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Getting Started With ClearContext and the
Total Workday Control (TWC) System
(updated Nov 18, 2007 for ClearContext
version 4.0)
 
"A very
productive combination"
Michael Linenberger, July 1,
2006
How do I Install
and Use ClearContext with the TWC system (and
book)?
First of all, if
you haven't read
Why Use ClearContext with TWC
do so now
To Get Started,
New and Existing TWC
users do these steps:
Step 0. Read notes about the software
and using it with TWC
Step 1. Download and Install the
TWC-enabled version of ClearContext
Step 2. Note the changes to
Outlook
New TWC users do
these added steps:
Step 3. Add and
use the Advanced Toolbar to select the TWC views
Step 4. Finish the
additional TWC Outlook Configurations
Step 5. Review the
book or take a class to understand the TWC methodology
New and existing
TWC users should also consider these steps:
Step 6. Understand
and decide between ClearContext Topics and
Outlook Categories for filing your e-mail
Step 7. Select and Use
the TWC Views
Step 8. Start using the Total
Workday Control System leveraging
ClearContext features
Step 9. Get familiar with the
additional (non-TWC) ClearContext features
New and Existing TWC
users do these three steps:
Step 0: Some notes about the software and
using it with TWC:
I highly recommend you read
this step and Step 1 below completely
before downloading and installing the
TWC-enabled version of ClearContext.
What TWC views are
installed?
The two custom Tasks folder views
and the customized TaskPad view that you
would normally create when working
through Chapter 3 are included in the
downloaded TWC-enabled ClearContext
version (Step 1 below). It also adds one
extra view from Chapter 9 (Recently
Completed Tasks). Support for the
Outlook 2007 To-Do Bar is included.
The By Categories e-mail view of
Chapter 7 is also installed (both a
Topic and Category variant as described
Step 6 below). A few optional views are
also included and discussed in Step 7.
This software is supported by
ClearContext. The download link
in Step 1 below takes you to the
ClearContext website, which is a wholly
separate company from New Academy Publishers
(NAP). NAP will be happy to provide advice
on use of the software with the TWC system,
however NAP does not support the software
directly, particularly technical aspects of
the software, or it's interaction with
Outlook. System requirements can be found at
this ClearContext
link.
The
download installs the
IMS Pro version of ClearContext. It is
is a free trial version of the advanced
ClearContext application. The advanced
features will expire
after
30 days; you then automatically
downgrade to the free Inbox Manger version.
Don't worry, the free Inbox Manager version
retains all the TWC
custom configurations, and is
sufficient for the TWC system. But you
probably will enjoy the extra features of
the IMS Pro version and want to "upgrade" to
it after the trial version expires. More
information about the difference between
these two versions can be found
here. Neither New Academy Publishers nor
Michael Linenberger benefits from any such
upgrade sales, we just like the software and
therefore highly recommend it.
New TWC
users: you still need to
understand the TWC system to make use of
the views, they are not self
explanatory. Plan on reading Chapters 4
and 5 of the book at a minimum, and
Chapters 6 and 7 are also recommended.
Admin privileges are not
required to install the software (good news
for corporate users who may not have those
privileges)
If you already have a
copy of ClearContext, you will still
need to click the new download link
described below to add the TWC features.
Doing so will activate those TWC features
(free) but otherwise leave your current
install intact and unchanged. You will
not be forced through the full install
process again.
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Step 1. Download
and Install the TWC-enabled
version of ClearContext
Download and installation
instructions provided in the ClearContext
user guide can be found
here, but do not use the
download button on that page, it is not
the TWC-enabled version. Rather, after
reading the instructions use the link
below to start the download
(or the one at the top-right of this page
under Related Links). Before you install
though, read on below.
DOWNLOAD TWC-ENABLED CLEARCONTEXT
HERE
Vista Users: note
that due to a Vista security design detail, if
you are using Administrative privileges,
you may need to download one more
file from ClearContext, or
turn User Access Control (UAC) on
during install and use of ClearContext.
Otherwise the ClearContext views may not
work.
ClearContext installs
in two phases: the initial install
occurs when you run the install
executable and is very fast. The second
install occurs when you next start
Outlook. That is when most of the
install wizard screens appear, and this
takes a bit longer.
While you are installing
ClearContext note that the ClearContext installation
wizard will install all of the
ClearContext features, including some
not needed for TWC.
