Check it out here http://tinyurl.com/lxz6gn

My suggestion would be to auto-forward all your mail to a web mail client (I use gmail), and label/file it as needed. As long as you have OWA that should work. But in that case auto-forward everything to that account (if you have more then one email account). You just need to be careful about the “reply to” address, and where you’re sending mail from, gmail has some nice features for automating this.

Evernote is fantastic for reference material, you can forward emails to it, and even scan in hard copy. You can also do something similar with MS Onenote, and a cloud storage service like Box.net or Jungledisk.

As for next actions, I’m in the group using a cloud solution (gtdagenda currently, vitalist is a nice one too), I’ve switched computers too many times and lost too much data to bother keeping it local any more. Yes I’m dependent on those sites to stay up and running, but I can access it from anywhere, any time (even my phone or public computers). You can also implement a cloud like solution by using box.net or jungledisk as I mentioned above.

That said, pen and paper will always win for accessibility, have you thought about dropping digital all together?

David Allen refers to creating hard edges, I’d think about that when choosing tools to implement GTD.

Head over to http://trypeep.com and try it and let us know what you think.

I use ThinkingRock (free, but you can support further development with a membership purchase) and Dropbox (free for 2GB but you can buy more) for a multi-machine, multi-platform solution that works brilliantly both online and offline.

I can’t get IMAP/POP for those Exchange server accounts – rats. I DO have one Outlook profile configured for ONE of the Exchange accounts, and my personal account – so that leaves just that pesky 2nd Exchange account.

I’m probably “stuck” with Outlook for now because of the nature of my work and customers. The Netcentrics plugin works nicely for me – so a cloud based solution isn’t in my future as a primary too.

Here’s what I’m going to do:

Explore the tools you all recommended (save for Lotus notes)
Experiment with Outlook Web Access and cut and paste
Experiment with forwarding email to my primary address

And I’ll send an update in about 2 weeks to let you know how I fare. Many thanks for the great tips!

http://thisimprovedlife.zapto.org/?p=234

Oh did I mention that it is also free?

My mainstay Mac laptop recently gave up the ghost, so I’ve been straddling other machines in the interim (one Mac, one PC). Lotus Notes does work very well to remain in sync across platforms, as Eric points out. Also, applications are increasingly providing mechanisms for synchronizing with “cloud” storage. For example, I can run OmniFocus for Mac on any number of Macs and also my iPod Touch, because it synchronizes with a WebDav server. Same goes for iCal, especially when coupled with Google CalDav. And Evernote. And a host of others (many of them Mac-only, others available for PC as well). So, I think this is a trend we will see continue as people demand ubiquitous access to their data. For now, Outlook remains a bit of a beast.

Best,
Robert

This solution runs about $0. It may not be as integrated as lotus notes, but it works for me.

PS I love the outlook gtd plugin. Is lotus notes somehow even better than that?

Email me if you have any questions.

That doesn’t answer your core question though. If you’re adamant about using the outlook plugin to GTD your best option is to do as Steve H suggests and use IMAP. Another option, if it doesn’t violate your security rules at work, is to forward all emails into a central mail account that is JUST for GTD. A GMail account could get every email, and outlook could read it as IMAP.

I’d recommend a web based GTD setup. Both RememberTheMilk and HiveMinder have email addresses that you can use to forward something directly into your GTD inbox. You could set it up as an alias and as you process your email inbox, anything that needs GTDified could just be forwarded to username+somekey@rmilk.com.

There are several web apps out there, Nozbe is one I haven’t looked at yet. If you can host your own site, there are several in Python and PHP.

I had the same dilemma. In the end I conculded that the only option was to move to the cloud which meant my GTD system was device independent.

I know use Gmail (Google Apps), Remember The Milk and Evernote which together give me everything I need no matter what device I use.

Currently I use the above across 4 MAC’s 2 PC’s and 2 iPhones.

I’ve found running 2x copies of Microsoft Outlook works well. Not a graceful solution, but certainly workable enough to get your GTD Mojo cranking.

I favour one version of outlook as my primary, and drag/drop/copy/paste to it on the fly.

Review products such as VMware Fusion, that will allow you to run two copies of Outlook.

As David Allen’s technologist for 15 years, I can share that David uses Lotus Notes, from IBM, to solve this challenge and it works very well.

With Lotus Notes, he can maintain his projects and actions in a single trusted system that replicates across ALL of his computers, including his Mac, PC, and mobile devices (e.g. Treo).

If wants to work on his PC, he can pick up his ThinkPad and everything will be there. If he wants to play with his shiny new Mac Air, he can pick that up and all of his information will be there. And, if he’s on the run, he takes his Treo with him and his stuff is there.

In short, he simply picks up whichever tool he prefers and gets things done.

Lotus Notes makes it seamless.

In addition to Lotus Notes, David also uses and recommends eProductivity (http://www.eProductivity.com), an optional tool that makes GTD in Lotus Notes easy. You can start with basic Lotus Notes and follow the GTD Implementation guide to create a very nice system.

Eric Mack
eProductivity Specialist
http://www.eProductivity.com