The Bottom Line
Auto-Mate could be smarter about suggesting rules, and relying less on moving messages from mailbox to mailbox and more on search folders would be nice.
Pros
- Auto-Mate runs filters automatically to organize your mail in the background
- Many powerful actions are combined with flexible rule criteria in Auto-Mate
- Auto-Mate comes with a set of default filters that clean up mail on their own
Cons
- Auto-Mate could be smarter and more automatic about suggesting folders for filing
- Creating custom rules in Auto-Mate can be a bit overwhelming
- Auto-Mate does not integrate with Outlook contacts, could use search folders
Description
- Auto-Mate Pro adds powerful and flexible filter actions to Outlook.
- Acting as a personal assistant, Auto-Mate Pro scans and filters periodically, cleaning up after you.
- Auto-Mate Pro rules can be triggered by contents, but also message status and age in a folder.
- You can have Auto-Mate move mail, mark or flag it, send replies, assign categories, and more.
- A smart rule builder takes any email's parameters for creating an Auto-Mate filter.
- A "Snooze" button lets you postpone a message. It will return to your Inbox after a set interval.
- You can test-run Auto-Mate filters, seeing what their effects would be.
- Auto-Mate filters can be exported and imported for backup and copying.
- Auto-Mate supports Windows 2000/3/XP and Outlook 2000/2/3.
Guide Review - Auto-Mate 2.0.4 - Outlook Productivity Add-On
"I will touch every new email no more often than necessary, typically once. I will reply instantly, if possible, and file habitually right after that." You know the mantra. But who says you have to do it all yourself? Why not leverage your computer's zest for routine tasks and do only what you are best at: reading, replying, and using the info in emails.Auto-Mate can do the filing, deleting, marking and cleaning for you. Running filters not only when a message is received or sent but at flexible intervals and taking into account a message's status and age, Auto-Mate can organize your Outlook Inbox like I would (if I would).
Setting up the filters can be a bit intimidating (Auto-Mate offers a plethora of possible actions from automatic forwarding to removing attachments or sending replies), but thankfully a smart set of filters is included. Read mail is archived and messages flagged for follow-up moved to a "To Do" folder automatically.
It makes sense to add a few more filters to purge unneeded mail or further archive the valuable, but the default rules are a great starting place. You could also escalate mail from the Inbox if you have not acted on it for a day, for example. Like some of the advanced rule actions, a oft-helpful "Snooze" button that hides a message from the Inbox for anything from an hour to a month is only available in the Pro edition of Auto-Mate.
It would be nice if Auto-Mate could build on and extend search folders instead of relying on physical mailboxes.