Specifically, one of the
powerful added ClearContext features is
contact prioritization. To use this
requires the software to analyze your
existing mail during the install, and
that may take several minutes to complete.
Even if you do not plan to use this
feature immediately you'll need to allow
this to run during the install. Be
patient, and don't cancel out of any of the
install steps.
- After the install
completes, quit Outlook and restart it.
DOWNLOAD TWC-ENABLED CLEARCONTEXT
HERE
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Step 2. Note
the changes to Outlook
The software installs
"inside" of Outlook. From now on when you start
Outlook you may see the ClearContext
startup screen as it starts up too.
After the install, you will
notice one new toolbar is installed both
on the main Outlook window, and at the top
of open e-mail messages. (Outlook 2007 users
also see that new toolbar in the main
Outlook window and
will instead see a new ribbon at the top of
their open e-mail messages). These are
optional to TWC users, but once you learn
TWC and ClearContext I predict you will be using
portions of these quite a bit. As TWC users
however I advise you not to use the
File Msg or Thread buttons. More on that in Step 6 below.
-
You will also see that a new
ClearContext menu is added to the main
Outlook menu bar.
-
A few new folders will be
added under the Inbox folder. None of
these are very pertinent to users who stick
with TWC methodology, but you may want learn
more about them later and even use them, so
do not delete them. By the way, if you use
ClearContext Topics (described below)
instead of Categories, one folder for each
topic will be created under the Inbox
(whether you file mail in them or not). That
location can be changed in the ClearContext
Options menu (Configuration button). So in
the image below the top three folders are
added to all installations, and the bottom
four folders represent ClearContext Topics
this user created.
- And finally, a new
subfolder to the Contacts folder will be
added called ClearContext Contacts. You can
ignore this folder as part of the TWC
methodology. It was created during the
contact prioritization steps and aids in
that ClearContext feature.
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New TWC
users do these three added steps:
Step 3. Add and
use the Advanced toolbar to select the TWC views
If you are
already using the TWC system, then you have
activated and are using the Outlook Advanced toolbar to
select the custom TWC views. However if you are
just getting started with the Total Workday
Control system then this is new, and you should
add the Advanced toolbar using the instructions
on page 52 of the book.
-
Once installed, you will use the Advanced
toolbar just as described in the book.
-
When in
the Tasks folder, the three TWC custom Task folder views will appear as if you
had configured them yourself per Chapter 3
in the book. The view names are the same as
in the book, but with the letters "TWC"
appended in front of them (see below).
-
Outlook 2007 Users: the
three new Task folder views are visible in
the Tasks folder, not the To-Do List folder.
You can make them available there if you
want however. See this
link.
-
TaskPad (if not using
Outlook 2007): unlike in the book, you will
also need to use the Advanced toolbar to
choose the customized TaskPad view. The
TaskPad is part of the Calendar folder, so to
show the custom TaskPad, go to the Calendar
folder and choose TWC-Day/Week/Month from
the Advanced toolbar. You will only need to
do this once. Outlook 2007 users do not need
to do this.
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Step 4. Finish the
additional TWC Outlook Configurations
The TWC-enabled ClearContext software includes all the
custom configurations of Chapter 3, and a few
from Chapters 7 and 9. However the
complete TWC configurations to Outlook go
slightly beyond that. If you are
new to the TWC system you will need to make
these as well. Here
are the additional (quick) configurations you
should do to fully prep your copy of Outlook:
Add the Processed Mail
folder (pages 156-158 in book) if you have
not already done so.
Decide whether you are going
to use ClearContext Topics or Outlook
Categories (step 6 below), or none at all,
and then select the corresponding mail views (see steps
6 and
7 below).
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Step 5. Review the
book or take a class to understand the TWC methodology
The installation
needed for TWC is now complete. However the TWC
system is a methodology on task and e-mail
management. You need to understand it, which is most
easily done by reviewing the
book. Unfortunately, you cannot simply install
the software and start using the TWC features if
you have no understanding of the system; it is
not self-apparent. At a minimum,
reading Chapters 4 and 5 is required, and
chapters 6 and 7 are recommended to get
started. Read the first part of Chapter 3 as
well. Or organize a corporate workshop for your
department or company (see this
link for more info).
