I am one of those people who…
- Gets as much email traffic as Grand Central Station at rush hour, and;
- Desperately tries to manage his Inbox effectively, usually without success.
While I have read and tried to apply David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” principles to my Inbox (even trying the GTD add-in for Microsoft Outlook), I just didn’t feel the techniques and technology worked for me. As a result, effectively managing my email flow has resulted in more effort than it’s worth. Then, I was introduced to ClearContext.
ClearContext accomplishes the three most important aspects (to me, personally) of effective Inbox management:
- The ability to tag and file email messages and still maintain context.
While I can use categories and can manually move messages to different folders, tracking and finding things - The ability to quickly act upon emails within the Outlook environment.
By this, I mean turning emails in Appointments and Tasks. Yes, I can do this manually; in order to make sure that I still keep relevant information in the right place, though, takes time. - The ability to easily see threads and relevant information.
Sure – Outlook has threaded views. However, as you move emails around, threads are not so easy to manage.
I could go on and on about this (and other awesome features in ClearContext), but I will let this video demo of ClearContext Personal speak for itself -
Best of all ClearContext Personal is free! Once you get hooked on the free edition and see the Professional Edition, you will likely see the value of this commercial release. I definitely did 
It adds the ability to defer acting on emails for a specified time, temporarily moving the email from the Inbox. In addition, the ability to create tasks and appointments with the click of a button are available in the Professional Edition. Here is a video demo of ClearContext Professional in action -
If there is any question as to how effective ClearContext is to me, consider the fact that I used to be someone who averaged over 100 Inbox messages at any given time, even with Inbox management. With ClearContext, I now average around 10 messages in the Inbox at any time!
If you are feeling overwhelmed by email, you should definitely give ClearContext a try.