10 Popular Add-Ins for Outlook

Be more productive and improve your Outlook experience with these add-ins

Outlook has become an integral part of our work and personal lives. With its feature-rich content, you may not even think about using an add-in. Outlook add-ins enhance the application by increasing productivity, eliminating annoying spam, and organizing your inbox. We gathered a list of several useful Outlook add-ins to make your emailing experience smoother and more efficient.

Information in this article applies to Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2010.

01
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Duplicate Email Remover
What We Like
  • Finds and cleans duplicate email messages.

  • Configurable array of criteria.

  • 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

  • Adds a menu and toolbar button.

What We Don't Like
  • Slow when checking large message stores.

  • More selection options would be helpful.

  • The free trial processes up to 10 emails per task.

Duplicate Email Remover does precisely as the title says, it finds and removes duplicate emails. With its powerful search tool, it can search through any email or folder within Outlook. Using the many fields for searching, such as the subject, sender, recipients, and even the internet headers, finding all those extra emails is a snap.

Once duplicates are located, this Outlook add-in marks those duplicate email messages for easy review. You can also set it to move those messages directly to the Deleted Items folder or any folder of your choosing. The flexibility in options makes Duplicate Email Remover a useful tool.

02
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Bells and Whistles for Outlook

Bells & Whistles for Outlook
What We Like
  • User friendly.

  • Easy to insert boilerplate text.

  • Prompts you when sending emails with a blank subject line.

  • 50+ features and enhancements for better productivity.

What We Don't Like
  • No tutorial for setup.

Bells and Whistles for Outlook is an extensive collection of tweaks, add-ins, and productivity settings to make your email tasks more efficient. With features such as added templates to email metrics reports, Bells and Whistles offers a large variety of functional items. There's even a handy Outlook Add-in Utility to find which add-ins you loaded and to enable or disable add-ins.

Many of the features make Outlook customization less daunting. With Bells and Whistles, you can automatically add greetings, signatures, disclaimer sections, or boilerplate texts. You can also set up notification alerts that tell you when you add attachments or use too many uppercase letters.

A bonus feature that's perfect for small to home offices is the email metrics. Here, you can see trends in email traffic, the recipients you receive email from the most, and the people you email frequently.

03
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ClearContext

ClearContext website
What We Like
  • The online guide is extensive for support and feature knowledge.

  • Create projects based on folders or emails.

  • The File Message feature is intuitive on email folder locations.

  • Menu buttons for the Home tab and in individual emails.

  • Schedule follow-up for emails in a few clicks.

What We Don't Like
  • No advanced search.

  • Cannot edit in preview.

  • Email sorting can be slow for multiple emails.

  • Cannot send emails to the junk folder automatically.

ClearContext is like having a personal assistant for your electronic communications. This add-in plugs into Outlook seamlessly and automatically transforms your inbox into a cleaner, leaner, organized, and better place. You can assign emails as to-dos, create projects to organize your tasks, and streamline email filing with a simple click.

Its two main features include AutoFile and File Sent Messages. AutoFile declutters your inbox by setting automated emails and notifications aside for later review in the Daily Digest. File Sent Messages automatically files received messages together for better organization.

The Emails to Tasks and Appointments functions turn any email into a task or appointment quickly. If you need some peace and quiet, you can snooze your inbox messages to keep the distractions down.

04
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SimplyFile

SimplyFile
What We Like
  • Easily jump to any folder.

  • Excellent support.

  • Add the junk\spam to your spam folder.

  • Folder sorting includes creating new folders anywhere.

What We Don't Like
  • Predicting feature is not always accurate.

  • Can become unstable.

SimplyFile is a powerful yet simple email organizing tool for Outlook. With a few simple steps, you can set up one-click email filtering. Its feature-rich interface includes creating tasks, bulk folder creation, and email sending delays. Other handy features include one-click searching and detailed email usage reports. SimplyFile is great for individuals and enterprise-level solutions.

05
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Grammarly

Grammarly add-in in Outlook 2019.
What We Like
  • Adjust the text formats for any situation.

  • Run all the time or on demand.

  • Plagiarism checks for originality.

  • Simple to use interface.

What We Don't Like
  • Can slow down loading Outlook and emails.

  • Expensive.

  • For full features, you must subscribe.

