Just a quick post to announce that we are making the ClearContext v6 Release Candidate available to anyone who would like to try it. Please note that the web site still reflects v5 and that the v6 documentation is not available yet.
We have download links and additional information on our new release page.
We are thrilled to announce that the development of ClearContext Professional Version 6 is complete. The Release Candidate is now available for download to our Connect subscribers. This Release Candidate build is intended to be the production release, and will become the version available publicly on our web site, assuming no last minute issues arise.
Before Version 6 is released publicly, we do have some work to do on updating the documentation and ClearContext web site. However, we will open up access to anyone interested in trying v6 in the next week or so.
As a reminder to our Connect members, for access, please register on our online forums using the same email address associated with your Connect account. Once registered and logged in, you will see the private Connect forums where the v6 Release Candidate can be downloaded.
Also, version 6 requires new license keys and the existing v5 license keys cannot be used with v6. Connect members can claim their new v6 license keys by visiting their Connect status page.
Thanks to everyone for their interest and enthusiasm, and we look forward to making ClearContext Professional Version 6 available to all shortly!
ClearContext Professional v6 Beta 2 has been released and is available to our Connect subscribers. Beta 2 incorporates many improvements and fixes from feedback on the first beta. We invite any Connect members who have not yet tried the v6 beta to check out this latest version.
Some highlights on Beta 2 improvements include:
A more complete change list is available in the Connect forums. For information on overall v6 changes, please see our prior blog posts.
With the completion of beta 2, the next milestone for v6 is the production ready Release Candidate. As the focus is now primarily on testing and critical bug fixes, we anticipate a much shorter amount of time to finish the Release Candidate as compared to the Beta releases. The completion of v6 is drawing near and we thank everyone for their enthusiasm and patience.
As a reminder to our Connect members, for beta access, please register on our online forums using the same email address associated with your Connect account. Once registered and logged in, you will see the private Connect forums where the beta can be downloaded.
ClearContext Professional v6 Beta 1 is now available for our Connect subscribers! We appreciate all the interest in Version 6 and look forward to hearing feedback on the new v6 capabilities and improvements. For information on the the changes in v6, please see our previous post on ClearContext v6 Highlights.
To participate in the beta program a Connect membership and a registration to the ClearContext online forums is required.
Private Connect forums have been created that are visible and accessible only to Connect members. Beta information, downloads and discussion will take place in these private forums. Access to these forums is granted automatically based on a matching email address between a Connect subscription and the email address used to register on the forums. If assistance is needed in enabling the private Connect forums for your user account, please contact us at support at clearcontext.com
In our last post introducing ClearContext v6, we talked about the focus on flexibility and efficiency for this new release. Here is a brief description of some of the enhancements in version 6:
In addition to these highlights, ClearContext v6 will also incorporate many other tweaks and enhancements to improve usability or address known issues. Some of these come from our own lists and planning, and many will come from feedback during testing from our Connect members.
As we mentioned previously, access to the v6 beta will be an exclusive benefit for Connect members. If you would like to check your membership status, please visit our Connect Subscription Status page. Also, you should be receiving a special offer in your inbox if you need to subscribe to or renew Connect. If you do not receive this email, please send an email to sales@clearcontext.com and we would be happy to add you to the mailing list.
With the release of v5.4.5 last week, we are reaching the end of our 5.x release cycle and are now preparing for the v6 launch. Since the initial release of v5.4, we have released a number of minor updates, most of which were fixes to specific issues not impacting most users.
We’ve received inquiries asking about what specific changes have been incorporated into these maintenance releases. As we transition into v6 development, we thought it would be a good time to do a wrap-up of these changes in the v5.4 maintenance releases:
V5.4.5
V5.4.4
V5.4.3
V5.4.2
V5.4.1
The latest version of ClearContext is always available by downloading from clearcontext.com.
We are very excited to start telling you about the next major release of ClearContext, version 6. For some time, we have been hearing the need for more comprehensive support for various Outlook configurations such as multiple mail accounts and integration with multiple data files. The scope of these enhancements requires a major infrastructure overhaul, so after recently completing our planned set of v5 incremental releases, that’s where we’ve been focusing most of our efforts.
Along with these infrastructural changes, the other main goal of the v6 release is redesigning a number of features to make them more efficient and useful. To do the best job possible at incorporating feedback from our users, we will be handling the beta and pre-release development a bit differently from prior beta cycles. Beta participation will be limited exclusively to Connect members, and the beta program will be more focused on addressing user feedback.
As a reminder, Connect is our yearly subscription program for free upgrades, priority support and access to pre-release software. Before we begin beta testing of v6, we will provide opportunities for those who are not members or whose memberships have lapsed to join Connect.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks for additional information on ClearContext v6. We look forward to kicking off the beta program soon and having you involved in developing the next version of ClearContext!
If you are a fan of both MYN and GTD, Michael Linenberger has a guide for integrating both into your workflow:
“My strong encouragement to use next actions in your MYN Now-Tasks list (see Lesson 6 in my Outlook book) is about the extent of the obvious overlap between MYN and GTD. MYN’s unique approach to task management is otherwise a quite different system. But they can easily be used together and so you can get the best of both. If you are a GTD user and are looking for more ways to integrate MYN with GTD, here are some ideas on how to do that.”
