How to do a complete GTD Outlook add-in uninstall

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info@totalbalance.us

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I've posted this request to the NetCentrics GTD add-in support forum, but have yet to receive a reply -- so I thought I'd try here, in hopes someone has an answer. Thx. in advance.

I can't seem to find any information on how to do a complete uninstall of the GTD Outlook add-on (e.g. as if it was never intalled as an Outlook add-in). Even afer un-installing, there remain remnents in Outlook. Any ideas on how this can be accomplish?

Lars
 
Complete Unistall directions as per Netcentrics support

Here is the complete instructions from Netcentrics for uninstalling the software including the registry changes.

1. Be sure Outlook is closed and no longer in memory (open the task manager and be sure that OUTLOOK.EXE and MAPI32.EXE are not running).

2. Uninstall the Getting Things Done Outlook Add-in through the Add/Remove Programs in your control panel.

3. Delete C:Program FilesNetCentrics

4. Delete C:Documents and SettingsApplication DataNetCentrics

5. Open outlook and delete the settings folder in your mailbox (located right beneath sent items).

6. Open your registry by clicking Start, Run and typing Regedit.

7. Navigate through the file tree to find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Office Outlook Addins and delete the GTD entry.

8. Reboot your computer

NOTE: This doesn't remove your processed messages, folders, or views. It only removes the toolbar, options page and help. You will have to remove those manually if you would like them removed (we did this so we didn't delete messages processed that you were interested in keeping.

Here are lists of folders and views installed that should be deleted (to do so, right click on the folder, click delete, and answer yes to the confirmation message):
Inbox@Action
Inbox@Deferred
Inbox@Waiting For
InboxSnooze
InboxSomeday
Settings
TasksSomedayed Project Tasks
Once the folders have been deleted, here are a list of views you can also delete (to do this open Views | Arrange by | Current View | Define Views, highlight the view to delete and click Delete):
CalendarActive Appointments (GTD)
CalendarActive Appointments by Project (GTD)
CalendarActive Appointments by Subproject (GTD)
CalendarActive Appointments by Completed (GTD)
CalendarDay/Week/Month/Tasks (GTD)
InboxBy Project and Subproject (GTD)
JournalBy Action (GTD)
JournalBy Project (GTD)
JournalBy SubProject (GTD)
TasksActive Tasks by Action (GTD)
TasksActive Tasks by Project (GTD)
TasksCompleted Tasks by Action (GTD)
TasksCompleted Tasks by Project (GTD)
Tasks Active Tasks by SubProject (GTD)
TasksOrdered Tasks by Project (GTD

To remove all custom Outlook fields created by the add-in:

Tasks
Task Fields ............... Field Type
Action Verify .............Text
Delegated To ...........Text
Folder .....................Text
GettingThingsDone ....Yes/No
GtdOrder .................Number
GtdConversation ......Text
LinkType ................ Text
Master Project ..........Yes/No
PalmPilot Category ....Text
Project ...................Text
Project Verify ...........Text
Somedayed Project ..Yes/No
Subproject .............Text
UniqueID ................Text

Appointments
Appointment Fields....Field Type
Folder .....................Text
GettingThingsDone....Yes/No
LinkType..................Text
Project.....................Text
Project Verify............Text
Subproject...............Text
UniqueID..................Text

Journal
Journal Fields...........Field Type
Action.....................Text
GettingThingsDone...Yes/No
SubProject...............Text
Project.....................Text

Snoozed Email
Email Fields...............Field Type
SnoozeCount...........Text
SnoozeUntil..............Date/Time
SnoozeBy................Text

Processed Email
Email Fields..............Field Type
Complete.................Yes/No
Deferred Date..........Date/Time
Delegated To...........Text
GettingThingsDone...Yes/No
Folder......................Text
Processed By............Text
LinkType..................Text
SubProject...............Text
ThisFolder................Text
Project.....................Text
Project Verify............Text
UniqueID..................Text
 
Wow, looks like a complicated process. I'm glad you finally got an answer.

Did the directions work for you?
 
Yes, it was successful. However I also needed to open new tasks, calendar, journal, etc items, go into edit/design mode, click on the "all fields" tab to check/remove all of the GTD ad-on specific fields.

I should also mention, that I posted the same instructions on the Netcentric GTD ad-on suppport forum and they just notified me they removed it. They chose to replace my post with an explanation including an abreviated version of uninstall directions, suggesting users contact them directly if they really want to do a complete unistall.

Lars
 
just uninstalled

i just uninstalled the thing, it wasn't that complicated.
 
infoATtotalbalanceDOTus

Thanks. That was very helpful.
While I was at it, there was a Microsoft Outlook Calendar Views add-in toolbar that I had downloaded and I cleared that out as well.

