Gwabbit
I'll admit that I wasn't initially a huge fan of Gwabbit ($19.95), and it showed (I initially called it "weally wame.") Perhaps I was too harsh. This Outlook add-on scours the signature block in an e-mail and creates from it a full contact record in Outlook's address book, going far more in-depth that Outlook does when you attempt to perform the same function by right-clicking a contact's name. Business users who volley e-mail back and forth with unknown recipients will find Gwabbit to be a savvy way to fill in the digital Rolodex.
Yet while the concept is brilliant in its productivity payout and simplicity, it simply didn't live up to the hype generated from its Demo 2009 debut. Since Gwabbit's algorithm relies on a specific template in the signature block to populate its information, it's only as good as the contact is conventional. If a contact bunches information onto a single line, Gwabbit may populate a single data field with all the information. If you amend the record, Gwabbit may try to undo your changes the next time it senses a contradiction between your entry and the matching e-mail message.
Gwabbit has also had trouble ignoring the "all clear" message tacked to the bottom of each e-mail by AVG Antivirus Free. I realize it's a problem that will bypass most, but it's an imperfection nonetheless. Finally, Gwabbit's 5-second delay between a cursor hovering on a message and its new-contact pop-up note has more than once come at an inopportune moment, forcing me to close the pop-up to get back to the reading or e-mail management from which the (admittedly not very serious) interruption.
Yet for all my bellyaching on the points where it fails to work as smoothly as I'd like, it does remarkably well overall, and has unrealized potential. More importantly, it offers a simple, unique solution to contact management that you barely have to manage at all--and one that saves time and typing. The 14-day trial will only save 20 contacts total, but it's enough to give you a sense of the program. If your address book is essential to your business, Gwabbit could be a useful little sidekick.
