5 Tools to integrate all your online accounts into one

Today, most of us have more than one email account, at least three social networking accounts and possibly several chat clients. Invariably, we spend a lot of time accessing each of them. Imagine the amount of time you will save if you wouldn’t have to switch from one window to another looking for updates. While there are a lot of IM clients that allow you to integrate your instant messaging accounts, there are very few that allow you to configure all your accounts, including email as well as social networking, into one. We have listed here five such tools that let you do so.

Digsby

One of the oldest and popular tools around

One of the oldest and popular tools around is Digsby. It supports Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Once you download the application, you can start configuring your accounts including chat applications, social networking accounts and even email clients. You can add your Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Yahoo, MSN and Jabber amongst others. You will see all the contacts from all your configured accounts in a single tab. If you have a friend who is present on more than one chat client, then you can combine the two IDs to create a single entry in your buddy list. You will receive pop-ups for new messages and it’s possible to reply by clicking on the pop-up. When it comes to email, it allows you to configure your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, IMAP and POP accounts etc. You can check the emails, reply to them, mark them as read and even mark them as spam. With Digsby you can integrate your Facebook, Twitter and even LinkedIn account. You can see the news feed of all that’s happening and if you wish, then you can reply from Digsby itself. It’s also highly customisable when it comes to changing the theme, as well as arranging contacts to setting priorities.

Trillian

 Trillian provides a full-fleged support for almost all types of online accounts

Another client that you can look at is Trillian that allows you to integrate all your accounts. In addition to the usual chatting clients, it supports Windows Live and Skype as well. While for social networking, it provides support for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn. When it comes to email, it supports all POP3, IMAP and native IM main integration. What sets Trillian apart from other clients is the set of features it offers, which includes video/audio chat, file transfers, group chats, proxy support and much more. Trillian offers a web-based desktop client and additionally, it also has support for Android, iOS and BlackBerry. It provides free and pro accounts. The free version is ad supported, while if you go for the paid version, it will be ad free and you get additional cloud storage support. Configuring your accounts is easy and once done, you will be notified of new messages in the form of pop-up notifications. You can choose to reply on the same by clicking on it. It will work in the background checking for updates; additionally, you will see small icons for the accounts configured in the status bar and you can click on the same to check for updates or other details. Trillian also provides several customisation options from changing fonts to arranging contacts and much more.

Unified Inbox

Something to look forward to

            
Launched early last year, Unified Inbox is another software to look forward to. Currently, you can request them for an invitation for private beta. It is similar to Digsby and Trillian, as it allows you to add all your accounts right from email to social networking and even other collaborative work tools like Basecamp, Evernote etc. that you may use. The idea is to allow people to access all the information via one platform and have control on the kind of information you want to view. You can label, segregate and communicate on all platforms from within the Unified Inbox. After getting feedback from those who opted for the beta launch, they are now working on adding more features. It will be available for desktop, web and mobile. 

Fuser

Limited options, but quite handy

A chrome extension, Fuser is quite handy if you want to configure social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn along with your Gmail. You can configure your accounts in Fuser and then get updates from your accounts. It’s a very simple tool with a fluid layout. Clicking on Stream will allow you to view the updates from all your accounts – much like news feed. A small icon on the feed will indicate the platform it belongs to. It provides you with the option to take action in the form of a reply, comment, like, retweet etc. You can also view these updates individually according to platforms. Additionally, you can set sound alert to notify you of new messages. It’s quite a basic tool compared to others mentioned here and doesn’t support chatting applications. However, it is still in beta stage and has the potential to improve.

BlingBoard

Social widget for Android provides easy access

BlingBoard is a free social widget for Android that will bring together your Gmail, Facebook, Twitter updates – and even SMS and missed call information – so you can easily access this information directly from your homescreen. It will keep checking for updates and bring you the latest notifications. And if you wish, you can easily reply to the SMS, check tweets, post and see the email account from here itself. This will save you the trouble of going to the individual application. However, the number of feeds for each account is limited to twenty.       

Are you aware of any other tools? Do let us know.

Cover image: Getty Images