# Xobni - Great Outlook Plugin!



## fredtgreco (Dec 31, 2007)

This looks pretty neat. If you have any inclination, I'd appreciate it if you would sign up for the beta from a link on our webpage (Christ Church PCA » Home) down at the bottom right so that I can get it faster, and report back how it works.


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## fredtgreco (May 6, 2008)

Xobni is now in public beta. It is a very nice add-in for Outlook. Helps searching emails, finding conversations, and even phone numbers. I highly recommend it!

Here is the homepage: Xobni: Email organization, search, and navigation for your Outlook inbox

Here is the blog page that describes it: Xobni


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## NaphtaliPress (May 6, 2008)

Fred,
Is this better than X1? Or different purpose?


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## fredtgreco (May 6, 2008)

Slightly different purpose. I use Xobni to help me find contacts and phone numbers more quickly. I use X1 for finding documents, or if I need more information from an email.

Say, for example, that I want to email the Stated Clerk of X PCA church. I have emailed him before, but forget his name. I know that TE Smith is the pastor there. I can search in Xobni for Smith (or just click on an email from Smith) and it will show me the "network" for Smith and me. So the odds are that I have sent an email to Smith and copied the Clerk. In the window below "Smith" are "people connected to Smith" and the Clerk will be there. I can click on his name, and all the emails we have sent back and forth (grouped by conversation liike Gmail) are listed, as well as the attachments we have shared.

That is helpful also. So instead of running an X1 search on "Draft 2008 budget" that I know that I sent to the Treasurer, I can simply search the Treasurer's name (or select an email in my inbox from him) and the attachments will show at the bottom of the sidebar window. I can open the attachment right _from the sidebar, _without having to find or open the email!

Very neat in my opinion. I like *both* X1 and Xobni.


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## CovenantalBaptist (May 6, 2008)

Thanks for the tip Fred, I just found this now. I downloaded it today and I found it quite helpful almost immediately. 

I'd be curious why you prefer X1 over something like Google Desktop. I tried X1 about a year ago but found it was too resource intensive, it crashed my system a couple of times and it was well, ugly - despite the fact that it indexed my .pst file much more thoroughly than does GD. 

What's your experience with it?


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## fredtgreco (May 6, 2008)

Chris,

I have to say that I never really liked Google Desktop. It was resource intensive for me. It also is not really customizable when searching. With X1, I can search for emails from a particular sender, with certain words in the subject line etc. I can search for documents where covenant is within 10 words of Berkhof. Etc. It is really flexible. I can exclude (or only include) certain types of files (e.g. only doc and xls files). I love X1.

The key to X1 is likely to get the latest version, and to set the indexing to pause when the computer is in use. Better yet, for the files, you can set it only to index once a day, like at 1AM when the computer is dormant. I think that really helps it. I've tried GD and the new Vista search, but I keep going back to X1.


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