Nelson Email Organizer, Version 2

Nelson Email Organizer, Version 2

I probably couldn’t survive without e-mail. I’m amazed at how much I depend on it. Usually, it’s easier and simpler to communicate with someone via e-mail than by fax or telephone.

But e-mail has a drawback: junk mail. Each day, my Inbox is stuffed with more than 50 messages, and sorting through and responding to that amount of e-mail can be a pain.

Fortunately, Nelson Email Organizer can help. It sorts and organizes e-mail by date, correspondent, subject, type and attachment. Actually, the product doesn’t sort your e-mail, but it indexes e-mail according to indexing technology developed by the software’s producer, Caelo Software Inc. The technology allows you to view the same e-mail message in many different ways, instead of you having to place the same e-mail message in different folders.

For example, if you receive a message with an attached file, upon receipt, you can see this message in various views such as “Active Mail,” “Unread,” “Today,” “This Week” or “Attachment.” A “Viewbar” along the bottom of the screen and a viewing window along the side allow you to jump between these and other views.

The product automatically separates personally addressed mail from spam. Personally addressed mail is indexed in the “Correspondent” area with an index marker created for each individual you regularly correspond with. Other mail goes into “Bulk Mail.”

You can prioritize e-mail messages into a to-do list for future disposition, and you can remove messages from “Active Mail” when you have dealt with them — without having to drag the messages to a folder or delete them. And you can do a full-word search of e-mails.

A significant drawback is it works only with Microsoft Outlook. It doesn’t work with any other e-mail programs. If you use another e-mail program, you would have to export all your e-mails into Outlook. The product has the look and feel of Outlook and allows access to the other parts of Outlook such as “Calendar” and “Contracts.”

Although I love its functionality, the product is probably overkill for users who only send and receive a few e-mails a day. But this spam sorter is easily worth its $30 price tag.

Caelo Software Inc.
(250) 354-5580
www.caelo.com

Single user $29.95

Works only with Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000 when using Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 — with or without Exchange Server.

Reviewed by Arlin P. Neser, attorney at Gibson, Haglund & Paulsen in Irvine, Calif.

Jun/Jul '01 Issue

PROS
Can access the same e-mail differently. “Attachment View” is especially useful.

CONS
The product may be overkill for many users and works only with Microsoft Outlook.

VERDICT
Recommended for the attorneys who process a lot of e-mails.