Review of Twinbox Twitter Plugin for Outlook 2003 & 2007

The Barking Unicorn, The Zen Cueist, and I have been using the Twinbox Twitter Plugin for Outlook 2003 & 2007 since June 24, 2009. We have processed over 6,000 Tweets with it. Twinbox is a most excellent tool for Outlook-using Tweeps! It’s free, too!

Twinbox does not work with Outlook Express; you need Outlook 2003 SP3 or 2007 SP1. Operating systems supported include Windows XP or Vista with the latest Service Packs. We find Twinbox works perfectly with Windows 7.

The developers at Techhit.com, makers of Twinbox and other Outlook productivity tools, really know their stuff! During installation, Twinbox seamlessly melds with Outlook to add several tools and windows to the main Outlook view. Twinbox’s operation is so similar to standard Outlook functions that it seems to have been built into the email client from the beginning. We’ve never had Outlook crash with “Twinbox plugin” blamed. (Not that Outlook never crashes, of course.) You’ll be up and Tweeting in no time, and you’ll stay that way. Software that simply works – what a concept!

Twinbox saves your Twitter username and password locally, so you needn’t worry about storing that info on someone else’s server. It logs in and out of Twitter each time you send or receive Tweets. Just like an email account. Tweets are handled just like email messages, too.

Tweets can be retrieved manually at any time or automatically at intervals set in minutes. A feature called Search/Track/Group works very much like Outlook Rules to sort and file Tweets in folders. It can be used to file a copy of your sent Tweets to a specified folder, a very useful record of what you’ve Tweeted. The search operators include interesting possibilities such as near:NYC within:15mi sent within 15 miles of “NYC”.  The one thing we haven’t figured out yet is how to send an unwanted type of Tweet directly to the Deleted Items folder so we never have to see #bobbyscarpelli again.

Tweets can be sorted for display by the “From” field which is the Tweeter’s name; chronologically; or by “Subject”, which is the body of a Tweet. A folder full of Tweets can be searched by keywords, retrieving that Tweet you received two months ago about kippers. Deleted Tweets go to the Deleted Items folder and are treated like any other deleted item.

You can “attach” files to Tweets with Twinbox! Actually, you can start a Tweet, select a file, and send the file to a file-sharing service such as Twitpic (for images). Twinbox uploads the file, creates a Tinyurl link to it, and adds that link to your Tweet. Then you send your Tweet. Sweet!

Tinyurl support is built into Twinbox. Paste any URL into a Tweet, click a button, and it’s shortened. It would be nice if Twinbox supported is.gd and other, even shorter URL-shorteners.

Twinbox also has a statistics feature that graphically and numerically displays all sorts of exciting info about your Twitter activity: in and out Tweets, who’s been wasting the most of your time, who you’ve been flirting with most, etc. It’s a good way to waste more time when you can’t think of anything to Tweet.

The one chronic irritation with Twinbox occurs when it cannot connect to Twitter servers readily. Then Twinbox hangs for an excessive period, and you can’t use Outlook for anything else until Twinbox gives up. We’d like to see an “abort connection attempt” button, please.

But overall, Twinbox is simply marvelous, painless, high–powered Tweeting for Outlook users. You want this one!

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