Xobni for Microsoft Outlook

Richard from Windows Observer sent me a download link for Xobni, a plugin for Microsoft Outlook that extends the functionality tremendously.

I'm not using Microsoft Outlook anymore since I started using Thunderbird and quit my day job where they forced me to use it. I still think that this an interesting plugin that should be mentioned here at Ghacks.

Xobni for Microsoft Outlook

Xobni adds lots of functions to the Outlook sidebar, all of them are contact related. You see statistics about each contact, when and how often he send you mails, phone numbers found in signatures and mail bodies, people connected to that person, details about those people, a conversation history and quick access to email attachments of that person.

The free version of Xobni makes the following features available:

• Add profile photos to people that email you
• Organize email and contact information by person
• Search by first or last name, or company
• Retrieve information about contacts from LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

The pro version on top of that adds the following feature set:

• Add contacts to Outlook and BlackBerry
• Information by person are accessible when composing emails
• Advanced search filters
• Connect all contacts across email accounts and devices such as Gmail, Android, Outlook or iPhone

It is currently in closed Beta but Richard has some invites that he is giving away so check out his blog and the article if you are interested in this Beta. It is also possible to leave your email address and the developers will contact you once you have been accepted into the Beta.

I'm not sure if I receive invites as well but if I do I let you know asap.

Update: The professional version of Xobni is a subscription based service that you pay monthly, the free version is completely free and without charges.

Update 2: Yahoo acquired Xobni in 2013. The products and website of the service were shut down shortly thereafter.

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