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New and Existing TWC users should also
consider these added steps:
Step 6. Understand
and decide between ClearContext Topics and
Outlook Categories for filing your e-mails
ClearContext
is packed full of useful features. You can find
a detailed user guide to those features
here. One thing you
may immediately notice is that if you are a fan
of filing
e-mail, ClearContext uses the concept of
ClearContext Topics for filing. In contrast, the TWC system
as taught in the book (Chapter 7) recommends, for those that like to file mail, the use of Outlook
Categories.
Are
these two the same? No. The ClearContext Topic
is a field specific to the ClearContext software
and has lots
of powerful features best described
here in the ClearContext user guide.
The topic field acts very similar to the Outlook
Category field, and in most cases, can be used
in place of Outlook Categories in the TWC system. But they
are not the same. There are advantages and
disadvantages of using ClearContext Topics
instead of Outlook Categories.
The advantages of using
ClearContext Topics with TWC, over Outlook Categories are:
-
Easy to use tools are added by ClearContext
to Outlook to assign Topics to e-mails and
tasks. This is by far the primary advantage
to most users.
-
Topics
automatically assign to e-mail in the same
conversation or thread
-
You can
create nested (hierarchical) topics; you
cannot do that with Outlook Categories. -
Topics take maximum advantage of the
relationship capabilities of ClearContext,
where all items related to each other can be
identified using the Related View. This is a bit more subtle, but
can be very powerful once you start using
it. -
Topics do not import into
other user's Outlook messages like Categories
can.
Once you assign a category in Outlook to an
e-mail, there are cases where other users
who have category views active will see
your categories in their Inbox.
There are workarounds, but the ClearContext
Topics approach nicely avoids this. Note
that Outlook 2007 filters out incoming
categories so this is not a problem if using
the new version of Outlook.
The
disadvantages of using Topics with TWC, instead of Outlook
Categories are:
-
With Categories you can
assign multiple Categories to one message. With
Topics you can only assign one. Many users will
miss this capability dearly.
-
When you use topics in ClearContext, the
software urges you to file topic-assigned
mail into
separate file folders; in my opinion
individual topic folders have many
disadvantages as described on page 149 of
the book. Note, though, you can choose not to
actually move the messages when you assign
topics (read If you decide to use
ClearContext Topics, below to see how).
And of course, if you are a hybrid TWC user,
and still enjoy multi-folder-based filing,
then this is not a disadvantage at all.
-
If you use a PDA or other device that
synchronizes with Outlook and takes
advantage of Outlook Categories,
ClearContext Topics will not be supported
directly. However this is offset by the
following: for every topic ClearContext
creates, it creates a corresponding Outlook
Category (with brackets around the name),
and it assigns that category when the topic
is assigned.
So
which should you use for TWC filing, Topics or Categories? You
can use either with TWC depending upon how you
feel about the advantages and disadvantages
described above.
If
you decide to use Outlook Categories
If you decide to use
Outlook Categories, new TWC users need just add the
Processed Mail folder as described in Chapter 7,
and then assign Categories as instructed in that
chapter. The By Category view described in
Chapter 7 has been
created for you, you just need to select it
per step 7 below. Ignore all the Topic and File
buttons and commands in ClearContext; pretend
they are not there.
If you decide to
use ClearContext Topics
If you decide to
use ClearContext Topics, then you need to do a
couple things.
First,
assuming you subscribe to the full TWC approach
to e-mail, I recommend you commit to
not actually filing into the topic folders that
ClearContext creates for you every time you add
a topic. That means avoid any ClearContext button or command
that has the word "File" in it because this will
move the message into the corresponding
folder. Those buttons are shown below and should
be avoided. You may even want to use the
standard toolbar Add or Remove Button tool to
remove them from that toolbar (click through to
the Customize... menu, then Rearrange
Commands... button).
(avoid using the above)
Instead of these buttons , you can assign
existing topics using the Topic
field in a manner similar to how you assign
Outlook Categories: select the message first in
the mail list, then choose the topic from the
drop-down (click the arrow at the right as shown
below). One
difference: To create and assign new
topics, just type them into that field.
After you choose a topic, it
then displays it as shown:
Alternatively, you can click the Topic label
itself at the left:
Which leads to this dialog
(below). In this dialog, after selecting a
Topic, only use the Select button in the lower
left; otherwise mail will be moved out of the
Inbox.
Unlike Outlook
Categories, there is no separate topic list
maintenance window, nor 'Master Topics' list
where you first create new topics. I think you
will find this approach must faster than
creating new categories (in pre-2007 versions of
Outlook anyway; Outlook 2007 improves the
categories experience greatly).
