OfficeTalk wish list

On the OfficeTalk forum there is a post by "an all-time supporter and former distributor" that creates an OfficeTalk wishlist. I thought that this was worth 'promoting' to the blog. Use the comments to let us know what's on your wishlist.

Webrunner's wish list was:

• synchronization with Pocket PC.
• connection to exchange server.
• importing of file structures (complete directories).

My wish list is:

• synchronization with Pocket PC (after years of using a Palm I've just switched to a T-mobile MDA Pro (which is a badged HTC Universal running Windows Mobile 5).
• proper notes similar to those in Outlook - can be very basic and only need categories and ability to have public or private links.
• ability to duplicate projects or create a project template. Many of our projects are the same thing where we have to repeat the same tasks over and over again. The ability to copy an old project structure and then edit it would make this much quicker.
• directly dial contacts using Skype (or other VOIP system) and automatically opening a conversation (caller recognition and opening a conversation would be even better).
• synching/linking OfficeTalk tasks/projects with mind mapping software such as MindManager (interestingly this was one that Softalk joint CEO Stuart Prestedge also mentioned recently in his post on Getting Things Done with OfficeTalk). My projects frequently start in MindManager and its frustrating and time-consuming having to convert all the arms into tasks.

What's on your OfficeTalk wish list?

Comments

[Florian]

Hi,

Windows PDA syncronisation (want to use my PDA (WM2003) to syncronise at work and then update Outlook 2003 at home with same PDA)

Be able to make a one-click appointment from right-clicking on an email

Skype integration (great idea I think)

Be able to automatically archive Notifications (keep a log for proof of send/delivery, a bit like email)

A more intelligent Contact/Company CSV import facility (checks for already existing entries, rather than just blindly duplicates them)

That's it for now
Florian

[Keven Barker]

Definitely yes to Pocket PC sync - how long do we have to wait for this? Can anyone from Softalk answer this question. Surely its an add-on like the Palm sync so we don't have to wait until the next release.

[Michael S. Scherotter]

What a great idea:
"synching/linking OfficeTalk tasks/projects with mind mapping software such as MindManager".
I have looked on the OfficeTalk website and could not find any information about any OfficeTalk API, which is necessary to build any type of integration with MindManager. All of the Microsoft Office integrations in MindManager are built using the publicly available API at the Mindjet DevZone (http://www.mindjet.com/us/devzone/6/devzone/index.html). So, in theory this would be possible.

We have found that one of the most compelling ways to integrate with MindManager is this:
1. Use MindManager to build consensus around an idea and author/design a project plan.
2. Mark specific topic as "work item" types to be created in the project management system (OfficeTalk in this case).
3. Upload the work items to the project management system.
4. The map that was originally used to build consensus is now used to track and sync those work items".

If anyone wants to talk about building this type of integration, contact me at labs@mindjet.com.

Michael

[Jamieboy]

My wishlist would be:

1) Pocket PC sync
2) Importing companies/contacts into specific folders instead of All
3) When Assigning a task from an email put the Subject as the title of the email
4) You can't set the contact tab when creating tasks from within a project.