Xobni (Inbox spelled in reverse :) will flip your Outlook inbox up-side-down.

This sleek looking add-on to Microsoft Outlook allows you to get some pretty cool statistics about your contacts as well as advanced search capabilities.

Using Xobni becomes part of your e-mail experience, as you can search for your contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter among others. Receive updates on their social networking sites, all in one place.

There are some other alternatives to searching your Outlook inbox. I used to use Windows Search, but became disillusioned when I realized how much of my resources were being wasted.

Xobni indexes your mailbox (or mailboxes), and reports on some interesting metrics, such as who is your #1 contact in terms of messages, what time of day they have sent you e-mails (average time), etc. I thought this was pretty cool because I was able to anticipate at what time I was going to receive an e-mail. Human habits are hard to break, I guess :)

I've tested Xobni with Outlook 2007, and it works great, There are no slowdowns or crashes, and it's conveniently set to the side pane of the window.

There are several versions of Xobni available, and subtle differences between them. I'm doing just fine with the free version, but the paid version offers some more interesting features, such as listing links sent to you by a particular contact, and seeing a listing of appointments from that contact.

Another great feature provided in the free version is an automatic network builder. By listing all the contacts that were CC'd in historical emails you receive, Xobni can display the contact's network. I use this heavily if I'm working with a client and need to get other client's contacts, as they are easily accessible from the listing.

In addition, the pane displays contact information on the contact such as telephone numbers, e-mails and job titles, so no need to navigate to the contacts in Outlook to retrieve information.

 

Try out your free evaluation of Xobni today, or check out the YouTube video below.