn’t quite ready for prime time and now it won’t uninstall? Well now there’s an add-in for that!

The Add-In Cleanup Tool helps you clean and uninstall up whichever add-ins you need to get rid of. It will even remove them from the registry, too, after first doing a backup. The tool is installed via Remote Desktop by connecting to your WHS and putting the file ‘addincleanup.exe’ into the C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server folder. You can then choose to add the shortcut to your desktop, if desired. The tool is a free download available from here (zip file). (via We Got Served)

Save Your Spreadsheets With Autobackup

sarahintampa — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:26:00 GMT

I can’t tell you how many times I was asked this question when I worked in I.T.: “I accidentally just closed my spreadsheet and said NO to saving my changes…is it gone?” For whatever reason, some people’s fingers slip from time to time and the wrong button gets mashed. The shadow copies feature introduced in XP (aka “previous versions” in Vista) helped to some extent as does the AutoSave feature in Office. However, if you’re working with a spreadsheet undergoing a lot of revisions, what you might like even better is a tool that took periodic snapshots of the file at intervals you specify, allowing you to restore the spreadsheet to any particular moment in time.

As it turns out, there is a tool that does just that. I recently came across a review of it over on gHacks. The tool is an Excel plugin called Autobackup. With Autobackup installed, you can specify how often you want your spreadsheet backed up, how many copies it should save, and how long those copies should be saved (in days). Installation is simple – just got to Tools –> Add-ins and browse for the Autobackup file. Autobackup is available as a free download from here. An English and Portuguese version are available.

Surf The Web From Your PowerPoint

sarahintampa — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:34:00 GMT

I just saw this PowerPoint addin on MakeUseOf and it make me think about how many different PowerPoint tools I’ve seen lately: the Office Labs pptPlex addin which makes PowerPoints deem-zoomable; the Cooliris plugin which takes your slideshows to 3D; the PowerPoint Remote Gadget that lets you control a slideshow from your phone; Freepath, which lets you mashup your slideshows with other web content; and, of course, Slideshare, the home for sharing PowerPoints with others on the web.

This latest addin called LiveWeb doesn’t appear to be new exactly, but it was new to me. LiveWeb works with any version of PowerPoint from 97 on up to allow you to open a web browser within the presentation itself as opposed to launching an external application (like IE). Its browser can display the real web in PowerPoint including PDFs, java, and VRML. You can download LiveWeb for free from here.

Integrate the Web Into Office With KallOut

sarahintampa — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:58:00 GMT

A new program called KallOut works with all Microsoft Office products to let you search the web right from within Office. After installing KallOut, an icon will appear in your system tray to show that it’s running. To use the program, just double-click or select any word or phrase from within any Microsoft Office program (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Notepad, WordPad), Adobe PDFs, Facebook, even IE and Firefox. You’ll then see a small KallOut icon appear. From here, you can access a small pop-up menu that displays several different search options. You can choose from several different search providers including Google, Live Search, Yahoo Search, and Technorati. You can also search reference sites like Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. videos on YouTube, or photos on Flickr, and more.

What’s really interesting about KallOut is that it essentially brings the power of the web into traditional Microsoft Office software. One of the perks of using online office suites is that, by their very nature, they’re connected to the real-time information of the web. So for example, if you needed to pull up a stock quote in a spreadsheet, it was possible. However, for many people, especially those using Office software in a traditional business environment, the web office suites are just not robust enough, rich enough, or powerful enough for the tasks at hand. But with a simple add-in like KallOut, you no longer have to choose between easy access to the live web or feature-rich software – you can have both.

Here are some examples of Kallout in use:

Microsoft Research Unveils Tools For Knowledge-Sharing Researchers

sarahintampa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:29:00 GMT

At the 9th annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit, Tony Hey, corporate vice president of Microsoft's External Research Division, revealed some new tools for improving the process of doing research. The tools consist of a set of free software programs that let researchers and scholars seamlessly publish, preserve, and share data. Specifically, this tool set includes the following:

Add-ins
- The Article Authoring Add-in for Word 2007 enables authors and editors to open and save Microsoft Office Word files in the National Library of Medicine's NLM XML format, a file format that is used in the publishing and archiving of scientific and technical articles. It also enables additional metadata to be captured at the authoring stage and enables semantic information to be preserved through the publishing process, which is essential for enabling search and semantic analysis once the articles are archived at information repositories. The add-in also aims at simplifying the authoring, submission, and interaction process between authors and journals.
- The Creative Commons Add-in for Office 2007 is an add-in for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Excel 2007 that enables individuals to embed a Creative Commons license directly into their Microsoft Office documents. The add-in allows an author of a Microsoft Office document to choose a Creative Commons license from those available on the Creative Commons Web site (by using the Creative Commons Web service). The embedded license links directly to its online representation on the Creative Commons Web site while a machine-readable representation is stored in the Office Open XML document. By using Creative Commons licenses, you can express your intentions regarding how others may use your work.
- The Microsoft Math Add-in enhances Microsoft Office Word 2007 with computational and graphing capabilities. With the add-in, you can perform the following: plot a function, equation, or inequality; solve an equation or inequality; calculate a numerical result, and simplify an algebraic expression.
The Microsoft e-Journal Service: The Microsoft eJournal Service will provide a hosted, full-service solution to support scholarly societies, small publishers, and medium-sized publishers in the production of online-only journals. It is designed to simplify the self-publishing of workshop and conference proceedings and smaller journals, as well as online collaboration between authors. The service supports managing the submission and review of articles in any format, and the deposit of final articles in information repositories by using the SWORD protocol. An alpha version, available now, is hosted via Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007—allowing organizations to utilize this functionality without provisioning or maintaining any infrastructure.
Research Output Repository Platform: This platform for building repositories takes advantage of the strengths of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the Microsoft Entity Framework, and the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. The technology, to be available through a free download, provides services that are based on open community protocols (such as the Open Archives Initiative–Object Reuse and Exchange [OAI-ORE], SWORD, and so on), which enables interoperability and integration with other tools and services. An included toolkit and code samples will allow developers to present data in original ways, demonstrating, for example, the relationships between a published paper, authors, research data, associated lectures, presentation slides, or PDFs. Currently in a limited alpha release, an open beta version will be available later in 2008. (Links: Community Forum, sample code).
The Research Information Centre: In close partnership with the British Library, this collaborative workspace will be hosted via Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and will allow researchers to collaborate throughout the entire research project workflow, from seeking research funding to searching and collecting information, as well as managing data, papers and other research objects throughout the research process.

WHS Outlook Beta

sarahintampa — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:48:00 GMT

Mike Craven has been working on a way to put Outlook on your Windows Home Server through the creation of a WHS add-in. The WHS Outlook Beta add-in will let you use Outlook right from the Windows Home Server Console to check your email, switch between Outlook profiles on-the-fly, access all of your RSS Feeds, create new tasks or appointments, and more. You will get all the power of Outlook right through the WHS Console application. The add-in will require that you use Outlook 2002 or newer and you’ll be able to customize where your PST file is stored – either on the system partition or on the network shares. This add-in has not been released yet but a working beta should be available soon. If you’re interested in testing the beta, visit this thread on the WGS Forums and let Mike know of your interest. Active beta testers will receive a copy of the add-in at no charge when the beta period is over, but for everyone else the software will sell for $29.95 (U.S.) when ready. (Thanks to We Got Served for the tip!)

Free Download: Microsoft Math for Word

sarahintampa — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:15:00 GMT

Have you ever heard of Microsoft Math? It’s a downloadable product for students which features a graphing calculator, formula & equations library, triangle solver, unit conversion tool, and more. Math is pretty affordable at only $14.95 (U.S.), but that’s not the free Math download I’m referring to in this blog post’s title. The free download I’m talking about is a Microsoft Math add-in for Word 2007 users. This add-in lets Word handle things that you may have thought only Excel was capable of doing. With the Math add-in, for example, you can create graphs, perform calculations, and solve for variables – and all from within Word. You can even plot elements in 2-D and 3-D. This is great for those who are writing research papers on mathematical subjects, for teachers who are creating study guides for students, as well as anyone else who needs to do some math in Word. But you won’t find this free add-in on the Microsoft Math homepage, though – you’ll need to go straight to this page on the Microsoft Download Center site instead.

ClearContext Personal Launches Beta

sarahintampa — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:09:00 GMT

If you're swamped by email in your Outlook inbox, you have to try ClearContext, an Outlook add-in that helps analyze and organize your mail. The company has just launched a new product called ClearContext Personal, available as a free download that everyone can use (currently in private beta according to their product page, but a sign up list is available).

You may remember some of our earlier coverage of ClearContext (click here for 7 Outlook Tips). Now the company is rebranding their product naming conventions a bit along with the launch of several new features. The previous professional (paid) version of the software was called ClearContext IMS v4. Now, it's a much more understandable "ClearContext Professional." Registered users of IMS can upgrade and get access to the new features for free.