You can
choose multiple messages first and they will all
be assigned at once. But you cannot apply
multiple topics to a message (again, this is the
primary disadvantage of using topics rather than
categories).
You
can also very easily assign topics from within
an open e-mail, since the Topic dropdown is
present at the top of the e-mail window. This is
another advantage of using topics over
categories in pre-2007 versions of Outlook
(Outlook 2007 has an easy way to add categories
from within the message).
If
you want to use topics, to get started, create the Processed Mail folder as
described on pages 156-158 of Chapter 7 of the book
(if not already created) and use the
new TWC-By Topic view (described below in Step 7) just
like you use the By Category view described in
Chapter 7.
Existing TWC users who convert
to Topics
If you are an
existing TWC user, and you want to convert your
old categorized Processed Mail from Categories
to Topics, you have an initial step to do. This
is because your old mail has not been processed
by ClearContext. To process these messages, drag
all your old mail out of the Processed Mail
folder and into the Inbox. Then drag it back to
the Processed Mail folder. Adding it momentarily
to the Inbox will cause each message to be
processed by ClearContext, which will support
future topic assignment to messages. Exchange
users may need to do this in "chunks" so you do
not exceed your Exchange Inbox size limits.
After that you
should open the Processed Mail folder using
the By Category view, select all mail in
one category, and type or choose the category name
in the topic field as described above.
Repeat for each category group, other than
"none" of course. Then activate the TWC
- By Topic view as described below in Step
7.
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Step 7. Select
and Use
the new TWC Views
The TWC-enabled
ClearContext application ships with four
e-mail views and four Task views. Choose these
views using the Advanced Toolbar described in
Step 3 above. Here is a more complete
description.
The New E-Mail Views
Two of the new e-mail views
are installed in the Inbox exclusively. Two are
available to all mail folders. Some of these
views are not described in the book, so here is
an explanation of all of them.
-
TWC
- by Category. Of all four new views,
this is the view recommended for most TWC
users. It replicates the By Category view
discussed in Chapter 7 of the book. Use it
in your Processed Mail folder. If you are
already using the TWC system and have a By
Category view created you can continue to
use that. Either view will work.
-
TWC
- by Topic. Use this view if you want to
file mail using ClearContext Topics instead
of Outlook Categories (as discussed in Step
6 above).
-
TWC
- Inbox by Category. This is an optional
view that is nearly the same as the TWC - by
Category view. It is applied to the Inbox
only, and inherits all the color-coding
advantages of the ClearContext mail
prioritization features.
-
TWC
- Inbox by Topic. This is an optional
view that is nearly the same as the TWC - by
Topic view. It is applied to the Inbox only,
and inherits all the color-coding advantages
of the ClearContext mail prioritization
features.
Getting used to the new e-mail
views
If you are new to topics or categories,
when you first go to your TWC - by Categories
mail view, most messages will be grouped under "None." But
once you start tagging messages with topics or
categories, the corresponding grouped views will
start to become very useful.
From now on, if you ever want to see your
Processed Mail folder grouped by ClearContext
Topic, or by Outlook Categories, choose the
corresponding new
views from the Advanced toolbar. If you want to
see a regular date-sorted list of mail, choose
Messages from the toolbar. Study Chapter 7 to
see how to use these views.
If you did not restart Outlook after install, ignore
first error
If you did not restart Outlook after
installation as instructed, the first time you open
the TWC view you may get
an error: "There is a problem with 4 of
your automatic formatting rules and they have
been turned off..." Just ignore this error, you
will not see it again.
Using the TWC Task views
installed by ClearContext
Four Task views are
installed by ClearContext. Three are installed
in the Tasks folder, and the fourth is the
TaskPad/To-Do Bar view.
The
three new Tasks folder views
The three Tasks
folder views installed by ClearContext are
identical to the ones of the same name described
in the book. If you are already using the TWC
system and have equivalent views already
created, you can continue to use those; either
ones will work.
-
TWC
- Master Tasks. This is the main Tasks
folder view recommended for most TWC users.
It replicates the Master Tasks view
discussed in Chapter 3 of the book. Use it
to view your Master Tasks.
-
TWC
- All Daily Tasks. This is an optional
view used to view all Daily Tasks, including
future ones. It replicates the All Daily
Tasks view discussed in Chapter 3 of the
book. Use it to view your Master Tasks.