Outlook was getting too clean for me so I downloaded lookout from:

http://www.lookoutsoft.com/Lookout/download.html

It's a nice search tool for Outlook. Google desktop does not always find stuff very well for me in Outlook. And Outlook's own search tool is far inferior to Lookout's. And Lookout has a cleverer name by far.
 
Why did you folks decide against continuing with the GTD Outlook Add-in?

Er...Why did you folks decide against continuing with the GTD Outlook Add-in?

Best wishes...
 
Eutychus said:
Er...Why did you folks decide against continuing with the GTD Outlook Add-in?

Best wishes...
Click to expand...
Eutychus,

I got some good years out of the Outlook Add-In. But after reading this forum (posts by Andersons and kewms), I became convinced that there was great value to be had in seeing my projects and NAs in greater hierarchical depth than the Add-In permitted.

I chose Achieve Planner as my tool earlier this year and I am quite happy with the results. I would have stuck with Outlook if I thought that they would eventually make the tasks truly hierarchical. But someone posted on this forum Microsoft's plans for Outlook and they had made a clear decision not to add a hierarchy to tasks. Microsoft's position was that MS Project has the hierarchical tasks.

So I decided to move on. Now I can easily view my commitments by context, by project, or by person(s) assigned. I spend less time massaging my system and I am getting more done. And my weekly reviews take much less time than they used to.

Yes, the essence of GTD can be implemented easily on paper. And I could track my personal finances on paper as well. But I would never track my personal finances as well on paper as I do with accounting software. My GTD system works much, much better on sophisticated software than it did on the GTD Outlook Add-In.

Of course, if you are brand new to GTD, you should not be struggling to master a complex new application. Learn the basics of GTD. I started my GTD in Excel. Then went to Outlook. Then the GTD Outlook Add-In, where I remained for a couple of years. It's all good.

St. Augustine said that God did not create evil. Everything God created was good. But the goods God created can be ranked. Some goods are higher than other goods. When human beings choose lower goods over higher goods, we call that evil.

All GTD systems are good compared to not having GTD. It's just that some GTD systems have more good than others. The GTD Outlook Add-In system was good for me. But my new system is more good.
 
The learning curve is an issue

My problem is I have eschewed Outlook all these years. Act! is far superior as a contact manager. However, to get the full utility out of Act! I am going to have to integrate it with Outlook. Which means I now have to learn Outlook.

Achieve looks really good and would fit better with how I was doing things prior to GTD. However I am committed to the Act! calendar at this point and I believe adding another would unnecessarily complicate. Integrating with Outlook gives me more information in histories. I can adapt Act! to some of this stuff, but if it can be done with Outlook, I do not want to reinvent the wheel.
 
Achieve Planner - PDA Sync ?

Hi Just jojned the forum and am trying to decide which software to use for my GTD system. I am just trying the GTD outlook add in but having read Moises comments above am quite interested in trying Achieve Planner .One question i have is if i wish to at some point go mobile ie some sort of pda . can i sync the two together ? If this isn't possible how do you get round this Moises ? Thanks Paul :?
 
Paul,

The developer of Achieve Planner is Rodger Constandse and he is quite open to user input.

Your request is one he is working on right now. Achieve Planner will be syncing with Pocket Informant 2007, which was just released August 29, 2006. This should be complete in the December/January timeframe.

I have not used Pocket Informant but I know it supports hierarchical NAs and projects. So you could sync Achieve Planner with Pocket Informant 2007 and then see your hierarchical NAs and projects, as you created them in Achieve Planner, on your PDA using Pocket Informant 2007.

In the meantime, I sync Achieve Planner with Outlook. I then sync Outlook with my PDA. I do not see the hierarchical relations among NAs and projects in Outlook. But I do see my NAs and projects in their Contexts on my PDA. So I get by.

I do strongly recommend that if you are just starting out with GTD you keep it simple at first. Learning a new desktop application, a new PDA application, and GTD all at the same time would be too much for me, unless I had lots of leisure time. But if I had that much leisure time, I probably wouldn't be looking at GTD.

As I said, I started GTD with Excel because I knew Excel already. It takes some time to get comfortable with the GTD habit.

It should also be noted here that, from what I read on this forum, David Allen does not endorse creating hierarchical relations among NAs and Projects. I have the greatest regard for David Allen. So you should give serious consideration to his views. It has been my personal experience that using a hierarchical outliner like Achieve Planner has streamlined my GTD system. Just as David recommends using an outliner or mind-map to plan a project, I have found that it is useful to use an outliner or mind-map as my trusted system.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

moises
 
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