I use outlook as it is the only application support by our corporate IT. Until Jello I managed my task lists and projects entirely on paper. Outlook has been a good application with a bad interface, one that takes more time to make it usable than you ever get back.

Thanks for the great work – great value. I’ll be encouraging my team to switch to Jello to help them get the best out of outlook as at the moment most of them struggle to manage their mail and tasks.

Today, after almost ten weeks of development the new Jello Dashboard version is available, which comes together with a brand new web site design!

There are lots of changes and bug fixes in the 5.1 version (codenamed Valis, after the famous Philip K. Dick novel). The most important of them are:

• Addition of Project tags
• Global preview panel
• Always available Review panel on the sidebar
• Browsing history buttons
• Tag manager screen

You can get the new version from the download section.

Please note that Jello Dashboard help is now available online from the help section. You can also download it as an e-book, since it does not come with the installation package anymore.

Thanks to the 180+ people who tested the alpha version and each of you for your support.

*One more note: If you have Jello Dashboard already installed, you will have to reset your widgets (version 5.1 will prompt you to do so) because of an upgrade to the extjs libraries to the latest version.

After some more days of coding I would like to announce that the alpha version of Jello Dashboard 5.1 is available  for testing:

Get a copy here: http://www.box.net/shared/bx5jx6xkem

Check out version.txt for changes history

Please note:
-Testing is suggested for skilled users
-No installer is available for this version. Just unzip to a folder.
-It is suggested to install JD 5.1 in a different directory
-Backup your Outlook data before running the new version and your existing journal entry settings (if you want to use them)
-If you are using a custom journal folder/entry for your settings, keep a copy of your existing js/customSettings.js (don’t let the new files overwrite it)
-If you are using your existing settings you’re gonna have to reset your widgets. After that your settings will not be able to work with the previous version of JD.

Remember to post your thoughts or bugs you find at the new version’s forum:
http://jello-dashboard.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=10

In the meantime I will be working on the new design of the web page.

Thank you and happy GTD-ing!

The tool is really helping me getting control over the 200 emails I get per day.

Jello is getting better and better and I have this funny feeling that the other commercial GTD apps is starting to feel the competition… they have a lot to worry about!

What a fabulous program. Hands down the most functional, reliable and advanced FREE program I have ever used. I have begun using Jello about 3 weeks ago and have already fell in love!

I have been forced to take a long vacation from coding, mainly because of the fact that I had to take care of my kids for long hours during the day. Maybe you know the main feeling of this: Zero free time and in no mood for anything constructive!

Anyway, things are getting a bit better now, I can have some half hour breaks during my afternoons for coding. Since a lot of you requesting information about the forthcoming release I should give you an update.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve started coding again for the new 5.1 version. I’ve decided to loose the zeroes and not use the 5.00.x notation any more. It will be easier for references!

I have already made some changes in the GUI code for better resizing of panels and added an always available preview panel at the bottom of the screen.

My development plan so far, includes better integration and management of projects and a big list of bug and user interface fixes.

I would especially like to thank all of you who keep supporting the project with donations and emails. The project would be dead without you!

I will keep my twitter and facebook feeds updated on every change or addition until the first alpha release for testing, so you can follow me on twitter or become a fan of Jello Dashboard’s facebook page.

Thank you.

Nicolas Sivridis.

After reading some user reports about not being able to add Jello Dashboard as a homepage to Outlook installations working in MS Exchange environment, I’ve decided to find a workaround using the shortcuts collection of Outlook.

The main idea was to create a shortcut for the Jello Dashboard main file, into Outlook, so that there would be an alternative to homepage folders. Outlook 2000 implements this well, since you can go to File>New and select Create a shortcut for a web page.

But things changed since then, and new versions of Outlook have strict security rules for these types of things. Though my main idea failed to be fully implemented, I thought it would be good to share the line of code which will help you create a shortcut to any web page, just like the one Microsoft added there  (the default Microsoft Office online) but gave us no way to add our own web page shortcuts except for renaming and removing them!

• To be able to enter code directly into Outlook, open the code editor using the Tools>Macro>Visual Basic Editor or Alt+F11.
• Show the immediate window by selecting View>Immediate window or Ctrl+G
• Enter the code into the immediate window and press enter:

outlook.ActiveExplorer.Panes.Item(“OutlookBar”).Contents.Groups.Item(1).Shortcuts.add “URL”,”Shortcut name”,1

The code will execute after pressing enter and the shortcut will be saved into your Shortcuts section. You can rename or reorder and add to groups later like any standard Outlook folder shortcut.

For the URL, you can enter any web page and will open into Outlook. You can also enter a local path to any folder to have it opened in a windows explorer window. Unfortunately this doesn’t work very well with the Jello Dashboard htm file. If you enter your Jello Dashboard path to the main file you can open it in Outlook but it would behave just like you opened it in internet explorer, asking you for permission to execute ActiveX content.

Anyway, though this might not be the perfect solution for opening Jello Dashboard inside Outlook, you can use it to add some web pages or folders you use regularly and want to have it easily accessible.

Examples:

• outlook.ActiveExplorer.Panes.Item(“OutlookBar”).Contents.Groups.Item(1).Shortcuts.add http://www.jello-dashboard.net,”Jello Dashboard homepage”,1
• outlook.ActiveExplorer.Panes.Item(“OutlookBar”).Contents.Groups.Item(1).Shortcuts.add “c:\Users\Nick\My Documents\”,”Documents”,1
• outlook.ActiveExplorer.Panes.Item(“OutlookBar”).Contents.Groups.Item(1).Shortcuts.add “E:\projects\Jello 5\jello5.htm”,”Jello 5″,1