For more information on MYN and ClearContext, see our TWC partner page. Download our free Outlook GTD setup guide here.
Last week Gmail Labs released Smart Labels to automatically categorize email from bulk senders. As Simon Mackie at Web Worker Daily points out, ClearContext provides Smart Label functionality in Outlook:
“ClearContext Personal… actually works in a similar manner to Smart Labels, filing unimportant emails, like social network notifications, newsletters, e-commerce emails and other bacn into categorized groups, taking it out of your inbox. It’s all done completely automatically, with no need to set up complex inbox rules.”
If you’re looking for a free Outlook-based alternative to Gmail’s Smart Labels, give ClearContext Personal a run.
To better support our GTD customers, we introduced the Context Category dashboard in v5.4. Now you can use the Dashboard to review your To Do’s by category, project, next action and/or date. Here are some of the more significant changes from our GTD Setup Guide.
Dashboard
From the Context Category view in the Summary Dashboard, double click a context to quickly jump to your action lists (@Work, @Phone, etc.) or a list of all Next Actions. From the Project view, pin the projects that are most important to you. Identify Next Actions by Project. Double click a project name to take notes and display all related tasks, appointments, contacts and files.
Inbox Processing
Process the inbox using the ClearContext workflow buttons (task, schedule, defer, etc.), answering those emails that you can, deleting those that you don’t need, filing reference material using ClearContext File buttons, and creating tasks or appointments for future work. As tasks and appointments are created, assign a category context using Outlook’s native category assignment feature and one the categories created above. This will automatically associate the item with the appropriate action list.
Work on Next Actions
Select a Context Category view from the Summary Dashboard menu (Active in the image to the left). Double-click !Next to open the Next Actions Detail Dashboard, showing all tasks designated !Next. This allows you to focus on those tasks that are most important to the progress of your Projects.
Summary Dashboard
The Summary Dashboard in the ClearContext Sidebar is the control panel for your day. If you close the Sidebar, access the Dashboard from the button in the toolbar or via the ClearContext menu.
Categories and Projects
The top half of the Dashboard allows you to quickly see which Context Categories or Projects require your attention. Select either a Context Category or Project view of tasks via the menu at the top right of the Dashboard (Active in the image to the right).
The Context Category view only displays categories with special characters in front of them (i.e. @Phone). The large count to the left of each category indicates the total number of due tasks. Counts highlighted in red indicate categories with overdue tasks. Double-click to open a list of all tasks for the selected category. Double-click !Next to see all tasks that have been marked as Next Actions. Double-click <Unassigned Tasks> to open the Organizer and view a list of all tasks that have not had a category assigned to them.
When viewing Projects in the Dashboard, large counts to the left of each Project give the total number of due tasks, highlighting in red those Projects with overdue tasks. Projects with Next Actions assigned show a small arrow next to the Task count.
Use the pin icon to pin your most important Projects. To view only pinned Projects, select a view from the Project header (Active in the picture to the left). Double-click <Unassigned Tasks> to view all your tasks without Project assignment. Double-click individual Projects to open a Project Dashboard.
Tasks/Appts
The Tasks and Appointments section of the Summary Dashboard shows all of your Tasks across projects and Categories. Use the filter selector in the header (All in the picture to the left) to filter by date or priority. When ready to focus on a single context (i.e. @Phone) or a single project, open a Detail Dashboard.
The Due Date and Priority buttons at the bottom of the Dashboard can be used to quickly change task information. Highlight multiple tasks and click the Due Date button to change the date due for all selected tasks. Assign Next Action, Date and Priority by right-clicking a Task.
Detail Dashboard
When ready to focus on an individual project or category, open the Detail Dashboard by double-clicking a Project or Context Category in the Summary Dashboard.
Category Detail
When viewing the detail for a Context Category, ClearContext displays all tasks and appointments with the current category assigned. When you’re ready to work on a single context/action list (i.e. @Phone), this is the place to do it. As in the Summary Dashboard, right click a task to assign Due Date, Start Date, Priority or Next Action.
Project Detail
In the Project Detail, add project related notes and view all tasks and appointments assigned to the Project. Use the Change menu in the Project header to quickly open pinned Projects. Click Folder to open the associated Project folder. Move or Pin a Project from the Actions menu. As in the Summary Dashboard, right click a task to assign Due Date, Start Date, Priority or Next Action.
Files and Contacts
Click the Files tab at the bottom of a Project Dashboard to view all attachments that have been emailed for this Project. Click the Contacts tab to view all Contacts you have corresponded with for this Project.
Download our complete GTD setup guide, Using ClearContext Pro for Microsoft Outlook with Getting Things Done. See What is GTD? to learn more about the GTD system. GTD and Getting Things Done are registered trademarks of David Allen & Company. ClearContext Corporation is not affiliated with David Allen & Company in any manner.
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