What’s Next Now

If somebody told me that I’d have to give up all but one of the numerous plug-ins that I use in various applications, I’d keep Xobni.  That’s “inbox” spelled backwards.  Xobni is so powerful that after using it for a couple of months, I abandoned my Outlook Business Contact Manager; while I’m sure that BCM is a fine tool for many, it provided a lot of features I didn’t ever use and very little useful information about the people I exchange email with.

Xobni helps me focus.  I have a lot going on, including disparate projects that often sit for days and weeks with no activity. With Xobni, when a dormant project suddenly requires me to re-engage in conversations that paused long ago, I can quickly get back up to speed.  Xobni has dramatically reduced the time it takes me to reply to messages when the original context of the conversation has been forgotten.

With Xobni I can:

1. Search less and find more; basic information I need about an email and its sender is always right there in the Xobni sidebar.
2. Leverage my inbox as a socially-aware tool that builds automatic profiles of the people I work with.
3. Discover hidden relationships between people with whom I exchange email.
4. Instantly view my email conversations in threads.
5. Check on the status of my contacts at LinkedIn (the next version will offer Facebook status too).
6. Always see the profile pictures of my senders from these sources, if available, simply by highlighting a message from them in my inbox.
7. Perform in-context key word searches to quickly find the right messages I seek.
8. Instantly access all of the attachments related to my searches.
9. Analyze the sending and response patterns of my contacts to determine the best times to send and not to send messages.
10. Increase the response rates on the messages and replies I send.

For me, Xobni is a big deal because I use the past sending and response habits of my contacts to improve the statistical probability of getting them to take the actions I desire.

Here’s a great little video review of my favorite plug-in ever!