Refinder no longer supports Microsoft Outlook and Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer and Microsoft Outlook used to be the daily hotspot for most knowledge workers. With collaboration and file storage moving to the cloud, new tools are replacing and outpowering Outlook and Explorer. That is why we are switching off these classical integrations for Refinder to integrate new cloud apps for you.

Just about 5 years ago the office looked different. You would manage your contacts, share a calendar entry and send out e-mails via Outlook. You used to search, copy or save your files on the local PC and find them in Windows Explorer.

The first two integrations and plug-ins for Refinder therefore were MS Outlook and Windows Explorer. The plug-ins allowed you to import files, contacts or events directly into Refinder and share them with your team.

Ever since we started these plugins about 2 years ago many of you gave us great feedback to improve the shortcomings of the plugin. Lately we have seen that you have more and more cloud apps you would love to see in Refinder.

Less and less of you use Outlook or Explorer, but cloud apps like Dropbox, Google Calendar or Google Docs to organize your files and meetings. Therefore, we will reflect this in our future efforts to integrate even more of your favorite cloud apps while we disable the Outlook and Explorer plugins.

Microsoft Outlook and Explorer allowed you to

  • organize your meetings
  • import contacts into Refinder
  • index and share your files in Refinder

Now you can

  • organize your meetings with Google Calendar or Google Contacts
  • import your contacts from Google Calendar
  • import and share your files from services like Basecamp, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or SkyDrive

You spend most of your time working mobile, with your smartphone or your tablet, not just the laptop. TechCrunch reports a recent study by Nielsen showing that 50.4% of Americans own a smartphone, 22 % own a tablet. Furthermore, ScienceDaily claims that mobile web access will overtake PC web access by no later than 2012.

We probably all agree that your future office will be in the cloud. So we are switching off Refinder's two oldest integrations, and focus on integrating even more of your favorite cloud apps into Refinder. 

We're moving on. 

Comments

I am sure maintaining these plugins was not easy, but with Office365/Office you are really alienating a segement of small/medium businesses. I am a Cloud Integrator, and all of my clients have transitioned to O365 from GA, even the solo guys. I was hoping to use Refinder with EverNote and my O365 SharePoint shares containing documents...without a plugin I don't see how I can search across my O365 cloud.