Xobni is an add-on that extends the basic search functionality of Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 and, according to its developers, “Saves you time finding email, conversations, contact info & attachments.” But, in fact, Xobni actually does much, much more than simply boost Outlook’s search performance.
Installation is a quick and easy process and no configuration is needed. Once installed, Xobni spends several minutes indexing your email, which enables the application to return its speedy search results. To avoid taking up screen space unnecessarily, the pane that Xobni adds to Outlook can be collapsed or expanded with only a single click.
Xobni’s developers claim that the application, “Can build a list of search results for a single keyword 50 times faster than Outlook. Add that up and you will save hours each week.” While I did indeed find Xobni’s initial indexing to be substantially faster than Outlook’s, I didn’t find searches to be that much speedier. Yes, they were undoubtedly faster but not considerably so and, consequently, I’m not convinced by the developer’s claims that Xobni will save you hours a week. But this is far from being a deal-breaker as the real benefits of Xobni is not the speed it adds to searches, but the extra features it adds to Outlook.
Access Hoovers and social networks within Outlook with Xobni
Search on a word, phrase or name, and Xobni will return a list of relevant emails, people and appointments – in other words, every aspect of Outlook’s functionality is integrated into the search results. Click on any email, and Xobni will display a list of conversations you have had with the sender and details of any files you have exchanged with them. Another click will show you statistics relating to your emails with that person – how many you have sent and received and when they were sent and received. Further, emails are automatically threaded based on their subject with a snippet of each email being displayed – and you can even adjust (or zoom) the size of the snippet so that more or less text is shown. It’s all very slick.
Xobni also brings social media integration to Outlook. For example, here’s what the developer’s say about the product’s integration with LinkedIn: “After installing Xobni you will see LinkedIn profile data as you send and receive email. Xobni automatically pulls the sender’s employer, job title, and photo into their Xobni profile. You’ll have a direct link to their complete LinkedIn profile and can add them as a LinkedIn connection without leaving Outlook.” And it works exactly as advertised. With Xobni installed, various information pulled from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is automatically displayed within Outlook. Xobni even integrates with Hoovers enabling you to pull information about the company for which your contact works (location, number of employees, etc., etc.).
Other Xobni features include:
- An address book: the application automatically maintains a profile for everybody you communicate with. The profile includes their names, telephone number, company name, telephone number, etc. This makes it easy to find information about people you didn’t add to your address book.
- Version tracking: Xobni automatically display attachments in version order (with the most recent at the top of the list) making it easy to find what you’re looking for.
- Automatic phone number extraction: the application automatically extracts telephone numbers from email signatures and records them in the sender’s profile.
- Skype integration: make telephone calls, send text messages and chat directly from within Outlook. Xobni even uses your contacts email addresses to automatically discover their Skye ID. Very cool!
Xobni also has an analytics option which enables you to produce customizable reports detailing the number of emails you have sent and received, your response times and more. You can even produce fun facts (from the company: “Xobni creates fun and revealing statistics to share with your friends and coworkers. Say “thanks” to the person inside your company that responds to you fastest. Or, tell the person that responds the slowest, “Thanks for nothing!” See who sends you the most email within your company — or across all of your email contacts.”). Hmmm. All very interesting, but I’m not convinced that many people will find any of the information to be particularly valuable.
Analytics in Xobni
Free or Plus?
Xobni comes in Free and Plus versions, the latter of which includes advanced search options, auto-suggest, appointments and tasks, support for unlimited PSTs (the Free version supports only the primary PST) and costs $29.95.
The bottom line
Xobni – which, in case you haven’t already realized, is “inbox” spelled backwards – is a nice application which adds some interesting features to Outlook. But, to my mind, it isn’t a compelling, must-have add-on. Yeah, it’s a bit faster than Outlook, but not that much faster and, while Outlook’s native search functionality may not be perfect, it’s certainly not so bad that I feel the need for a third-party application. As for Xobni’s other features, I simply cannot see myself using them.
If you’ve tried Xobni, we’d be delighted to hear your opinions.