For everyone else, ClearContext Personal edition is offering some great tools which include the ability to see attachments and contacts from emails in each folder, the ability to save, sort, and forward those attachments, the ability to create distribution lists, meeting requests, etc. from those contacts, and more.

Back when I was a regular ClearContext user at my I.T. job, one of my favorite features were the buttons that let me instantly file either individual emails or entire conversations with one click. Once I had everything set up properly, email came in already categorized, so I wouldn't even need to tell it what folder it belonged in. Of course, for the times I did need to categorize the email, it was only a matter of typing the first letter of the folder's name and hitting "Enter" to assign the category. (Love keyboard shortcuts!)

However, it looks like the next version of ClearContext Personal is offering a feature that can even trump that - the ability to explore and preview your attachments within Outlook just like you were browsing a folder on your desktop. (You have to see the screenshot). That looks extremely useful.

Other ClearContext Personal features include threaded conversations, highlighting of the most important messages in your inbox, and "Notifications Managers" that automatically move what we fondly refer to as "bacn" out of your inbox. (What's bacn? click here to find out. Short answer is "email you want, but not right now").

The new features should certainly help heavy Outlook users get a better reign on their inboxes if they can take a break from their email long enough to install and configure the add-in!

Photosync for Windows Home Server

sarahintampa — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Photosync is a cool WHS add-in that lets you automatically sync the contents of your "Photos" folder on Windows Home Server to Flickr. The latest version, beta 2, offers some enhancements like the ability to name the flickr images based on the file name, the ability to create "sets" based on the file name, and the ability to set photo permissions. If you need help with the installation, check out Tech Republic's web site, where they put up a really great step-by-step installation guide - with screenshots!

How I Use Outlook - 7 Tips

sarahintampa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

There are so many things you can do with Outlook, but I have to admit, I've never fully explorered all its features. However, the more I "live" in my Outlook at work, the more I've become obsessed with finding new and useful ways to get things done as efficiently and quickly as I can. On that note, here are a few Outlook tips I've discovered that have been making my work life easier.

1. The ClearContext add-in - every since someone told me about this add-in, I've been using the heck out of it. Although I can only afford the free version, I've found it unbelievably useful for categorizing my mail. Since I had been using a folders system prior to the Outlook 2007 upgrade, I didn't feel much like redoing this system just to use Outlook 2007's color-coded categories. Instead, I use a mashup of ClearContext labels and Outlook cateogries. ClearContext lets me label my mail and these labels are linked to an Outlook category list. As I visually scan my email, Outlook's color-coded categories help me find what I'm looking for fast. When it's time to move an email from the Inbox to its category folder, I just hit the "File Msg" button on the ClearContext toolbar and the message archives itself to the appropriate folder. (Another option for filing is SpeedFiler, which I hear is good, too).

2. Natural Language - I've been using Outlook 2007 for many months now, but I just discovered this feature thanks to a tip I read online. The new version of Outlook lets you enter appointments on your calendar using natural language. Instead of using the drop-down box to pick a date, you can type in real expressions like "day after tomorrow," "one week from today," "two months from today," "three days from now," and much more. You can also use expressions like "today + 3 days" and Outlook will figure that out, too. Finally, you can type in the names of holidays and use them in expressions like "the day before Christmas."

3. Outlook Calendar on the desktop - this software lets you pin the Outlook calendar to your desktop. The calendar stays there all the time so you can always see what's upcoming. It's not just a view of your calendar either, it's the real Microsoft Outlook calendar, so you get all its functionality, like direct editing, drag and drop of files, etc. Awesome.

4. Search Folders & Favorites - how did I live before Search Folders? Search Folders let you create virtual folders based on certain criteria. For example, you could make a folder of email from your boss you categorized as "Important" or a folder of your emails that have attachments. Even better, add these Search Folders to your Favorite Folders list and hide your Mail Folders list so that all you see is your Favorites. You'll be surprised how rarely you'll need to view your "real" folders.

5. Fast Email Searches - If you use Outlook 2007 on Vista, you have Vista's killer search built into Outlook. However, at work, we're still on XP. No worries though...you can download Windows Desktop Search for Windows XP like I did and experience the glory of fast searches. With either Vista or Desktop Search, results are displayed as soon as you start typing in text.

