PlanPlus 3.0 for Microsoft Outlook - Upgrade Boxed Edition

Rating:
Summary: Fixes all the problems of version 2.0
Review: I have used all 3 versions of Plan Plus for Outlook and this is definitely my favorite. It is great to be able to have the features of the Franklin Day Planner on your PPC. For example, with PPC tasks you simply have a task list; with the plan plus software you can assign a task to a given day, present or future, and give it a priority (A1, A2, B1, B2....). You can also set reminders to notify you when a task is due.

Even more powerful are the desktop components of the software that integrate with MS Outlook. There is a project task list that manages tasks by project (a sheet for each project with tasks and sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks, etc.). Project tasks that are assigned specific days are automatically copied into the daily task list or existing daily tasks can be assigned to the project tasks. The project task and the daily task are then linked, and when one is checked off the other is checked off too. As a general contractor, I really like this feature because I can focus on everything I need to get done today by looking in the daily tasks or I can focus on everything necessary to get a particular job done by looking in the project tasks page, and like I said, when I mark a task as complete in one place it is checked off in the other place also.

The "weekly planning" and "coach me" features do more to help me be productive than I ever imagined It starts with determining what is most important and planning that first and then filling in the remaining time with everything else you need to get done. Determining what is most important is done by reviewing your goals for the week and your core values (part of the "coach me" feature). And the whole thing is interactive - once you go through the weekly planning section in outlook (4 steps - 20 minutes total) your week is planned and you can sync it to your PPC. The "coach me" feature has wizards to help you determine your core values (or rather, help you get them out of your head and into a format you can use), your mission statement, your goals and many other useful things. I feel like I am attending an expensive self-motivation seminar when I use them.

One final thing I really like about the software is the PlanPlus Home page. This is the page where outlook starts once you have installed the software. This page allows you to see your calendar (1, 5, 7, or 31-day view), prioritized daily task list (or master tasks, or project tasks), daily notes, and inbox all in one view. All the other pages in outlook are still available, but the ones you use most are all on one page. I can't say enough about the layout of this page. It makes outlook so user friendly and effective. As you click on a day (on a small monthly calendar that is also shown on the page) the calendar, daily notes, and prioritized daily task list all go to this day. I can barely use outlook in its standard mode anymore.

I will say that I have had technical difficulties in the past, but they seem to be resolved with this version. I will make one note: if you are installing the upgrade version I suggest completely uninstalling the original. I installed mine over my v2.0 and had many of the same old problems (active sync always conflicting with the plan plus software, slow outlook startup, etc.). Then I uninstalled everything and only loaded 3.0 and it works like a charm! I had to get a product key for v3.0 to do this (to go along with the one for v2.0) but was given this over the phone in a couple minutes. And the online chat support is great (I recommend this to the guy who was having so much phone support problems.) It's on their website and that is where support for electronic media is directed. I used it once had had my rather difficult problem solved in 10 minutes.

If you really want to get control of how you use your time and become more productive, I highly recommend this software to you.