New to Mac, missing some apps

First time poster, I just started my Mac-life with a MacBook Pro 15 (retina). Love the hardware and OS, but I'm missing some functionality in Outlook that's killing me at the moment.

First, I was a long-time user of ClearContext which is an Outlook (for windows) add-in that greatly automates email filing and task tracking. The biggest benefit to me was simplified filing of inbound and outbound messages into my project folders. Once I had assigned a topic (folder) to a thread, all future inbound and sent messages would be auto categorized for quick one button filing. This was very beneficial to my inbox workflow and really helped me keep things in check. Any Office for Mac 2011 alternatives?

The other app I'm missing is copy2contact. This allowed me to highlight any text in any app and parse the data into a contact record in Outlook. Most often I could use this to grab the auto-signature from an email and quickly create a new contact. I could also grab the data from ppt, excel, word, the web, etc. To top it off, this gave me a way to quickly transfer contact records in to salesforce.com automatically!!

Some may suggest my challenges are that I'm trying to use Office for Mac rather than native Mac apps...but I really can't imagine this transition without these corporate standards (our company is 90% windows users).

Any ideas to ease the pain?

Interactive said:

Some may suggest my challenges are that I'm trying to use Office for Mac rather than native Mac apps...but I really can't imagine this transition without these corporate standards (our company is 90% windows users).

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I'm sort of confused by this statement…you do realize that there is Microsoft Office 2011…written for the Macintosh??? Just like the Windows version of Microsoft Office…it contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AND Outlook! AND…you can import & export files between Windows and Macintosh computers without any problems.

Office for Mac - Microsoft Store Online

- Nick

I think he already is using Office 2011 - what he needs are the plug-ins he's had for Outlook.

BTW, I'm gonna have to check into that ClearContext app myself - especially if it will automate my in & sent boxes by task (project).

pigoo3 said:

I'm sort of confused by this statement…you do realize that there is Microsoft Office 2011…written for the Macintosh??? Just like the Windows version of Microsoft Office…it contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AND Outlook! AND…you can import & export files between Windows and Macintosh computers without any problems.

Office for Mac - Microsoft Store Online

- Nick

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Yes, sorry for the confusion, I wasn't totally clear. I am using the Office for Mac 2011 solution now and in general it's a pretty nice suite of apps obviously making most aspects of the transition easier. But the Mac version doesn't seem to permit add-ins like the Windows version does so my experience is less than complete compared with my Windows set up.

bobtomay said:

BTW, I'm gonna have to check into that ClearContext app myself - especially if it will automate my in & sent boxes by task (project).

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As with many applications, I'm probably only using 10% of the functionality. More organized people than me, particularly those with project work, will appreciate the full functionality with project organizing inside Outlook. It's not a replacement for MS Project (it's not intended to be) but it's a great way to tie all of the clutter in Outlook together by project.

My other option, and one I'm seriously considering, is Fusion/Win7/Office for Windows. Based on recommendations I've seen all over the web, the Mac traditionalist encourage sticking with as much native Mac as possible, but I may have to have a slower migration to that state than others.

I'm going to check it out. Right now I create folders by project name and then manually move emails into them once they've been taken care of. Pitb when you have 200-300 projects listed there at any one time. Don't even have the time to organize my sent box whatsoever - so there, I just have to search for past emails and hope I used appropriate subject lines as the individual (even within the same company) they're sent to can vary.

bobtomay said:

I'm going to check it out. Right now I create folders by project name and then manually move emails into them once they've been taken care of. Pitb when you have 200-300 projects listed there at any one time. Don't even have the time to organize my sent box whatsoever - so there, I just have to search for past emails and hope I used appropriate subject lines as the individual (even within the same company) they're sent to can vary.

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Are you using Windows on a VM?

No, no VM - straight up Windows machine at the office.

And I built my own Win 7 rig for the house, so no Windows on my Macs.

So what about Copy2Contact which I used for grabbing any plain text with contact details and converting into a contact record in Outlook....anything similar for Outlook for Mac?