6. Form Emails - Using templates, you can save standardized emails so you don't have to type the same thing over and over again. I use forms for things like emailing a new user's login information to their supervisor or emailing someone a note letting them know their issue was input as a helpdesk ticket. Creating your own form is easy - just write the email, then go to File --> Save As, and choose "Outlook Template (*.oft)" from the drop-down box. The email is saved as a template. Next time you want to use that form, open it by going to Tool --> Forms --> Choose a Form. Change the drop-down box to "User Templates in File System" and then pick the template you created.

7. Minimize to Tray - I'm surprised how many people don't know how to minimize Outlook to run in the System Tray. This is an absolute necessity (it should be the default!). Right-click on the Outlook icon in the Notification Area (next to the clock). In the menu that displays, select "Hide When Minimized."

Answer Engadget: The Life-Changing NAS-type Device

Larry — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:25:00 GMT

Ask Engadget has a question from Tony; what's the best easy, efficient NAS-type device? I know exactly how he feels, I've asked that same question. To me, the answer is crystal clear: Windows Home Server. Here are some of the requirements Tony had for the ideal device with my response to each.

Work well with my Mac
Yes, Windows Home Server works with a Mac. In fact, you can set your Apple Backup or Time Machine to save to your WHS. You can even use Windows Home Server to expand the partition on your Mac.
Allow me access when I am on the road (away from home) to add new torrents, see status, etc.
Without a doubt, one of the best features of Windows Home Server. Not only can you access it away from your home (with <your name>.homeserver.com), you can wake up other computers on your network and remote into those.
Work with my Airport Extreme with a HD attached [& AppleTV].
I don't know about that (I don't have one), but it works with all the Media Center Extenders, including HP's MediaSmart LCD HDTVs.
Can also be used with a (Xbox) 360 if the ATV is a make or break.
Yes, an Xbox 360 is a Media Center Extender. You can connect to the photo, video, or music content on your WHS through your Xbox 360.
Expandable via drive bays or USB 2.0.
Windows Home Servers are built for easy drive access, many of the manufactured models have drawers and easy install systems for drive expansion. Once connected, WHS will prompt you to add the drive to the total storage. If you use redundancy (which is a good idea), WHS will automatically keep two copies of your data on different drives. You can also use external USB drives if you like, even USB thumbdrives can be added as storage.
Not be a power pig.
Home Servers are designed for low power consumption. On top of what the manufacturer has done, you have all the standard Windows power options. WHS is designed headless (no monitor needed), and because you can wake your home machines remotely and put them to sleep when you're done, WHS saves power beyond itself.
Price is not really a major object, but of course good value is preferred.
I think the price is something that will surprise people, and there are annoucements coming later in the year from partners on that. For those on a budget, you can build your own. A 3.4ghz Pentium 4 CPU & motherboard combo is only $119 right now. You can customize your WHS for low noise, low power consumption, or massive drive space. It can be the ugly beige box in your garage or a tricked out case mod in your living room.
Must be quick and easy to add and delete torrents, as I don't have a lot of time to muck around.
No problem. There is already a Windows Home Server add-in for uTorrent. It snaps right in to the Home Server console which is available from any machine on your Home Server network or through the Internet.

Of course, Windows Home Server does much more than this. After using one at my house for several months, I'd even say it qualifies as a life-changing NAS.

IE7 Open Last Closed Tab Add-In

sarahintampa — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:57:00 GMT

If you've ever accidentally closed a tab in Internet Explorer 7 when you didn't mean to, then you will know how handy this IE7 add-in can be. With the IE7 "Open Last Closed Tab" add-in, you don't have to search through your internet history to find the page you were just on; instead, just hit "Alt-X" and the accidentally closed page automatically reappears in a new tab. If you hit "Alt-Q" instead, the add-in will display a Quick Tabs Style View, which is like IE7's built-in Quick Tabs view, but features just recently closed tabs. Click on one of the thumbnails from this view, and the page will open in a new tab. This is one of those add-ins that you might not need all the time, but when you do need it, you'll be glad it's installed. The add-in is available via a free download from the Windows Marketplace.

IE7 Pro: the essential IE7 Add-On

sarahintampa — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:40:00 GMT

IE7Pro is an add-on for the Internet Explorer 7 browser that includes a lot of tools to extend IE features and security. The feature set included with this add-on is rich -- offering Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag & Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, a Greasemonkey-like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins and more.

IE7 Pro is free and the developers update it regularly. The IE7 Pro blog has several great video tutorials on using the add-on's features; be warned, though - the videos are set to automatically play - they all play at the same time as you load the blog's main page.
(Via Ed Bott's Windows Expertise)