Obviously, one benefit to this is much smaller and leaner PST files -- a real benefit. It can also reduce the load on an email server if you're storing your mail there, and it can help you keep your mail store within your quota. But...

This feature could also destroy the integrity of the messages as they relate to attachments. Eudora used to keep attachments in an ATTACH folder. Every so often, the Eudora mailbox would get moved, but the attachments wouldn't move with the box. As a result, it was often very, very difficult to find a key attachment after the mailbox had been moved.

The same problem could happen here. If you're reinstalling Windows, upgrading a machine, or in any other way moving your Outlook data, you'd also now need to move and be aware of where you keep your disk-based attachment files. If you have You Perform insert links into the messages showing the attachments, you'd have to be careful that the volume the message expects the attachment to be on is actually where you put them. If you want to free up space by moving all your attachments to an E: drive, for example, you might lose the referential integrity because all the message links might point to the C: drive.

To repeat, the Save Attachments is useful, well thought out, and powerful. Now, before you use it, you also need to have a usage strategy that's well thought out.

Schedule recurring email
The Schedule Recurring Email add-in, shown in Figure O, is another powerful add-in that could be both useful and troublesome in the wrong hands. It, too, can foster some serious unnecessary emailing.

FIGURE O

Send reminders regularly. Click picture for a larger image.

The idea behind this add-in is that you can send a given email message at a regularly occuring time. Need to remind a bunch of authors that they've got a week 'till deadline each month on the 14th? This add-in can do it automatically. Need to remind a bunch of advertisers that they've got two days to change their ad each Thursday? This add-in can do it.

Just be careful you're not sending out a pile of unnecessary emails to folks who won't appreciate it.

vCard converter
Wow! Finally we're at the last add-in of this package, the vCard Converter, shown in Figure P.

FIGURE P

Export those vCards! Click picture for a larger image.

According to the IMC (Internet Mail Consortium):

vCard automates the exchange of personal information typically found on a traditional business card. vCard is used in applications such as Internet mail, voice mail, Web browsers, telephony applications, call centers, video conferencing, PIMs (Personal Information Managers), PDAs (Personal Data Assistants), pagers, fax, office equipment, and smart cards. vCard information goes way beyond simple text, and includes elements like pictures, company logos, live Web addresses, and so on.

Let's say you wanted to create vCard from all your contacts. The vCard Converter add-in does just that. Specify an Outlook folder and a destination directory and this add-in will go to town generating little vCard files.

Wrapping it all up
Yep, I told you my fingers weren't going to enjoy this product. That was a heck of a lot of writing. But I think you will get a lot from this product; there's no doubt it contains a huge number of features. It's also very cleanly implemented and very clear to understand.