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Mike Torres recently posted his Outlook Dream. 

An Outlook Dream

My dream is for Outlook to do a few things natively (i.e. I don't want to install add-ins):

1. I want threads compressed into one email message automatically, with parts of the message marked as unread instead of the messages themselves.  And when a new message arrives that's part of an existing thread, move that "unified" message to the top of the inbox and mark the line item as unread again.  This way I can see that a) the conversation has continued and b) there are parts of the conversation I haven't read yet.  This way, my mailbox doesn't get flooded and filing the thread in a folder is much easier... and searching/browsing email is just more manageable.
2. Include my replies in that compressed thread as part of the conversation automatically.
3. If I'm sending an email to a distribution list that I also happen to be on, don't send the email back to myself.  I actually set up a client-side rule to deal with this one (automatically delete mail from me automatically).
4. Let me take myself off of a thread while alerting others that I've done this.  30% of the email I get every day I don't have to get.  It doesn't involve me and I don't want the thread to continue with me on it.  But I can't do anything about it other than setup a bunch of custom rules - or run Omar's Thread Killer add-in.  What I really want is a way to "opt-out" of a thread such that whenever anyone else replies, they see a status table at the top of the compose window that indicates who has opted out and maybe why (just in case the thread forks or the focus changes and those people are needed... this way the folks can be added back)

He should try ClearContext v3 out (use coupon code CC15-15130 and get $15 off) now and a free upgrade. I know it's an add-in, but it's the only one I run these days.

But anyway, he has some valid requests. Here is my 2007 version of my Outlook Dream Wishlist, which I haven't posted since December 2004! Looks like only two of my items in my last wish list made it in to Outlook 2007 :-( (6. RSS Reader and 9. A single mail editor that works well, and doesn't have toolbars that move randomly (Word Mail).). I stopped using IMAP so I don't know if it's any better or not.

Anyway, here is the new list.

1. Navigate to next unread item in next unread folder. I get a lot of mail from a lot of different distribution lists. I want a way to read all these items in a fast efficient way like I can read blog posts in FeedDemon using NewsPaper style.
2. Show me what my meeting conflicts are when I get a meeting request. When I get an appointment all Outlook can tell me is that there is a conflict. Common! You are holding all my calendar appointments in your database. You're telling me you can't tell me what the conflict is? Maybe even draw a calendar in the meeting request view so I can make an informed decision about accepting/tentatively accepting/declining a meeting? Pretty Please .
3. Natural Language parsing for new tasks. I want to enter "Call Mom at 5pm [@Calls] and have it create a task with a due date and reminder set to 5 pm with a category of @Calls.
4. Brain Dump mode for tasks. I want to dump things into a window and have them turned into tasks or appointments.
5. Unsubscribe from thread. I've written about this before, and ClearContext has this in v3. Microsoft Employees can use ThreadKiller (which I wrote) and seems to be pretty popular.
6. Filter BCC'ed messages to DL. I can't stand when people BCC a DL that I am on, only to have that message interrupt me in my Inbox... go away, back to folder you pesky email.
7. Better Category Assignment UX (ala del.icio.us tagging). Categories received a nice facelift in Outlook 2007, but assigning categories is even more tedious than Outlook 2003 (where you could freeform type them). I want a box in every window with a autocomplete drop down to assign a category.
8. Replace Notes with OneNotes. I've never understood Outlook Notes. They don't have a scroll bar, look like sticky notes, and are in a weirdo font. You also don't have a toolbar and can't easily assign a category to them. Lets put Notes out to pasture and integrate the excellent note taking app OneNote directly into Outlook so that my notes can roam and be viewable in OWA. Mike Torres weighs in on this and I have to agree with many of his points. The fact that OneNote doesn't work in a web browser, or doesn't roam from PC to PC w/o something like FolderShare is a major hindrance for me. The fact that OneNote for PPC and Smartphone can't sync over the air like tasks, contacts, calendar and mail is an even bigger bummer.
9. When replying to a thread and a new message comes in please please please tell me that happened so that I don't create a thread fork and screw up the conversation. Geez, Instant Messaging has this baked in. Corporate Email needs it. How about a message that says "A recent reply to this conversation has arrived... would you like to include that message in your reply instead?"
10. Lists. I want Lists... lists of tasks to be exact. I want to share those lists with my wife. I want to organize my tasks into projects, grocery lists, wish lists etc etc. I also want that in OWA so I can get to my lists from anywhere.
11. Instant Messaging. Bake Office Communicator into Outlook give up on corporate IM as a stand alone product. Everyone runs Outlook 24/7 and not everyone runs Communicator. Because not everyone runs Communicator it's not the lowest common denominator and as such I have to email a lot more people than I should. When you launch Outlook it should log you into Communicator and make it so you can IM, store the conversation and move seamlessly between IM and Email. Communicator is great if everyone would use it.

Outlook is the 2nd most important application in my life and I love all the new changes in 2007, but I think there is a lot more than can be done. Hopefully the next version of Outlook will take a stab at some of these, even if it's only 2 of them .