Grammarly is a useful writing and editing add-in for Outlook and Microsoft Word. Compose emails with the reassurance that you'll have proper grammar and clarity with a few adjustments.

Grammarly has several types of text checks, including overall correctness of grammar, clarity of message, and help with setting the tone. Grammarly also has a plagiarism check to make sure your email text is original.

Whether you want to see Grammarly suggestions all the time or just want to check your emails when you're ready to send, Grammarly allows you to use it the way you want. Configuring Grammarly takes a few minutes and is easily adjustable to any type of communication.

06
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ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid in Outlook 2019.
What We Like
  • Plagiarism checker.

  • Built-in thesaurus.

  • The summary report gives a quick view of the needed corrections.

  • The readability report provides useful information for your target audience.

  • Use on demand or have it running all the time.

What We Don't Like
  • The add-in isn't free while other versions are.

  • Expensive monthly subscription.

  • Not for the casual user.

ProWritingAid is a grammar and writing add-in for Outlook and Microsoft Word, among other apps. It's a basic grammar checker, and it improves your email writing. With 20 writing reports and checks, you can create emails with finesse and clarity.

The checks include grammar, overused words, sentence structure, sticky sentences, and overuse of cliches. ProWritingAid also includes checks for plagiarism, a built-in thesaurus, and real-time checking.

While this may be overkill for most email uses, for those that want to sound professional and polished, you can't go wrong with this powerful tool.

07
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Zoom Plugin for Outlook

Setting up a Zoom meeting in Outlook.
What We Like
  • Easily integrates with an existing Zoom account.

  • Scheduling works the same as an appointment in Outlook.

  • Attendees can suggest an alternate date and time.

  • Doesn't require all parties to have the plug-in installed.

What We Don't Like
  • Zoom icons don't always appear immediately after the installation.

Zoom video conferencing software is a common application that many remote workers use for meetings, seminars, or presentations. With the Zoom Plugin for Outlook, setting up a Zoom meeting is a couple of clicks away.

The add-in gives you two basic options, Schedule a Meeting or Start Instant Meeting. The scheduling opens a blank email with the Room Finder so that you can easily see what dates are available for a meeting. Other aspects of the scheduled meeting can be set up like any other appointment in Outlook. The Zoom Plugin for Outlook automatically pastes the rest of the meeting information.

08
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Lookeen

Lookeen Outlook add-in.
What We Like
  • Search email archives, hard drives, and network drives.

  • Enterprise-level solutions, including group policies.

  • Licenses are lifetime.

  • Highly customize searches.

What We Don't Like
  • Sometimes causes Outlook to stop responding.

  • Only a 14-day trial.

  • A bit pricey.

Lookeen is a powerful search tool not only for your Outlook emails but your entire hard drive. This Outlook add-in allows you to customize searches for any field with any string of text, including dates and times. You can either use the inline search field or, for more advanced searches, open up the advanced dialog. Lookeen can search network drives.

While not free to use, you do get the license for a lifetime when purchased.

09
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Text Lightning

Text Lightning for Outlook.
What We Like
  • Customize pre-generated messages.

  • Add custom messages.

  • Lightweight installation.

  • Create custom folders to organize messages.

What We Don't Like
  • Occasionally doesn't respond to text selection.

  • No online support or help files.

Text Lightning is the perfect Outlook add-in for those who create repetitive email responses. If you answer or write emails with the same content, with a few clicks in Text Lightning, you can get your emails sent off in no time.

The add-in has a small library of pre-made custom text to which you can add your own customizations. If you have other email texts, you can create new text templates to add to your new messages quickly. There's also an option to create folders for better organization of your custom texts.

10
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Ablebits Add-ins Collection for Outlook

Ablebits add-ins for Outlook.
What We Like
  • A suite of eight productivity tools.

  • Creates a special tab in Outlook for better organization.

  • 30-day free fully-functional trial.

  • Can enable or disable each add-in separately.

What We Don't Like
  • Must download the entire suite.

  • Hefty price.

Ablebits Add-ins Collection for Outlook comes packed full of useful add-ins for all levels of Outlook users. The collection includes the following add-ins: Auto BCC, Conversation Attachments, Header Analyzer, Template Phrases, to name a few. One particular add-in, the Important Mail Alert allows you to set up special notifications depending on specific criteria.

You can't download these add-ins separately; however, there is an option to enable the ones you won't use.

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