ClearContext Corporate Blog

Drew Loika has written a very flattering review of ClearContext IMS on his PreMagination blog.  In addition to a detailed explanation of how the product has helped, Drew writes:

“Recently my demo expired and while I already deeply appreciated the tool, that appreciation has been further emphasized due to the tools absence.”

Lucky for Drew, our long-standing, free license program is still in place.  Write a review of the product in a public forum (blog, website, discussion forums, newsletters, etc.), send us a link, and we’ll send you a license that will unlock the trial version of IMS.  It’s really that easy.

Here are the details:

• We don’t care what the subject matter of the forum is, as long as it’s in good taste.
• We don’t expect a dissertation.  Just post a few paragraphs that clearly show you have used the product.
• Post in a venue that gets some traffic.  Brand new blogs that were created solely to post the review don’t qualify.
• Reviews posted in the ClearContext discussion forums are not eligible for this program.

That’s it.  Follow the guidelines above, send us the link, and we’ll send you a license.

And Drew, thanks for the help putting the word out about ClearContext!  Drop us a line at support at clearcontext dot com and we’ll get you a key.

*** The free license program has been discontinued. This blog post remains up for reference only

Fritz Nelson has posted an interview of ClearContext CEO Deva Hazarika over at Information Week:

[Direct video link here.]

Not being an Outlook user, it’s clear that Fritz can’t relate to the pain many of us were used to when trying to deal with our email without ClearContext, but he does do a good job explaining IMS features and functionality.  As a bonus, at the end of the video you get a little hint at some future plans for the product.

A quick note on IMS licensing:

• Full Licenses – We are offering IMS v4 at an introductory price of $79.95 USD for a single license through the end of the month.  The regular price of $89.95 applies starting December 1.
• Upgrades – Purchase an upgrade before the end of the year to take advantage of the introductory upgrade price of $29.95 USD.  The regular upgrade price of $44.95 applies starting January 1.

By now all registered users should have received an email from us regarding v4 upgrade options.  If you have not received one, drop us a line at support at clearcontext dot com and we’ll send additional detail.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

We’ve updated our User Guide to include new features for v4, including the IMS Dashboard, Alerts, Do Not Disturb and Toolbar Management.  The downloadable PDF of the User Guide includes additional information about the IMS Daily Workflow.

Yesterday we pushed out IMS v4.0.2 to address the following:

• The IMS Dashboard and ActionView were experiencing stability issues when encountering malformed appointments.
• There was a compatibility issue with Business Contact Manager.

If you are experiencing either of these issues, shut down Outlook and download and install the update.

Wow.  I intended to put up highlights of the new release yesterday, but the response to v4 announcement has been amazing and has kept us all incredibly busy (in a good way).  A hearty thanks for the support!

For the v4 release we really focused on points of pain our customers have talked to us about in our forums and via support requests.  Here’s an overview of the key new features in v4:

IMS Dashboard

Accessed from the Dashboard button on the toolbar, this tool allows you to view Messages, Tasks & Appointments, filtered by Topic and Category.

When unfiltered, the messages window shows flagged messages only.  Apply a Topic filter to show Inbox and Filed messages with assigned Topics.

Alerts

Create an unread message or contact alert trigger by clicking the Alerts button on the toolbar.  If a message that meets the criteria set in your Alert trigger remains unread for the time you specify, IMS will pop-up a window letting you know that there is a message in your Inbox that needs attention.  A few notes:

• You can set Alerts by contact or message thread
• You manage/view your Alert triggers from the Alert management window, accessed via the ClearContext menu.

Toolbar Simplification

Probably the first thing you will notice in the new release is that the toolbar has been simplified.  Add/Remove buttons and change their position via ClearContext > Options > Preferences > Toolbar. 

Do Not Disturb

Access this feature from the ClearContext menu to turn off message notifications and work without interruption.

Topic Query on Save

Much like the Topic query on send function for composed messages available in v3, IMS will query for Topic assignment when a task or appointment is saved.

Mark as Read When Filing

IMS now marks all messages as read when filing using one of the filing buttons.  This behavior can be turned of via ClearContext > Options > Preferences > Misc.

Go to Topic

Accessed from the Topic Selector, Go To Topic opens the Topic folder that you select.

Custom Forms Support

IMS can be configured to use custom forms from the Task and Schedule buttons.  This allows the product to be used in conjunction with third party add-ins like Taskline.  Enter the custom form class in ClearContext > Options > Preferences > Tasks/Appts.  FYI – To use Taskline, enter IPM.Task.Taskline in the Task custom form field.

Thanks to the beta community who helped us test the new
features!

We’ve got a lot more to talk about in conjunction with this release.
In particular I want to share our near term product plan and talk at length
about the Information
Management System Daily Workflow.  So watch the weblog over the coming
weeks for some really exciting stuff.

We are pleased to announce the release of IMS v4.  The press release is posted here.  We’ve got a lot more to say about the release a little later.  In the meantime, peruse our newly re-designed website, download and install IMS v4, and let us know what you think.