♫ But we got to keep it simple to save ourselves…♫

Words and music by Van Morrison.

I have run across the absolutely coolest application that I have seen in a long time …and it has quickly become indispensable to how I work. And the best part of it all is that it is also one of the simplest pieces of technology that I have seen in quite a while.

This particular application is an intelligent filing assistant for Microsoft Outlook (I have used it in both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007). At least that is how it is described on the web. I simply call it magic.

Here is how it works: SimplyFile, once installed, sits in your Outlook as a toolbar. Now, click on an email – any email. SimplyFile guesses into which folder this particular email should go. Amazingly, it seems to guess right at least 80-90% of the time. Click on “File Message” and *zap* the email goes into the right folder. When you reply to an email, it also guesses which folder the reply should go. SimplyFile is $39.95 per user, with a volume discount available for those who may wish to take advantage of this.

I am sure that it does more, but I really don’t care. When it comes to saving ourselves from the email avalanche, we have to just keep it simple and that’s that.