NewsGator Inbox – Download

Today I am starting my review of NewsGator Inbox which is a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. Starting from the beginning, there are a couple of requirements that you have to have in order to use the Inbox. First you will need Windows 2000 or later with Outlook 2000 or later. You will also need Microsoft .Net 2.0 or later. You can download .Net 2.0 for free from Microsoft here. I didn’t have this on my Gateway so I downloaded the free version from Microsoft. This took just under 3 minutes to download with my connection and hardware. Then I ran the program which took about 10 minutes. I don’t know why but then I decided to run Microsoft Update…well that recommended that I download and install the .Net Framework 3.5 so I did. That took about a half hour just to download. Just so we are clear, that last part I did not have to do. As long as you have .Net 2.0 you should be fine.

Anyway, once your system meets with the basic requirements, the NewsGator Inbox can be found under the products section of www.newsgator.com. Simply select “Products” from the home page and scroll to the bottom of the products page where you will find NewsGator Inbox. Once there you can begin downloading the plug-in or you can go to the “More Information” page. I navigated to the more information page and clicked on “Free Download”. This launched a quick download (I used Firefox so it saved to file) that took a matter of about a minute but less two. Then I ran the program. Make sure that you close Outlook. If you have it open it will ask you to close the program. You have to accept the NewsGator Inbox License Agreement. Then in less then a minute it was installed and after restarting Outlook, I was on my way. This worked equally well on my Dell and my Gateway.

After Outlook restarted, the NewsGator Setup started automatically. Since I have the NewsGator Online account I selected “I have a NewsGator Account” and clicked next. It does give you the opportunity to create an account from this screen as well. It also suggests that you do so that you can enjoy the benefits of synchronization. The next screen confirmed my email in case I forget my password. It also asks if you want to add subscriptions from another service or from a file called OPML that houses your feeds that you may have downloaded from another service or reader. When you click next….you are basically finished. Another window will open that will have some tips on how to use the Inbox.