-
TWC
- Recently Completed Tasks. This is the
optional view discussed in Chapter 9 of the
book. Use it to view your completed tasks,
both for status reporting and maintenance
purposes.
Outlook 2007 Special Discussion.
If you are using
Outlook 2007 you need to understand the new
To-Do List folder Microsoft defaults to when you
navigate to the Tasks folder, and why these
custom task views are not initially visible
there. Read more about it in an article I wrote
at this
link.
TaskPad and Outlook 2007 To-Do Bar.
If you are using a
version prior to Outlook 2007, then to see the
TWC TaskPad configurations, you will need to
first go to the Calendar folder, and then choose
TWC - Day/Week/Month from the Advanced toolbar.
That will activate the TaskPad configurations.
Outlook 2007 users need not select that since
the To-Do Bar configurations are independent of
any selectable view. Note that ClearContext
version 3.1 adds the new Priority Grouping in
the TaskPad that I recommended in my
November/December 2006 Newsletter;
this grouping was developed after the book, and
so is not described there. Therefore your
TaskPad will look different from the screenshots
shown in the book.
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Step 8. Start using the Total
Workday Control System leveraging ClearContext
features
Your copy of Outlook and ClearContext is now
fully ready and you should now start using the
TWC system. If you are an existing user of TWC,
you may want to start using TWC best practices a bit more
efficiently by leveraging some new ClearContext
features. For example:
-
Using the ClearContext Task button from
within an e-mail message is a great way to
convert an e-mail to a task without having
to close the e-mail and drag it to the Tasks
folder. You can also use that button from
the main Outlook window. The Task button has
some desirable side affects, the main one
being that by default it creates a task with
both the text and the e-mail attached as a
file. This is not easily done in raw
Outlook. Chapter 6 of the book is all about
converting e-mails to tasks. The
ClearContext user guide talks about using
the Task button
here.
If you are a new TWC
user, again, you will first want to understand
the TWC system before trying to use these
intelligently. Reading the book is the best
way to get going, reading Chapters 4 and 5 at a
minimum, and then 6 and 7.
Or take a workshop offered by New Academy
Seminars (see this
link for more info).
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Step 9. Get familiar with the
additional (non-TWC) ClearContext features
The primary
reason you installed the TWC-enabled
ClearContext is to save you time
hand-configuring TWC Outlook views. Or it may
have been to take advantage of the easier TWC
supported features as described above.
Next you should
start enjoying the extra e-mail management
features ClearContext gives you that may be
unrelated or peripheral to TWC. Here are the
ones I recommend, in order of importance:
-
Consider using ClearContext Topics rather
than Outlook Categories when "filing"
e-mails. See discussion in step 6 above for
more details. See the ClearContext user
guide coverage of this topic
here.
-
Take advantage of the ClearContext e-mail
prioritization views. These are very
powerful and worth the extra study to
understand and use them. See the ClearContext
user guide coverage of this topic
here. My recommendation is to
start with the ClearContext By Date view,
which color codes priorities, but otherwise
leaves your Inbox view the same as the
default Outlook Messages view. Note that all
ClearContext views by
default turn on the Outlook Preview Pane and
activate Outlook AutoPreview, neither of
which I like. If you do not like them
either, do not give up on the views. Just
use the View menu to turn these off, then
use the ClearContext menu, choose Options,
and Save the view changes.
-
Start using the Related View (paid version
needed). This powerful feature takes
advantage of the automatic e-mail
"conversation" tracking in ClearContext, and
other linkages between items in Outlook, to
easily locate all messages, tasks, and
appointments that may be associated with an
item in Outlook. See the ClearContext user
guide coverage of this topic
here.
Note: some of the features of ClearContext
software represent task and e-mail practices
that I do not recommend as part of the
TWC system, but the features still may be useful
to you. All features are optional so you can just ignore
any you wish to... or feel free to use them if
you find them useful:
Already mentioned is easy filing of
e-mails into multiple dedicated topic based
Outlook folders (I avoid this and prefer users to file into
only one folder and then use custom views to
view e-mail in topic-based groups, which
also is supported in the software).
Easy deferring of
incoming e-mails to later date (paid IMS Pro
version) using the Defer button. I do not
subscribe to this practice because usually
the reason to defer an e-mail is that there
some action in the e-mail you want to attend
to later. I recommend rather that you
immediately convert such an e-mail to a task
and set the date later on the task. Again,
just ignore this Defer feature if you agree
that it should not be used, or try it and
see if you like it.
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