I've found that plugins are the hardest thing to replace when it comes to switching over. I did some preliminary searching but didn't find anything for you. One way to go is Windows in a VM - using Parallels or VM ware. You can try coherence mode - so that the desktop manager stays OSX - or you can just run in a window.
Working in Coherence

Another thing to try is crossover - but since it is a plugin - it probably isn't as tested and may not work.
Run Windows on Mac and Linux, easily and affordably
Unfortunately you just missed a give-away from those guys.

If you are using Exchange 2007 or later you can use the built in Mail, Contacts and Calendar. Mail does seem to have contact/address recognition. (Although it may be a plugin I have from something I installed.)

Mail (the default program for Mac) has an autodetect function that parses dates and addresses and can add them to Contacts and Calendar respectively.

Mail also has Smart Mailboxes which do the job you described ClearContext as doing. I can't imagine Office for Mac doesn't have these abilities too, so is it possible that the functionality you need is already there and you just don't know about it?

chas_m said:

Mail (the default program for Mac) has an autodetect function that parses dates and addresses and can add them to Contacts and Calendar respectively.

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I setup Mail yesterday and connected to my Exchange account. As an iPhone/iPad user the interface is familiar and simple. I'll give the auto detect a try today.

chas_m said:

Mail also has Smart Mailboxes which do the job you described ClearContext as doing. I can't imagine Office for Mac doesn't have these abilities too, so is it possible that the functionality you need is already there and you just don't know about it?

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I played with Smart Folders today....they're cool but still very different workflow. And maybe I just need to change my workflow to accommodate. And yes, I believe these are available in both versions of Outlook AND in Mac Mail. My current workflow seeks to get to Inbox zero by making it easy to file and set up messages for follow up and tasks. Smart Folders, while functional, will require much more manual setup than what ClearContext offers. On the other hand, once they're setup, I suspect I could just leave my mail in my inbox, or set up a generic "Archive" folder for everything and let the SmartFolders help me search.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Also take a look at this:

MailActOn

I haven't used it, but my workflow relies heavily on ignoring things and hoping they will go away.

chas_m said:

Also take a look at this:

MailActOn

I haven't used it, but my workflow relies heavily on ignoring things and hoping they will go away.

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OK, I've given it a little over one week and am struggling with the native Mail app. Maybe I'm just stubborn, but it sure seems less natural to have 3 apps to do the work of one in Windows (Contacts, Calendar, Mail). Based on what I've seen on their site, MailActOn seems promising and similar to what I'm getting from ClearContext. But I have to admit I'm leaning towards Windows 7 in a VM to keep my primary work tools in Windows.

I'm giving it another week before I make a decision. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again for the guidance.

Interactive said:

Maybe I'm just stubborn, but it sure seems less natural to have 3 apps to do the work of one in Windows (Contacts, Calendar, Mail).

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We, on the other hand, think its unnatural to make one try to be the be-all and end-all of tasks, and master of none.

The Contacts-Calendar-Mail work pretty seamlessly together, I really can't tell the difference between that and having it all in one program.

The three are pretty seamless integrated without having everything crammed into one interface. When I want to deal with mail, I just want to deal with mail. If I need to add a contact or event from an email message, it's very easy to do from within Mail.

You do have to let go of some of your Windows thinking and habits when you use a Mac, but after awhile you may find it's much easier the new way.

Well I'm into my Mac for well over a year now. I'd say I'm fully in the Mac camp now and there's no looking back. That said I still think the native "office" apps for Mac are inferior to MS Office in most ways.

chas_m said:

Mail (the default program for Mac) has an autodetect function that parses dates and addresses and can add them to Contacts and Calendar respectively.

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Yes, Mail offers this but it's far from well executed. It's awesome that they built this into the native Mail app, but it just doesn't perform as well as other solutions.

I finally stumbled across something that has given me what I need:

Instant Contacts for Mac OS X Address Book, Daylite, Entourage, or Google Contacts

Unfortunately this doesn't drop contacts into Office for Mac, but it populates the contacts in Apple's Contact app and I leave sync services ON at all times to keep things in check. It's a work-around, but I had been using sync services anyway so that apps like Messages would have my contacts. Total time from the moment I copy and extract contact info to the time it's available in Office for Mac is only a few seconds. I've been using the trial version for a couple of weeks and am about to send the guy money for my license! ($20)

I hope someone finds this helpful. Enjoy!